Toronto Real Estate Blog

Pemberton’s latest North York release

From The Condo Guide

One of North York’s most exciting condo projects has just been released by The Pemberton Group. Pulse Condominiums, located on Yonge Street just steps from the Finch subway station, offers stylish suites with jazzy finishes that will appeal to buyers who want exceptional value and convenience. The grand opening was a great success. Sales were brisk, however an excellent selection of suites is still available.

And Pemberton delivers! Pulse Condominiums is the latest offering from this renowned builder, with its solid reputation for quality, commitment to excellence at every stage of the building process, and legendary attention to detail.

Pulse Condominiums suites range in size from 530 to 950 sq. ft. Priced starting at $159,000, each suite features a balcony or terrace, 24-hour security, individual heating and air conditioning, ensuite laundry, vertical blinds and more. Five top-quality appliances are included.

The glass-clad building offers a spacious recreational facility called The Pulse Club, which contains a well-appointed party room complete with kitchen, cards room, billiards room, equipped exercise room, board room, business/computer centre, TV theatre, and virtual golf room. As well, there are two guest suites to accommodate residents’ overnight visitors.

Outside, the beautifully landscaped gardens offer quiet seclusion amid the hustle and bustle of this vibrant North York neighbourhood.

The location of Pulse Condominiums offers a lively variety of amenities including theatres, parks, restaurants, grocery superstores and shops. Within walking distance you will find a number of cinemas, malls, cafés, diners, grills, eateries, sushi bars, boutiques and much more. There are numerous night clubs and dance clubs plus exciting entertainment at Mel Lastman Square and The Toronto Centre for the Arts. The Yonge and Finch area provides a mecca of cultural opportunities for every lifestyle. And most importantly, Pulse Condominiums is just a hop skip and a jump from the subway.

Location: North York
Housing Type: Condos
Size: From 530 to 950 sq. ft.
Starting price: $159,000

The Condo Guide Magazine is an excellent source of housing information for those looking for information on new condos in Ontario, Canada. We offer the most up-to-date information on new condominiums across the greater Toronto area.

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The Daniels Corporation does it all with one-of-a-kind suite designs at their Kilgour Estate community

From Condo Life Magazine

Expansive terraces. Luxurious layouts. Ravine views. Purchasers at Kilgour Estate already know that life is good, and that it can only get better with the perfect place to live. That is why they’ve come to The Daniels Corporation’s exclusive community of terraced condo residences and Georgian-style townhomes.

With construction well underway, this has become they city’s most sought-after ravine community. Located on 12 acres of property at Bayview south of Lawrence, Kilgour Estate is surrounded by Toronto’s most popular neighbourhoods, including Lawrence Park. Besides breathtaking views of the lush Burke Brook ravine, the surrounding landscaped gardens and the magnificent downtown skyline to the south, Kilgour will feature distinctive entry gates with a tree-lined boulevard leading to a classical lookout Belvedere adjacent to the ravine.

Kilgour Estate itself offers a stunning centrepiece to its spectacular surroundings. The construction and design will be done in the art of old-world craftsmanship for a timeless appeal. The facade is laid with smaller bricks than are typically found in today’s custom-built homes; this dying trade offers a level of workmanship difficult to find anywhere else in the city. Coloured precast elements offer added detail, with graceful arches over balconies and authentic corner quoins.

The Brian Gluckstein-designed lobby in Phase One will be graced with inlaid marble flooring, intricate wood walls and a vaulted dome ceiling. A 24-hour concierge and a Building Ambassador will provide a variety of resident services.

The exclusive Kilgour Club amenities area includes an Aquatic Centre with indoor pool and whirlpool overlooking a landscaped courtyard, a Library with a stone fireplace and soft lighting, a Home Theatre with surround sound, a Fitness Studio, Billiard Room, Club Room with private dining room, catering kitchen and more.

Outside, a range of amenities includes some of the city’s most celebrated private schools, as well as the Granite Club, Rosedale Golf Club and Serena Gundy Park.

Suites offer expansive layouts with beautiful terraces, many of them overlooking the ravine. The Stratford penthouse, for example, is a stunning two-bedroom-plus-den suite that features 2,181 square feet of lavish living space, with a glorious 1,176-square-foot wraparound terrace-ideal for summer dinner parties, lounging and even gardening.

