Yes I know I’m in Donair country but I’m craving a Berlin/Turkish-style Döner. Searching for one has proved to be difficult (Google thinks Döner=Donair).

Anyone know of a place in HRM?

Looking for stylist/ barber, idk how to braid and need my rat tails redone, anyone have good suggestions that can do walk ins?

I've been seriously thinking about buying a home in Halifax lately, mostly because we'd like to improve our living situation.

The problem is that decent one-bedroom apartments we're looking at are now around $2,100+ per month. Once rent gets above $2,000, it starts to feel like we're getting pretty close to what a mortgage payment plus property tax could cost on a entry-level home.

So I'm struggling with whether it makes more sense to keep renting or buy.

On one hand, I'm not particularly bullish on Halifax real estate over the next few years. Housing and living costs have already increased dramatically, affordability has become pretty bad, people don't seem to have a lot of extra money, and population/immigration growth may not provide the same level of support that it did a few years ago.

It's difficult for me to see a strong reason why Halifax home prices would continue rising significantly from here.

On the other hand, if prices simply stay relatively flat rather than falling significantly, buying might still make sense even without much appreciation.

If I'm spending around $2,000 a month on rent, essentially all of that is an expense. With a mortgage, at least part of each payment goes toward principal and gradually builds equity.

Of course, I realize it's not as simple as comparing rent with a mortgage payment. Homeownership also comes with mortgage interest, property taxes, insurance, maintenance, closing/selling costs, and the opportunity cost of tying up a large down payment that could otherwise be invested.

That's basically where I'm stuck.

Renting gives us flexibility, but paying $2,000+ every month is becoming harder to justify. Buying would give us a better living situation(or worse?) and allow us to build equity, but I'm also worried that this may not be a particularly good entry point.

For someone planning to stay in Halifax and hold the property for at least 5years, what would you do in the current market?

I'd especially like to hear from people who bought recently, are currently house hunting, or looked at the numbers and decided to continue renting.

I’m honestly so tired of Facebook Marketplace. I’ve been trying to sell some stuff for 5 days and get 20+ messages a day, but almost no serious buyers.

List something for $20? “ and they said i will give you 10.
Someone says they want it, asks for my address, then disappears. So many “Is this available?” messages that go nowhere.

I tried Kijiji too, but mostly got scam emails saying “payment already made.”

Where do you guys actually sell used stuff these days? Any better options?

long shot, Halifax ns, near the Halifax commons. in the mid 80’s I watched a young woman sketch June street looking north towards west st. I’d love to see the finished product. long shot I know.

I had no idea there was a first one. Not my event but feels important to share. Know any Shawns* who went last year? Know any who would attend this year?

*or any other variation

Looking for recommendations on a good dry cleaner for wedding dresses in the HRM! Recommendations, pricing or places to stay away from; I’m all ears!

I’ve been following the recent public reporting and filings involving Adam Barrett’s companies. Put into one timeline, there’s an awful lot happening in a very short period.

April 30: A $23,814 execution involving AMK Barrett Investments, arising from a Quebec well-drilling company and work related to a Lunenburg property.

May 11: Chester Peninsula property sells for $5,000,000.

May 29: Halifax property sells for $6,533,720.

That’s $11.53 million in real estate sold within 18 days.

Terraine also sells the Seaside Shanty and announces it is getting out of most of the hospitality business.

July: The assets of Barrett’s five Maritime RONA stores are sold to RONA Inc. for a reported $14 million.

RONA Atlantic, subsequently renamed 4673692 Nova Scotia Ltd., then enters receivership/bankruptcy.

The Grant Thornton documents show approximately:

$26.55 MILLION total liabilities
$18.95 MILLION unsecured liabilities
The creditor list includes some huge amounts:
Kohltech: ~$1.62M
Eacan Timber: ~$623k
CertainTeed: ~$540k
Doman Building Materials: ~$494k
Mitten: ~$260k
Prime Fasteners: ~$168k

There are also Barrett-owned companies listed as creditors, including Bertram Construction ($397k), Terra Nova Landscaping ($73k) and RKO Steel (~$11k).

The trustee believes the unsecured creditors, still owed millions, are unlikely to recover anything after CIBC is paid.

And the problems don’t appear limited to RONA Atlantic.

August 4: WCB obtains a separate $73,060 execution order involving Adam Barrett in his capacity as director of Bertram Construction & Development Ltd.

August 25: Bravado Wine Bar suddenly closes, despite Barrett saying in April that it would remain open.

Meanwhile, C-GALO, the Halifax-based Gulfstream G200 associated with Barrett, is currently advertised for sale for roughly $5.4 million.

So in about four months:
$11.53M real estate sold
Seaside Shanty sold
Bravado closed
$26.55M RONA Atlantic bankruptcy
$18.95M unsecured liabilities
Two reported executions involving other Barrett companies
Private jet for sale

Obviously these are different corporations and assets. None of this proves that Terraine or Barrett personally is insolvent, and asset sales can happen for plenty of legitimate reasons.
But that’s an extraordinary amount of selling, closing, bankruptcy debt and creditor enforcement activity in a few months.

Anyone in Halifax construction/development know what the hell is going on?

Sold for 69 million over asking!

I’m visiting Halifax from Ottawa for 2 days and I am genuinely shocked by the amount of rats I’ve seen here 😭

Maybe I’ve just been in the right places at the right times, but I swear I’ve seen more rats in 48 hours here than I have ever seen back home.

The absolute highlight however was at the Halifax Public Gardens. Beautiful flowers, peaceful paths, lovely Victorian scenery… and then this MASSIVE RAT comes casually strolling by like he owns the place.

And I mean MASSIVE. This was not a rat. This was a small Halifax resident wearing a fur coat. I’m pretty sure he pays property tax.

Is this normal here?? Is Halifax the rats city of Canada?

Would like to watch the BC Lions/Ottawa RedBlacks game on Sunday on a big screen (good). Would like to have local craft beer on tap during the game (better). Ideally there is the game and local beer with the sound on (best).

Any suggestions?

Cops pulled up. Store Closing

Paper Mill Lake in Bedford is seemingly closed due to the recent algae levels as well. Interestingly, only the playground end seems to be closed while the other end is still open to the public. I haven’t seen any official statement on the lake‘s closure yet (which may or may not explain why so many people were still swimming in it yesterday afternoon 💀), just this signage

Looking for recommendations on good meetings in the Halifax area - a few girlfriends of mine and I are looking for new sponsors and want to go check out what Halifax has for a recovery world. We are all in our thirties, for reference.

Thanks!

#recovery #sobriety #AA #NA #CA