26 Boswell Ave., Toronto
Asking price: $1,799,900
Selling price: $2,241,500
Taxes: $9,943 (2017)
Days on the market: Six
Listing agent: Robin McDonald, Keller Williams Referred Urban Realty
The action: Compared with some multimillion dollar homes in the Annex, the $1.8-million asking price for this Victorian row home was alluring. One buyer, determined to be the next owner, put forward an offer $441,600 over the asking price to outdo nine other bidders in May.
“There was another home for sale on the street, but it was at $4.3-million, and a couple others in the area. But for the most part, there was not a lot of inventory,” agent Robin McDonald said.
“So we expected there to be good activity and showings, but not that many offers.”
What they got: At the end of a row of 2½-storey homes, this more than century-old structure contains three bedrooms and separate living and dining rooms with 10-foot ceilings and original mouldings.
Although the basement is unfinished, the attic was converted into a loft with a sink and skylights, and the kitchen was expanded and given sliding doors to the 19-by-119-foot lot. Behind the fence is a two-car parking off a laneway.
The agent’s take: “The location is fantastic. It’s on a dead-end street, which is a 30-second walk to Whole Foods and everything in Yorkville,” Ms. McDonald said.
“There are other row houses in the area, but they don’t come up very often, and this was a clean, blank slate, so you didn’t have to rip up someone’s 10-year-old reno and pay for it twice.”
Some buyers did appreciate the finished attic. “[The seller] built that space so she could have all that natural light up there for painting,” Ms. McDonald said. “But it could be a bedroom.”