31 07, 2017

JUST SOLD! 70 Roseheath Avenue – East Danforth


This large semi detached home has been lovingly cared for and meticulously maintained. The covered front porch is a wonderful space to enjoy a morning coffee and enhances the curb appeal of this wonderful residence.

The open concept living and dining rooms boast hardwood floors throughout and large windows allowing for plenty of natural light. The spacious eat in kitchen has plenty of cabinetry and enough room for a large centre island or a second dining area if desired. There is also a walk out to the fenced in backyard. Perfect for barbeque season in the summer months!

The second level features 3 large bedrooms and a 4 piece washroom. The master bedroom includes a beautiful Bay window to let in the morning sun, hardwood floors and ample space for a sitting area as well.

This home also features a full basement with plenty or room for storage and laundry and there’s even a detached garage!

Perfectly situated on a lovely street in a great family neighbourhood, 70 Roseheath Avenue is just minutes from so many great shops and restaurants along The Danforth. Move in and enjoy everything that this home has to offer!

31 07, 2017

SOLD OVER ASKING! 173 Seaton Street – Cabbagetown South


This charming Victorian in Cabbagetown provides an abundance of original character mixed in with modern finishes. Soaring ceilings and massive principal rooms provide an open and airy environment. 2 meticulously finished units with amazing Income potential!

The spectacular 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom Upper unit has ample natural light and plenty of space to live and entertain. The functional master bedroom is located on the 3rd floor and has a skylight, powder room, and vaulted ceilings. Step out on the 3rd floor deck to enjoy your morning coffee and enjoy the sunshine. The stunning kitchen has a ton of cabinet space, granite counters, a skylight, and a Juliette balcony. Perfect for the home chef.

The charming 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom Lower unit features soaring ceilings with original mouldings and stained glass on the first floor. The beautiful, large eat-in kitchen features stainless steel appliances, wood floors, and original high baseboards. The first floor also features a modern powder room with beautiful finishes, and a walk out to a lovely private garden space to enjoy all season long. The lowered basement has high ceilings with an airy feel and a gorgeous modern staircase that leads to 2 bedrooms, a stunning renovated 4 piece bathroom, and a laundry room.

This functional turn-key property is perfect for any investor or for anyone looking to supplement their mortgage payments. Live in one unit and rent out the other or rent them both out to maximize your cash flow.

8 01, 2017

How laneway houses could help solve Toronto’s real-estate woes


The GTA housing market has been operating within a policy of intensification for more than a decade now. This has caused a shift away from ground-oriented homes and moved the market toward higher-density housing, such as condominiums.

Our real-estate market has seen consistent increases in the cost of housing, with the average price of a detached home in Toronto increasing by over 32 per cent this past November from the same month last year, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board.

While those who prefer urban living have embraced higher-density housing, folks looking for traditional ground-oriented housing must move farther and farther away from the city to find it.

So what if there was a way to introduce new ground-oriented housing in the heart of Toronto that could accommodate up to 100,000 people, and the solution was literally in our backyard all along? That is, if your backyard is along a laneway.

Laneway housing is an innovative concept first introduced in Toronto back in 2006. And while it ultimately went nowhere here, it did inspire Vancouver, Ottawa and other cities to introduce policies that embraced it.

The original concept a decade ago contemplated a separate dwelling being legally severed and requiring new municipal services, resulting in the digging up of laneways.

The new groundswell of interest in laneway housing (call it laneway housing 2.0) is focused on taking a different approach, where the new structures will be treated as secondary dwellings on the existing property.

That means the garage at the rear of the property could be rebuilt by the owner to include a secondary dwelling unit, potentially serviced through the existing municipal connections, limiting neighbourhood disruption and creating new appropriately sized, ground-oriented housing units that could range in size from 700 to 1,500 square feet.

