House for sale in Brampton - $270K

Detached house for sale (bungalow) in Brampton.

Location
Address: 69 Crawford Dr, Brampton, Ontario
Main intersection - Queen St. East / Hwy 410, Brampton, ON.
MLS area - W23.


Price
$269,969.
House for sale for this price at least has to bring our attention.
It is hard to find anything where it's possible to live that costs less than $300,000 in Toronto and suburbs.

Footage
Approx. 1200 sq.feet (120 sq.metres), plus finished basement.


House Age
34 years.
The roof has been replaced in 2006.
Full basement renovation in 2008, everything is new and shining.

Property Type
Detached one-storey house.
One car garage.


Lot size
60 x 100 feet (18 х 30 metres).
Wide enough.


Kitchen and Appliances
Some appliances are almost new,
some may require replacement.
There is a central air conditioned in the house.


Main Rooms
Because of bungalow all the rooms as you understand are located on the same floor. We'll talk about basement a bit later.

So we have two bedrooms, kitchen and one spacious living room - here we are, and that's pretty much it. I wouldn't say it is much room at the house.


Bedrooms
Two bedrooms on the first (main) floor,

Two more bedrooms are in basement.


Basement
Basement is dry and almost light,
it's definitely something the owner may be proud of.

Completely renovated at 2008.

Painting looks like "yesterday-was-wet",
all woods are fresh, nothing tells about the house age.
Brand new basement is always nice you know...

The house is slightly elevated (actually it is called Raised Bungalow), so the basement includes light windows, and there is an optimistic impression of airy rooms.


Driveway and Garage
Four cars driveway.
There is also one car garage however it looks very antique, the garage door is close to be disintegrated if you decide to open/close it every day. No surprise the garage is not daily used - it works as a garden shed where are lawn-mower, old children toys, garden/home tools and other kind of rusty metal junk conveniently stored.


Backyard
The backyard of course cannot be compared to those included into brand new houses builders offer thee days. This backyard is large, faces to some neighbors however the neighbors are somewhere reasonably far.

Very cool as a children or pet playground.


Area
Brampton is a bit unusual city in Greater Toronto Area.
It is different because it is visually one of the most one-nationality dominated areas in GTA.
Brampton is actually a center of Indian community.

But these blocks look multicultural - you can see different countries-born Canadians here, and I like it.


Schools
There are few schools in walking distance (10-15 minutes).

Parks
As selling agent affirms Brampton is one of the greenest-n-parkest cities in Canada.
So the number of parks squares is the highest as per sq.km.


Shopping
Walking to Queen St East (5 minutes) you'll find a big plaza with a number of different shops.

Public Transit
Highway 410 is within 3 minutes of driving.
Local Brampton buses are on Queen St. East (few hundred metres).

Property Tax
$3000 for 2008.


Pros
Light and just renovated basement.
Very cozy family neighborhood.


Cons
The house is not so spacious.
The garage actually cannot be used.
You are ok to commute if you work in Brampton / Mississauga / Etobicoke / Concord. Could be problems with commuting to let's say Markham or Scarborough.


Resume
If you are not scared by "Brampton" word then it makes sense to take a look at this property. On my opinion this is one of the nicest places in Brampton. And of course a house for $270K attracts attention of potential buyers.
My personal opinion - 7 out of 10.

Dimensions
Living room: 3.98 m x 4.38 m
Kitchen: 3.25 m x 5.87 m
Master bedroom: 3.67 m x 3.11 m
Bedroom 2: 3.26 m x 3.16 m
Bedroom 3: 3.28 m x 3.45 m
Bedroom 4: 2.95 m x 3.27 m
Recreational, Games room: 5.14 m x 6.40 m

Detached house in Tottenham ($230K)

Detached 2-storey house in Tottenham.

Location
Address: 87 McKnight Cres, Tottenham, Ontario
The major intersection: Queen St / 5th Line, Tottenham, ON.
MLS area - N19.

