House for sale in Etobicoke ($430K)

A detached semi-floor house for sale in Etobicoke district.

Location
Address: 31 Aldgate Ave, Toronto, Ontario.
Main intersection - Park Lawn Rd / The Queensway, Etobicoke.
MLS district - W07.


Price
$429,900.

Square Footage
The information is restricted.
Judging by its view, it’s about 1000 square feet (100 square kilometres)


Age of the house
About 50 – 60 years.

Type of real estate
Semi-floor house.
As I understood, initially it was a single-floor house, but then some know-it-all decided to build a staircase to the attic and made a bedroom there.
Build and made.
But it’s impossible to sleep there when it’s hot.
I was there not on the hottest day, but 2 air conditioners didn’t manage the workload – it was quite hot and stuffy upstairs.

Size of the lot
40 x 175 feet (12 х 52 metres).

Kitchen and household appliances
The kitchen looks quite good against the general background.
At least, there are fewer complaints against it.
The colors a bit depress, but this can be easily helped.


Main rooms
There’s only one main room.
It’s logically divided into two parts by the sofa.

There’s a fireplace.
The agent said that it’s gas, though it seemed to be firewood (there was even an armful of wood nearby).


Bedrooms
It’s a sore point in this house.
There’s only one bedroom (upstairs), but it’s impossible to sleep there: it’ll be hot in summer and cold in winter.

But tastes differ.
If you, like Rakhmetov by Chernyshevsky, decided to train your strength of will by means of torturing your body, this house will be a suitable variant for you.
Philosophers should pay attention to this house too.


Basement
The basement is finished and tolerable, saving nearly a total lack of windows.
There’s even a bedroom there.

Driveway
The driveway would be nearly normal, if it fit for 2 cars in its width.
Though there’s even a garage, 3 more cars would fit into, but they’ll leave along the stack.

Backyard
The backyard is a light moment in the survey.
The backyard is large, with a pool and hottub,
and old fruit trees.


District
The district is not totally awful, but not very good.
It’s probably possible to live there, but you could find some better variants.

Schools
The nearest schools are Etienne Brule JS, Park Lawn JMS (both of them are quite near – 5 10 minutes of walk) and Etobicoke CI (you need to go by bus there).

Parks
Woodfrod Park, South Humber Park and Bell Manor Park – it’s just a 5 - 10 minute walk (in different directions, see the map).

Shops
The Shop in Queensway,
You need to drive somewhere to find big ones...

Transport
The highway (Queen Elizabeth Way) is a three-minute drive,
streetcars and buses are also nearby.
Though it’s not very convenient to go to the subway using public transport.

Property tax
About $3000 in 2007.

Pros
The price isn’t high for Etobicoke.
The highway is nearby; the access to TTC (Toronto buses-trams) is not very far.
The backyard made me happy.
The pool and hottub produce the impression of luxury.


Cons
The house is extremely small, it actually has a single bedroom (it’s not a suitable variant for families with children).
The district is so-so, a bit dirty.
In South Humber Park (within one kilometre to the east from the house) there are large sewage-purification facilities. If the wind blows from the east, it’ll smell, you know.

General thoughts
The backyard impresses greatly.
On the whole the house produces a better impression than the previous one, but this kind of real estate is lower than the average level.
It’s possible to live here only in case of emergency.
My evaluating of the house is 4 of 10.


Technical details
Living room: 7 m x 3.50 m
Dining room: 4.50 m x 3 m
Kitchen: 3.40 m x 2.70 m
Kitchen with a place for having meals: 3.30 m x 2.70 m
Bedroom (upstairs): 5.25 m x 3.40 m
Room in the basement: 4.80 m x 2.80 m
Kitchen in the basement: 2.75 m x 2.40 m
Bedroom in the basement: 3.30 m x 3 m
Room for washers-dryers in the basement: 3.80 m x 3 m

One more detached Etobicoke house ($430K)

One more detached bungalow in Toronto (Etobicoke district).

Location
Address: 5 Inverleigh Dr, Toronto, Ontario.
Main intersection - Royal York / QEW, Etobicoke.
MLS district - W07.


Price
$429,000.

Square Footage
A difficult question.
The agent dodged the question.
Seems to be not more than 1000 square feet (100 square metres).

Age of the house
About 60 years.
Looks decrepit.

Type of real estate
A detached bungalow with finished basement.
No garage.

Size of the lot
44 x 113 feet (13 х 34 metres).

Кitchen and household appliances
The tiniest kitchenette I’ve ever seen in Canada.

To my mind, kitchens are larger even in Canadian apartments.
Here it reminded me 50-100 years old European flat.
The appliances are comparatively new – they say that all of them (the fridge, washer, dryer, and stove) were bought in 2007.

Main rooms
Several adjoining rooms.
Produce a bit miserable impression because of their small size and the age of the house.


Bedrooms
Two bedrooms upstairs and one in the basement (it’s scary to sleep in the basement).

Basement
Curtailed and deterrent.
Iron-barred windows, the existence of which I’ve already forgotten about.
As the agent says, the owner of the house is crazy about safety.
But, frankly speaking, it’s indicative of bad criminal situation.


Driveway
Grass-bush-flowers.
3 cars, they say, can fit into the asphalt driveway.
They may fit into, but only the last will be able to leave.
The driveway to the main road fit for a single car reminds me of the times when horse-drawn trams ran about in the street, and the fact that a family had more than one car seemed to be a flight to the Moon.

Backyard
The backyard is unexpectedly large (or it seems such against the background of the house).


District
Judging by the iron-barred windows, the district is good :)
Indeed, the nearby street Queensway seems dirty and ragged. The sidewalks are broken, there’s garbage in the streets.
The first sign that there’s something wrong with the district...


Schools
The nearest schools - Norseman JMS (10-15 minutes of walk) и Etobicoke CI (you needn’t go by bus).

Parks
There aren’t any parks nearby.
It’ll take you 10-15 minutes to walk to Woodford Park, Queensway Park East and West – a bit farther.
But there’s a playground with some slides nearby (just a few minutes of walk).


Shops
Small shops are on Queensway,
something more or less big like No Frills, are about 5 minutes of ride.
There are no big stores nearby.

Transport
The highway (QEW) is nearby, buses (along Royal York) go to the subway.
A streetcar going downtown was also declared (it was said that it would take about 40-50 minutes).

Property tax
About $3000 in 2007.

Pros
The price can be considered low for the district.
The highway is nearby and the centre of the city is not so far.


Cons
The house is old and small, one of the smallest Canadian houses I’ve ever seen.
The district is so-so, not at all super...

Resume
The house is for those people who want to live not far from the centre, and the magic word “Etobicoke” makes the heart pounding.
But the house itself is sheer disappointment.
My evaluating of the house is 3 of 10.


Technical details
Living room: 4.30 m x 3.70 m
Kitchen: 2.85 m x 2.45 m
Dining room: 2.80 m x 2.50 m
Master bedroom: 3.17 m x 2.66 m
Bedroom 2: 3.23 m x 2.94 m
Bedroom 3: 3.53 m x 2.75 m
Main room in the basement: 10.85 m x 3.37 m
The bedroom in the basement: 3.70 m x 3.13 m