Scott Leaf Realtor - Maple Ridge, Pitt Lake & Tri-Cities Real Estate

Real Estate in Maple Ridge 5 Bedroom Home on Large Lot For Sale

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:57:57 -0600

CLICK HERE if You Want to Look at homes in Maple Ridge, Coquitlam, Vancouver & the Fraser Valley area!

12314 Fletcher Street, Maple Ridge, British Columbia

Updated basement entry on 8120 sqft lot, R.V. parking. Features 5 bedrms, new 5pc main bath, refinished hardwood, new carpet & linoleum, new furnace, new kitchen, fridge & stove, light fixtures, 2 F/P, new deck, rail & paint. Large sundeck features Natural Gas BBQ connection.

your Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and surrounding areas Realtor

Situated on the shores of the mighty Fraser River and nestled against the Coast Mountains, Maple Ridge is a mecca of adventure for the outdoor enthusiast. Located 45 kilometers east of Vancouver, it is a progressive community well-known for its beautiful countryside and spectacular scenery. It is a community of urban sophistication that retains a sense of rural charm.

3 Bedroom home on Greenbelt in Maple Ridge's Albion neighborhood for sale

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:38:59 -0600

CLICK HERE if You Want to Look at homes in the Vancouver & Fraser Valley area!

Lightly lived Maple Ridge home, 3 bedroom with an unfinished basement on Greenbelt, walking distance to Albion Elementary & SRT High School. Situated on a quiet street, off the beaten path in a very family oriented neighbourhood. This ready to move in home in the eastern Maple Ridge area of Albion has room for a growing family & a basement you can custom finish for an extra bedroom and/or your dream media room. Double garage gets your car off the street & a chain link fenced yard keeps the young kids and/or pets under control. Featuring a large open kitchen with island & pantry. The basement is a blank canvas awaiting your inspiration to be finished. Home in great shape, come see! Offered for sale by Maple Ridge Realtor Scott Leaf of Keller Williams Elite Realty.

10006 - 240A Street, Maple Ridge, BC

your Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and surrounding areas Realtor

8 Story High Zip Line over Downtown Vancouver - You gotta check this out!

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:41:08 -0600

CLICK HERE if You Want to Look at homes in the Vancouver & Fraser Valley area!

What is the Olympic Experience? Ambiguous at best but unforgettable for sure. The Olympic experience is seeing your city as you have never seen it before. Standing at the normally busiest intersection in the city and watching street performers, taking in all the pavilions, both corporate and nationalistic but check out this unforgettable Olympic Experience!

Poised 8 stories above the centre of the Downtown core of Vancouver, over top of the Robson Square media centre and ice rink is the Vancouver Zip Line! Imagine flying over a crowd of thousands on a 30 second ride of your life and ending up over beside the Vancouver Art Gallery! What a ride!!!

I spoke with one of the staff manning it yesterday and he told me that the people riding at about 4pm had been lined up since 9am that morning for this Free Experience. There has been a call heard in the news media that this amazing experience might just need to be another Olympic Legacy that should be kept.

Get your butt out the door from your comfortable perch in Maple Ridge real estate, and come feel the Olympic Experience!

your Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and surrounding areas Realtor

Maple Ridge Homes Marketed with Movies...take that Virtual Tours!

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:07:43 -0600

CLICK HERE if You Want to Look at homes in the Vancouver & Fraser Valley area!

There is a disturbing trend in the Real Estate industry to cheap out and cobble a bunch of photographs together using something that resembles a glorified PowerPoint presentation.

Most people know that the number one search engine in the World is Google but what they dont realize is that the #2 search engine is YouTube, guess who owns YouTube? GOOGLE DOES!

Google loves Video and hates Virtual Tour photo essays, if you are a Realtor and you are not using video you might as well completely go old school and show properties with a horse and buggy!

We have all homes professionally photographed in Wide Angle as well as the movie which can also be used to show neighborhood context such as schools, transit, views etc! Buyer's like photos but they love Video!

If you are selling Real Estate in the Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam, Port Moody or Mission areas do not settle for inferior marketing, give us a call.

your Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and surrounding areas Realtor

XXI Winter Olympiad in Vancouver only hours away!

