挫折，唯有面對，才能跨越並且向前
Frustration, only to face, and to leap forward
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor @ The Butchard Gardens
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor
@ The Butchard Gardens
www.mariamak.com
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor - Bondage of freedom
Bondage of freedom
Suffocate me not
Border of fusion
Kid you not
I am the tied knot of a sailor
Destined to be water bound.
Photography and written by
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor 
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor - This empty seat
This empty seat is taken
By your stupidity ?
Or by my pride ?
It is taken, sorry my friend !
Photography and written by
Maria Mak
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor - Peanut Butter Jam
Peanut, Butter, Jam
Spread on my bread?
No,
Thank you!
I am allergic to all 3.
花生，黃油，果醬
塗在我的麵包？
不，
謝謝！
我是過敏。
Written by Maria Mak
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor - Spending some down time in between , finishing my book, my drawing and my music !
Spending some down time in between...
Finishing my book, my drawing and my music !
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor - Tears in my crapper
Spurt of poor sadness!
Am I racing with the vampires ?
Ravens are hovering over my carcass,
Should I rock the world
Pretending I am not who i am?
Am I a jester?
Or a juggler?
Or just a humble mogul to be
Exploited,
Distorted,
At the mercy of your god thing ?
Photography and written by
Maria Mak BurnabyRealtor
www.mariamak.com
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor - sense of engraved sadness
刻的憂傷感
Sense of engraved sadness
Photography by Maria Mak BurnabyRealtor
www.mariamak.com
Friday, August 29, 2014
Maria Mak.Burnaby Realtor- 如果一個人在乎，一個人會再回來.
如果一個人在乎，一個人會再回來.
If one cares, one will come back.
Photography by Maria Mak BurnabyRealtor
www.mariamak.com
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Maria Mak.Burnaby Realtor - Seattle
Maria Mak.Burnaby Realtor
- Seattle
Photography by Maria Mak
www.mariamak.com
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Maria Mak.Burnaby Realtor - Seattle Underground Tour
- Seattle Underground Tour
www.mariamak.com
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor @ Pike Place Market, Seattle
@ Pike Place Market, Seattle
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor in Victoria
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor
in Victoria.
Photography by
Maria Mak BurnabyRealtor
www.mariamak.com
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor @ Eagle Aerie Gallery -Roy Henry Vickers,Tofino
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor
@ Eagle Aerie Gallery -Roy Henry Vickers, Tofino
www.mariamak.com
Friday, August 22, 2014
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Maria Mak. Buranby Realtor - Three Canadian cities — Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary — have been named as some of the best places to live in the world, according to a report by The Economist.
Three Canadian cities — Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary — have been named as some of the best places to live in the world, according to a report by The Economist.
In the annual poll, the magazine’s Intelligence Unit ranked Vancouver as the third most livable city in the world; followed by Toronto at number four, and Calgary tied for fifth place with Adelaide, Australia.
Melbourne, Australia topped the list of 140 cities for the fourth year in a row, with Vienna, Austria coming in second overall.
The Economist ranks the cities on 30 factors across various categories, including stability, health care, culture, environment, education and infrastructure.
Rounding out the top 10 were Sydney, Australia, Helsinki, Finland, Perth, Australia, and Auckland, New Zealand.
The report noted the world’s most livable cities were often mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with low population density.
“This can foster a range of recreational activities without leading to high crime levels or overburdened infrastructure,” said the report. “Eight of the top 10 scoring cities are in Australia and Canada, with population densities of 2.88 and 3.40 people per square kilometres respectively.”
It also pointed out that although crime rates may be on the rise in some of the top-tier cities, it wasn’t in the case in all the top 10 cities. Vancouver was an example where crime has been steadily decreasing after the city hit a decade-long record for homicide rates in 2012.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, human rights violations and conflict were responsible for many of the reasons for the bottom 10 cities on the list.
Damascus, Syria was ranked the least livable city in the world, preceded by Dhaka, Bangladesh, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, Lagos, Nigeria and Karachi, Pakistan.
“Conflict is responsible for many of the lowest scores. This is not only because stability indicators have the highest single scores, but also because factors defining stability spread to have an adverse effect on other categories,” said the report.
“For example, conflict will not just cause disruption in its own right, it will also damage infrastructure, overburden hospitals, and undermine the availability of goods,services and recreational activities.”
