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Clean Sweep
An east Riverdale couple hires a stager and sells their semi for $100,000 over asking By Bert Archer
THE SELLERS
Jaclyn and Matt Appleby—she’s a teacher, he’s a lawyer—are parents to two-year-old Tyler and are expecting a new baby girl on Valentine’s Day.
THE HOUSE
A two-storey semi on Hunter Avenue, south of Danforth and east of Jones.
THE STORY
The Applebys bought the two-bedroom, two-bath starter home a month after their 2005 honeymoon, with a plan to renovate and sell within five years. They extended the second floor out the back (adding a third bedroom), gutted the kitchen and upstairs bathroom, and refinished the hardwood floors. “My husband is anal retentive,” Jaclyn says. “I say that with a lot of love, but we went to the nth degree to improve this place.” Last September, they listed the house with Noel Trumpour of Keller Williams.
THE PREP
The Applebys agreed that their home, which Trumpour described as “tired and bland,” still needed a decor overhaul. He brought in a stager who, for less than $1,000, added carpeting in the basement, supplemented the Applebys’ furniture with rentals, and repainted the downstairs a neutral pale green and taupe. The Applebys also installed cedar shakes on the façade, upgraded the porch with a paint job and flowerpots,
and replanted the front garden.
THE SHOWINGS
Trumpour figured the market value was about $475,000, but he listed low to spur interest. He held two open houses: a Wednesday night wine and cheese for curious neighbours and a regular open house on Sunday. There were more than 70 showings in three days.
THE OFFERS
By 7 p.m. on Monday, they had seven bids. “Ten grand over asking was
our minimum threshold,” Matt says. “But the first offer we opened was $510,000, so we just kicked back and enjoyed the ride.” They took the highest bid—$533,500—without trying to push it. “What goes around comes around,” Matt says. “When we bought our new house, near Broadview and Gerrard, they took our first offer. There was no negotiating.”
Listed for: $439,900; Sold for: $533,500; Days on the market: five.
Photographs: Applebys by John Cullen; Interiors courtesy of Keller Williams Advantage Realty
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