She wanted to buy in Rosedale. He didn’t. After an epic 10-month, 140-house search, they settled on a fixer-upper in the Annex
The buyers
Matt Killen, a painter and high school art teacher, and Joanna Foster, a photographer, couldn’t agree on where to live. They had been renting an apartment north of Liberty Village, as well as an art studio on Ossington, but wanted a place large enough for an in-house studio. Killen suggested Little Italy, Seaton Village and Riverdale, all of which Foster nixed. She wanted Rosedale, the neighbourhood where she’d gone to school. “I pictured us in a house on a lush, tree-lined street safe for kids,” she says. They finally agreed on the Annex, which felt urban and central to Killen, yet cozy enough for Foster.
The criteria
Three bedrooms, close to transit, with a rental unit. They preferred an older Victorian home, and it had to be north of Bloor, east
of Bathurst and west of Yonge.
The budget
$550,000–$700,000.
OPTION 1Austin Terrace (near Bathurst); listed at $759,000, withdrawn from the market
Killen and Foster saw the four-bedroom, four‑bathroom Hillcrest semi in the fall of 2008, when prices were dropping. They offered $109,000 below asking and were thrilled when the offer was accepted. They’d been told the deal was contingent on the sellers’ own purchase going through; when it didn’t, the sellers took it off the market. “It broke our hearts,” Foster says.
OPTION 2Brunswick Avenue (near Dupont); listed at $859,000, sold for $870,000
By the spring of 2009, the couple had toured over 100 houses. “We looked at listings every week, but we could never reach a consensus,” says Killen. “Jo would fall in love with a place I didn’t like; then I’d get excited about a house she hated.” They upped their budget and began to consider fixer-uppers, such as this Annex four-bedroom in need of a new kitchen, a reno of the master suite and a bathroom relocation. They offered $840,000 but lost it to a higher bidder.
OPTION 3Nesbitt Drive (near Governor’s Bridge); listed at $849,000, sold for $851,000
Killen was willing to overlook the location—on the outskirts of Rosedale, near the CPR tracks— for the modern design of this detached home. The property had a ready-made artist’s studio, a beautifully finished basement apartment and a large backyard. “Jo wanted it so much,” says Killen, “but $850,000 was our max.” They lost by only $1,000.
THE BUYWells Street (near Bathurst); listed at $649,000, sold for $705,000
The next place was the polar opposite of the pristine Nesbitt Drive contemporary: a traditional Annex semi suffering from what Killen describes as “terrifyingly bizarre” renovations. (The basement in-wall wiring consisted entirely of extension cords.) But the price and location convinced them. “For $150,000 more, we could turn it into exactly what we wanted,” says Foster. They won a four-way bid by offering substantially over asking for the first time, shacked up with Foster’s parents for six months during the reno, and moved in last March.
(Image: Killen and Foster by John Cullen, houses by Devin Jeffrey)
Could you PLEASE do a real estate story on a buyer of a home at a more realistic sale price? $400,000, for example? I know this will be hard to find, but I know you guys can do it!
April 21, 2010 at 11:50 am | by BNo kidding B, plus in what world do a high school teacher and a photographer buy a $700,000 house (and then do $150k of renos)! Bubblicious.
April 21, 2010 at 12:22 pm | by snowyExactly Snowy! Also to not go 0.2% above your personal cut-off to get a home both parties love (obviously a hard agreement to reach with this couple) only further emphasises at least one of their hard-headedness… It took them 100 houses to finally agree on something?!? Yikes…
April 21, 2010 at 2:45 pm | by RSinTO700K in Toronto IS a realistic price point in Toronto. If you want something for 400, point your Pontiac Sunbird toward Oshawa buddy!
April 22, 2010 at 9:08 am | by RegWould love to know what kind of mortgage they took on and what will happen when the rates go up. Your average Toronto couple do not look at $700,000 homes!!
April 22, 2010 at 9:09 am | by east yorkerHahaha! That’s funny – a high school art teacher and a photographer just bought a house for 3/4 of a million dollars! Good luck with that….
April 22, 2010 at 9:31 am | by Rossvegasin fact, they spent over their cutoff of $850,000 with the renos. This house cost them $855,000, if one can believe the $150,000 reno cost — I’m curious how much work they actually had done.
April 22, 2010 at 10:04 am | by popsyOne reason people can afford such homes on such meager salaries is usually due to mommys and daddys with deep pockets. With living wills parents are often providing children with sizable downpayments that suddenly make 850K homes become only 400K mortgages. Magic presto!
April 22, 2010 at 10:37 am | by smartalexI’d like to know where they got their money and what kind of mortgage they took on. I took a look at their online portfolios. The paintings are alright but the photography is mediocre and derivative. Don’t know how she makes a salary on that. Its jerks like these that price the city out of range of realistic folks who aren’t banking their future on a crapshoot of a dream of making big bucks from photography.
Thanks a**hats!!
April 22, 2010 at 10:56 am | by PoorGirlThe woman grew up in Rosedale. This leads me to believe there was family money involved as I agree with the other commenters that an artist and photographer typically cannot afford a $855K (including reno) property.
April 22, 2010 at 12:50 pm | by SamThey better watch out when the market correction hits!
April 22, 2010 at 1:00 pm | by boo-urnsCan we say negative-equity?
Why is there no mention that they would have been subsidised by funds other than their income? It is terribly misleading.On their salries alone,there is no way at their agge they could even sneeze at $700,00 and I’m sorry she sound slike little miss spoilt brat ..With their jobs and income (forget family money)why at their age would she be looking at Rosedale .I pity him cbecause in 10 years ,her cahmapgne tastes will have outrun their beer bottle pockets.Hope there was a prenup.
April 22, 2010 at 1:36 pm | by ASHshe looks like she shops at Target!!!!!! No taste just a show OFF
April 22, 2010 at 2:51 pm | by aldoWow, such negativity about people you don’t even know! Try to be a little kinder. Imagine what it is like for them to read the comments you are making.
Anyway… lucky them if they have resources to help them purchase a property like this, if that is in fact the case. For most couples their age this would be completely impossible. Taxes and maintenance will also be pricey for a house like this, I’d imagine.
It does seem crazy to lose a home over $1,000, but I bet they were bidding against another buyer, and you don’t know what to offer in that case. Also, they may have been asked to better their first offer (as both were so close) and weren’t willing to do so because they would have then had to have done better than just another $1,000, having to go much more beyond their comfort zone.
April 22, 2010 at 3:12 pm | by mlsWhether it’s the mag or the people themselves, no one should be surprised by the backlash. No one their ages and with those professions could afford properties like this without substantial help, which goes unmentioned. Intentional or otherwise, they come off as spoiled and having the luxury of blowing off 140 previous properties over what appear to be minor differences. Really – Riverdale, Rosedale, the Annex, Little Italy? You poor dears are so hard done by on your exhaustive search. Not saying this sentiment is right, and they probably are lovely people, but TL could have saved them some grief on the comments page with better positioning.
Finally, $400k will easily get a small bungalow, half double or townhome in any number of desirable neighbourhoods – nice bits of Etobicoke, Don Mills, north of Danforth, etc. Not trendy, ritzy parts of town, but not scuzzy either. The fact that many readers probably live in what they consider nice homes and neighbourhoods for much less than what these folks paid might also be at work here in creating a bit of jealousy/negativity.
April 22, 2010 at 4:13 pm | by Ignatz