Search Results for: family structures toronto
Yes, these are also condos
Sarah Kelsey – National Post
Toronto’s love affair with high-rise condos is still going strong, as evidenced by the smattering of construction cranes that dot the city’s downtown skyline.
But take a stroll through the city’s more established neighbourhoods – Rosedale, the Annex, Cabbagetown – where large, low-rise homes are a staple and trees tower over all other structures, and you’re likely to see signs of an emerging urban design trend: the uncondo.
“They’re more like a custom home than an apartment,” says Neil Spiegel, a principal at Oxygen Development. His company is at the forefront of this housing trend where old, low-rise, multi-unit rental buildings and homes are regenerated into luxury, eco-friendly condominiums.
A good example is Oxygen’s current project, Lytton Park Suites. The spaces are some 40% larger than conventional condos – units range from 1,053 to 1,287 square feet, with prices starting at $594,000, including parking. Each suite is outfitted with luxe materials and details: quartz countertops, dual-flush toilets, spa showers and extensive soundproofing and millwork – from the trim to the flooring. Units even have wood-burning fireplaces.
“When you’re building six units, there’s an ability to pay attention to detail. You can focus on all of the trim and the details, and you can make sure things are being managed properly,” Mr. Spiegel says. “Our decisions, such as choosing solid wood materials that fit into the era of the home, wow customers.”
A similar uncondo build is 103 Pembroke in Cabbagetown. Developed by The Rainbow Group, the project entailed transforming a heritage home from 1879 into four two-storey, two-bedroom units, each approximately 1,400 square feet. All of them feature 10– to 12-foot ceilings, as well as gas fireplaces and quality finishes that honour the home’s Victorian period.
These include ceramic mouldings and hardwood floors. But the spaces are also outfitted with modern touches such as granite countertops and marble bathrooms. Prices range from $500,000 to $600,000 and include parking.
Living here will feel very much like life in a single-family low-rise, says Rainbow Group president Mac Champsee, who is restoring the home with his daughter, Sonal. “Our spaces are generous. A lot of people are interested in these properties, because they give the sensation of living in a house with a backyard,” he says. “[Residents] get their own garage with access on the back laneway.”
Mr. Champsee echoes Mr. Spiegel’s sentiments on what makes these uncondos special.
“[With this type of restoration], we can feel good about offering a unique style of living while also preserving parts of Toronto. There are a lot of homes with good character that would otherwise get torn down.”
Of course, there is a catch to such boutique-style condos: They don’t have the amenities found in high-rise towers. There is no concierge, swimming pool, movie theatre, gym or underground parking and there are no elevators.
“The amenities are the neighbourhood it’s in,” says Brian Elder, a sales representative with Royal LePage Real Estate. To him, properties such as Lytton Park Suites and 103 Pembroke give people who don’t want or need traditional services an opportunity to purchase relatively affordable condo-type dwellings in otherwise hard-to-buy-in neighbourhoods. They’re great for those who can’t afford to buy a detached house and who are looking for alternative living options.
They’re also great for those who want to pay lower maintenance fees.
“[In our buildings, common element fees] end up being around $0.20 per square foot,” Mr. Spiegel explains.
Investing in these homes could even prove to be cost-effective for developers.
“If you’re converting a house, the structure is already built. You’re not building an underground parking garage so, technically, it should be less expensive than a high-rise condominium,” Mr. Elder says.
That’s not to say, of course, there won’t be costs to renovating or restoring these types of spaces (things always pop up during construction). Or that building uncondos is actually a trend. Mr. Elder believes too many people still want to live in a high-rise condo or in a detached home on their own.
Mr. Spiegel feels differently.
“What 10 years ago was three-quarters low-rise new building is now 25% low-rise and 75% condo. The pressure and the desire for low-rise is still there, without the land to build it on. And with the increasing cost of low-rise, [these spaces] provide a low-cost option that melds the best of both worlds.”
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416−388−1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
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Dovercourt Park
Among Toronto neighbourhoods, Dovercourt Park is something of an unsung hero. Not sketchy enough to attract rising chefs with cult followings, nor trendy enough to send real estate values through the roof, it’s long been an area where people find community, twentysomethings can rent a decent apartment and first-time buyers can buy an old semi to renovate and make their own.
There is even a real Dovercourt Park at the centre of it all. North of Bloor, south of Dupont and loosely between Dufferin and Ossington – depending on who’s sketching the boundaries – on real estate maps it’s also known as Dovercourt-Wallace Emerson. The name Dovercourt comes from the name of the home of the Denison estate, located west of Dundas and Ossington.
In previous years, the neighbourhood developed a solid, lunch-bucket reputation as industrial plants built up close to the Canadian Pacific Railway line just north of Dupont and Italian and Portuguese workers moved in on the side streets to the south.
Dovercourt Park Neighbourhood
In today’s hot real estate market, eye-popping asking prices above $900,000 are starting to appear on the big fully-renovated houses. More typical are the semi-detached houses, with some row houses and a few condos added to the mix. In the recent past, a lot of the housing stock has changed hands in the more affordable $350,000 to $500,000 range – which makes the area a draw for first-time buyers. Church-to–loft conversions are popular with buyers and builders continue to buy up every old pile of bricks they can get their hands on (watch for a bunch of new church conversions in the next year or two).
Originally, the Village of Dovercourt was founded in the 1870s. Its first residents were poor immigrants from England, living in dozens of one and two bedroom tar and paper shacks which initially resulted in the village being called a shantytown. The village was annexed by the old City of Toronto in 1912 resulting in city services being extended to the neighbourhood helping stimulate its growth and development by 1923.
