Home Sweet Home
Ever since we arrived in Toronto, Eli and I have toyed with the idea of buying a condo. A number of months ago we did, in fact, purchase a property but after giving it serious thought during the ten day "cooling off period", we decided to not go through with it. The property was nice but construction hadn't started yet and wouldn't be completed until 2009 (at the earliest) and we both realized that we had no idea where our lives would be in 2009 so committing to a future property just didn't sit right with us. In addition, we realized that moving into an area under development would mean construction around us for the next 8-10 years and neither of us was excited about that.
After calling off that deal we both agreed to take a break from looking and decided that we would just rent until we had a better idea of what exactly we wanted.
The current place that we rent is big and lovely and we both like living with our roommate, Caitlin, but neither of us likes how far we are away from our workplaces. In the last month or so, the commute has really started to wear on me and I fantasize more often than is probably healthy about how nice a week would be without 10+ hours of sitting in my car. We started looking at places to rent but I quickly realized that we could pay virtually the same amount and own a place so the real estate hunt began again.
The ideal place of our dreams was:
- a house (hahahaha - to think we could afford such a thing in Toronto!)
- with a yard (for the puppy that we dream about having one day!)
- close to both of our workplaces (we work about 50km away from each other so not sure how this would even be possible!)
- close to shops/grocery stores/banks
- funky and unique (i.e. not a cookie-cutter drone home)
- NOT in the suburbs
Place of our dreams, yes, but there is nothing in reality that meets all of those criteria in this city. We then lowered our expectations...a LOT. We wanted something unique and cozy. A love nest built for two (and a cat). We were willing to compromise on size but weren't willing to compromise on location or price. We looked at lots of funky lofts and warehouse conversions but every time we saw one we liked we were told that the property was sold before we even had a chance to put in an offer. This is one of the universal truths to living in a big city: anything remotely good attracts LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of people.
Then, last week, I met with our realtor and saw a cute one-bedroom place that I fell in love with at first sight. It was small but well-designed and used the space very efficiently. It had luxurious finishes that reminded me of a boutique hotel and I could easily imagine us living there. It was one streetcar ride for Eli to get to his work and was very close to the train station so that I could get to my workplace without driving. I came home and excitedly called Eli who was in Edmonton and swooned about the place. We learned that offers would be accepted on Tuesday (today!) which was perfect because Eli would be back in Toronto and could come take a look at it. Last night we went to see the place and he, too, fell in love with it. After a long conversation our minds were made up -- we decided to try to make it ours.
A few moments ago our offer was faxed in and now the waiting game begins! We know that there are at least two other offers going in on the property tonight so we definitely aren't guaranteed to get it but we're hoping! I am anticipating my stomach flip-flopping all night until our realtor calls to let us know.
Will we have a new home?!?!
Stay tuned...update to come!
After calling off that deal we both agreed to take a break from looking and decided that we would just rent until we had a better idea of what exactly we wanted.
The current place that we rent is big and lovely and we both like living with our roommate, Caitlin, but neither of us likes how far we are away from our workplaces. In the last month or so, the commute has really started to wear on me and I fantasize more often than is probably healthy about how nice a week would be without 10+ hours of sitting in my car. We started looking at places to rent but I quickly realized that we could pay virtually the same amount and own a place so the real estate hunt began again.
The ideal place of our dreams was:
- a house (hahahaha - to think we could afford such a thing in Toronto!)
- with a yard (for the puppy that we dream about having one day!)
- close to both of our workplaces (we work about 50km away from each other so not sure how this would even be possible!)
- close to shops/grocery stores/banks
- funky and unique (i.e. not a cookie-cutter drone home)
- NOT in the suburbs
Place of our dreams, yes, but there is nothing in reality that meets all of those criteria in this city. We then lowered our expectations...a LOT. We wanted something unique and cozy. A love nest built for two (and a cat). We were willing to compromise on size but weren't willing to compromise on location or price. We looked at lots of funky lofts and warehouse conversions but every time we saw one we liked we were told that the property was sold before we even had a chance to put in an offer. This is one of the universal truths to living in a big city: anything remotely good attracts LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of people.
Then, last week, I met with our realtor and saw a cute one-bedroom place that I fell in love with at first sight. It was small but well-designed and used the space very efficiently. It had luxurious finishes that reminded me of a boutique hotel and I could easily imagine us living there. It was one streetcar ride for Eli to get to his work and was very close to the train station so that I could get to my workplace without driving. I came home and excitedly called Eli who was in Edmonton and swooned about the place. We learned that offers would be accepted on Tuesday (today!) which was perfect because Eli would be back in Toronto and could come take a look at it. Last night we went to see the place and he, too, fell in love with it. After a long conversation our minds were made up -- we decided to try to make it ours.
A few moments ago our offer was faxed in and now the waiting game begins! We know that there are at least two other offers going in on the property tonight so we definitely aren't guaranteed to get it but we're hoping! I am anticipating my stomach flip-flopping all night until our realtor calls to let us know.
Will we have a new home?!?!
Stay tuned...update to come!
posted by Leah at
9:30 p.m.
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