Imagine you've been given $800,000 to spend on a home, and your heart's set on living in the West end; how to choose where to put your hard-earned money? Let Curbed Toronto pick a couple of contenders to fight it out: that's right, it's time for Real Estate Deathmatch.
↑ Address: 212 Lippincott Street
Price: $759,000
Taxes: $5,393
Beds, Baths: 3, 2
This semi-detached home on a desirable street in the Annex is close to Harbord Street and Little Italy, and it's had the same owner since 1966. The house is clean and well-maintained and has loads of room (the lot's 20' x 125'), but it can use a lot of updating; for one thing, that brown vinyl 1966-era kitchen floor really needs to be retired. The floors throughout the rest of the house are a mix of hardwood and parquet, and there are still a few interesting original accents, like the archway in the living room. Good-sized front and back gardens (there's a concrete patio out back, too), and private parking off the laneway. Central air, too.
↑ Address: 343 Dovercourt Road
Price: $799,000
Taxes: $3,835
Beds, Baths: 3, 1
Your other contender is this tall, skinny home in Little Portugal. It's about $50K more than the Annex house, but has a lot more of its original charming features, like crown mouldings, the fireplace and mantel, stained glass, and french doors. There's also a wood-panelled library where you can sit with a pipe and a glass of Scotch and read scholarly things. On the downside, there's just one bathroom (and that needs updating), the electrical is at least partially knob-and-tube, and there's no garden other than a narrow strip alongside the garage. If you don't have a green thumb, though, that could be an upside.
· On The Market archives [Curbed Toronto]