Inside, a dramatic round foyer will be sure to inspire more than a few “Wows” upon arrival. The expansive main rooms overlook the terrace and the tremendous ravine views beyond, with a curved windowed wall in the living/dining room to maximize light exposure and create a spectacular focal point. The cosy family room is open to the spacious breakfast area and gourmet kitchen with large island. A separate den can be used as a private library or a home office.

The bedrooms are removed from the more public spaces for the feel of a separate wing. A master suite includes an expansive ensuite with his and hers sinks and a huge walk-in closet – as well as private access to the terrace.

The spectacular level of finishes throughout this and all other suites would be considered upgrades anywhere else, with soaring 10-foot coffered ceilings and designer-selected appointments, including stone countertops and a choice of slate, hardwood, porcelain or marble flooring. Purchasers are beginning to discover this standard of luxury as they begin to work with the Daniels’ decor team to personalize their luxurious interiors.

Like many of the suites, The Stratford is a one-of-a-kind layout designed exclusively by Brian Gluckstein. Georgian-style townhomes also offer a unique lifestyle alternative filled with features chosen to create luxurious living, with private front gardens, portico entrances, second-floor Juliet balconies and third-floor rooftop terraces. A selection of townhome plans also come with a private elevator.

Kilgour Estate’s terrace condo residences and Georgian-style townhomes are priced from the $400,000s to over $2 million.

For more than 20 years, The Daniels Corporation has earned a reputation as one of Canada’s foremost residential builder/developers, and was named 2003 Ontario High Rise Builder of the year by Tarion Home Warranty Corporation.

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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information

Repairs done by do-it-yourselfers sometimes go beyond the pale

By Elizabeth Rand-Watkinson – The Globe and Mail

Having renovated a few of my own homes, and with almost 20 years of experience in design, I thought I’d seen a thing or two. That was before I looked at the website for This Old House (http://www.thisoldhouse.com), where a series of photo galleries display “home inspection nightmares,” including “the best of the worst” for 2006.

These actual findings are provided to This Old House by the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI; http://www.ashireporter.org) and make for jaw-dropping reading, especially when you learn that some of these homes passed municipal inspections. If you’ve ever suspected Mickey Mouse had been let loose with a hammer and wrench in one of your homes, read on.

This is just a sampling of the gob-smacking idiocies ASHI inspectors have uncovered. Remember, don’t try this at home, folks!

Instead of using the proper shim or steel plate to bridge the gap between the top of a steel support column and a girder (you know, those things that hold up your house), one innovative homeowner stuck a rusty old wrench and weightlifter’s plate into the gap. This is not okay. I don’t care where you live.

We’re not sure if he intended it as a piece of abstract art for a limited audience or a replication of his screensaver, but one amateur plumber’s convoluted drainage system could have passed for either. This one is appropriately entitled “A plumbing odyssey” on the website.

In an example of what the home inspector called “fine Ozark engineering” in a basement, another do-it-yourselfer attached a rusted car radiator to the floor joists and piped water to it from his wood burning boiler. The inspector said the homeowners always wondered why their system didn’t work very well.

Another example of the misuse of auto parts — or perhaps a case of mechanic/plumber cross-training gone horribly wrong — is the use of a radiator hose from a 1945 Pontiac to replace piping leading to the home’s main draw stack. Perhaps 1945 was the year they manufactured multifunctional radiator hoses.

Then there’s the photo of the supply and return air registers that had been installed, very neatly I must say, within three inches of each other — one on the ceiling, the other on the wall — to ensure the heated air wasted no time flowing right back into the furnace. Such efficiency!

There were so many “good” ones, it was hard to pick just one favourite. Here are two:

The homeowner who installed his chimney stack within what looks like about 18 inches of a bedroom window with an air conditioner in it. Is our air really that bad that you wouldn’t notice the air conditioner sucking in chimney exhaust?

My other favourite was dubbed “Harry Homeowner” by the inspector. “Harry” saw no problem with installing a meltable PVC pipe smack up against his flue pipe, the one intended to funnel flue gasses out of the house. Now, flue pipes are known to get a tad warm, but why worry when you’ve got a handy-dandy piece of cardboard to shove between the two?

