The Chase: a lawyer’s search for a fixer-upper she could grow into
The buyer: Heather Spence, a 31-year-old partner at Mass Tsang, a criminal defence firm.
The story: In 2008, while Spence was attending Osgoode Hall Law School, she squeezed into a 400-square-foot Annex rental. Six years later, she’d paid off some loans, made partner at her firm and felt ready to take the ownership plunge. Condos held no attraction—she knew too many people who had bought units and then quickly outgrown them. If she decided to have kids someday, she didn’t need the hassle, or expense, of moving again. She got approved for a $510,000 mortgage and started the search for a fixer-upper somewhere between Queen and Dupont, from St. George to Dufferin. She was willing to consider any house, as long as it wasn’t about to be condemned, and she still had to up her ante to get into the game. Even $556,000, she discovered, wasn’t enough to make her a bidding-war contender.
Option 1
Fisher Street (near Dundas and Dufferin).
Listed at $499,900, sold for $565,000.
Spence loved this row house, despite its lack of curb appeal—and the Virgin Mary mosaic on the front wall. The layout was open concept, so it wouldn’t require any structural renos. But her offer of $521,000 was trumped by a buyer who went in at $65,100 over asking.
Option 2
Fisher Street.
Listed at $499,900, relisted at $569,000, sold for $565,000.
Two months later, the house next door went on the market. The main level had been partitioned into a warren of rooms, but, having seen its twin, Spence knew its potential. She offered her max, but the seller wanted what the neighbour’s had sold for. So Spence chose to walk.
The Buy
Delaware Avenue (near Dupont and Ossington).
Listed at $529,900, sold for $540,000.
This semi wasn’t ready for its close-up: the white siding was filthy, the floors were crooked, and a kitchen sink and cabinets had been installed in one of the three bedrooms. Assuming she’d be outbid, Spence offered $5,000 under asking, but no other bidders stepped up. The sellers rejected her offer and considered pulling the house off the market. After three sign-backs, the two parties agreed on $540,000. Spence had enough cash leftover to fix the floors and turn the pseudo-kitchen in the bedroom into a laundry cupboard.
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/real-estate/december-2014-the-chase/&title=The Chase: a lawyer’s search for a fixer-upper she could grow into&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/heather-spence-the-chase-slider-624x395.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_300014" align="alignright" width="200"] (Portrait by Erin Leydon)[/caption]
The buyer: Heather Spence, a 31-year-old partner at Mass Tsang, a criminal defence firm.
The story: In 2008, while Spence was attending Osgoode Hall Law School, she squeezed into a 400-square-foot Annex rental. Six years later, she’d paid off some loans, made partner at her firm and felt ready to take the ownership plunge. Condos held no attraction—she knew too many people who had bought units and then quickly outgrown them. If she decided to have kids someday, she didn’t need the hassle, or expense, of moving again. She got approved for a $510,000 mortgage and started the search for a fixer-upper somewhere between Queen and Dupont, from St. George to Dufferin. She was willing to consider any house, as long as it wasn’t about to be condemned, and she still had to up her ante to get into the game. Even $556,000, she discovered, wasn’t enough to make her a bidding-war contender.
Option 1
Fisher Street (near Dundas and Dufferin).
Listed at $499,900, sold for $565,000.
Spence loved this row house, despite its lack of curb appeal—and the Virgin Mary mosaic on the front wall. The layout was open concept, so it wouldn’t require any structural renos. But her offer of $521,000 was trumped by a buyer who went in at $65,100 over asking.
Option 2
Fisher Street.
Listed at $499,900, relisted at $569,000, sold for $565,000.
Two months later, the house next door went on the market. The main level had been partitioned into a warren of rooms, but, having seen its twin, Spence knew its potential. She offered her max, but the seller wanted what the neighbour’s had sold for. So Spence chose to walk.
The Buy
Delaware Avenue (near Dupont and Ossington).
Listed at $529,900, sold for $540,000.
This semi wasn’t ready for its close-up: the white siding was filthy, the floors were crooked, and a kitchen sink and cabinets had been installed in one of the three bedrooms. Assuming she’d be outbid, Spence offered $5,000 under asking, but no other bidders stepped up. The sellers rejected her offer and considered pulling the house off the market. After three sign-backs, the two parties agreed on $540,000. Spence had enough cash leftover to fix the floors and turn the pseudo-kitchen in the bedroom into a laundry cupboard.
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So the seller asked for $530m she bid $525m and was the only bidder and ended up paying $10m more than asking? I hope she negotiates plea bargains better than that. “The Crown wanted between two and five years but I got them to seven”
Crooked floors are usually a result of structural issues. When she goes to sell, a buyer who runs the address or her name (on the listing sheet) through Google will see that at one point the house had crooked floors and that will play into the price.
Seemed strange to me also.
Hi Mike,
I am not sure this means she is a bad negotiator. I haven’t seen this specific home myself but I have encountered similar situations in the past. As you might know, there are several factors to consider in such instances in which a house was put on the market at an artificially low price (below market value) to encourage a bidding situation.
Typically, such houses would not be meant to be sold at the listed price ($530,000 in this specific case) but at a much higher price – all the way up to “market price” and sometimes above if someone is willing to overpay for it.
For some reason I ignore, the bidding did not take place (could be due to a combination of things such as not generating enough buzz around the market launch, poor staging, little availability for showings, not pricing it low enough to warrant enough market interest or even just poor market timing, etc.).
The lack of bidding did not change the value of the home or how much the seller would agree to sell it for. The seller refused to sell it for under 540k and was going to take it off the market (a market that is already lacking supply of homes in that price range) and wait it out.
Given current market growth rates for houses (close to double digits this year) and how rarely home-bidders get a true chance at purchasing a house that meet their needs (hard to win in multiple bidding situations + low supply of fitting homes) I believe she made the right move instead of waiting a few months for another one and paying more (if prices keep rising) for a house of lower quality.
To be fair, the address isn’t actually listed in the article… Delaware Street is over a kilometre long. I don’t think a future purchaser will have an easier time about finding this one particular article. She’ll be under obligation to disclose it, regardless, when it comes time to sell.
Although I did Google Heather’s name, and her Twitter channel came right up – on which this article could be found, in the form of a retweet. So, a connection certainly could be made (as a former data miner, I’d have no trouble drawing it, it all depends on how determined and/or nosy the next buyer might be).
I think the point you’re trying to make overall is that structural issues may play a hazardous role here. A theory there is merit to. For all we know, it could just be cheap flooring. But when you’re trying to spend $500,000 to buy a house in this part of the city, it’s a bit of a gamble in any case.
She did say she was willing to consider any house “as long as it wasn’t about to be condemned”. So I’d say Heather knew what she was getting into. Not a gamble I’d take on a primary residence, but she’s landed a house that she’s happy with, in the $500,000 range. A claim that many offer-submitters cannot make, given how competitive of a market it is now. So it could be said that she came out ahead.
See you hit the nail on the head, market price. The market price was $525m, that’s what the market felt that it was worth. If she had felt the house was worth her purchase price why didn’t she lead with that? Okay, she wanted a deal. Then why go in lower than ask? All of a sudden market price went out the window and emotion took over and that led to the price escalation. That is poor negotiating.
Once people put in an offer on a house they get emotionally attached and that, coupled with cheap money, leads to price escalation.