The city of Montreal has quietly renewed a program to encourage tenants and families to buy and stay on the island. The on-again, off-again home ownership program received a $136-million cash injection with little fanfare in April. As in years past, the city will take applications for up to three years, or until the cash runs out.
The cash tends to run out well before the three years are up.
Still, not a bad program if you fit the various criteria. For new homes, the incentives are on a sliding scale, depending on whether you are a single buyer, a couple without children or a household with children. The lump sum incentives range from $4,500 to $12,000 . Households with kids can also get a refund of the hated welcome tax.
Not bad! The program gets complicated when you look at the types of properties that are eligible. For single buyers, the maximum budget is $200,000, for a couple $250,000. If you're buying for a family, the budget can go as high at $360,000, but to qualify for the highest amount you must buy a three-bedroom unit.
The program will also refund the welcome tax on the purchase of a resale duplex or triplex, providing the purchase price is not more than $450.000 and $490.000 respectively.
Households with kids can also get six months of free public transit with the purchase of a one-year Opus card. It is not clear from the brochure whether this means a total of 18 months of public transit for the price of 12 or 12 months for the price of six.
As with any program, there's lots of small print. Still, worth looking into if it can save you several thousand dollars, right?
Here's the website, en anglais et en francais .
You can also download the brochure on the site.
Showing posts with label real estate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label real estate. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Monday, July 15, 2013
Trains, a Part of Life in Montreal
The horrifying train derailment, explosion and fire in downtown Lac-Mégantic, Qc. earlier this month has given rise to a lot of talk about the wisdom of running trains through populated areas.
One of my Facbeook acquaintances even kidded me about whether there was going to be a run on St-Henri real estate as people dumped their homes out of fear for their safety. I was skeptical then and remain skeptical now. That's what I told CTV News, when reporter Max Harrold called me up.
He had already interviewed a Management prof at UQAM who had studied the sale of 40,000 residential properties on Montreal island. His analysis indicated that living within 50 metres of a super highway reduced the value of a home by as much as 5 per cent, living within 50 metres of a rail line meant an 8-10 per cent reduction in property values.
This I don't dispute.
My larger point when asked about the impact of the Lac-Mégantic tragedy on Montreal home prices was that Montreal was built along rail lines. Think about all the communities where trains are a fact of life - Point St. Charles, St. Henri ( the level crossing pictured above), NDG, Westmount, Cote St. Luc, TMR, Griffintown and all those suburbs served by commuter rail service. That's a lot of trains.
Montrealers have long made their peace with trains and for all the horror of what happened in Lac-Mégantic, it says something that it is the only train disaster most of us can remember. I was chatting with The Gazette's Allison Lampert and she pointed out that the big difference between Montreal and Lac Mégantic is that CN owns and controls most of the freight rail track in the city and has a better track record for safety than the corner-cutting Chicago outfit MMA whose freight train caused the fiery explosion in small-town Lac-Mégantic.
I think that the images of burning crude oil and a leveled downtown core are fresh in our minds but that within a few months those memories will fade and Montrealers will feel comfortable with the rumble and squeal of passing freight trains once more.
We buy homes near rail lines, like we buy homes near airports or near flood zones.
You can watch the CTV report here.
One of my Facbeook acquaintances even kidded me about whether there was going to be a run on St-Henri real estate as people dumped their homes out of fear for their safety. I was skeptical then and remain skeptical now. That's what I told CTV News, when reporter Max Harrold called me up.
![]() | |
Don't mind my dorky face. I was talking, ok. |
This I don't dispute.
My larger point when asked about the impact of the Lac-Mégantic tragedy on Montreal home prices was that Montreal was built along rail lines. Think about all the communities where trains are a fact of life - Point St. Charles, St. Henri ( the level crossing pictured above), NDG, Westmount, Cote St. Luc, TMR, Griffintown and all those suburbs served by commuter rail service. That's a lot of trains.
Montrealers have long made their peace with trains and for all the horror of what happened in Lac-Mégantic, it says something that it is the only train disaster most of us can remember. I was chatting with The Gazette's Allison Lampert and she pointed out that the big difference between Montreal and Lac Mégantic is that CN owns and controls most of the freight rail track in the city and has a better track record for safety than the corner-cutting Chicago outfit MMA whose freight train caused the fiery explosion in small-town Lac-Mégantic.