Top 10 Most Liveable Cities
1. Melbourne, Australia
2. Vienna, Austria
3. Vancouver, Canada
4. Toronto, Canada
5. Adelaide, Australia
6. Calgary, Canada
7. Sydney, Australia
8. Helsinki, Finland
9. Perth, Australia
10. Auckland, New Zealand
The Bottom 10
131. Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire
132. Tripoli, Libya
133. Douala, Cameroon
134. Harare, Zimbabwe
135. Algiers, Algeria
136. Karachi, Pakistan
137. Lagos, Nigeria
138. Port Moreby, Papua New Guinea
139. Dhaka, Bangladesh
140. Damascus, Syria
© Copyright (c) THE CANADIAN PRESS
Photography by
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor
www.mariamak.com
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Maria Mak.Burnaby Realtor - 50 ways to green your home
| Location | Office |  | ||
| Home improvement | Yard improvement | |||
| Water | Green and clean | |||
| Lighting | Living green | |||
| Kitchen | Financing | |||
| Bathroom | Resources |
Location |
1. Green neighbourhoods |
| Buy a home in a neighbourhood close to work, transit, shopping, community centres and other services. |
2. Transit-oriented density |
| New, compact, complete green neighbourhoods are being built with transit as their focus. Instead of owning a car, join a car share cooperative, take transit, cycle or walk. |
3. Score your location |
| Walkable neighbourhoods offer health, environmental, financial and community benefits. Enter your address or the address of a home you want to buy at www.walkscore.com. This tool calculates a walkability score based on the home’s proximity to transit, grocery stores, schools and other amenities. |
4. Lower-cost luxury |
| If it’s features such as a gym or pool you want, buy a strata unit with these amenities and share costs. |
| Back to top |
Home improvement |
5. You choose, you save |
| BC Hydro and FortisBC offer a variety of incentive and rebate programs for home upgrades and rebates. |
6. Install a high-efficiency heating system |
| Make sure it’s ENERGY STAR rated. |
7. Weatherize your home |
| From windows to doors to insulation and weather stripping. Don’t forget to seal your ducts. |
8. Insulate your pipes |
| It will prevent costly heat loss. Here’s how. |
9. Insulate your hot water heater |
| Buy a pre-cut jacket or blanket for $10–$20. You’ll save up to 10% on heating costs. Learn more. |
10. Install a programmable thermostat |
| Set it lower at night and during the day when you’re away. Lower the temperature. Each degree below 20C saves you 3-5% on heating costs. |
11. Replace your furnace filter |
| This optimizes performance, as clogged filters reduce airflow, forcing your furnace to work harder. |
12. Get the most from your fireplace |
| Here's how to make it efficient. |
13. Use curtains |
| In the daytime during summer, close to help cool your home. Learn more. |
14. Use an electric fan |
| Skip the air conditioning. On hot summer days, place a bowl of ice in front of a fan to cool down. |
15. Install ceilings fans |
| The energy it takes to run a fan is less than an air conditioner. In summer, make sure the fan’s blades are rotating anti-clockwise for a cooling effect. In winter, the fan should be running clockwise, pushing the warm air down. Learn more. |
| Back to top |
Water |
16. Fix leaks, fix leaking taps |
| One drop per second equals 7,000 litres of water wasted per year. Learn more. |
17. Install a filter |
| Stop buying costly bottled water which adds to the landfill. |
Lighting |
18. Change your light bulbs |
| Lighting accounts for 15% of your energy bill. Replace old bulbs with ENERGY STAR rated bulbs. |
19. Motion detector lights |
| Turn lights off outside when not in use. |
20. Keep it dark |
| Light pollution is an increasing problem. Turn off outdoor lights to save energy and encourage night life such as bats and frogs. A single bat can eat tens of thousands of mosquitoes nightly. If you have safety concerns, use motion detector lights – which come on, only as needed. |
21. Holiday lights |
| Use LED lights. |
Kitchen |
22. Replace your fridge |
| An old energy guzzling fridge costs you about $90 a year to operate. Replace it with an ENERGY STAR fridge. BC Hydro will also not only come and pick up your old fridge free of charge, they’ll give you $30. |
23. Replace your freezer |
| Buy an ENERGY STAR freezer and save money with lower operating costs. |
| Back to top |
Bathroom |
24. Low flow shower |
| Hot water accounts for 25% of your energy costs. Showers can be the largest single contributor to overall hot water use in a home, accounting for 15% of total household energy use. Save with a low-flow showerhead. |
25. High efficiency of dual flush toilets |
| These are now required in new homes because of water savings. |
Office |
26. Use smart strips |
| Also known as power bars, this lets you power off all equipment at the same time. |
27. Buy energy smart electronics |
| Buy energy smart electronics and save. |
28. Recycle your old electronics |
| Here's how. |
| Back to top |
Yard improvement |
29. Conserve water |
