Cliff Barron from RE/MAX here with my update for March 28th to April 3rd, for Milton, Georgetown, and Glen Williams. Before I get there, instead of doing a little story like I've been doing recently about my years in the biz, and dumb stuff I've come across over the years, I'm going to talk about... sump pumps - about basement flooding.  It's one of my favorite topics. On the weekend, I had people over for Easter and I couldn't wait to tell them about sump pumps. It's a passion of mine - what can I say? 

So, if you live in Halton (not as much in Mississauga), Halton Hills, Milton, and you go into your basement, most of the time you'll see a round, two foot diameter cover. That cover is covering a sump. And a sump is basically a hole in the ground that is dug by the builder. It's kind of like a well, where it collects water. Water comes in from the around the foundation, hits the membrane on the wall of the foundation, and then it goes underneath the foundation and slowly starts to seep up. The theory is that the hole in the ground will collect that water. But, over time, that water has to be expelled from the house, and that's what the sump pump is for. The sump pump will go off. There's a black PVC pipe that drives the water - the water goes through that pipe into the the side yard, and then does its thing on the grass. 

Occasionally, it doesn't work that way. I've done lots of deals, and I've seen my share of wet basements over the years and I can say, without a doubt, the majority of those basement floodings are not caused by cracks, which people think they are. It's not.  It's the sump pump, and it's basically because the sump pump has stopped working.  All the water has has risen up and risen up and risen up and overflowed. And the thing is with the sump pump is people don't realize it's not working anymore. So the sump pump, like I said, is designed to expel the water out of the house and a lot of times people say, "Oh, my sump pump's going off all the time." That is because it's putting the water out, the grading of the property is sloping towards the house and the water is just coming right back in again. And sometimes, if that happens enough, it'll start to go through the foundation, or above the membrane on the outside and start to actually seep in through the walls.  That's where you get your leak. That's one of them. 

The other thing is - the most popular one - is when the sump just doesn't work. And a lot of people, they don't go into their basement a lot, you know, they're in there once every two weeks or so and they don't even realize that their sump pump has stopped working. So, here's a tip for you. When you're replacing your furnace filter, which is supposed to be every- they say three months - but if you're doing it every month or so, I recommend this: you get a big jug of water, you go into your basement, you pull up your sump cover, you pour the jug of water in, and then you pull up on the straight, metal lever that holds a float at the bottom - pull up on the float, let it go, and you'll hear the sump pump discharge. And if it works, if it's discharging fine, then that's great. But that's one thing you've got to do, because if it's not going off regularly, it's going to seize over time, and then that's when you find out the hard way that it's not working anymore. 

There's also a battery backup that you can think of as well. Well, not necessarily battery backup, just a backup system that if this sump fails, the new one will kick in and take over. But, like I said, every month, when you're changing your filter on your furnace, go down and put a jug of water in there, and test out your sump pump just to make sure it's working, and to keep it lubricated and used to working. So, that's my little tip. I think it's a pretty good one, too, because, you know, that's the majority of leaks in the basement are sump pumps. And if it's going off all the time, don't be alarmed too much, but be careful, because it might burn out, if it's going off too often. But, it usually just means you're on a high point on the property - but also check your pipe.  If it is coming right back in again, extend your pipe outside, because there's a chance it's going off over and over again because the water is coming back in again, so, do that, extend your pipe to a low area, and get it expelled to a low area, and out of your house and out of your foundation. Okay, so that's it. That's my little tip for sump pumps. I love sump pumps, like I said. 

So, anyways, to get to the sales from Milton March 28th to April 3rd.  Detached, check this out - $1.572M on average, 36 sales.  That's the highest I've ever seen. I can feel it slowing.  The number of showings are going down, but the prices are still crazy. 4 semis, $948k on average. 31 townhouses, $880k on average. In the old detached, in the older part of Milton, 3 sales over a million, $1.36M on average, which you know, that's getting up there as well. Then, when it comes to condos, there were 10 sales of condos, $570k, that's about the same, hasn't really shifted much. And then there were two sales of condo towns at $737k on average. So, Milton's still rocking away. It's still doing well for now, that's for sure.

Getting to Georgetown and Glen Williams. It's been really, really busy. A lot of listings, a lot of sales. 18 detached, this is in the two story range, and the average, almost $1.4M. That's pretty high. Older detached, 10 sales, $908k on average. 2 semis sold, $938k on average. Those are older semis, as well. And then 1 townhouse sold for $903k. 1 condo townhouse sold for $510k, just off of Stewart Maclaren, so they tend to go, you know, $500k on the low end, $657k on the high end, if they're two story, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, finished basement, really well done. 

So, that's it for my update. If you have any questions just shoot me a text, an email, whatever you like, and if you have any sump pump questions, let me know. All right, I'll talk to you soon, take care.