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Real Estate News

Sale of the Week: The $1.6m Woodbine home with an interesting history and a basement apartment

By Jonathan Forani| Photography by Corktown Printing
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Sale of the Week: The $1.6m Woodbine home with an interesting history and a basement apartment
Listed At
$1,099,000
Sold For
$1,571,000

Address: 1657 Gerrard Street East
Neighbourhood: Woodbine Agent: Dave McLean, Re/Max Hallmark Realty Ltd. Brokerage

Previously sold for: $479,900, in 2008, prior to renovations

The property

A three-bedroom on a corner lot with a basement apartment.

The history

The house was originally built as part of the city’s “electric home program,” which touted the benefits of having electricity in the home. A sketch of the house can be seen in a Globe and Mail ad from 1921. The seller, who’s moving slightly south to the Beaches, is a fire captain who bought the home a decade ago. He made extensive renovations slowly over several years, including custom built-ins. The separate basement apartment has its own entrance and pulls in more than $1,500 monthly.

Here’s the foyer:

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Sale of the Week: The $1.6m Woodbine home with an interesting history and a basement apartment

Off of which is this cozy living room with a wood-burning fireplace:

Sale of the Week: The $1.6m Woodbine home with an interesting history and a basement apartment

Speaking of cozy, this is a comfy little nook:

Sale of the Week: The $1.6m Woodbine home with an interesting history and a basement apartment

And here’s the kitchen:

Sale of the Week: The $1.6m Woodbine home with an interesting history and a basement apartment

There’s enough space for a large table:

Sale of the Week: The $1.6m Woodbine home with an interesting history and a basement apartment

Also of note in the kitchen: that cool door. The seller bought it online. He was told that it’s 350 years old and came from a fort in Rajasthan, India:

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Sale of the Week: The $1.6m Woodbine home with an interesting history and a basement apartment

There are three bedrooms upstairs. Here’s one of them now:

Sale of the Week: The $1.6m Woodbine home with an interesting history and a basement apartment

This one is currently set up as a workspace:

Sale of the Week: The $1.6m Woodbine home with an interesting history and a basement apartment

Here’s the master bedroom, also with some custom built-in shelving:

Sale of the Week: The $1.6m Woodbine home with an interesting history and a basement apartment

It has an ensuite bathroom:

Sale of the Week: The $1.6m Woodbine home with an interesting history and a basement apartment

And a private deck:

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Sale of the Week: The $1.6m Woodbine home with an interesting history and a basement apartment

Here we have the basement apartment:

Sale of the Week: The $1.6m Woodbine home with an interesting history and a basement apartment

And the backyard:

Sale of the Week: The $1.6m Woodbine home with an interesting history and a basement apartment

Here’s that Globe and Mail ad from 1921:

Sale of the Week: The $1.6m Woodbine home with an interesting history and a basement apartment
The fate

The buyers are newlyweds. Like many of the prospective buyers, they were attracted to the quality of the renovations, the staging by Colleen Weir, and the growth of the neighbourhood, which is close to trendy spots like Maha’s and Left Field Brewery.

The sale

The seller’s agent listed low to attract interest, expecting offers to climb to the range of $1,550,000. The strategy garnered 13 offers. After a short bidding war between the top two, the seller accepted one for $472,000 over asking.

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By the numbers

• $1,571,000 • $4,413 in taxes (approximately) • 2,500 square feet (including basement apartment) • 7 days on MLS • 3 bathrooms • 3 bedrooms • 1 parking space

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