The Chase: a couple lucks out in the Junction Triangle—thanks to some quick bidding

The Chase: a couple lucks out in the Junction Triangle—thanks to some quick bidding

The Chase: a couple’s urge to escape from Queen West takes them to the Junction Triangle
(Photograph of couple: Erin Leydon)

The buyers: Derek McCallum, a 29-year-old interning architect at JCI Architects, and his partner, Sam Yuen, a 32-year-old communications associate.

The story: Yuen and McCallum are diehard west-enders who lived in a 630-square-foot Sudbury Street condo. But they’d grown weary of Queen West’s spring break vibe. “We were tired of people puking on our doorstep,” ­McCallum says. They wanted to stay in the west but to get away from the bar scene, and a second bedroom to accommodate guests was a must. They set a budget of around $500,000 and viewed a dozen houses within a three-week span. At the end of their search, they were pleasantly surprised by the way the fickle market worked in their favour.

Option 1: Gordon Street (near Dufferin and Dundas)OPTION 1
Gordon Street (near Dufferin and Dundas). Listed at $499,900, sold for $610,000.
This three-bedroom had been renovated by the previous owners, both architects, and McCallum and Yuen wanted it. They stretched their budget to put in a bully bid of $560,000 that sparked a six-hour bidding war. They went up to $585,000, but were eventually outbid by $25,000.


Option 2: Rebecca Street (near Queen and Ossington)OPTION 2
Rebecca Street (near Queen and Ossington). Listed at $559,000, sold for $530,000.
This miniscule row house was close to the late-night Ossington overflow, but McCallum and Yuen were smitten with the house’s light wood floors and professional-calibre kitchen appliances—until they learned about the termites in the crawl space.


The Buy: Campbell Avenue (near Dupont and Lansdowne)THE BUY
Campbell Avenue (near Dupont and Lansdowne). Listed at $499,000, sold for $510,000.
Yuen and McCallum were unfamiliar with the Junction Triangle but drawn by its relative tranquility, convenient transit access and early-stage gentrification (McCallum knew a bunch of architects who’d recently bought there). They looked at two houses on the same street. The first house, for which offers were accepted on a Tuesday, went for $60,000 over asking. On Wednesday, they were fully prepared to bid on a 130-year-old Victorian semi. They got in first and made an offer of $11,000 over asking. It was accepted within 20 minutes.