The Real Estate section is sponsored by:
The Upsizers
A couple trade in their peculiar two-bedroom Annex house for 25 acres on Georgian Bay (and make a killing) By Bert Archer
The sellers
Rachel and Shawn Menard. She’s an office space designer; he’s a financial consultant.
The house
A 100-year-old Ontario workers’ cottage on Borden Street.
The story
Shawn bought the two-bedroom, 1,500-square-foot house for $450,000 in 2001, when he was single. The decor was atrocious, he says, with red wall-to-wall carpeting and zebra-print fabric stapled to the walls. He overhauled the house slowly, room by room. When Rachel moved in four years later, she upgraded with reclaimed wood panelling in the family room and antiques throughout. Last fall, the Menards, who are expecting a baby this month, decided to move up north. They’re building a house on 25 acres just outside Parry Sound and renting a pied-à-terre downtown. “We’d rather have a nice place in the country than manage
a home in the city,” Shawn says.
The problem
The top-floor bedroom has an awkward layout: an open bathroom breaks up the space, with the toilet behind a half wall. The Menards’ agent, Ophira Sutton, figured the interest would be mainly from singles, DINKs and downsizers.
The showings
Sutton marketed the house as a “Spanish-style villa” and arranged 75 showings. In a neighbourhood of Victorians, this home’s archways and terra cotta floors stood out.
The offers
There were five bids. The lowest offer was for the asking price, $769,000, which would have been fine, Shawn says, if nothing higher came in. The top two bidders—a couple away on vacation at the time, and
a single woman—each came in with a bid of around $810,000 and were asked to raise their offers. The woman came back aggressively with an offer of $820,000 and got the place for $51,000 over asking.
Listed for: $769,000; Sold for: $820,000; Days on the market: seven
Photographs: Menards by Ryan Szulc; House courtesy of Ophira Sutton
Comments
Comment on this story
Neither Bert Archer nor Toronto Life necessarily agree with the comments posted here. Editors will not correct spelling or grammar. Toronto Life reserves the right to edit or delete comments entirely. Read our full policy
Some articles on this site require that you have a Torontolife.com account in order to comment, and this is one of them. If you do not have an account, you can register now.
Follow Toronto Life on Twitter, Facebook and via RSS