My home buying experience – Showings

Have you ever liked a home that you’ve just seen on your first trip and can’t justify liking it without going out again to see other houses?

I’m dealing with it right now!

If I had a real estate agent, I would force him or her to take me out and see other places just because, “we have just started looking!”  I know why I have this feeling.

• I enjoyed the home search process
• It gave me time to spend with my PIC where we aren’t thinking about groceries or dog walks or work etc…
• We spent a better part of the afternoon hoping open houses, seeing houses and enjoying the neighborhood.

The bottom line is, I enjoyed it and even though I saw a house that we both liked, I’m hesitating!

We saw four homes on our first tour through Cabbagetown.  I won’t disclose addresses but will give you an overview.

House 1:

Beautiful semi-detached property in Cabbagetown with 2 bedrooms, 1 washroom and an unfinished basement.

Pros

• Good ceiling height on the main, basement and second floor
• Completely renovated including new floors, kitchen and washroom
• Steps from all the amazing cafe and shops on Parliament

Cons

• No parking
• Steps from the local beer store
• No washroom on the main floor
• No street front rather located in a lane way

The price was attractive at $599,000

House 2:

Another gorgeous Semi with commercial on the main floor and 1 bedroom apartment on second and third floor.

Pros

• Great potential with possibility of converting the space into a single family residence
• Large Lot with parking for 4 large vehicles
• Very well maintained by the owners that disclosed every small detail about the  property during our walk through
• The property won’t have a tenant when closed (this could be an issue when dealing with commercial/residential properties)

Cons

• The commercial aspect of the property almost doubles the property tax
• The property as it sits would be very small and would require renovations to suit us.  We need at least two bedroom so we would have to take out the commercial unit and make it into a single family home.
• Cash flow for the renovation
• The roof needed work

The property was a decent size and listed for $765,000 and would require at least another $150,000 in renovations.  It doesn’t really fit the bill for what we are looking for but we both liked it.  We were given a personal tour by the owner of the whole building and while I thought the owner was slowing us down, my PIC was hanging on to her every word and was sold on the house.  This is the first time when I think having the seller around actually helped than deter the buyer from buying.  We still didn’t talk freely when we were in the house and I had a hard time explaining how we could “rejig” the place to make it ours.

House 3:

This was a gorgeous semi that was completely renovated from top to bottom.  There were termite problems in the building and the sellers gutted the whole building including removing part of the floor joists, sister them, level the floors with new floor boards, new kitchen, new washrooms, new flooring throughout and dug out basement.

Pros

• The whole building is renovated and doesn’t require much work
• It’s a good size house in close proximity to Riverdale Farm
• Tall 12 feet ceilings in the living room and 10 feet everywhere else
• Two car parking in the back and large side and back yard for entertaining