I think that the images of burning crude oil and a leveled downtown core are fresh in our minds but that within a few months those memories will fade and Montrealers will feel comfortable with the rumble and squeal of passing freight trains once more.
We buy homes near rail lines, like we buy homes near airports or near flood zones.
You can watch the CTV report here.
Labels:
Montreal,
property values,
real estate,
trains
Thursday, February 7, 2013
I'd Like to Show You a Good Time- Wait, Whaaaaa?
Realtor Diana Arvatescu is getting all kinds of publicity from a provocative advertising billboard on what appears to be a windswept Calgary highway. (It might be downtown Calgary for all I know. Many of the main drags in Calgary look like unpopulated stretches of Taschereau Blvd., Newman Blvd., St. John's Blvd.)

The billboard features a photo of Arvatescu with a come-hither look in her eye and the invitation "Let me take you home. It's gorgeous inside."
More than a little provocative. I mean, there are plenty of real estate pros, male and female who use glamour puss photos and their own innate sex appeal to sell houses. We all use what we have. (In my case, that means a sense of humor, intelligence and a reporter's skill at listening, hearing and delivering what my clients communicate. I know, sexy, right?)
This ad goes several steps, further. I think it sends the wrong message about women in real estate.
It is certainly courting controvery in Calgary where the local real estate board has voiced some discomfort about her sexually charged come on. The issue is particularly sensitive in a town where a young realtor was murdered after being lured to a house by a stranger.
What is she selling, exactly? Is she the product or is she the conduit to the product? We might never know because the agent herself ducked out of a scheduled interview to talk about her billboard.
If you had a house to sell, would you want to see your agent's best come-hither face on a big-assed billboard or would you rather she spent her money on targeted marketing - ads in local papers, flyers, a mailed postcard with a picture of your house?
For the record, this kind of billboard would not fly in Quebec, where the OACIQ (our professional organization) says that we have to use our full names, titles and agency name in our advertising.We can only include information that is demonstrably true. You see the little #1 in the left bottom corner of her billboard? That would not fly in Quebec because it begs the question "#1 what? Who says? Where's the proof?"
Guess standards are a little looser in Gas and Oil Country.
The billboard features a photo of Arvatescu with a come-hither look in her eye and the invitation "Let me take you home. It's gorgeous inside."
More than a little provocative. I mean, there are plenty of real estate pros, male and female who use glamour puss photos and their own innate sex appeal to sell houses. We all use what we have. (In my case, that means a sense of humor, intelligence and a reporter's skill at listening, hearing and delivering what my clients communicate. I know, sexy, right?)
This ad goes several steps, further. I think it sends the wrong message about women in real estate.
It is certainly courting controvery in Calgary where the local real estate board has voiced some discomfort about her sexually charged come on. The issue is particularly sensitive in a town where a young realtor was murdered after being lured to a house by a stranger.
What is she selling, exactly? Is she the product or is she the conduit to the product? We might never know because the agent herself ducked out of a scheduled interview to talk about her billboard.
If you had a house to sell, would you want to see your agent's best come-hither face on a big-assed billboard or would you rather she spent her money on targeted marketing - ads in local papers, flyers, a mailed postcard with a picture of your house?
For the record, this kind of billboard would not fly in Quebec, where the OACIQ (our professional organization) says that we have to use our full names, titles and agency name in our advertising.We can only include information that is demonstrably true. You see the little #1 in the left bottom corner of her billboard? That would not fly in Quebec because it begs the question "#1 what? Who says? Where's the proof?"
Guess standards are a little looser in Gas and Oil Country.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Luxury Address, Lowlife Clientele?
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Heritage du Vieux-Port |
I don't know how long the link will be good so here's the gist of the story:
Hockey players and wealthy socialites call the Heritage du Vieux Port home.Longer than a football field and crowned by four five-storey rooftop villas, it offers what the glossy sales brochure describes as “your private chateau in the city.”But police also describe it as a virtually impregnable “bunker” for a handful of bikers, Mafia associates and other alleged organized crime figures who over the years found comfort and isolation behind the walls of the massive structure that once served as a refrigerated warehouse near the port.