| Fresh water comprises just 3% the world’s total water supply, so conserve. Get a rain barrel and harvest water you can use in your garden. Local governments such as Coquitlam and Richmond will subsidize the cost. |
30. Less lawn and low-maintenance lawns |
| Lawns waste water. Instead, conserve and beautify using indigenous plants such as ferns, tiger lilies and hostas. Or try a low-maintenance lawn that is made up of a diverse mix of hardy, drought-tolerant, slow-growing turf grasses, that require less mowing, fertilizing and watering than conventional lawn species. |
31. Elbow grease |
| Don’t power wash your driveway. Sweep it or use a scrub brush and pail. |
32. Drip irrigation |
| It saves water compared to sprinklers. |
33. Grow your own |
| How much more will you spend on food this year? Even a few miniature fruit trees and a small vegetable garden in a raised bed or in containers on your deck will help keep you healthy and save you dollars. Lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries and blueberries thrive in our climate. Learn more. |
34. Preserve your poduce |
| Invest in home canning jars and equipment and a small freezer and enjoy your produce year round – at considerable savings. Here’s how. |
35. Bee friendly |
| We need bees to pollinate, so plant a few bee-friendly annuals such as asters, marigolds, sunflowers, zinnias; or perennials such as clematis, foxgloves, hollyhocks, roses or shrubs such as Buddleia. Consider becoming an urban bee keeper, some municipalities like Vancouver allow bee keeping in your backyard. |
36. Go chemical-free |
| “Get rid of weeds without using chemicals that harm us and our pets,” advises REALTOR® and Richmond City counselor, Derek Dang, who led the way to a bylaw banning cosmetic pesticides. His suggestion, “Use dish detergent or weed by hand.” |
37. Plant fruit trees |
| They’ll give you shade and fruit. Growing guide. |
38. Compost |
| It will make your garden grow and divert waste from the landfill. |
| Back to top |
Green and clean |
39. Clean green |
| Vinegar, baking soda and lemons clean as well as expensive, chemical-filled cleaning supplies for a fraction of the cost. |
40. Upgrade your washing machine |
| Replace your old washing machine with an ENERGY STAR washer that gets clothes clean using cold water. Wait until you have a full load instead of washing clothes as you need them. Clean the lint trap of your dryer after every use. |
41. Green laundry detergent |
| Use phosphate-free, biodegradable detergent. |
42. Install a clothesline |
| Dryers use a large amount of energy. |
43. Get a rack |
| If your neighbourhood or strata prohibits clotheslines, buy a small drying rack. |
Living Green |
44. Recycle |
| Recycling keeps materials that can be recovered (paper, glass, metals, plastics, food etc) out of the landfills; and in the case of organics like paper, food, yard waste, it significantly reduces greenhouse gases from landfills. Learn more. |
45. Buy local |
| Buy local, organic and fair trade food. Your food doesn’t travel long distances, you support local farmers and the local economy and you consume less pesticides. |
46. Don't use paper or plastic |
| Use cloth bags when you shop or reuse your plastic bags |
47. Backyard chickens and bees |
| Become involved in your own food production, raise chickens for their eggs or bees for their honey in your backyard. |
| Back to top |
Financing |
48. Borrow green |
| Most financial institutions offer “green” mortgages, including: • BMO Eco Smart Mortgage offers home buyers preferred interest rates on qualifying green properties. • RBC Energy Saver™ Mortgage gives home buyers a $300 rebate for a home energy audit and preferred interest rates. • Vancity offers a Bright Ideas Home Renovation Loan at prime +1% to home buyers and owners making green renovations. • CMHC offers a 10% Mortgage Loan Premium refund and possible extended amortization for buyers purchasing an energy-efficient mortgage or making energy saving renovations. |
49. Loan programs |
| Pay-as-you-Save (PAYS) loan program will help home owners and businesses finance energy efficiency improvements through a loan from BC Hydro or FortisBC. Pilot programs starting in November 2012 in certain BC locations. |
Resources |
50. Green Tool Kit |
| BC Real Estate Association’s Green Tool Kit provides information, references and links. It also provides comprehensive information on rebates and incentives. |
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor - Home buyers continue to slightly outpace sellers, but not by much
The Greater Vancouver housing market continues to see slightly elevated demand from home buyers, steady levels of supply from home sellers and incremental gains in home values depending on the area and property type.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver reached 3,061 on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in July 2014. This represents a 3.9 per cent increase compared to the 2,946 sales recorded in July 2013, and a 10.1 per cent decline compared to the 3,406 sales in June 2014.
