Detached house in Keswick ($332K)

Detached 2 storey house in Keswick, town of Georgina.

Location
Address: 37 Joe Dales Dr, Keswick, Ontario.
Major intersection - The Queensways South / Ravenshow Ave, Keswick, Ontario.
MLS area - N17.

Price
$332,000.


Footage
Near 2350 sq.feet (235 sq.meters).


House Age
Almost new house,
approximately 5 years old.


Property Type
A detached two-storey house with a half of finished walkout basement.
Two cars garage.


Lot Size
52 x 100 feet (16 х 30 meters).


Kitchen and Appliances
Everything is new and nice.

There is a central air conditioner.


Main Rooms
Carpet is everywhere - can be good and safe for children but dusty comparing to hardwood floors.
8 feet ceiling in the house.

The owners looked a bit strange because of heavy colors of walls and chandelier in washroom.


Bedrooms
There are 4 bedrooms upstairs.


Basement
As already mentioned the basement is walkout which is nice, and that's the reason it is bright and light.
Half of the basement is finished (there is a room that can be used as an office) but the major part of the basement remains untouched.

Driveway
Four cars driveway which is pretty usual in new houses these days.

Backyard
Backyard is very average and has no special features.

Neighbors are occupied all the sides so it doesn't look private.

Kind of nestling box.


Area
The are and neighborhood are brand new and very fresh.

The houses faces new construction development lot,
the construction supposed to be finished within a year or two.
That means you have to live on construction site with all the advantages like dust, dirt and noise.
To learn more about Keswick which is a part of town of Georgina please visit the municipality website.


Schools
Lake Simcoe Public School is within 5 minutes of walking.


Park
Tornelogde Park starts right behind the school,
and I have to say that Keswick is very nice and very green place.
Nature seems everywhere,
and Simcoe Lake is withing walking distance.


Shopping
Price Chopper and Zehrs are in 10 minutes of driving.
Big stores like Walmart or Canadian Tire - in Newmarket (20 minutes of driving).

Public Transit
Go and YRT (York Region Transit) buses are here.
Also there are some local Georgina buses.
For more information please visit Georgina website.

Property Tax
Near $4000 in 2008.
Comparing to other cities it's pretty high percent of property value.
That can be explained by not that much businesses here who can pay most of the taxes required for the town, so residents pay more.


Pros
Lake Simcoe is right here.
The property is not overpriced, much lower even comparing to Newmarket.
The town is small and nice.
The house is new.
The house is spacious.
Very bright walkout basement.

Cons
Far far away of civilization.


Resume
This real estate property looks almost ok but the main problem I see that it is too usual, there is no any salt in it.
I cannot find any particular fault in it but don't know why I didn't like it.
But I liked Keswick itself.
My personal mark - 5 out of 10.


Technical Details
Living room: 3.47 m x 6.40 m
Kitchen: 3.10 m x 3.35 m
Eating area: 3.90 m x 3.35 m

Family room: 4.16 m x 4.75 m

Laundry room: 2 m x 2 m
Master bedroom: 6.25 m x 3.73 m

Bedroom 2: 2.77 m x 2.77 m

Bedroom 3: 3.15 m x 3.22 m

Bedroom 4: 5.31 m x 3.18 m
Basement room: 4.44 m x 3.30 m

Bungalow in Keswick ($325K) for sale

A detached bungalow in Keswick (town of Georgina).

Location
Adress: 435 Lake Dr. South, Keswick, Ontario.
Major intersection - Queensways South / Glenwoods Ave, Keswick, Ontario.
MLS area - N17.


Price
$324,900.

Footage
Approx. 1500 sq.feet (150 sq.m) within several levels.

House Age
Strictly protected information, hasn't been disclosed even after direct question.

Answered "too many upgrades for the last year".
By feeling, the house is very old.
I wouldn't guarantee 100 years but easy 70 or 80.
Internal decorating is almost modern (if you consider 10-20 years old as a modern).


Property Type
Detached bungalow, backsplit.
Half a level up you can see 3 bedrooms and almost luxurious bath.
Half a level down you'll find a separate apartment including a separate entrance (possible can be rented out).
No garage.