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:09:26 -0600

CLICK HERE if You Want to Look at homes in the Vancouver & Fraser Valey area!

Opening Ceremonies 6PM Pacific - 9PM Eastern

Almost 10 years of planning, bid winning, organizing & venue building will all be put to the test in the largest sporting event ever attempted in Canada as Vancouver/Whistler host the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The venues look spectacular! The speed skating oval in Richmond is beautiful, a triumph of engineering and a legacy that will give back to the community for decades to come. Whistler has snow, snow, snow! The downhill events will be a go at the world's #1 Ski Resort on terrain that has to be seen to believed.

Canada holds it's breath for Hockey, Men's and Women's! The stakes are so high tickets to the mens gold medal final have reportedly sold for $30,000 a ticket on resale. The Nordic centre in the Callaghan Valley is also one of the worlds most spectacular facilities for these sports.

The Bobsled track is the world's fastest and many world records are expected to be shattered with 70-80 MPH speeds being reported.

The downtown core of Vancouver is a buzz in festival regalia with pavillions from many nations of the world showcasing their nations, the city is cleaner then normal, almost sparkling.

Now the buzz on the Opening Ceremonies tomorrow afternoon, a little bird has told me that we can expect Bryan Adams doing a duet with Nelly Furtado, K.D. Lang singing an emotional version of Halelujah and also a performance by North shore resident Sarah McLaughlin.

The rumour is that Canadian hockey great Wayne Gretzky will be the last torch bearer and alight the Olympic cauldron.

Let the party begin, the nightly fireworks started tonight and were everything you would expect of an Olympian event.

your Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and surrounding areas Realtor

Winter Olympic Torch Run visited Maple Ridge, British Columbia today

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:59:04 -0600

CLICK HERE if You Want to Look at homes!<

This morning, grudgingly in order to appease my 10 year old daughter, I fell out of bed at around 5:30 AM in order that I could drive her to the official Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch run through Maple Ridge, British Columbia real estate on its way to Vancouver where it will arrive in the 4 days time after winding through Greater Vancouver.

I like the Olympics but I don't like 5:30 AM, none the less I really enjoyed the ceremony. Olivia and I were so close to the flame we felt the heat from it on our faces as the runner ran up to the stage at Maple Ridge's Peace Park.

We arrived just in time to secure right upfront position very near the cenotaph, literally inches from the torch runner. Thousands converged at this early hour, and all joined in on an inspiring 'Oh Canada' as the torch ran up to the stage.

My daughter made me very proud by maning to catch this amazing up close picture of the torch in mid runner's stride, he was really moving and we were very close. It would have been a tough shot for me! I was working the Flip Camera and below is a short video montage of the event to. I hope you enjoy it wherever you are in the World from metropolitan Vancouver/Whistler, British Columbia, home of the XXI Winter Olympiad in only 4 days!

your Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and surrounding areas Realtor

Considering Selling in Maple Ridge? Get a Free Market Evaluation

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 02:12:38 -0600

CLICK HERE if You Want to Look at homes!

Thinking of selling your Maple Ridge home in 2010?

We offer a no cost, no obligation Market Evaulation of your home to help get you started on your journey of moving up, moving away or downsizing.

Maple Ridge listings are in big demand in January 2010, listing counts are lowbut expected to rise towards Spring. Consider listing your home today and avoid competing with the usual, yearly spat of new listings that occur each and every Spring.

There are so many Buyers right now waiting for homes to become available in Maple Ridge that homes are selling quite quickly when priced correctly.

Call me anytime, directly: Scott Leaf 604-839-8239

your Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and surrounding areas Realtor

Enough's enough, Google threatens to pull the plug in China

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:23:04 -0600

The Blog Post that Could Change the World

The single largest business event of this young year was announced yesterday by Internet mega-company Google in that they are demanding an end to censorship of the web in China or they will pull the plug on google.cn.

Google's own blog at http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html is claiming that Google search engines as well as 20 other well known companies were the target of a sophisticated cyber attack originating from China in mid December 2009. Google says that the difference between this attack and the regularly occuring types of cyber attacks that companies like Google face all the time was that it targeted the names and private information of Human Rights protesters.

"...we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective. Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves.