How's that for a morning read?
The report goes on to enumerate at least 20 people with criminal records or ties to Montreal's underworld who have owned or lived in the 200-unit property in the last decade.
A Sûreté du Québec investigator told reporter Julian Sher of having carried out four search warrants on homes in the building and knew of a dozen more having been carried out since 1998.
True confession time. I was The Gazette's real estate reporter in 1999 when Toni Magi and his brothers announced their plan to redevelop a massive refrigerated warehouse on the edge of Montreal's Old Port.
No one had ever heard of the Magi brothers - I think remember there being four of them - at that point. In later years, Toni Magi evinced an amazing affinity for surviving being shot at. It got his name in the papers quite a lot.
I do remember the launch was held on a beautiful fall day, aboard a gleaming boat that cruised the harbour. Mayor Pierre Bourque, smiling and vacant, was in attendance. There were hors d'oeuvres and light classical music. It was the splashiest PR event announcing the launch of new condo. (They usually involved visiting an unheated Dickie Moore trailer to pick up a sales kit and meet a sales agent who was chilled to the bone.)
The Magis couldn't bring the project to completion and ended losing it to TRAMS Property Management, a large real-estate development and managemnt firm that does a lot of work in the U.S..
Radio-Canada's investigative news show, Enquete, will have a report on the dubious doings at one of Montreal's most luxurious addresses tonight. I, for one, intend to tune in.
In the meantime, if anyone is in the market for a luxury apartment in a bunker-like chateau on the edge of Old Montreal, give me a call. Prices start at about $2,500 for a rental and climb to $4.45 million for a penthouse.
After tonight, those prices might be negotiable.
Labels:
condos,
luxury real estate,
Montreal,
Old Montreal,
real estate
Friday, May 4, 2012
Just Listed! Location, location, location.
Amy Barratt and I have just listed a 2-bedroom, 2-bath, 2-level condo in Chateau Esplanade, the impressive tan brick complex at 4433 de l'Esplanade, just south of Mont-Royal Ave.
The Chateau is made up of a number of connected three-storey buildings, set around landscaped coutryards. They are protected heritage buildings.
The unit we have for sale is a coolly contemporary condo, with a large open living and dining room with fireplace, master bedroom, kitchen; laundry and bathroom on the main (1st floor). Downstairs, there is a second generously proportioned bedroom, an office corner with library, second bathroom and storage.
The asking price is $379,000.
This could be an ideal set up for a first-time buyer who wants to take in a roommate, university students, or a family with a teenager. Because of the very practical division of space everyone can have privacy.
The unit has undergone several smart renos in recent years, including new hardwood floors in the living and dining room. The laundry and storage area were reworked to impove functionality and dressed up with custom-made floor-to-celing sliding doors.
The bathroom has been entirely renovated. In the kitchen, a quartz counter with a glass tile backsplash, undermounted sink and high-end faucet were installed. The property is being sold with the refrigerator, dishwasher and stove included.
There is so much to like about the area. First, the building faces Jeanne-Mance Park and all that the city has to offer. Pick-up soccer in the park, a kids' wading pool and playground and the gateway to Mount Royal, for starters.
Then there's everything else. There's grocery shopping at the corner of St. Urban and Mont Royal Ave. The shops and restos on St. Laurent Blvd. are steps away. Park Ave is nearby and the funky boutiques and metro stop are a short walk away on Mont Royal.
There's a Bixi stand on the corner and at least 4 bus routes - the 11, 57, 55, 80 and 129 - are all within steps of your door.
The Chateau Esplanade is a well managed building with an involved board of directors made up of building residents, as well as a professional management company. In the last two years, owners voted to repoint the brick on the building's main facade and also undertook a large project to reinforce the building's stone foundation by pouring 100 linear feet of concrete. These projects have been paid for. The roof was redone in the last six years. There are no other major repair or renovation projects on the horizon.