Lot Size
63 x 115 feet (19 х 34 metres).


Kitchen and Appliances
Tried to look nice but we can see their age as well.

There is a central air conditioner.

Main Rooms
One big room (logically presented as two rooms) at the main floor, near kitchen.

So the whole main floor looks like one big room.


Bedrooms

There are three bedrooms on high level, one more is on low level.


Basement
I would say not basement but low (ground) level.
It contains a separate apartment.

The entrance is right from the ground and it is supposed it had to be light and bright here.
Surprisingly it is not.
There are so many mature trees near the house that not much light in the ground level (be honest also not much light on high level too).


Driveway
One car track, not even paved used here as a driveway.
3 cars can be parked here (but since the driveway is one car wide only one car can move when parked).
No garage as already mentioned above.

Backyard
Backyard is not so huge but I would say cozy and nice.

There is a hot tab on backyard.
Looks nice.


Area and Neighborhood
The area looks not so good being honest.
View to Simcoe is very nice but neighbors seemed a bit gloomy, and the neighborhood itself looks... hmmm... slightly slovenly.

However I must say Keswick is nice place to live. I really liked it.
More about it you can find on Georgina municipality website.
And real estate property is still not overpriced here, especially comparing to Toronto closest suburbs.


Schools
What we can find withing a walking distance here? I would mention Brock High School and Our Lady of the Lake Catholic College School.


Parks
There is Simcoe Lake across the road. Here you'll see our private beach (the owner pays $45/year now)


Shopping
On Queensway (10-15 minutes walk) you can see may small shops plus large grocery store Price Chopper. One more grocery store (Zehrs) you'll find on Woodbine (10 minutes drive).

Public Transit
Go and YRT (York Region Transit) buses are here.
Also local Georgina buses that make public transit in Keswick surprisingly wide and divaricate. For more information please visit Municipality website.


Property Tax
$3400 in 2008.


Pros
Simcoe Lake is just across the road.

The price is not skyscraper's.
There is sewer system, not septic as you may expect from such house.
Two families can live here not interfering to each other.

Cons
A bit far from everything (however it's a question to Keswick but not to this particular house).
The house is a bit old.
Installed alarm system ($35/month) also tells you about something.


Resume
The house is old but at the first look is in a good condition (for the second look ask for your home inspector's opinion).

Dark colors of walls and ceilings are too hard to accept.
I guess the whole house will be much brighter if repaint everything in light colors.
A bit far from amenities however if you work from home (or don't work) then you can consider this property.
My personal opinion - 6 out of 10.


Technical Details
Living room: 5.79 m x 5 m
Dining room: 3.05 m x 3.05 m
Kitchen: 2.74 m x 2.62 m
Master bedroom: 3.99 m x 3.99 m
Bedroom 2: 3.35 m x 3.37 m
Bedroom 3: 3.07 m x 2.70 m
Recreational room in basement: 2.62 m x 2.70 m
Family room in basement: 3.99 m x 7.80 m
Bedroom in basement: 2.76 m x 2.71 m

Detached House (bungalow) in Bradford ($310K)

Detached bungalow in Bradford.

Location
Address: 4322 Sixth Line, Bradford, Ontario
Main intersection - Hwy27 / Hwy88.
MLS area: N18.


Bradford - that's something north-west of Newmarket.

The town itself is a bit closer to Newmarket, but this particular house is located in so called rural area which is country life as I understand it.

No central sewer system,
the output goes to ceptic which has to be emptied and cleaned once per few years. I am personally a bit scared by these devices but it works somehow and most of the houses in rural areas use ceptics. Hmm.. ok...

But life in rural area definitely has some positive moments like having less noise, less neighbours and the distances are much longer.

Price
$309,900.00.
The price is not so high but it's hard to understand whether the reason is the location (middle of nowhere) or something wrong with the house itself.

Footage
At my opinion the house has 1000-1100 sq.ft (100-110 sq.metres), plus finished basement (almost the same size).


House Age
Approx. 30 years old, according to real estate agent.

