The Chase: after house hunting in Davisville, Wychwood and Little Italy, a couple settles on Bloor West Village

The buyers: Valérie Roy, a 30-year-old exhibitor relations manager at the One of a Kind Show, and Graham Fillier, the 46-year-old president of Centre Stage, an AV rental company.

The story: After a year of long-distance dating—she lived at Yonge and Davisville and worked in Summerhill, he lived in Brampton and worked near Dundas and Highway 427—Roy and Fillier decided to buy a place together. They knew exactly what they wanted: a move-in-ready three-bedroom house with space for an office or music room (they both play in bands), an extra bedroom for Fillier’s daughter from a previous marriage, a driveway and a big yard, all for less than $650,000. They just couldn’t decide where they wanted it. They drove their realtor nuts looking far and wide: Davisville, Bloor West Village, Wychwood, Little Italy and Little Portugal. After eight months of nonstop searching, they finally found The One.

OPTION 1
Hillsdale Avenue (at Mount Pleasant). Listed at $629,00, sold for $600,000.
This three-bedroom semi had recently been renovated, but the work felt cheap and insubstantial—it was “like lipstick on a pig,” says Fillier. The floors creaked ominously, the kitchen cupboards couldn’t even be opened fully and the basement was unfinished. Worried about what else was hiding under the cosmetic redo, they took a pass.

OPTION 2
St. Johns Road (at Jane). Listed at $665,000, sold for $660,000.
This detached house in the Junction checked a lot of their boxes: it had three good-sized bedrooms, big front and backyards and a driveway. It was a new build, so they wouldn’t have to do any work—they even liked the colour scheme. “It felt like it would have been a rational choice,” says Roy. “But there was that little something missing. We didn’t feel that connection.” They moved on.

THE BUY
Lincoln Avenue (at Runnymede). Listed at $699,000. Re-listed for $639,000, sold for $686,000.
After finishing their tour, Roy turned to Fillier and said, “Is this the one? I think this is the one!” The three-bedroom Bloor West Village house was a charming mix of old and new, with an open-concept living space and a kitchen with high-efficiency appliances on the main floor, plus the original front door and stained glass windows from the 1920s. They wanted it so much they didn’t even mind breaking their budget—eight months into their search, they were becoming resigned to this fact anyway—so they went in high with an initial bid of $682,000. For the second round, the couple topped out at $686,000—and their offer was accepted.