Have a taste for a condo that combines the best of heritage architecture and contemporary design? Come have a look at our listing. Check it out at Centris.ca by punching in MLS #8750675.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Just Listed! Mile End Cottage 4+1 Bedrooms.
Amy Barratt and I have just listed a stunning 4+1 bedroom stone cottage in the heart of Mile End.
This lovingly cared for family home is located on Jeanne-Mance between Fairmount and St-Viateur, steps from the world's best bagels, excellent coffee and all the other good things the 'hood has to offer.
They don't build houses like this anymore, with gracious proportions, high ceilings, big windows and a fenced yard big enough for a vegetable garden, a patio and a parking space, should you so desire.
The ground floor features a large living room with bay window, spacious dining room, eat in kitchen with gas stove and custom wood cabinets and an all-season sun room that looks onto the back yard.
Upstairs you'll find four good-sized bedrooms, including a master bedroom that was made by joining two rooms into one. Two of the bedrooms have balconies. The bathroom is newly renovated.
The basement has a separate entrance and could be used as a living space for a teenager or young adult. There is a full bath with tub, laundry room, storage room and a finished family room that could also be used as a fifth bedroom. Tons of space!
The heating system is gas and hot water radiators, for my money the best and most comfortable way to heat in our damp, chilly climate.
The asking price is $850,000. It will not linger on the market long, I don't imagine.
You can find out more by checking my Century 21 website here.
UPDATE: Here's a slide show Amy put together that really gives a sense of the space.
To book a visit call me at (514) 978-6522 or call Amy Barratt at (514) 718-6522.
This lovingly cared for family home is located on Jeanne-Mance between Fairmount and St-Viateur, steps from the world's best bagels, excellent coffee and all the other good things the 'hood has to offer.
They don't build houses like this anymore, with gracious proportions, high ceilings, big windows and a fenced yard big enough for a vegetable garden, a patio and a parking space, should you so desire.
The ground floor features a large living room with bay window, spacious dining room, eat in kitchen with gas stove and custom wood cabinets and an all-season sun room that looks onto the back yard.
Upstairs you'll find four good-sized bedrooms, including a master bedroom that was made by joining two rooms into one. Two of the bedrooms have balconies. The bathroom is newly renovated.
The basement has a separate entrance and could be used as a living space for a teenager or young adult. There is a full bath with tub, laundry room, storage room and a finished family room that could also be used as a fifth bedroom. Tons of space!
The heating system is gas and hot water radiators, for my money the best and most comfortable way to heat in our damp, chilly climate.
The asking price is $850,000. It will not linger on the market long, I don't imagine.
You can find out more by checking my Century 21 website here.
UPDATE: Here's a slide show Amy put together that really gives a sense of the space.
To book a visit call me at (514) 978-6522 or call Amy Barratt at (514) 718-6522.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Just Listed, Classic Rosemont Duplex
We've just pounded the sign in front of a classic Rosemont duplex - two bedrooms with an open living, dining and kitchen area on the ground floor and a semi-finished basement with a guest room and play area and exterior exit. There's just a shade under 1000 square feet of living space on the ground floor and a private yard with an above ground pool.
Upstairs there are two one-bedroom rentals with stable, long-term tenants who bring in a combined $800 a month.
The address is 5536 7th Ave., which is between Dandurand St. and Masson, the neighborhood's main shopping drag. If you don't know Rosemont, this is a nice neighborhood, quiet tree-lined streets with folks who sit out on their stoops and balconies keeping an eye on things.
Alot of the action on the overheated Plateau has pushed north and east to Rosemont where prices are lower and there isn't quite as much carousing and clubbing.
The asking price is $419,000, very competitive for the neighborhood. We don't expect this baby to linger on the market at that price.
Open house Sunday, September 25, from 2-4 p.m. Tell your friends. MLS # 8616074
Upstairs there are two one-bedroom rentals with stable, long-term tenants who bring in a combined $800 a month.
The address is 5536 7th Ave., which is between Dandurand St. and Masson, the neighborhood's main shopping drag. If you don't know Rosemont, this is a nice neighborhood, quiet tree-lined streets with folks who sit out on their stoops and balconies keeping an eye on things.