This could represent one of the most innovative solutions to a wide range of the city‘s housing needs, including multi-generational households where the owner can provide accommodation for parents or children or introduce much needed rental housing stock and help generate new income from their property. And it would be creating new ground-oriented housing in areas close to transit and existing community amenities, with minimal neighbourhood disruption.

There is no silver bullet solution to solve all of our housing challenges in the GTA, but with approximately 300 kilometres of laneways in the City of Toronto, laneway housing could be a good start.

But this innovation will require that everyone works together: citizens, government and industry. And community consultations are underway. If you’re interested, you can participate by going online to: lanescape.ca/survey to learn more about the initiative and provide your input.

Remember: The best way to predict the future is to help create it.

SOURCE: THE TORONTO STAR

9 02, 2016

Getting Ready To Sell This Spring? Here Are Some Household Cleaning Tips!

cleaning
1. To clean bathroom tiles and grout naturally, try a solution of 1/2 cup of baking soda in 2 gallons (approx. 8 litres) of warm water. Apply with a clean rag or soft toothbrush.
2. To scrub out or blot a stain on a cushion with a slip-cover, put a sheet of plastic between the cushion and the fabric, to prevent the stain from becoming absorbed by the cushion.
3. Most shower curtains are machine washable. Wash yours with some water, detergent and a bit of bleach (for disinfecting), plus add a few towels for abrasion.
4. To clean your dishwasher, consult your dishwasher manual for cleaning instructions, as the methodology may differ based on the interior finish of your machine. Most recommend running the machine with either vinegar, a light bleach-in-water solution, or a brand-name cleaner recommended by the manufacturer.

3 02, 2016

Toronto’s east end has the hottest real estate in the city

Homes north of Danforth Ave. and east of the Don has the shortest sale times in Toronto, according to TREB data.

By: Robin Levinson King Staff Reporter, Published on Wed Feb 03 2016

The trendiest neighbourhoods in Toronto aren’t in the trendy west end, but the east.
Homes north of Danforth Ave. and east of the Don River are selling fast, according to data provided by the Toronto Real Estate Board. The area, which encompasses posh Playter Estates to the west and rough-around-the edges Woodbine-Lumsden further east, boasts the shortest sale times in the city, with homes averaging a mere 12 days on the market compared to a city-wide average of 21 days.

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To the south, Leslieville, Riverside and Riverdale came a close second, with homes averaging 13 days on the market.
Over the past decade, sale times across the city have been declining despite soaring home prices.

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The median price of a Toronto home — stand-alone houses and condos combined — was $643,145 in 2015, compared to about $341,450 in 2005.
Yet in 2015, homes typically spent 21 days on the market, down 10 days from 2005 when they took a full month to sell. It’s a trend that has touched almost every corner of the city. The only areas that did not see a decrease in sale time were neighbourhoods around the Annex, Casa Loma and Wychwood.
Toronto realtor Desmond Brown said that low interest rates and population growth mean that there are more buyers than available homes, so most properties get snapped up fast.
“I think it’s basic supply and demand,” he said. “Good inventory is at a premium.”
That’s great news for sellers, especially for those north of the Danforth who bought at a low price and can now reap the benefits of a decade’s gentrification. Over the past ten years, the median value of homes north of the Danforth has increased 132 per cent, from $288,500 in 2005 to $608,500 in 2015.
“We’ve seen higher prices there, or even bidding wars, because it’s about supply,” said real-estate agent Linda Ing-Gilbert.
A recent listing, a three-bedroom semi at 106 Woodmount Ave., sold in six days for $681,700, more than $80,000 over asking. Ing-Gilbert, who grew up around the Danforth, said the area is often the last refuge for affordable family homes for many in the city.
Most of the bidders for the home west of Woodbine Ave. were first-time home buyers, she said, or young couples looking to upgrade from a condo.
“I think every single woman was pregnant,” Ing-Gilbert said.
Many start out hoping to buy in the more trendy west end, Ing-Gilbert said, but soon come to realize you can get the same amenities — access to the subway, schools and good restaurants — for about 10 per cent less in the east.
But there’s a price to pay for affordability, and that’s popularity, said Brown. Everybody loves a bargain, which means it can take buyers a few tries to land an east-end starter home.
Conversely, homes in neighbourhoods like the Annex can take a bit longer to unload.
“It’s a simple explanation — there aren’t as many buyers for the high-end properties,” he said.
SOURCE

