Adventures in real estate: “I moved from a windowless 140-square-foot basement apartment to a penthouse”
It’s 700 square feet, and I got it for $1,825, utilities and parking included
Michael Upfold, 25
Music project manager, Scarborough
For the past few years, I’ve lived in a 140-square-foot basement rental in a six-bedroom rooming house, paying $700 a month. It was a decent spot, located on a quiet street about a 10-minute walk from Victoria Park station. There were grocery stores, banks and a few good restaurants nearby. The house was nice, only a year old, with a big kitchen and backyard. But my room was tiny, with space for only a double bed and a small desk. There were no windows and no closet.
After trying out careers in cooking and construction, I had decided to pursue something that had been a fixture in my life for as long as I could remember: music. Growing up, I played piano and violin, sang in the church choir, collected hip-hop albums by Jay-Z and OutKast and memorized all the lyrics. So I launched Norfside Entertainment, a management company for local artists, and started collaborating with a handful of other companies, expanding my operations, doing everything from producing concerts to managing artists. I was bringing in $1,500 a month, enough to cover rent, food and other necessities.
More Adventures in Real Estate
In early 2020, I partnered with International Artist Agency, a talent agency based in the U.S. That provided me with the opportunity to work with bigger clients and bumped my monthly income up to $4,500. Things were looking up, and yet I felt stuck. I was 25 and living in a basement with five flatmates. Food would go missing from the shared fridge. There was rarely warm water available when I showered.
Then the pandemic hit, and things got even worse. I was alone and stuck inside a windowless room for most of the day. So, when rents started dropping , I made my move. On June 5, I found a 640-square-foot penthouse in a mid-rise building at King and Strachan for $1,875. It was awesome and would have gone for at least $2,500 pre-pandemic. I made an offer, but I didn’t get it.
Then, on June 18, I saw a penthouse at the 404 and Sheppard Avenue East, listed for $1,900 plus utilities. It was a 650-square-foot corner unit, northeast-facing with a pretty view of Markham. It had floor-to-ceiling windows, plus a large patio. Unfortunately, the landlord chose a couple over me.
I soon found a 700-square-foot penthouse listed for $1,825, with all utilities and parking included. It was located in a gated condo complex in Scarborough, right beside the 401, making for an easy commute downtown. It was also a two-minute walk to Scarborough Town Centre and grocery stores and restaurants. There was a large kitchen, living room and dining room, and a huge double-door den with a view of Lake Ontario that could be converted into an office. I was motivated. I told the landlords I’d provide postdated cheques. I followed up with them twice that weekend. On Monday, they called with the good news.
I moved in on July 1. I just bought my first king-size bed, an 80-inch flat-screen TV, some artwork, a large loveseat and a dining room table. Six months ago, this unit could have easily gone for $2,100, plus utilities. Let’s just say it sure beats the 140-square-foot windowless basement apartment.
Roxy Kirshenbaum is a freelance journalist based in Toronto. After graduating from Columbia University’s journalism program, she worked as a copy editor at InStyle magazine in New York and then as an editor at Surface magazine. When she returned to Toronto, she worked at Blue Ant Media and Cottage Life, and she has been a contributing writer and photographer at Toronto Life for many years.