Third, as part of this investigation but independent of the attack on Google, we have discovered that the accounts of dozens of U.S.-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties. These accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users' computers." -Official Google Blog

My already high impression of Google as a company has gone up substantially, who would have thought that Free Enterprise and a Corporate giant like Google could be the impetus for change in China and actually put it's money where it's mouth is? I have read that China accounts for 12% of Google's revenues. When you are talking about billions of dollars a year in income 12% is in the multiple 100's of millions of dollars!

"These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

The decision to review our business operations in China has been incredibly hard, and we know that it will have potentially far-reaching consequences. We want to make clear that this move was driven by our executives in the United States, without the knowledge or involvement of our employees in China who have worked incredibly hard to make Google.cn the success it is today. We are committed to working responsibly to resolve the very difficult issues raised." -Official Google Blog

We take for granted here in the West our ability to write pretty much whatever we want on forums such as this. This very Blog article is probably banned in China as is the piece that is quoted. Good Luck Google and thank you for doing a very costly 'Right Thing'.

your Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and surrounding areas Realtor

Olympic Torch Relay Schedule for Maple Ridge - February 8th

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:48:21 -0600

CLICK HERE if You Want to Look at homes!

February 8th is the big day when the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay runs through Maple Ridge real estate. Join the Community Celebration as the Olympic Flame passes through Maple Ridge in the morning of Monday, February 8. Celebrations will take place at Memorial Peace Park beginning at 6:15 am and runs until 8:00 am. An official ceremony, entertainment, Spirit of Wood unveiling, and free continental breakfast will be provided followed by "try-it" sport demonstrations. Due to rolling road closures and congestion around the celebration site the community is encouraged to walk or cycle to the event. Commuters should allow additional travel time to reach their destination. Please note that parking will be restricted in the downtown area.

The posted approximate start time is for the torch to arrive at Telosky Hill (Thomas Haney Secondary) at 7:06 am, winding through town until 8:13 am when it enters Pitt Meadows.

The torch is scheduled to leave Mission at 6:44am from about Wren and Lougheed, it would not be humanly possible to run it from there to Telosky in 20 minutes so it seems there will not be opportunities along the route through Ruskin, Whonnock or Albion to see much more then a convoy drive by until the arrival in the downtown core.

Official Olympic Torch Relay Site

your Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and surrounding areas Realtor

Vancouver Gets Ready to Host the World - 15 Days till Winter Olympiad

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:08:47 -0600

CLICK HERE if You Want to Look at homes!

Years of planning, organizing and construction will be put to the test in 2 weeks as the worlds top Winter atheletes converge in the jewel of the West Coast, which has never looked better, Vancouver. All over Greater Vancouver from Maple Ridge to Richmond the anticipation mounts!

The Olympic venues look spectacular and the atheletes will impress but what most visitors do not realize is the sheer beauty of Vancouver British Columbia. Wedged between the Pacific Ocean and the Coast Mountains you really can go from Sea to Sky in just a few minutes.

This spectaular time lapse video of Vancouver scenes really does showcase the city in our Winter, not the type of Winter most Americans might think we experience I might add. Enjoy this treasure and see you at Vancouver 2010!

your Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and surrounding areas Realtor

Google vs China - The Truth is Stranger then Fiction

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:49:33 -0600

Anonymous, yet plausible postings have surfaced that bring to light some insight into what may have transpired to force Google to take such a strong stand and tell the Chinese Communist Party to 'shove it'.

It seems that the leading theory is that the Communist Party inserted engineer spies into the Shanghai offices of Google. This has been extrapolated from the following sequence of events:

When Google headquarters announced their withdrawal from China, they immediately canceled the rights of all Chinese engineers to access the servers on which their program code resided. The engineers only found out when they showed up for work that they could not longer enter the home page of their server. There was no pre-notification. Many people were halfway through their coding when they were frozen out. They will have to wait for weeks when they are transferred to the United States before they can continue to write.

If Google had planned to leave beforehand, why would they do this? They could have continued to let the workers work and clean up. For example, the Chinese company does Google Music differently than the US (music.google.cn and music.google.com). If Chinese Google Music is canceled, the Chinese engineers can do the code migration.

But all Chinese engineers were placed on paid leave while that work is being taken over by foreigners.

