World's Top Ten Expensive Weddings:-
1. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum - Princess Salma ($100 million)
Listed in the Guinnessbook of world record as the most expensive wedding of the word. 34 private planes were used to pick 20,000 guests.

2. Vanisha Mittal - Amit Bhatia ($78 million)
 Flight tickets were sent to the guests. 1,000 guests attended 5 days program.

3.Aleksandra Nikolic - Andrey Melnichenko ($30 million)
 Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, and Julio Iglesias entertained in the wedding of this Russian billionaire and model, with their performances, each of whom raked in an estimated $3.6 million for the gig.

4.Priya Sachdev - Vikram Chatwal ($20 million)
 Take 600 guests for a 10-day wedding celebration and jet them from city to city in India. Chatwal owner of luxurious hotels such as Dream New York, managed to bring the event in at a tidy $20 million.

5.Coleen McLoughlin - Wayne Rooney ($15 million)
 24 hours wedding celebration was held on $120 million AND  Couple wore a dress worth $3 million.

6.Delphine Arnault - Alessandro Vallarino Gancia ($7 million)
 Won award "Wedding of the Year 2005".

7.Chelsea Bill Clinton - Marc Mezvinsky ($5 million)
 Wedding celebrated in an AC tent worth of $600,000. PLUS Spent heavy amount on security.
 
8.Trista Rehn - Ryan Sutter ($4 million)
 Rehn and Sutter, who met on the ABC show The Bachelorette, were married in front of 17 million viewers.

9.Liza Minnelli to David Gest ($3.5 million)
 850 guests attended this wedding including Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Tailor. $700,000 spent on flower decoration.

10.Elizabeth Hurley -Arun Nayar ($2.5 million)
 8 days wedding program ended in Jodhpur, India. $100,000 hotel bill. Wedding dress for Hurley was $10,000.

Check out the new BMW X1!!

The new formula for joy.

Located at the corner of Hornby and Drake Streets, Salt provides a taste of urban living with easy access to Yaletown, Granville Island, English Bay, fashionable Robson Street and the downtown business core.

Salt’s streamlined, white modern interiors designed by renowned BBA Design offer a casual modern ambience with high-gloss white and vertical grain accent cabinetry; clean white glass tile backsplash and quartz countertops; built-in European appliances including Fisher-Paykel oven and dishwasher drawer and integrated Blomberg fridge with full matching overlay paneling; and long-lasting laminate wood flooring throughout, including the bedrooms.

Tight market sparks bidding wars
in hot neighbourhoods

Anticipated interest rate hikes and amortization changes help fuel the ‘ crazy market’

Tight supply, along with looming amortization changes and interest rate hikes, is fuelling a “ pretty crazy” Vancouver housing market, making it hard on first-time buyers. For a 100-year-old, the east Vancouver denizen doesn’t look too bad. The bone structure is solid, but the skin is sagging and more than a bit of plastic surgery is required. There are a few screws loose, too.

LES BAZSO/ PNG Miri Malkin ( left) and Gabi Kabazo with their three children — eight-month-old Leah, four-year-old Yuli and two-year-old Johnathan — enjoy some family time in their Yaletown rental condo in Vancouver. They are having trouble finding a house in their price range, even though both have good jobs.

The house near East 5th and Victoria is a fixer-upper, but that didn’t stop someone this week from paying $ 800,000 — $ 151,000 more than the list price — after a fierce bidding war for the property.

The scenario is playing out across Vancouver in hot neighbourhoods such as Mount Pleasant, Commercial Drive and Strathcona as buyers contend with tight supply, as well as with looming amortization changes and interest rate hikes.

Throw into the mix homebuyers who held off purchasing last year and it’s fuelling a “ pretty crazy” market, said Rick Stonehouse, a realtor who specializes in east Vancouver.

“ It’s been a very unusual beginning to the year,” said Stonehouse, whose clients — a young professional couple — offered $ 766,000 for the house.