“This is the fourth consecutive month that the Greater Vancouver market has exceeded 3,000 sales,” Darcy McLeod, REBGV president-elect said. “Prior to this, our market had not surpassed the 3,000 sale mark since June of 2011.”
Last month’s sales were 3.8 per cent above the 10-year sales average for July of 2,948.
The MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver* is currently $628,600. This represents a 4.4 per cent increase compared to July 2013.
“Today’s activity continues to put Metro Vancouver in the upper reaches of a balanced real estate market,” McLeod said.
The sales-to-active-listings ratio currently sits at 19.6 per cent in Metro Vancouver. This ratio has ranged between 18 and 20 per cent over the last four months.
New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Metro Vancouver totalled 4,925 in July. This represents a 1.5 per cent increase compared to the 4,854 new listings in July 2013 and a 7.8 per cent decline from the 5,339 new listings in June.
The total number of properties currently listed for sale on the MLS® system in Metro Vancouver is 15,617, a six per cent decline compared to July 2013 and a 2.5 per cent decrease compared to June 2014.
Sales of detached properties in July 2014 reached 1,322, an increase of 5.8 per cent from the 1,249 detached sales recorded in July 2013, and a 68 per cent increase from the 787 units sold in July 2012. The benchmark price for detached properties increased 6.5 per cent from July 2013 to $980,500.
Sales of apartment properties reached 1,212 in July 2014, an increase of 0.2 per cent compared to the 1,210 sales in July 2013, and a 30.7 per cent increase compared to the 927 sales in July 2012. The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 2.2 per cent from July 2013 to $376,500.
Attached property sales in July 2014 totalled 527, an 8.2 per cent increase compared to the 487 sales in July 2013, and a 37.2 per cent increase over the 384 attached properties sold in July 2012. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 3.4 per cent between July 2013 and 2014 to $472,400.
* Areas covered by Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver include: Whistler, Sunshine Coast, Squamish, West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, Richmond, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam, New Westminster, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, and South Delta.
The real estate industry is a key economic driver in British Columbia. In 2013, 28,524 homes changed ownership in the Board’s area, generating $1.84 billion in economic spin-off activity and 13,977 jobs. The total dollar value of residential sales transacted through the MLS® system in Greater Vancouver totalled $22 billion in 2013.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver is an association representing more than 11,000 REALTORS® and their companies. The Board provides a variety of member services, including the Multiple Listing Service®. For more information on real estate, statistics, and buying or selling a home, contact a local REALTOR® or visit www.rebgv.org.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor @ Museum of Anthropology UBC
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor
@ Museum of Anthropology UBC
www.mariamak.com
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor - a place of no return
Have all your sufferings been sympathized ?
Have all your smiles been shared ?
Have all your stories been heard ?
Have all your songs been sung?
You may not know me by name ,
But I know you by heart ,
Would you count the happy days just for me ?
We will go home together real soon!
Photography and written by Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor
Maria Mak – Burnaby Real Estate Agent - so long as you are thinking you are listening to music ...
I
I
“The real reason why human life can be so utterly exasperating and frustrating is not because there are facts called death, pain, fear, or hunger. The madness of the thing is that when such facts are present, we circle, buzz, writhe, and whirl, trying to get the “I” out of the experience.
We pretend that we are amoebas, and try to protect ourselves from life by splitting in two. Sanity, wholeness, and integration lie in the realization that we are not divided, that man and his present experience are one, and that no separate “I” or mind can be found.
To understand music, you must listen to it. But so long as you are thinking, “I am listening to this music,” you are not listening.”
- Alan Watts
Friday, August 15, 2014
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor - dancing on the bun
* Dancing on the bun *
Counting 3...2...1,
Stepping 1...2...3,
Swirling around the money bun,
Dancing on the yummy bun,
Bunny bun fun ,
Funny bun bun!!
Photography and written by Maria Mak
Sutton Centre Realty
www.mariamak.com
Monday, August 4, 2014
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor @ BoatHouse restaurant with her real estate clients
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor
@ BoatHouse Restaurant with her
Real Estate clients .
www.mariamak.com
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor - how many seven seas
How many seven seas a man have sailed before he can claim himself a true sailor?
Photography and written by
Maria Mak. Burnaby Realtor @ www.mariamak.com
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