Why did Google suddenly distrust its Chinese team? After all, they developed their own codes and they should be more efficient in making the migration. The only reason is that the Chinese Communist Party must have inserted special agents inside Google (specifically in the Shanghai office of Google).

The truth of the matter is that this person was sent by the Chinese Communist Party. After being hired by Google, this person copied down the critical program code and handed it over the the Chinese Communist Party. The purpose of this action was to gain access to the email of the "human rights organizations." Google's official statement noted this.

The flaws of the Gmail system became exposed. Google could not officially acknowledge this, or else their reputation would suffer internationally. All Google could do was to stop all work in China. All engineers in China were not allowed to access the program code server. Then they seized the opportunity to correct their Gmail code over the next few days.

So the whole truth is simply this emergency incident. You can read the original Google statement. It was written in haste, but you can sense the shock among their top leaders. The three top managers of Google held an emergency meeting and came to a unanimous decision. How could they have reached an agreement with the United States government to do this beforehand? Do you feel that an official Google announcement would be so crudely written unlike any official document?

But the code theft this time caused Google to face a total collapse crisis. (The official Google blog said that this involved an intellectual property theft problem). To put it bluntly, the survival of the entire company would be threatened if they stayed in China. Therefore, they put a stop to all work at their China company.

-translation from Chinese Blog which has since disappeared from the site it was posted on

The writter seems to have some very good insight into this matter, perhaps a bit over stated with his assertion that a total collapse of Google would result if they stayed in China but insightful none the less. This is going to be a very interesting event to watch unfold as Google fights China in the real Ultimate Fight.

To get up to speed on this news item see my previous blog posts at:

Enough's enough, Google threatens to pull the plug in China

Yahoo backs Google in stand against Chinese Censorship - The Stakes Grow

your Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and surrounding areas Realtor

4.5 Acres Waterfront at Pitt Lake For Sale with 5 Cabins

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:45:35 -0600

Great Family Retreat or Resort Business Opportunity

4.25 acres of waterfront real estate on Pitt Lake

Located at Stevenson Creek

Offered For Sale at $2,000,000

Five homes set on a private estate with a picturesque waterfall. Two ponds. Plenty of moorage for boats with dock leading to main house. Sit on the covered deck and enjoy the Lake and mountain views. Hot tub in gazebo at waters edge. Three bay garage with three workshop areas. 9x13 woodshed, 22x9 greenhouse.

Main house is 1700 sqft with games room, pool table, shuffle board, two dart boards. Loft above has four separate sleeping areas. Large Den with French doors to covered deck.
Blue character home is 1000 sq ft two bedrooms.
Green shingle 1 bedroom Cabin is 500 sq ft.
Log home with covered porch has two large bedrooms and is 1008sqft.
"A" frame cabin has 1 bedroom and is 400 sq ft. Cute little 250 sq ft house has kitchen area and built in dinette. All homes are heated with wood stoves and have instant propane hot water heaters.

The Chateau was originally built in 1985 as a cozy 250 sq foot Log cabin. The home is directly off the dock and has a commanding view of the southern part of Pitt Lake looking towards Pitt River. In the new building, this room is now known as the "Deer Den" and has a manly feel with a wood stove set on rock in the corner.

The current owner lived on and worked the property for the first few years from this small 1 bedroom Cabin, clearing and building. The main part of the Chateau was build several years later and now includes a full Kitchen, 4 bedrooms contained within three lofts, 3 bathrooms, a massive great room (32 x20) heated with a wood stove. In this great room you will find a pool table, shuffleboard, darts area, and a full service bar. The Chateau was built with a large covered deck of over 500 sq ft facing the water. The Great room sidewall opens with three, eight foot sliding glass doors directly onto a large flat grassy patio area. The Kitchen appliances are run off propane, with a gas stove, gas Fridge and on demand gas hot water. The main bathroom with tub is located off the kitchen, and the great room has a bathroom next to the bar with a full size shower. The main loft area has a small two-piece bathroom. The Chateau comes fully furnished with everything you need to move straight in and enjoy the summer.

This includes but not limited to, beds, linens, all regular kitchen supplies, pool table, shuffleboard, darts boards (and supplies), furniture, BBQ(s) etc.