There were 20 offers, according to the listing agent.

The ramshackle place has a garage that leans to one side, missing shingles, a decrepit kitchen and an untamed yard. On the plus side, it has nice views, large bedrooms and an original fir floor.

Still, the high sale price had Stonehouse scratching his head. It didn’t take long this year for the market to get overheated, either — one property that was listed at about $ 1.1 million sold for $ 1.6 million in early January.

It’s quite a contrast to late last year, when “ you could just feel the brakes coming on” starting in September, Stonehouse said.

Realtor Selina Jansen, who also had a client bidding on the house, says artificially low list prices are fuelling the bidding “ frenzy.”

“ Some people are notorious for it, and I think other people are now copying them because they’re having so much success with it,” she said.

Jansen’s client offered $ 711,000 for the East 5th house, one of three unsuccessful offers in the space of a week. In the others, her client — a professional woman — bid $ 811,000 for a house at East 14th and Knight that was listed at $ 789,000 and sold for $ 860,000. A home on Aubrey Place was listed at $ 749,000 and later taken off the market despite bids exceeding $ 800,000.

Mortgage broker Angela Calla of Dominion Lending Centre says bidding wars are dangerous because of the tendency for emotion to trump reason, resulting in the buyer paying more than what the lender determines its worth.

“ Borrowers have got caught up in bidding wars like that when they focus too much on the emotional aspect and not really the fundamentals,” she said.

Knowing the assessed value of the property is an important piece of research, Calla said.

People entering a bidding war should also set a ceiling of what they can comfortably afford — and be prepared to walk away if it’s exceeded. Homes that are the subject of bidding wars often require work, so homebuyers should include renovation costs in their calculations, she advised.

Those bidding on a property also need to make sure the closing date falls within their preapproval window to ensure the lowest possible interest rate, she said.

Various studies have identified Vancouver as one of the most unaffordable housing markets in the world.

For some, particularly firsttime homebuyers, it gets worse on March 18. That’s when new federal rules take effect setting the maximum mortgage amortization eligible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. insurance at 30 years, down from 35. For a homeowner with a $ 600,000 mortgage at a fiveyear closed rate of four per cent, that works out to an extra $ 200 a month. Ottawa discontinued the 40-year amortization and no down payment options in October 2008.

Interest rates are also heading up. TD Economics projects the Bank of Canada will raise its key interest rate from the current one per cent to three per cent by the end of 2012, and some of the big banks hiked five-year mortgage rates this week.

For those already testing the outer limits of their financial comfort zone, the looming lending changes compound the sense of urgency.

But it’s not only people rushing to beat the disappearing 35-year amortization period who are finding it a tough market to crack.

Miri Malkin and Gabi Kabazo, the parents of three children under 5, are living in a Yaletown condo while they look for a house in Vancouver in the $ 800,000 to $ 1-million range. The couple are pre-approved and plan a 40-or 50-per-cent down payment.

They’ve been looking since May, but have yet to put in a bid because all the houses they’ve looked at are either fixer-uppers or don’t have enough space for their family. They would prefer to live in Vancouver rather than move to the suburbs.

“ It’s very frustrating,” Malkin said. “ We’re willing to pay but we can’t find anything.”

The couple, who moved to Vancouver from Israel in 2004, were looking in 2008 but didn’t buy because they thought prices might come down. One Arbutus townhouse they looked at was priced in the $ 700,000 range and is now listed for more than $ 1 million.

News of bidding wars in an overheating Vancouver market comes on the heels of a TD Economics report that identifies B. C. residents as most vulnerable to interest rate hikes, a housing correction or an economic downturn. The province’s average household debttoincome ratio of 160 per cent is the highest in the country and matches levels reached in the U. S. just before the financial crisis and housing bust.

Tsur Somerville, director of the Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate at the Sauder School of Business at UBC, is watching the real estate activity “ with concern.”