Property type
Detached house, bungalow (one floor plus basement).
However I wouldn't expect anything else from an old house in rural area.
I think 30 years ago nobody tried to save few more sq.feet of land.

Lot size
100 x 200 feet (30 х 61 metres).

Kitchen and appliances
Nobody lives in the house now since the owner made full renovation and left so there are no major appliances, You'll have to bring your own ones.


Main Rooms
There is a dining room, not so big, near the kitchen. It faces to the big window so you can see your driveway and the entrance to your lot while eating/sitting. Very bright and beautiful so no doubts it's a pleasure to have a dinner there.
Nice and big family room.
Hardwood floors everywhere except bedrooms (carpet) and washrooms/kitchen (tiles).

Bedrooms
Bedrooms are tiny. One bedroom is pretty small, another one (master bedroom) is a bit bigger but anyway it's not so impressive.

But that may make sense: I never understood why the bedroom should be huge. I guess it's better to have more space for children to play instead of for adults to sleep.

One more small bedroom you can see in basement.
However it has no windows at all.
Very hard impression.
It looks like you can practice enforcing sleeping there as a punishment.

Basement
Basement is walk out (not an usual feature in houses for sale in Bradford and Toronto) so you can step out right to backyard.
The basement is bright and light enough.
The bedroom in basement looks not so perfect as for me (as already mentioned). You can however use it as a storage room.
There is a real wood fireplace, that's something I really liked.


Driveway
No driveway as we understand it.
Just not-paved piece of one-direction road coming directly to the house.
Logically there is a designated space for two-car garage right near the house so you can build it if you want. But the cars can be parked as it is now, without a roof.

Backyard
The backyard is nice.
Why I usually don't like rural area houses is their ceptic system, and why I like them is their backyards.
It is wide, deep, very close to nature and looks great.
The house located on a hill so backyard is a bit uneven. But that's not a negative point.
However the problem with the backyard is there is a major road (highway 27) visible from the backyard. Frankly speaking it breaks the feeling of seclusion and doesn't help meditation.

Area
Non-immigrant population, very nice and not depraved by big cities.
Nice people until you make them angry :)

Schools
Usually no schools withing walking distance in rural areas.
But schoolbus can take your children and then bring them back so it doesn't look as a problem.

Parks
The whole are is a big park.
You can live in the park - was it that you dreamed about?

Shopping
The nearest grocery store is in Bradford, approximately 10 minutes of driving.
If something minor required urgently feel free to go to the convenience store in 1 minute of driving.
Maybe not so convenient comparing to residential area but anyway...

Transportation
What transportation you guess can be an option is rural areas?
Your own truck is the best variant I think.

Property tax
~$3000.00 for the year of 2007.

Pros
Relatively low price.
Far away from big (and even small) cities.
No much neighbours in the neighbourhood.
Large backyard.
Walkout basement.
Recently completed renovation.


Cons
Far away from big (and even small) cities (you are right, that's in both lists - everything depends on your mood).
However it's a bit noisy from highway 27 that laid near by.
The house is not new.
No central sewer system.
Oil heating.

Resume
You can expect silence and quietness from a rural area house.
But it's a bit noisy, plus all the problems of rural areas.
Besides, there is a steep hill road between highway 27 and the house so I'm not sure you'll be able to drive uphill on your Civic in winter time after snowfall.
The rest is ok.
My mark: 5 out of 10.

Technical details
Kitchen: 6.90 m x 2.75 m
Dining room: 3.96 m x 2.70 m
Living room: 5.73 m x 4.90 m
Master bedroom: 4.30 m x 3.47 m
Bedroom 2: 3.53 m x 2.75
Kitchen in basement: 2.70 m x 2.62 m
Bedroom in basement: 3.53 m x 3.05 m
Family room in basement: 5.40 m x 4.17 m
Game room in basement: 5.70 m x 4.26 m

House for sale in Mississauga ($350K)

For the first review we have chosen a semidetached house in Mississauga, Ontario.

Location
Address: 422 Ginger Downs, Mississauga, Ontario
Main intersection: Cawthra/Dundas.
MLS region: W15.

