I Want to Sell My House

Many many people are delight to deal with. However I would be lying if I told you this conversation did not take place occasionally.

ps. I assure you I hold back on the profanity. Enjoy.

My Dream to be on a Garbage Can

Why is a real estate agent's success determined by how many garbage cans they can put their face on?

The ones that really get me are the ones that say " I'm not #1, you are! " - As if you belong there too.

Promised myself never to come near one. Why? Simple, I'm not full of .. See pic3.

The Case of the Missing Shoe

Did an Open House at Yonge and Eglinton a while back. Now if you have ever been to an open house the one thing you might notice are shoes. Lots and lots of shoes. Think school children winter shoe policy. Shoes everywhere. One would be excused for taking a minute or two to find their's. However as you might have predicted by now the inevitable did happen.

I got a call mid week from a person who claims they put on the wrong shoe and only now did they realize it. Long story short the man wanted me to compensate him for the mishap! claims the shoes are worth $$$ and went on and on about it. He even went through the trouble of sending me the picture of the mis-matched pair (see above).

.. and so.. yadda yadda yadda, let's just say I was nice enough to help the man out.

I am now starting to think of ways to protect myself from such incidents. The problem is people are already sensitive about putting their contact info on the open house sign-in sheet, imagine if I start asking for their shoe size and make as well?

Until I figure it out however there is still one thing that puzzles me. What ever happened to the other person who walked away with the wrong pair? I never heard from him again. Apparently he was okay with new look.

Thoughts on Eglinton Crosstown LRT

The City of Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) are examining ways to significantly improve transit service on Eglinton Avenue from Kennedy Subway Station to Pearson International Airport. Toronto’s Official Plan focuses on city-building and creating a Transit City by establishing key avenues for future growth. Modern environmentally-sustainable light rail transit service will support the growing travel needs of people who live and work in the Eglinton Corridor and beyond, and will also make the street livelier, more attractive, and more people-friendly. This is part of Toronto’s Climate Change and Beautiful City initiatives to make all of Toronto a more liveable and pleasant place to live and work.

What Is the City Recommending?

The bus service on Eglinton Avenue be replaced with modern electrically-powered light rail vehicles. Within the central section between Laird Drive and Keele Street, the light rail vehicles will operate underground. TTC is proposing an underground LRT through this section because the width of Eglinton Avenue is too narrow to accommodate LRT. For the rest of Eglinton Avenue, the light rail vehicles would operate at surface, in dedicated transit lanes separated from traffic. The proposed light rail transit would provide a fast, reliable, and comfortable way to travel on Eglinton Avenue and support the growth management objectives of the Official Plan.

Thoughts

People are generally supportive of the plan since it would be buried underground. The current stretch of Eglinton from Bathurst to the Allen Expressway is a current nightmare and such a relief is welcome news. It would also create bike lanes along much of Eglinton so that is a definite plus.

Others see the opposite. There are some concerns this light rail line will mimic the experience of St. Clair LTR (think overbudget fiascos and local business disturbance). The thought is with the limited road space and then adding light rail transit on it, along with and bike lanes and wider sidewalks and cars, would create even further congestion.

Both are solid points. Personally I am always in favour of green transit programs and I do think this project will bring about much needed congestion relief. I would have loved for the whole thing to be underground – or at least as much as possible.

Your thoughts?

Fall @ Yonge & Eglinton

For me the year always seems to start anew in the fall rather than in January. People start to re-connect again now that summer vacations are over. New colours are all around, new fashion is out (boots get trendier) and the evenings are cool enough to start the season of nightly fires in the fireplace.

It is just beautiful - that's all there is to it.

Where the heck are we?

Really going through a writer’s BloK on this one (nice! get it, Blok) but I guess because when it is your neighbourhood you don’t know where to start. I have been living at Yonge and Eglinton for 5 years now and still don’t know ‘where’ I live. Walk up its newly renovated sidewalks and the banners say Welcome to Uptown Toronto. Google map it and it comes up as Midtown Toronto, and for those really hardcore Torontonites* it must be referred to as Northtown. So which is it? Officially it is North Toronto and I’ll let Wikipedia contribute “Homes in this area began in the 1890's, when the Metropolitan Street Railway, made North Toronto the northernmost stop on its five cent line from downtown Toronto... When the expanded Toronto Mega City was formed in 1998 the North Toronto neighbourhood went from being located at the north end of the old city to occupying a central location within the new city boundaries. Despite these changes the North Toronto name and identity remains”.

The Yonge and Eglinton corridor has been coined 'Young and Eligible' due to the many bars, restaurants, nightclubs and movie theatres that flourish at this intersection. To accommodate these pretty people the area contains a large number of low and high-rise luxury condominiums and apartment buildings. More condo development is planned by the dozen currently being busy just north of Eglinton on Broadway, Roehampton and Erskine Avenues and even more planned on the west side of Yonge on Helendale and Montgomery.

Funny enough for me though, originally a suburban kid coming out of Richmond Hill, I think it is the closest to what I call suburban like. (That’s right I said it and to the anti-suburbanites who live here and take offence hit me up!). This part of North Toronto is very popular with families raising school-age children. It has everything families are looking for in a neighbourhood including good size houses, an excellent selection of public, private and separate schools, convenient access to Toronto's transit system and a multitude of parks and recreational facilities. Drive down Duplex Avenue and you’ll see the pride of ownership painted on the face of every home.

North Toronto is clearly accommodating to both types of residents who patronize the local shops and restaurants on Yonge Street; a cheap beer can be had at the Rose and Crown or The Duke of Kent or if you are looking for some elegance and valet parking then Centro and/or North of 44 (named after the city’s latitude) will serve you just fine. OR, you can leave it all behind be it family or blackberry and enjoy a quite evening at Indigo or BMV book stores. Beyond that the mix of stores on Yonge Street are diverse, ranging from mom and pop owner-operated stores, to national and international chain stores like the Gap, HMV, Club Monaco and the rumoured H& M opening soon on Yonge.

One last bit I would like to contribute is that the area is excellent for commuting. North Toronto has bus routes on Eglinton Avenue, Mount Pleasant Road, Yonge Street and Avenue Road. All of these surface routes connect to Eglinton station on the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line. Motorists can be downtown in ten minutes. However for me Allen Expressway (oh how I love you) is a god send. As a realtor who needs to be everywhere and anywhere the 401 access is a must. For me this road is hands down the one of the best planned projects the city ever undertook (compare to the Yonge/Sheppard mess, more on that another day). This road allows me to live the city life that I enjoy and at the same time my professional life is perfectly entertained. Oh and it’s a great way to get to Yorkdale shopping mall and Downsview park where I have my soccer league. All hail Lord William Randall Allen*.

So that’s me, on your Blok.

* Yes I know I’m supposed to use Torontonians, but Torontonites should surely exist, no?
* The Allen Expressway is named after late Metro Toronto chairman William Randall Allen, Chairman of Metropolitan Toronto 1962 to 1969.

Treasure in Toronto

I always found the little nooks and alleys of Toronto interesting. If you look hard enough there's life underneath all that hardness.