Honourable mentions go to:

* An old jock strap used to tie an electric light to a cross beam (a case of recycling gone wild);

* A chimney supported by only air and one lonely brick;

* Broken framing members repaired with duct tape;

* Raw tree trunks used as structural support columns in a basement;

* Electrical outlets installed inside shower stalls.

* Flue pipes fashioned entirely out of aluminum foil;

* Rain gutters capped at both ends, perhaps to facilitate the growth of ferns, which is always a nice look.

And finally, there’s everyone favourite “unhandy person” trick: leaving “hot” electrical wires exposed inside walls.

In this case, the homeowner did attach a note saying, “Please be careful,” and advised that the wires were live. He gets extra points for courtesy.

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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information

Bliss Condominiums are located in Liberty Village, which is south of King Street and West of Strachan Avenue. Liberty Village is a new 45 acre neighbourhood with easy access to downtown Toronto, as well as the Lake Shore and Gardiner. Nearby is the Martin Goodman trail – ideally suited for running, biking or rollerblading.

Liberty Village is unique is a new development project in that it is encompassed with century-brick warehouse buildings now converted to office and recreational use. Numerous amenities such as a sizable 24-hour Dominion grocery store, video stores, health club, cafes, restaurants, design stores, are all within a short walk. This is an ideal new neighbourhood in downtown Toronto.

Bliss Condominiums is the second building of the Liberty Towers project. It is built by Can Alfa Group – the same group have built the wildly successful Liberty Townhomes in the immediate vicinity. The Bliss Condominiums will be a 20-storey tower and will be joined to the first Liberty Tower via a 10-storey podium. This 10-storey podium will house unique loft-style units.

The suites will be a range of studio, one-bedroom, one-bedroom + den, and two-bedroom layouts and will extend in size between 381 square feet to 1,492 square feet. Occupancy is slated for 2009. If you are looking to get a foothold in a great project in Toronto this is an opportunity for you.

The suites feature many loft-inspired elements such as high-ceilings, large windows, and have strip laminate hardwood floors in the living and dining room and den. The strip laminate is typically an upgrade in many condo developments, but you get this upgrade as standard.

The building will feature amenities such as an indoor swimming pool, a fitness centre, a yoga studio, a shared outdoor terrace area, whirlpool, party room and two guest suites.

The Bliss Condominiums site is located within walking distance of the shops and restaurants of King Street West and Queen Street West. As already mentioned, there is a 24-hour Dominion grocery store and a range of other retail outlets within Liberty Village itself.

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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says existing home sales as measured by the MLS will drop from 483,609 in 2006 to 464,550 units in 2007 and 449,200 units in 2008.

Similarly, after five years of strong growth in house prices, the rate of increase in the average MLS price will moderate to 5.9% in 2007 and 3.3% in 2008 as existing home markets move toward balanced conditions, says CMHC.

The strongest price growth will be in Western Canada; with the average  price in Alberta growing by 13.3% in 2007, after having increased by 29.5% in 2006. Average prices in Ontario and Quebec will grow by 3.2% and 4.1% in 2007, respectively, forecasts the federal housing agency.

Housing starts will moderate this year to 209,500 units after reaching 227,395 units in 2006, says CMHC. Although residential construction will decline, 2007 will mark the sixth consecutive year in which housing starts exceed 200,000 units. Starts will ease further to 195,500 units in 2008, it says.

“Construction activity will continue to moderate as demand for home ownership moves toward more sustainable levels,” says Bob Dugan, chief economist at CMHC, in a news release.

“Most of the pent-up demand that built up during the 1990s has been absorbed, and higher mortgage carrying costs due to continued strong price growth and modest increases in mortgage rates will contribute to the slower pace of new home construction both this year and next.”

The average rental apartment vacancy rate in Canada’s 28 major centres decreased slightly by 0.1% to 2.6% in October 2006 compared to October 2005, says CMHC. The agency says that favourable employment conditions, high levels of immigration, and the increasing gap between the cost of renting and owning will continue to exert downward pressure on vacancy rates.

Nevertheless, many renter households will continue to be drawn into home ownership, it says. As a result, the vacancy rate will remain essentially unchanged, inching up to 2.7% in both 2007 and 2008.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information