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Wednesday, May 13, 2015

ICYMI: What 15-minute GO service might mean for your house price - Toronto Star

During a visit to London some years ago, it was hard not to be jealous after reading a story about the expansion of high-speed rail service between London and the Continent.

Track and terminal upgrades at St. Pancras Station meant the Eurostar trip between London and Calais was down to 54 minutes.

Real estate prices were…

8 comments:

Nora1968 said...

I've lived in Courtice for almost 13 years and when we bought our current house 4 1/2 years ago - on what is considered a "prime lot" (backs onto a school and park) our real estate agent commented that the value of our home would soon be further increased by the eventual expansion of the 407 eastward, as well as ANY improvements GO elected to make to the service to (and hopefully beyond) Oshawa. It's already come true: apparently our home's value has gone up more than 40K since December 2010. Keep it coming! :-)

C.J. Smith said...

I bought the 1700 square foot house I'm in now, fully detached, backs onto a church (so no neighbours behind like you) with a 130 foot by 50 foot backyard in June of last year for 347K. If I were to sell it today, it would probably go for close to 400 K

Nora, a house on Stephen Avenue (yes STEPHEN AVENUE) sold for $409K. Twenty thousand over list ... in 3 days.

Have the agents come knocking yet? I've had two at my door since December.

The market in Courtice in crazy.

Nora1968 said...

The agent who assisted us with the purchase of our house calls us every year to "check in" - it's partially a cold call of sorts soliciting new business from friends and family but he has made clear that if ever we are interested in selling, he REALLY hopes we'll give him call!

As for the Stephen Avenue house...all I can say is "wow" - would never have guessed that. But it's all good news for us Courtice folk! :-)

Anonymous said...

Just bought in Courtice and paid $51k over asking with 7 people competing.....after losing 5 other houses and seeing over 100 houses with the realtor. Sounds insane but we are moving from toronto and the house is a gem compared to what we lived in there.....looking forward to meeting the neighbours!!

C.J. Smith said...

The only house I know that sold that much over ask was on Richfield Square in April... a house I wanted two years ago. The ask then was $269k and it sold sane day even before a sign went up.

Townhouses on my street are going for $20 k over list. Townhouses!!!

C.J. Smith said...

The only house I know that sold that much over ask was on Richfield Square in April... a house I wanted two years ago. The ask then was $269k and it sold sane day even before a sign went up.

Townhouses on my street are going for $20 k over list. Townhouses!!!

TomW said...

The flip side: if living out-of-Toronto becomes more desirable, it recues demand inside Toronto, so house prices will grow less there.

I'm not sure why higher prices in the 905 are considerd a good thing. The average household income in the GTHA is $80k, making any home over $320k is not affordable to the average buyer. Oshawa was/is the last place within a hour of downtown Toronto where you could/can a house for under $320k, and I'd hate to see that option disappear for people.

People get excited about their home price increasing, but unless you're planning on moving outside the GTHA, it's moot. Whatever you sell your home for will end up being what you spend to buy an equivilant house.

C.J. Smith said...

It excites me because once the kid is done school, Chad will semi retire, I'll keep working but we plan on moving further east... Port Hope but rural and buy something really small but with some land.

This means I sell my house, pay off the mortgage, bank major $ and drive to the GO Station for 10 more years... but I am willing to do it.

We're 15 years away from this plan.