Alot of the action on the overheated Plateau has pushed north and east to Rosemont where prices are lower and there isn't quite as much carousing and clubbing.
The asking price is $419,000, very competitive for the neighborhood. We don't expect this baby to linger on the market at that price.
Open house Sunday, September 25, from 2-4 p.m. Tell your friends. MLS # 8616074
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Now We Gotta Worry About Dinosaurs?
It used to be that my biggest headache as a realtor was people who thought they could do better selling their houses themselves. (Generally you can't.)
Now it seems I have to worry about fetishists who might be willing to trade their property for one year of service from a "personal dinosaur". How do I compete with that?
At left is an actual Craigslist real estate ad that I picked up from Regretsy, a website usually devoted to handicrafts and DIY gone terribly wrong.
I would love to know how it turned out for the would-be dinosaur. Sadly, the original posting has expired.
Here's the Regretsy link.
Now it seems I have to worry about fetishists who might be willing to trade their property for one year of service from a "personal dinosaur". How do I compete with that?
At left is an actual Craigslist real estate ad that I picked up from Regretsy, a website usually devoted to handicrafts and DIY gone terribly wrong.
I would love to know how it turned out for the would-be dinosaur. Sadly, the original posting has expired.
Here's the Regretsy link.
Monday, August 8, 2011
A Page from Montreal History
Original handwritten deed dating from 1891 for the sale of what is now 276 May St., Verdun. |
Sometimes I get to brush up against history as I go about my business as a real estate agent. The vendor of the property at 276 May St., Verdun has a stack of deeds going all the way back to when the land was originally subdivided into building lots back in 1891.
The spidery cursive has faded somewhat over the last 110 years, but it is still legible. If you read all the deeds you get a sense of the evolution of a neighborhood, because each deed has the name and occupation of both the seller and the buyer. This property passed through the hands of a career military man to a mechanical superintendant and later from shopkeeper to a mechanic and from him to a labourer and then to a nurse's aide and so on and so on.
What I like about this particular deed is that many of the names, probably obscure in their time, now have deep roots and resonance in Verdun and neighboring Point St. Charles. I quote:
On This Sixth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and ninety one. Before the undersigned Public Notary for the Province of Quebec, in the Dominion of Canada, residing in the City of Montreal Came and Appeared John Samuel Knox of Rozel, Ryde, Isle of Wight, England a Lieutenant-Colonel in Her Majesty's service, in his capacity as sole Executor of and universal legatee under the Last Will and Testament of the late Robert Knox of Rushbrooke, near Coleraine, in Ireland.Knox, Rozel, Ryde and Coleraine are all names of nearby streets in the Point. Mr. Knox sold the land to an Edward May of New Brunswick. In turn Mr. May gave his name to the street on which he built a string of stout and respectable stone and brick houses. The house I'm selling is near the corner of May and Rushbrooke.
The things you can learn if you just stop to read the fine print.
By the way, the original deed of sale specifies that the buyer cannot build a slaughterhouse, tannery or soapworks on the premises. I guess NIMBYism - Not In My Back Yard - is not a 20th cerntury invention.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
A Second Chance for a Verdun Beauty.
Have you ever seen the movie where the guy walks right past the girl without noticing her just because she's wearing her hair in a bun and has oversized glasses?
You know the drill. Fast forward to the next scene when the girl shows up in a party dress, her hair down and the glasses stowed away in her clutch purse, Not only does the guy notice her, he falls head over heels.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have the real estate equivalent of that girl for your cosideration. Welcome to, 276 May,Verdun, an old-fashioned Victorian beauty ready to dazzle all comers.
Amy Barratt and I listed this house for sale earlier this year. There was one big problem - a house full of university tenants had turned this gracious property into Animal House. No, that's letting them off too easy. It was like Animal House crossed with an episode of Hoarders. Beer bottles e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. Overflowing ashtrays, dirty clothes, kitty litter boxes that had never been changed. The place was grotty beyond compare. It was so grotty that we couldn't get good photos of the interior.The tenants were so uncooperative that we had trouble getting in for showings. When we did get in, we lived in terror of opening a door and finding goodness knows who doing goodness knows what.
