It's already september. It might be a bit late to sell because the prices are coming down. I guess if you can't wait until next spring/summer it doesn't matter. Your sanity is worth more than money
Have the prices really dropped? I haven't been following in the past couple of weeks. Because usually for lower priced condos (under $500000), the prices usually don't fluctuate that much, and interest rates are still pretty low at the moment.
I don't think you will like Scarborough. It's for slightly low income people.
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I just recalled something. I remember reading about how Guildwood is under priced. Have you tried looking in that area? It seems like a nice area with Guildwood Park and Scarborough bluffs. I hear the prices are starting to go up there. You might want to check it out. I think it might be a quiet area.
Heh. Glad you caught that, as Guildwood and Scarborough Bluffs are both in Scarborough.
Also, there are other pockets of Scarborough that are pretty middle income too. It all depends on the area.
I guess I should shoot for as far from downtown as possible. I was looking at some new houses and townhomes by Monarch at Brimley and St. Clair. I wasn't impressed with the neighborhood and browsed some completed homes and asked a guy standing next to his townhome/car if he found the neighborhood quiet he looked annoyed and said "this is not a church"? I think I'll pass....
Sounds like you came across an ass. That development seems OK, but as you noticed, some of the neighbourhoods around it aren't that great. North of there along Eglinton isn't very impressive that's for sure. However, I think the new developments like that Monarch development and Warden Woods are improving things. And it will be interesting to see what happens when they build that LRT along Eglinton.
IMO Guildwood is nice, but is really too far if you like to access downtown, unless you live near the GO station. It's probably a 45 minute drive downtown in rush hour. Further west in the Scarborough Bluffs is nice and you can get some pretty affordable homes in quite nice streets and it's about 10-15 minutes closer to downtown. Again, as mentioned, the neighbourhoods are less nice north of Kingston Road, and much of Kingston Road itself isn't very nice either. I would expect Kingston Road to improve over the next while though, since it's been targeted by the City of Toronto as a spot for urban development. It's currently zoned as low density retail and commercial, and parts of it are being rezoned to include mid-rise residential (condos and townhouses). In fact, there is a low-rise commercial building at Danforth Ave and Kingston Road which is now for sale, as a site for an 11 storey mix-use development (condo & commercial/retail).
Transit in some of these areas isn't the greatest, since many of the buses don't really go for any distance along Kingston Road towards downtown. However, that's changing, as the plan is to have a dedicated bus lanes along Kingston Road to Victoria Park subway station. The line would go along Kingston Road until Danforth, and then along Danforth ("Route 2") to Vic Park station.
But yeah, knowing your budget would help. The Fallingbrook area is right next to The Beach and is quite nice. Unfortunately, the homes there are often 7 digits.
P.S. I used to live in a townhouse condo, and now live in a detached house. I liked the townhouse condo because all the shoveling, gardening, etc. was done for me. I disliked paying the fees though of course, and some of the neighbours can be loud. Even if it's one not sharing your walls, some of the townhouse complexes are so closely packed that a loud neighbour can be a nightmare. I prefer the detached house, but hate having to shovel my driveway in the winter.
I don't mind cutting the grass and doing the gardening, but do get someone to help out once in a while... sort of like condo fees.
My area is much, much quieter too, but obviously it depends on the area and what neighbours you happen to get. For example, the neighbour on one side of my townhouse was great. Super quiet and I trusted them to take care of my plants and take in my mail when I was away. In my current house, my neighbour gives me smoked salmon from his own personal smoker.
OTOH, a friend of mine lives in an upscale area along Bayview and hates his neighbour. It's all the luck of the draw.