Price
$349,900.00, this is already reduced price.
A month ago this house has been listed for the price of $364,900.00, so now we can see a tendency to slow moving down, i.e. negotiating is a must here - I'm sure it's not the last price.

Property size
Approximately 1600-1700 sq.ft. including finished basement

House Age
No data but I suppose may be near 20-25 years.


Property type
Semidetached house, so there are some neighbours behind the wall.
The selling agent is sure it is not a problem since the neighbiurs are quiet and the wall is isolated enough.
Maybe that's true.
At least for a half an hour spent in the house we didn't hear any noise at all.

It is a backsplit, i.e. entering the house we see a kitchen and living/dining rooms and then can go either upstairs for a half of a floor, to washroom and bedrooms, or downstairs (to the same a half of a floor) visitng basement.

Lot size
31 x 242 feet (9.5 х 74 metres).

Kitchen and appliances
Electrical stove looks pretty new. The fridge and dishwasher unfortunately not that much. If you decide to buy this house then maybe it makes sense to think about purchasing some new appliances as well. Of course it depends though :) The old ones are working so maybe it's not the number one purchase in your priority.
There is a CAC (central air conditioner) in the house.


Main rooms
Practically speaking, the main room is the only one, but logically it is divided to dining room and living room. There are a table, sofa and TV set in the rooms.

Hardwood floor and tiles everywhere, looks good enough.

There is a dog living in the house now.


Bedrooms
There are 3 bedrooms at the 1.5th floor.
To be honest, the bedrooms are not huge by size.
Dark colors of painting didn't make me much enthusiastic, but maybe you'l like it. Anyway it's not a big deal to repaint them into black more light and eyes-friendly colors.

Basement

The basement is finished,
there are washroom and shower (a cheap one from Home Depot but that's definitely better than nothing) in the basement.

The basement smells like someone's smoking there time by time.
All the rest is clean.
The agent says the smell can be removed by cleaning the ventilation pipes. I'm not sure about that but maybe she's right.


Driveway
The driveway is big and can accomodate up to 4 vehicles.
Besides, there is a gate that can be opened so two more cars can move into paved place almost at the backyard.

Backyard
The backyard is great.
Really, it is the most attractive part of the property.
It is wide and deep, and is definitely a nice place to play and take a rest.
There are an inflated pool (big enough for the whole family, or children party), also plastic garden house, swings, some bushes and trees.


Area
The area is good.
Not the best probably but not so bad.
My concerns were 2 rental buildings in 5 minutes of walking but overall the area is average, with its pros and cons.
No specific nationality/foreign language dominated.
Livable.

Schools
A secondary school in 5 minutes of walking.

Parks
5-10 minutes of walking can bring you into one of two big parks - CedarBrae Park and McKenzie Park. In 15-20 minutes of driving you can find more seriuos parks. So we can talk about family neighbourhood where you can walk with children or pets.

Shopping
No information, sorry...

Transport/commuting
GO station Cooksville (buses and trains to Toronto downtown) is located in 10 minutes of driving (20-30 minutes of walking).

Property Tax
~$3000.00 for year of 2007.

Pros
Super backyard
Family neighbourhood
Quiet street

Cons
The major concern for me was a railway right near the backyard. And it is railway for GO Trains which are passing nearby quite often in morning and evening hours. Let's say for the half an hour spent there we noticed two trains come through. They are a bit noisy and annoying. And 6am train may be surprise for someone :)

Also I would add the house age to Cons list. I cannot say it is very old house but it is definitely not new.
Also the house size.
Honestly it is not a big house. I would rather say - a small house...


Resume
For a not so big family (up to 3-4 people) that could be a good choice.
Feeling about area are good.
And the overall opinion is positive.
If you can live with a railway on your backyard.
My rate: 6 out of 10.

Not so interesting technical details
Kitchen: 3.66 m x 3.01 m
Living room: 2.68 m x 3.17 m
Dining room: 3.05 m x 4.23 m
Master bedroom: 3.36 m x 3.01 m
Bedroom 2: 2.74 m x 3.05 m
Bedroom 3: 2.60 m x 3.93 m
Basement: 6.09 m x 3.66 m
Bedroom in the basement: 2.90 m x 2.50 m