Valiantly we pointed out the building's good bones, its high ceilings, elegant staircase and generous proportions. We sang the praises of its six-foot-plus basement and its solid stone foundation. All buyers saw was filth and disorder. They fled.
Our vendor decided to take the property off the market at least until the slovenly tenants were gone. She was convinced she could make the place sparkle if she just had a little time to apply soap and water and take care of a few renos. I was a little discouraged and skeptical.
Well shut my mouth. The students left July 1, leaving only four pick-up trucks worth of empties, broken furniture and garbage in their wake, Our vendor spent three weeks cleaning, painting and doing touch-ups. She upgraded the kitchen and bathroom, did some rewiring, tore out laminate and replaced it with new hardwood. It is hardly the same place at all. And yet it is.
Voila 276 May, priced at $345,000. You can see the full listing by entering MLS # 8587771 at www.realtor.ca .
This is a spectacular house and certainly the best-priced four-bedroom in southwest Montreal. It is a two-minute walk to the LaSalle metro stop (green line), around the corner from Wellington St. and the Maxi grocery. It is also super close to the Champlain Bridge, for better and worse.
Ah yes, for better and for worse. You will you enjoy quick access to the bridge from May St., the last street in Verdun before you duck under the viaduct into Point St. Charles. May St. faces that viaduct and traffic approaching the bridge passes a little above the second storey window though about 60 feet across the way. Hey, I hear the Champlain is coming down one of these days.
If you'd like to read my previous blog rant on the filthy tenants, click here.
We are having an open house Sunday, August 7, 2011 from 2-4 p.m. Please drop by. Sunday's no good? Give me a call at 515 978-6522 and we'll arrange a visit.
You know the drill. Fast forward to the next scene when the girl shows up in a party dress, her hair down and the glasses stowed away in her clutch purse, Not only does the guy notice her, he falls head over heels.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have the real estate equivalent of that girl for your cosideration. Welcome to, 276 May,Verdun, an old-fashioned Victorian beauty ready to dazzle all comers.
Amy Barratt and I listed this house for sale earlier this year. There was one big problem - a house full of university tenants had turned this gracious property into Animal House. No, that's letting them off too easy. It was like Animal House crossed with an episode of Hoarders. Beer bottles e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. Overflowing ashtrays, dirty clothes, kitty litter boxes that had never been changed. The place was grotty beyond compare. It was so grotty that we couldn't get good photos of the interior.The tenants were so uncooperative that we had trouble getting in for showings. When we did get in, we lived in terror of opening a door and finding goodness knows who doing goodness knows what.
Valiantly we pointed out the building's good bones, its high ceilings, elegant staircase and generous proportions. We sang the praises of its six-foot-plus basement and its solid stone foundation. All buyers saw was filth and disorder. They fled.
Our vendor decided to take the property off the market at least until the slovenly tenants were gone. She was convinced she could make the place sparkle if she just had a little time to apply soap and water and take care of a few renos. I was a little discouraged and skeptical.
Well shut my mouth. The students left July 1, leaving only four pick-up trucks worth of empties, broken furniture and garbage in their wake, Our vendor spent three weeks cleaning, painting and doing touch-ups. She upgraded the kitchen and bathroom, did some rewiring, tore out laminate and replaced it with new hardwood. It is hardly the same place at all. And yet it is.
Voila 276 May, priced at $345,000. You can see the full listing by entering MLS # 8587771 at www.realtor.ca .
This is a spectacular house and certainly the best-priced four-bedroom in southwest Montreal. It is a two-minute walk to the LaSalle metro stop (green line), around the corner from Wellington St. and the Maxi grocery. It is also super close to the Champlain Bridge, for better and worse.
Ah yes, for better and for worse. You will you enjoy quick access to the bridge from May St., the last street in Verdun before you duck under the viaduct into Point St. Charles. May St. faces that viaduct and traffic approaching the bridge passes a little above the second storey window though about 60 feet across the way. Hey, I hear the Champlain is coming down one of these days.
If you'd like to read my previous blog rant on the filthy tenants, click here.
