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Time Capsule
Two Wanless Park houses: one was snapped up in seven days; the other lingered on the market for months. What a difference a year makes
Ardrossan Place, in the Wanless Park area, around Mount Pleasant and Lawrence, is an upper-middle-class Petri dish in which to examine the changes the past year has wrought on the city’s real estate market. It’s also a lesson in the efficacy of lowball listings during the boom, and the dangers inherent in a collision between sellers with 2007 ambitions and buyers with 2008 expectations.
The house pictured on the left sold in December 2007 for $120,000 over asking. The one on the right was listed last September; at press time, it had yet to receive a single offer. Two other Ardrossan Place houses that went on the market this past fall have endured similar fates: one has since been withdrawn, and the other was made available as either a purchase or a rental, whichever comes first.
What: Four-bedroom on a 25-by-135-foot lot
Where: 21 Ardrossan Pl.
Listed: December 12, 2007, for $799,000
Marketing: Two open houses, two showings
Sold: December 19, 2007, for $921,000
What: Three-bedroom on a 25-by-135-foot lot
Where: 25 Ardrossan Pl.
Listed: September 29, 2008, for $989,000
Marketing: Two flyers, 10 open houses, eight showings
Sold: Still on the market at press time
Photography by Lisa Kannakko
Related:
• Drop Zone: Toronto the crunched
• The Newcomers: A pair professors cross the million-dollar threshold
• How Bad Do You Want It? Despite the softening market, some houses are still generating bidding wars
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