“ The only hopeful piece is that it’s just sort of a mismatch between people looking and available product,” Somerville said. Somerville, however, doesn’t believe Vancouver is at risk of a U. S.-style housing meltdown. Two characteristics that were prevalent south of the border are missing here, he said: fast and loose credit, and a lot of speculative product.

“ I’m always willing to believe in a market adjustment or a market correction, but I’m not willing to believe that Vancouver’s going to be cheap,” he said. “ So it’s just sort of what variant of expensive we’re looking at.”

The wood floor is beech and the colour is chestnut. I don't want to put the same wood floors in the bedrooms because the beech is a soft wood. I'm looking for something that is low-maintenance, durable and somewhat scratch-resistant, since there is an office chair with wheels that will be used on the floor in two of the bedrooms. Should I be trying to match the hardwood or look for something that is a contrasting colour? I've gone from cork, to tile to dark laminate to trying to match the hardwood. Are there any rules out there that will help me make the right decision? Value your advice. — Jelena

Dear Jelena,

Have you ever heard the expression, "Your ceiling is your fifth wall?" I take that analogy to the next level and say your floor is your sixth wall. Many homeowners change around their colour schemes, furniture and accessories but forget that what "grounds" the entire design is the floor covering used in the space. The chosen floor covering can make or break the space, depending on the material used, the colour or shade of the material and how the material is applied. Before we start considering the colour of the material, let's look at the quality of the material we will choose.

In high-traffic areas, you will want to look at integrating a durable floor covering. Flooring is much like furniture: It's a long-term investment, so you should use materials that will withstand many years of wear and tear. When shopping for floor covering, be sure to ask for the average lifespan of the product. You should also consider products you won't tire of after the first couple of years. Yes, you will get tired of the red carpet after awhile.

When selecting your "sixth" wall, you must go through the same process as any other wall. Take inventory of the colours found on the other walls, accessories and furniture in the space. All colours present in the space must blend together in harmony. The wonderful thing about wooden floors is that their colour is usually fairly neutral, which makes them adaptable to many different colour schemes. With wooden floors, many homeowners seem to have the impression that all woods are hardwoods which is not the case. Some woods, such as the one you have in the hallway, is a softwood, which means you will have to watch your step when wearing stiletto heels. Softwood is easy to scratch, dent, and tends to require a little more TLC. For homeowners working with tighter budgets, softwood floors are a great alternative to hardwood floors, as they cost less.

When working with tight budgets, we have to be a little creative at times. We don't always have the luxury of having the same floor covering throughout the entire house. But it's better that the floor covering changes from room to room, since different rooms are used differently. Kitchens and bathrooms are high-moisture areas, therefore, you would look at a moisture-resistant product for such rooms. For bedrooms, on the other hand, most homeowners look for products that are warm to the touch, as that's usually the first surface your feet touch in the morning. A wonderful product that's often used in bedrooms is cork. Cork is a wonderful product, since it's easy to install with its snap-together system. It's also scratch- and stain-resistant, which is great for home offices. Since you already have a wooden floor that can't be extended into the bedrooms, it would be best to go with a completely different product, such as cork, as opposed to going with a hardwood. You wouldn't want it to look like you ran out of flooring and couldn't match it! There is nothing worse than having a homeowner try to "match" a floor in a different type of wood. It's impossible and people will notice!

As for colour selection, again, we want the rooms to stand on their own. The best route would be to purchase flooring in a contrasting colour. If you can't match it, make sure it's obvious that you weren't trying to match it. Any colour that's similar to the "chestnut" colour of the beechwood will look as if someone either ran out of money or material, and we don't want that.

Upgrading flooring is a wonderful way to bring life to an existing space.

Marc Atiyolil is the editor-in-chief of Canadian Home Trends — Canada's Home Decor & Lifestyle Magazine, and the host of the Marc Atiyolil Show, www.youtube.com/MarcAtiyolil.

To submit a question for Marc, visit www.MarcAtiyolil.com.