We are having an open house Sunday, August 7, 2011 from 2-4 p.m. Please drop by. Sunday's no good? Give me a call at 515 978-6522 and we'll arrange a visit.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Looking for Real Estate Deals
I just took part in a live chat hosted by The Gazette on the topic of finding real estate deals. The questions came at us fast and thick. It was a bit chaotic but lotsa fun.
You can read the transcript here. There are some good tips for finding deals and knowing a deal when you see one.
You can read the transcript here. There are some good tips for finding deals and knowing a deal when you see one.
Labels:
condos,
first-time buyers,
housing prices,
Lachine,
Montreal resales,
NDG,
Point St. Charles,
real estate
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Location, location, location.
I was interviewed in The Gazette recently about choosing the right location. What I had to say boiled down to "One man's fish is another man's fowl." Or something like it.
Labels:
affordability,
housing,
location,
real estate,
Verdun
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Spectacular Verdun Victorian
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The parlor with its tile-fronted fireplace and the stairs leading to the bedrooms. |
UPDATE: The price has been reduced to $349,000.
The vendor has deeds, many of them handwritten in spidery cursive, going back to the late 1880s. This is a rock-solid house with brick walls and a stone foundation. The four real bedrooms on the second floor feature high ceilings and generous proportions.
The reception rooms on the main floor include a large formal parlor with a tile-fronted fireplace, a family room which was probably once the formal dining room, a dinette and kitchen. The main floor also has a water closet (toilet) near the front door, as well as a full laundry room and an open office area near the back door. There's plenty of natural light and it is surprisingly quiet, thanks no doubt to the thick stone walls and the triple-glazed windows.
The house has original woodwork throughout, hot-water radiators, lovely stained glass windows added by the owner, as well as thoughtfully chosen light fixtures that accent the property's vintage character.
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Family room and dinette. The laundry room is beyond the stained-glass doors. |
The property has a small fenced yard which could be also be used for parking, though street parking is not a problem in this part of Verdun. May Ave. is the last street off of Wellington St. before you cross under the viaduct into Point St. Charles. The Maxi grocery store is one short block away. LaSalle metro is about two blocks away. It is a quick 15-20 minutes door to door to get downtown via public transit.
If you look around Verdun, $359,000 is a typical asking price for a two- or three-bedroom post-war cottage. They are cute and cozy but nowhere near as spacious or as grand as this Victorian beauty. This property is priced at a market discount because traffic approaching the Champlain Bridge pass overhead not too far from the building's front. It isn't particularly noisy, but the location isn't going to be for everyone.
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Exterior from the corner of May Ave. and Rushbrooke St. |
Friday, January 21, 2011
The Classic Montreal Shoebox Reimagined
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Sleek contemporary design meets rough-hewn wood in this Montreal bungalow. Photo: Sharon Wilson. |
UPDATE: My eagle-eyed vendor points out that, in fact, this was a two-bedroom when she bought, not three.
Vintage charm meets sleek contemporary design in this light-filled two-bedroom house on Springland St. in Ville Emard.
This is a classic Montreal shoebox, one of those flat-roofed bungalows you'll find in the city's older working-class neighborhoods. They were typically owner-built at the turn of the last century and designed so that a second floor might easily be added as needed. Spacing did a story about the shoebox last, as did Susan Semenak of The Gazette. (That link has expired.)
Amy Barratt and I have just listed this property for sale at an asking price of $319,000.
What does that get you? It buys you a one-of-a-kind property, redone from top to bottom by a professional designer working with a team of licensed contractors. Everything has been done by the book, including a new electrical entry and wiring, plumbing stack, roof, windows, doors, floors, kitchen and bathroom. It buys a house for about the cost of a condo with the added benefit of your own garden, no upstairs neighbors and no condo fees.
This house has 812 square feet of living space on one floor, with a wonderful three-season sun porch off the back. It has a high and dry basement that is just a bit under 6 feet, perfect for storage. It also has a fenced yard and detached one-car garage that is accessible off the lane.
My client spent six months taking this little house apart last year and putting it back together to maximize all it's best features. It was a poky three-bedroom when she bought, with dodgy 100-amp wiring and a fuse box on the back porch. The bathroom was a disaster, with a leaky and half-obstructed skylight over the bathtub.