It would be my pleasure to show you this property or any other waterfront real estate for sale on

Pitt Lake

please contact me,

Scott Leaf, directly at 604-839-8239

Pitt Lake is located North of Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows nestled in the Coast Mountains and is considered a fresh water fjord.

-Listing courtesy of RE/MAX OCEAN POINT LD and blogged about with permission.

your Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and surrounding areas Realtor

Maple Ridge Post Office Mailboxes Robbed

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:04:25 -0600

CLICK HERE if You Want to Look at Listings!

Remember the good old days when you opened up a mail chute on the side of the Post Office and dumped your mail inside? Remember the sense of confidence you had trusting your mail with the Post Office and the surety in knowing that it would be delivered?

What you are seeing here is the brazen heist of three stuffed to the nuts, mailboxes from right in front of the Maple Ridge Post Office. Apparently Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows are the the midst of a crisis of mail theft on a unprecedented scale.

The S(t)uper Mailboxes and the Standup units, like the ones that were stolen from the Maple Ridge post office, are no match for a chain wrapped around them and attached to a speeding off truck. I find myself timing my mail dropoff to coincide with the scheduled pickup and never dump mail on a weekend. I have obtained a Post Office Box that I can trust for my mail delivery.

Identity theft is at a crisis, creditors and credit agencies don't give you the benefit of the doubt. You are convicted until you prove yourself innocent in their eyes. Be warned, be wary! If they can steal 3 stuffed mailboxes from in front of the Maple Ridge Post Office, then your neighborhood box is just as easy a target. I know that most of the victims of the Maple Ridge heist are completely unaware of their victimization.

Don't get me started on those readily available keys for the S(t)uper Mailboxes, thats an entirely different story. Maple Ridge real estate isn't the only place where this is happening, this one just hits close to my home.

your Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and surrounding areas Realtor

Yahoo backs Google in stand against Chinese Censorship - The Stakes Grow

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:07:33 -0600

Yesterday I blogged about Google's heroic stand against China's censorship of the web and apparent massive espionage efforts to spy on Human Rights advocates: Enough's enough, Google threatens to pull the plug in China

Today an equally heroic gesture has been made in solidarity with Google by Yahoo. In a statement Wednesday, Yahoo said it's "aligned" with Google's reaction to the hacking that originated within China.

Yahoo's stake in China is much more significant to Yahoo as an asset then goole.cn is to Google, and that is very substantial. Yahoo retains a 39 percent stake in Alibaba that represents one of Yahoo's most valuable assets.

Alibaba.comoperates two key online marketplaces, an international marketplace and a China marketplace. The company's English-language international marketplace (www.alibaba.com) serves to bring together global importers and exporters from more than 240 countries and regions. The China marketplace (www.alibaba.com.cn) is focused on facilitating domestic trade within China. The company also operates a Japanese-language marketplace facilitating trade to and from Japan through an associated company.

The company claims that together the two marketplaces have more than 45 million registered users - 10.5 million in the international marketplace and 34.8 million in the China marketplace. As of mid-2009, Alibaba.com had more than 9,000 employees - the vast majority of whom are based in China.

The stakes are now very high and when you throw in the US governments officially announced support for the actions of Google this is turning into a very big deal, the kind of thing that can spiral out of control or actually cause real change.

your Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and surrounding areas Realtor

Port Moody High-rise View 2 bedroom 2 bathroom Apartment in Klahanie For Sale

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:42:48 -0600

Location, View and Amenities! This 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom Concrete Tower water view apartment includes the unbelievable recreation amenities of the Canoe Club worthy of an exclusive Private Club! Spacious apartment condos at the Sahalee condo towers are affordable, exciting and modern. Extremely fine craftsmanship and attention for detail both on the exterior and interiors of the condominium tower. From exquisite wood accents to luxurious granite countertops, the interiors of these affordable condo residences will be sure to please any resident. Overheight windows extend from ceiling to the floor and allow unobstructed panoramic views of the city skyline, mountains, and water. Located in the Klahanie neighborhood of Port Moody near Newport Village this building offers everything you want!

This Highrise concrete tower view apartment in the Klahanie Drive neighborhood of Port Moody, BC is offered for sale at $388,800

Call Scott Leaf at 604-839-8239

your Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and surrounding areas Realtor