Fairy Tales of Canada the Condoland

Say hello to your neighbour on top of you, below you and beside you

The dream of an affordable single-family detached home is fading fast. Rising land values and development costs mean even those trying to avoid high-rises will be living in more densely populated housing.

It’s not something that is going to happen overnight, but evidence is mounting that ground-level housing is becoming tighter. To counter the costly state of home ownership, increasingly developers are looking to build more townhouses or townhomes and what is called mid-rise or stacked housing.

http://business.financialpost.com/

To buy or rent? Condos might be the answer to Toronto’s intense home-buying market

A safe location, room to grow, a good investment and located near the city. Doesn’t seem like a lot for a young professional couple to ask of the Toronto real estate and rental market. But as so many 20- and 30-somethings know, it is.

“We typically get outbid even after offering anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000 over asking,” says Rachel Doerksen, a public relations professional who lives in the city. “Recently we went after a house that had 17 registered offers … We knew we wouldn’t get it, but still tried. We made the top five bids, that’s something right?”

She and her husband, Jay, have been looking to make the leap from renters to property owners for several years. They recently had their first child and feel the pressure growing on their space. (“It already feels more cramped with a little baby who isn’t even crawling yet,” she says.)

The problem is they can’t afford to buy — they keep getting outbid — yet can’t, as they recently learned, afford to move to a larger rental unit either.

http://life.nationalpost.com/

Got $1M ? Try this one …

PRICE DROP #2 – 536 Christie Street – WYCHWOOD

This is a nice looking house.The inside is a little flippy but it is a solid 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom detached house with parking on a 28.25 x 82.20 foot lot at 536 Christie Street.Problem is, there doesn’t seem to be much basement and it is located right on Christie.

Not the busiest street, but not exactly kid friendly.

So, when this house was listed at $1,095,000 in November, I didn’t think it would sell.

It didn’t.  And when I posted it in January, the price had already been dropped a month earlier to $995,000.

I still thought it was a bit high.

Turns out it was as the price has been dropped again…

To $979,900.

I don’t think that’s enough.  This isn’t a huge lot, it is only 3 bedrooms, there doesn’t seem to be much basement, and it’s on Christie.

$949,000 maybe.

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