The neighbourhood contains a mix of land-uses. The main thoroughfare of Bloor Street consists almost exclusively of mixed-use residential and commercial buildings. The Bloorcourt Village BIA posts its streetlamp banners on Bloor between Dufferin and Montrose.
Bloor Gladstone Library
The buildings along Bloor Street are typically two or three stories tall, with retail commercial on the main floor, and offices or rental housing above. These structures are the oldest in the neighbourhood and are often in poor repair. At Dovercourt Road, a large, high-rise apartment complex houses lower-middle-income tenants on the southwest corner.
Businesses centered around the intersection of Dovercourt Road and Hallam Street have formed their own BIA, the ‘Dovercourt Village’. The boundaries stretch from Dupont south to Shanley and east-west from Salem to Ossington Avenue.
The residential area north of Bloor Street is primarily single-family dwellings. Many of the larger houses have been converted into apartments, housing up to eight separate units. Side-streets increase in zoned density as they approach Bloor. Low and medium-rise apartments occupy the majority of these zones.
The Bloor-Gladstone Library (dating from 1912) is situated at Bloor and Gladstone Avenue, one block east of Dufferin Avenue. From 2006 to 2009 the library was closed for renovation. It reopened to the public – and many accolades – in July 2009.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416−388−1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
—————————————————————————————————–
Incoming search terms
What does a Realtor do?
Richard Silver, Toronto Real Estate Board President
Like most Realtors who have worked in the profession for a number of years, from time to time I have been asked to explain the value of a Realtor’s services, and what we do throughout the course of a transaction.
Here is my take on what’s involved in our work and the most important contribution a Realtor can make to what is likely a consumer’s largest financial decision.
Most of a Toronto Realtor’s day involves following the market, not just specific houses and neighborhoods, but the ups and downs of the marketplace in general. We also deal with the ups and downs of our clients, their successes and failures, as well as changes to their family structures.
Comment: Seriously – I read at least 10 real estate articles a day, or more, from a variety of sources. The good, the bad, the completely wrong and insane. I write about real estate every day, be it on one of my 3 real estate blogs, Twitter, Facebook, or for a printed or online publication. This is what I do for a living. I talk about it all the time, with clients or friends or family. I know a lot about the market, from prices to interest rates, demographics and immigration patterns, buyer profiles and neighbourhood trends. Because it is my job. Because I need to know all of this to do my job as best I can. That is what I offer you, a wealth of knowledge about the subject. And there is nothing that jerks my chain more than people who tell me I don’t know what I am talking about. Or that I am biased, or lying or worse. People who’s job is not real estate who claim to know better than me. Not that I claim to be perfect or know everything, but I truly study my industry day in and day out – much more than almost everyone else in my industry and certainly more than people who work in accounting or graphic design. So please, listen to what I have to say, it comes from a wealth of background, knowledge and thought.
Eventually we start to develop a way of seeing so much product that we become adept at sifting out the good from the bad. We recognize that buzzwords like “knob and tube wiring” or “old furnace” are fixable if the house is right.
As my first Realtor advised me, “You can fix anything in the house with money but you cannot move the house.” His words guided me to a less expensive house on a great street at a time when I was caught up dreaming of the renovation that I had seen on a less desirable street. I have never regretted that decision, and I know that I would have made a mistake had I not listened to his guidance.
Toronto Realtors know that buying and selling a home is a very emotional experience. One of the best services that a Realtor provides is their third party unemotional observation, which can help Buyers and Sellers realize what is important, what is worth fighting for, and what that extra bit of mortgage will really mean in the long term.
On occasion, media reports infer that Realtors somehow create the marketplace. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. It is, in fact, the Buyer and the Seller who do so. It is natural for the Seller to want the highest price possible for their property and also for the Buyer to want to purchase for the least amount. How far each is willing to go is entirely up to them.
Comment: Like I said above, people who do not work in the industry saying things like always upset me. The market is created by 400,000 different people every year. There are 100,000 som-odd sales in the GTA each year. So there are 100,000 buyers (never mind the friends & family who advise them) and their 100,000 buyer’s agents, plus 100,000 sellers (and their friends and family) and 100,000 listing agents. Thus, 400,000 people – 200,000 of which are not real estate agents – determine the market every year. Add to that the mortgage agents, home inspectors and others who are involved in each transaction and it is easy to see that Realtors are not the ones “creating” the market. It is a free market, with prices and sales volumes dictacted by the choices of buyers and sellers, each one acting of their own volition and with their own motives. We only exist to help facilitate each transaction, to advise and help.
When six Realtors and the Buyers they represent attempt to purchase one house, the math will tell you that there are going to be five unhappy Buyers and Realtors who do not achieve their goals. Does that sound like fun? Is that really what Realtors want? Where is the benefit for the Realtor?
Comment: No, that sucks. We hate it. We hate losing more than you do! And unhappy clients make us unhappy. If they lose enough bidding wars, they will go elsewhere. Through no fault of our own, we have no done all of this work only to have the client leave – and we don’t get paid. Truly, 90% of my life is working for nothing. But, just like the buyers, we have to get back on the bike and keep going.
These days, Realtors try to keep their clients realistic, set goals and help them remember that getting excited about a kitchen design to the exclusion of having a main floor family room is steering them off of their must have list, which was responsible for initiating their search in the first place.
Providing that kind of guidance is the most important thing that a Toronto Realtor can do, notwithstanding making sure that the Is are dotted and Ts are crossed. It is what keeps us busy, no matter what market we are in. This most important face-to-face contact is one that a computer program will never be able to replace.
Comment: Bidding wars suck, but if you want that perfect house… you may not have a choice. Work with me, listen to me, we will do our best to get that house for you. But without that trust, there is little we can achieve together.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416−388−1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
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