A game: guess that house price (before the bubble bursts!)

[rousseau]

Renovator's special in what you might call "upper" Little India in Toronto. Completely gutted and with new footings, according to the MLS ad. In a comfortable inner ring residential area that is typical Toronto: a bit shabby-looking, and nothing to set an urbanist's heart aflame, but just down a ways from one of this continent's most fantastic commercial streets, Little India on Gerrard (probably has little to no bearing on the price of the house, though).



https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.67523...8i6656!6m1!1e1

How much do you think it's listed for? Don't cheat. The closest guesser within $10,000 wins 15 million internet simoleons and the right to post the next house. (Just go to mls.ca, save a photo of the house in question to your hard drive, upload it to your image host of choice (photobucket, flickr, etc.) and then post a link to said image in your post).

[Architype]

1.3 million?

[rousseau]

Too warm.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Architype

1.3 million?

That's too much if the house is being sold in a gutted state. Assuming it's otherwise in decent condition, I'd say $800,000 gutted, $1.1 if the interior were fully renovated.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Assuming it's otherwise in decent condition, I'd say $800,000 gutted...

Cold.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Cold.

Shurely not over $1M for a gutted house!? I am out of touch with Toronto.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Shurely not over $1M for a gutted house!? I am out of touch with Toronto.

$1.3 million is too warm. $800,000 is too cold.

[logan5]

This area is probably the equivalent to Grandview/Woodlands (which is centred around Commercial Dr.) in Vancouver. If it's close to 1.3 that's pretty much on par with Vancouver, where housing prices are supposedly much higher.

[lio45]

Gutted? $985,000.

Just so it's in the six figures... y'know, basic marketing. "Just down a ways from one of this continent's most fantastic commercial streets, for... not even one mere million! Hurry before someone else snaps it up!!!"

[lio45]

On the other hand, I've always said that it would be smarter to do total rehabs in, say, the nicest areas of places like Manhattan or San Francisco (provided you have of course the required capital to start with), since most of your investments are identical (your time and the material needed) but the jump in value from trashed to rehabbed is going to be a much bigger absolute number of dollars.

I don't really do total rehabs anymore, but if I did in a Canadian context, this POS would probably make sense, even if the asking price seems outrageous at first sight. (Unless I'm really unlucky on the timing and the bubble pops right during the time I'm fixing it up, but I honestly expect more of a slowing down then mild deflation, we'll all see it coming IMO.)

[caltrane74]

My guess, is $750-$800k because it's gutted. Otherwise, I would have said $1 million.

[lio45]

BTW, architecturally, the thin bland pillars and the incorrectly-mansarded second story are real turnoffs. The colors suck as well.

[lio45]

This very nice condo, right next door to the Château Frontenac in the walled Upper Town.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir//46..../data=!3m1!1e3

Pics from the MLS will be up in a minute or so...

[lio45]

Pics. It's on two stories. In order, you'll see the living room (with the red sofas), then kitchen, then bedrooms, and the bathroom.






















































































and last but not least, the view standing in front of it. (The shadow you see is the building.) That's a pretty nice square, FYI.




Note that there are no condo fees for the unit, and the municipal tax bill is for the whole building (I'm guessing that what's indicated in the MLS listing is just for this unit, though -- about $2k/year). This is unit #1, a 2br apt, but the building is in the undivided condo ownership form -- not that uncommon in older areas here -- so when it comes to planning ahead for large expenses related to the entire building, you have to kinda get along with the owners of the other units. (And hope they're not unilingual Mandarin speakers.)

Also, all the furniture in the unit is included in the sale.

[rousseau]

Stunning. Beautiful. $650,000?

[lio45]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Stunning. Beautiful. $650,000?

Any other offers before I let out the info whether this is too hot, too warm, too cold, or warm or cold in the normal sense?

I'll wait a little while, otherwise it's unfair to rousseau as the others can adjust their guesses...

[SignalHillHiker]

That's really pretty. The red leather is a bit overdone to my taste but I love the decor overall.

I'd say... $990,000.

[MonctonRad]

I'm going to pull a "Price is Right" on Signal and go for $991,000

[kwoldtimer]

Very nice - very English provincial looking exterior. It looks like this is the lower of the two units. I am going to guess $450,000.

[lio45]

Hmm, maybe it's the somewhat English look that fooled SHH and MonctonRad into believing the property was located in London, England when making their price guesses...

As requested, it's in Canada, and keep in mind guys -- it's not in Toronto or Vancouver.