Price
$229,900.00.
To be honest I am not so familiar with Tottenham real estate prices but comparing them to Toronto prices those looe very very good. At the same time if you have to commute to your workplace to Toronto / Brampton / Concord / Richmond Hill then this location (I mean Tottenham) is the same as Newmarket (where the real estate prices are 50% higher) - the distance to Highway 400 is almost the same.

The original price was $250K, then $235K, now it is $230K and I guess it's not the limit. It looks if you come and bring $220 offer the owner will be glad to discuss it, and maybe give you a tip for a beer. :)



House Size
Approximately 1600 sq.ft. (160 sq.metres), plus finished basement.

House Age
Near 10-15 years old.
I'm always surprised why usually an agent doesn't know (doesn't tell?) exact size and age of the property.
Mistyfing those questions like I'm asking about some military secret...
Maybe they don't know really?

Property Type
Detached two-storey house in residential area.
There are central air conditioned and central vacuum in the house.

Lot size
30 x 105 feet (9 х 30 metres).
By the way it's not so huge lot even for GTA, not saying about such far-far-away areas like Tottenham.

Kitchen and Appliances
Clean and nice.
Absolutely good "my own home" environment, and to live here would bring no negative points.


Main Rooms
Dining room and living room have no visible separators and are practically the same big room.

There are hardwood floors everywhere and it looks very organic with even not the biggest footage.


Bedrooms
There are three bedrooms on the second floor.
Looks pretty standard by Canadian tendency.


Basement
Basement is finished and spacious but unfortunately a bit dark.
No windows however nothing that looks wet or smells bad.


Driveway
The house has an attached garage for one car,
two more cars can be placed on paved driveway.

Backyard
Backyard is not very big but cosy and pleasant to be at.
Wood deck.
The backyard is bordered by tall wood fence.
Faces not to a neighbor but to a children playground which is very nice as for me.
No direct access to the playground though.


Area
The area is very nice, and it's not a surprise - so far from Toronto so good :)
Very clean and quiet.

Schools
Are very close to us, maybe 5 or 10 minutes of walking.
The area looks very safe (to allow children to walk themselves) because even cars are moving not so often. Like in any village in middle of nowhere though :)

Parks
There are few children playgrounds withing a walking distance, and a big park in 10 minutes of driving (Tottenham Conservation Area).

Shopping
Two big grocery stores are located on opposite ends of the town so no risk to die because of lack of food. Also the near-placed plazas have many small convenience stores that carry all the stuff required for life :) including few family doctors (it's hard to find one in Toronto, but here the situation is much better).

Transportation
Someone said there was a bus that can take you and move somewhere closer to the civilization. But I'm afraid living without a car is impossible in Tottenham.

Property Tax
~$2050.00 for the year of 2007.

Pros
Relatively low price.
Very nice neighbourhood - everything is very quiet, clean and near-by.
Far from noisy Toronto, another style of life.
Main manufactoring plant of Honda Canada (in Alliston) is withing 10-20 minutes of driving (that's regarding a job).

Cons
Anyway the house could be a bit more spacious.
The nearest hospital is in Newmarket (more than 30 km).
There is no variety of schools and after-school programs comparing to Toronto and/or suburbs.

Resume
Everythign depends on where you live and what style of life you prefer.
I mean for this house the question is not "I like the house or not", but "I like Tottenham or not".
The house is nice for a family with up to 4 people.
The price is good and you won't find anything like that in Toronto or GTA.
So if you work from home, or need to commute to Barrie, Alliston, Orangeville or Newmarket - this town can be suitable for you.
You can reach Hwy9/Hwy400 intersection in 10-15 minutes, there are steps to north Toronto from there.
My opinion - 7 out of 10.


Technical details
Kitchen: 4.42 m x 3.05 m
Dining room: 7.17 m x 3.05 m
Living room: no data but it looks that the previous demensions (7.17 m x 3.05 m) are for both Dining & Living rooms together
Master bedroom: 3.75 m x 3.35 m
Bedroom 2: 3.35 m x 2.52 m
Bedroom 3: 3.11 m x 2.67 m
Game room in basement: 6.86 m x 4.12 m
Laundry room in basement: 4 m x 2 m