12 01, 2016

Two Decades Of Steady Price Appreciation In The GTA

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Steady average price appreciation over close to two decades makes GTA housing market a global anomaly, says RE/MAX Hallmark
214 per cent increase in real estate values since 1996

Toronto, ON (January 12, 2016) – Low interest rates, coupled with population growth and solid economic fundamentals, contributed to a 214 per cent increase in average residential housing values in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) over almost two-­-decades, according to RE/MAX Hallmark Ltd., one of country’s largest real estate franchises.

The GTA housing market is now entering its 20th year of consecutive price appreciation, on the heels of a record-­-breaking 2015. The market has reported a steady increase in values since 1996, when the cost of an average home in the GTA hovered at $198,150. Average price broke through the $600,000 benchmark in 2015, settling at $622,217 – an increase of 6.21 per cent when compounded annually over the 19-­-year period.

“The overall strength and stability of Toronto’s housing market is a global anomaly,” says Ken McLachlan, Broker-­-Owner, RE/MAX Hallmark Ltd. “Very few large residential housing markets can compete with the GTA’s performance over the past two decades”

When analyzing the level of growth in the Greater Toronto Area, population played a serious role. In 2014, the Toronto CMA topped six million (6,055,724), a figure eight per cent higher than the 2011 Census population of 5,583,064 and a substantial 42 per cent uptick over the 1996 Census figure of 4,263,757.

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The low interest rate environment has also influenced home buying activity in the GTA. While the average residential mortgage-­-lending rate for a five-­-year term hovered at approximately eight per cent in 1996, the same product can be had for under three per cent in today’s competitive market.
Homeownership rates have also steadily increased in the GTA, in spite of rising values. Between 1996 and 2006, the level of ownership jumped approximately 10 per cent in the GTA (58.4 per cent to 67.6 per cent). The most recent available rates for the province of Ontario sat at 71.4 per cent in 2011.

Given the turbulence the GTA market has withstood –recessions, 9/11, and SARS, just to name a few – the performance is “nothing short of remarkable”, explains McLachlan.

“Moving forward, there is no reason to expect the upward trend to end,” says McLachlan. “In light of recent volatility in the stock market and overall economic uncertainty, we anticipate an upswing in home buying activity as investors look to tangible assets like bricks and mortar to ride out the storm. The strength of the US dollar will also contribute, serving as an impetus for greater investment in the Greater Toronto Area throughout 2016.”

12 01, 2016

Toronto is world’s best city to live in, Economist study says

toronto_680_blog
Toronto is the world’s best city to live in, according to a study of major metropolises by The Economist Intelligence Unit.

And Montreal is the second-best, with Stockholm, Amsterdam and San Francisco rounding out the top five.

The two Canadian cities topped the overall scoring in the 2015 Safe Cities Index published this week by the EIU, a unit of The Economist magazine. It is based on a ranking of 50 major cities by a new study of safety along with past rankings based on liveability and cost of living. Cities were further sorted according to past country rankings based on business environment, degree of democracy and food security.

Vancouver, which often scores highly in global rankings of this kind, was not included in the survey; nor was any other Canadian city.

THE GLOBAL TOP 10

Toronto
Montreal
Stockholm
Amsterdam
San Francisco
Melbourne
Zurich
Washington, D.C.
Sydney
Chicago
THE 10 SAFEST CITIES

Tokyo
Singapore
Osaka
Stockholm
Amsterdam
Sydney
Zurich
Toronto
Melbourne
New York

SOURCE

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