She stripped it down to the bones and redrew the floor plan to create a loft-like space. The living room, dining area and kitchen flow together. The master bedroom, bathroom and second bedroom line up opposite.
There are tons of little details that set this house apart. There are transoms over all the doorways, as well as custom-milled woodwork headers. The transoms allow maximum natural light throughout the day. The light fixtures are funky pendant or sconce style with recessed lights in the kitchen dining and living area.
All the original woodwork has been stripped for a rough and rustic effect. It creates a cool contrast with the contemporary kitchen with its high-gloss white and imitation wengé cabinetry.There's a plank feature wall in the living room, part of the building's original structure.
I love that she moved the bathroom so that the skylight is now over the dining room table. I also love that she found mullioned windows at an architectural salvage shop and used them instead of the utilitarian sliders that were in place in the sun porch. She chose a paint colour called "kalamata olive" for all the doors. How perfect is that?
I wrote a blog post last summer about the adventures this client and I had while trying to find the right property for her to fix up and resell. We saw some scary houses together. We also saw some really bad renovations. I didn't think much of this house the first time we saw it, except that it had a classic brick "shoebox" facade and a back yard piled with German Shepherd poop.
Frankly, she could have done a half-assed job on this place and it still would have been better than most of the "reno" jobs I see in my travels. Instead, she took care and put real effort into getting it right.
The results speak for themselves.
If you know anyone looking for a really nice house in an up-and coming part of the city, send them my way. This one is a keeper.
Don't know much about Ville Emard? It's part of the Sud-Ouest borough and is across the aqueduct from Verdun. It has two metro stops, Joliceour and Monk. This house is about a seven-10 minute walk to Monk.
Monk Blvd. is also the 'hood's main shopping drag, with groceries, pharmacy and butcher shop and fish monger, as well as a great vet and Eddy Bicycle. That last two are where I get my dogs and bikes tuned up.
My Ville Emard pals swear by the SMAD WD at Pizza Nino on Monk Blvd near Springland. For the uninitiated, that's a small all-dressed well done. Wash it down with Brio.
Me? I'd be lying if I said I never sneaked over to the original Dilallo's at the corner of Hurteau and Allard for a burger, onion rings and Cott Black Cherry soda. The walls are covered with photos of musicians and sports stars from days gone. There's something to be said for gazing at a photo of Mad Dog Vachon while hoovering back a burger.
Ville Emard, a neighborhood worth getting to know.
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2812 Springland. Ten minutes from downtown by car, 20 if you take the metro. |
Labels:
bungalows,
housing,
real estate,
shoebox,
Sud-Ouest,
Ville Emard
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

The sleek modernist Chicago area home featured in the '80s classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off has recently been put up for sale at a tidy $2.3 million U.S.
You remember the house. At the end of the film Bueller's friend Cameron accidentally sends his dad's prize 1961 Ferrari through a glass curtainwall and plunging into the ravine. Yup, that house.
You can see pictures and the listing here
Its connection to a cherished post-boomer comedy notwithstanding, the Highland Park property is plenty cool, if a little antiseptic, in it's own right.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
New Verdun Listing!

I am preparing this fixer-upper for listing on the MLS system. It is a two-bedroom cottage built in 1946 for the current owner. The house has separate living and dining rooms, a small kitchen and an addition containing a sunroom. The bathroom is on the main floor. Asking price is $255,000.
Upstairs there are two bedrooms, although the space could easily be converted into one large bedroom. The basement is finished, with a laundry room and second bathroom. There is a separate brick garage, with automatic door. The large lot features mature trees, shrubbery and flowers. The natural gas heating system is recent and the windows are new.
The location, 2nd Ave. near Champlain, offers fantastic access to two metro stations (Jolicoeur and Verdun), the downtown bike path, de la Verendrye Blvd., Highway 15 and the Champlain Bridge. Because the elderly owner has been hospitalized for several years, the house is being sold without legal warranty as to quality.
You are welcome to call me for a visit. Please bring offers. The vendor is quite motivated.
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