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 Grand Victorian is 'superb investment property' 121 Marion St. (Roncesvalles Avenue and Queen Street, Roncesvalles, Toronto)Asking price: $899,001Sold for: $950,000Taxes: $5,011 (2010)Bedrooms: 5+1Bathrooms: 4Time on the market: 13 daysBy Connie AdairWith four legal units, this grand Victorian would suit an extended family or a person who wants a place to live plus rental income. "It's a superb investment property," says listing agent Lucais Shepherd.The house, which sold for $51,000 over asking price, has three bay windows, skylights, hardwood floors, south patios and balconies on all three levels.The five-plus-one-bedroom, four-bathroom home is on a 25x131-foot lot. A mutual driveway and parking for two cars are features. The property is close to Roncesvalles and Queen West shops, caf
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 Corner unit renovated floor to ceiling 131 Beecroft Rd. #1706 (Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue, Lansing, Toronto)Asking price: $479,900Taxes: $2,968 (2009)Monthly fee: $1,012Bedrooms: 2+1Bathrooms: 2MLS# C1840279By Connie AdairThis corner unit has been renovated from floor to ceiling, says listing agent Brenda Westbrook.The two-bedroom, two-bathroom suite has hardwood floors in the living and dining rooms, a built-in bar and granite floors in the kitchen, and his-and-hers closets and a three-piece ensuite bathroom in the master suite.The second bedroom has closet organizers; the open-concept solarium has hardwood floors; and the separate laundry room and foyer have granite floors.The suite comes with one underground parking space.Amenities of the building, in the heart of North York, include a concierge, an indoor pool, a sauna, a recreation room and a security guard.Listing Broker: Forest Hill Real Estate (Brenda Westbrook)
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 Arren Williams: And so to (mod) bed
Making a bed these days can be quite the fraught affair. Are toss pillows too frou-frou? What exactly does a coverlet do? And really, how on earth do you layer pattern with aplomb? Designer Angela Adams, based out of Maine and best known for her warm and friendly take on 'modern,' has come to the rescue with two groovy new lines of bedding - Shimmer (top) and Munjoy (below) - that should take some of the sting out of the process. Each manages to mix just the right amount of pattern, both large and small, with texture (oh, that's where a coverlet goes, between the sheets and the duvet!), and adds in fun bunch of toss pillows and shams to create a bed that's definitely more stylish than snoozy. Munjoy and Shimmer are available to order online at Bed, Bath & Beyond Canada.
(Images: Shimmer and Munjoy bedding. Credit: Angela Adams)
The work of Arren Williams, a freelance stylist, editor and trend reporter, can be seen in Canada's top decor mags, as well as on Citytv's CityLine. Expect a roundup of fabulous finds every few days as he brings his eye for style to Post Homes. See his blog here.
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 Great curb appeal in Markham 26 Dalecroft Circ. (Kennedy Road and 16th Avenue, Markham)Asking price: $508,800Sold for: $540,000Taxes: $3,991 (2009)Bedrooms: 3Bathrooms: 3Time on the market: three daysBy Connie Adair"Lovely and upgraded," this home in the Main Street area has a welcoming front porch, a spacious foyer, a separate door to the side yard and an elegant oak circular staircase, says listing agent Leslie Benczik.The L-shaped living/dining room has crown mouldings, a fireplace and a walkout to a deck. A pantry in the kitchen and a three-piece ensuite bathroom and a fireplace in the master suite are other highlights of the three-bedroom, three-bathroom home.The 51x112-foot lot has a deck for barbecuing and a fenced yard, a private driveway and a two-car garage.Listing Broker: Re/Max All Stars Realty (Leslie Benczik)
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 The Snowbird Diaries: Foreclosure-hunting in Arizona, Part VI By Roberta AveryAfter weeks of frustration for my husband, John, and I in our search for a bargain foreclosure in Arizona, we finally find a property that we really like, and one that isn't already under offer.We think the 1,800-square-foot home we have found in Sedona's Village of Oak Creek will make us a perfect home in the sun.It has three-bedrooms, two bathrooms, wonderful red rock views and all the bells and whistles, such as ceramic tile floors and granite counter tops. It sold in 2006 for US$519,000. It's now listed for sale at US$325,000.There is a snag. The home is owned by HUD (the U.S. department of Housing and Urban Development), which foreclosed on the property this January after the $415,000 mortgage held by its Citimortgage division fell into default. HUD is accepting bids on the home, but initially the bidding is only open to U.S. citizens who are looking for a full-time home. Preference is given to bids from "community heroes" such as firefighters, police officers and teachers.The initial bidding is open for two more days. If it doesn't sell, the bidding opens up to all potential purchasers, including Canadians.Our real estate agent, Sylvia Ray, who is a specialist in foreclosures, doesn't hold out much hope that it will remain unsold in the initial offering, as she thinks it is well priced, but advises us that if we want to buy, we must be ready with a bid as soon as it opens to all bidders.We plan to cash in our savings and RSPs and put a line of credit on our home in Meaford, Ont., to fund the purchase, but HUD will only accept bids if we can provide proof of funds. Our bank manager in Meaford comes through for us by promptly sending an email stating that we have enough assets that can be liquidated to fund the purchase.The call from Sylvia comes at the crack of dawn two days later.There have been no bids."Do you want to make a bid?" she asks.The answer is "Yes!""I'll need your IRS [U.S. Inland Revenue Service] number to make your bid," she tells us.And a non-refundable US$1,000 deposit, should we change our minds if our bid is accepted.We have US$1,000, but we don't have an IRS number.Calls to the IRS reach only an automated answering service, so we set out on what becomes a 300-kilometre round trip in search of an open IRS office. We eventually end up at the tiny IRS satellite office in Prescott, where we are met by an armed guard (apparently a fixture at all IRS offices since February, when a man flew an airplane into the IRS building in Austin, Texas) and an official who hands us a form and tells us to mail it, to Austin.We call Sylvia with the news that we can't get an IRS number to make a bid. After numerous calls to HUD's head office, Sylvia finally gets the word that Canadians can, after all, make a bid, using a Canadian social security number. We head to Sylvia's office to make our offer.Our research indicates foreclosures usually sell for about 90% of the asking price, so we are prepared to offer about US$295,000, but Sylvia surprises us by suggesting a bid around US$275,000.We settle on US$276,000 and Sylvia submits our email offer.It's already 4:30 p.m., but Sylvia says the response to our offer will be posted on the HUD website at 1 p.m. the next day - so stay tuned.?.(Photo:
The Averys make a US$276,000 bid on this home in Sedona's Village of Oak Creek. In 2006, it sold for US$519,000. Credit: John Avery)
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 The Snowbird Diaries: Foreclosure-hunting in Arizona, Part V By Roberta AveryHunting for a bargain foreclosure in Arizona is proving tough.While my husband, John, and I have stretched the budget to buy a home in our favourite mountain town of Sedona, we are still at the bottom end of the market -- where's a lot of junk for sale, such as the houses with lethally steep driveways backing onto busy highways and homes that, truth be told, need to be demolished.That's not to mention the mould.It's hard to imagine mould would be a problem in the Arizona desert, but it is.Maybe they should have been candidates for the America's Worst Handyman TV show, but the owners of a four-year-old home for sale in West Sedona actually managed to rupture an exterior wall when they drilled a hole to hang a mirror -- and this allowed moisture to seep in to the house. In this warm climate, that's a recipe for mould to grow. The 2,000-square-foot home is listed for US$299,000; because an expert on mould has released a 10-page report calling for remedial work costing tens of thousands of dollars, the asking price is well under the area's average.We steer away from that one.Next, we hear about another foreclosure in Sedona's Village of Oak Creek. Listed for US$329,000, the 18-year-old three-bed, three-bath home is in a beautiful neighbourhood of upscale homes, so although it's way above our budget, we think it just may be the buy of the century."It's perfect," I say as we pull into the driveway.But inside, things are from perfect.There are big holes in the drywall throughout the house. "Perhaps the former owners took out their frustration about losing their home to foreclosure," I say."They must have been pretty upset," says John, looking at the carnage.It turns out that a home inspector is the culprit. He suspected mould from bad backyard drainage, so cut holes in the walls and found mould throughout. The repair work will cost more than US$100,000 when the backyard drainage fix is included. Cross that one off the list.To date, we have viewed 37 foreclosures, done drive-bys on dozens more and checked out hundreds more on the Internet. Some reports indicate there may be as many as 20,000 homes under foreclosure in Arizona, so we could carry on searching indefinitely, but we are exhausted, discouraged and ready to give up.Then an email from our real estate agent, Sylvia Ray, about another foreclosure arrives in John's in-box.It's just down the road from our vacation rental home in the Village of Oak Creek, but John has had enough. "You go," he says, pouring himself a glass of wine to enjoy on the patio. This kind of relaxation has been very rare on our trip, as searching for a home has been a full-time job, but I resist the temptation to join him and go to check out the house.It's love at first sight and when I drag John around to view it, he agrees and we decide to make an offer.There's a sign in the window stating this five-year-old, three-bed, two-bath home is a HUD (U.S. department of Housing and Urban Development) foreclosure. Being a HUD foreclosure complicates things, Sylvia tells us. We find out how right she is as we start down a path that ties us up in a lot of government red tape ... so stay tuned.(Photo: This home in Sedona's Village of Oak Creek seemed like a
steal at US$329,000 until the Averys found out it was full of mould.
Credit: Roberta Avery)
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 New semi-detached has built-in appliances 760B Avenue Rd. (Avenue Road and Chaplin Crescent, Chaplin Estates, Toronto)Asking price: $1.349-millionSold for: $1.33-millionTaxes: n/aBedrooms: 3+1Bathrooms: 5Time on the market: 31 daysBy Connie AdairThis new brick-and-stucco semi-detached home is on a 19x133-foot lot that backs on to a park and beltline. The freehold town home is "at the gateway to Forest Hill," says listing agent Chaim Talpalar.The three-bedroom, five-bathroom home has wainscotting in the living room, a coffered ceiling in the dining room and built-in appliances in the eat-in kitchen. The main-floor family room has a gas fireplace and a walkout to a deck. A walk-in closet and a seven-piece ensuite bathroom are features of the master suite. A vaulted ceiling and a four-piece ensuite bathroom are highlights of the second bedroom.The third floor has a four-piece ensuite bathroom and a walkout to a balcony from the third bedroom, and a walkout to a deck from the den. Lower-level features include a recreation room, a walkout to the yard, a three-piece bathroom and an office.Listing Broker: Harvey Kalles Real Estate (Chaim Talpalar)
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 Panoramic views of Lake Couchiching 205 Cedar Island Rd. (Orillia)Asking price: $885,000Taxes: $8,259 (2009)Bedrooms: 2+3Bathrooms: 4MLS# 100718By Connie AdairWith more than 250 feet on Lake Couchiching in the city of Orillia, this home has a panoramic view of the water, says listing agent Bob Johnson. "It also has a breakwall, a dock and an electric boat lift."The approximately 3,200-square-foot home has a total of five bedrooms and four bathrooms in three separate living spaces, Mr. Johnson says. "It would appeal to a family with a few generations, as a family compound in one building on city services, or for guests."The two-bedroom main-floor living space has a screened veranda and a deck. The upper level has a two-bedroom and a one-bedroom apartment.Right now, the market is balanced in Orillia, not favouring the buyer or the seller, he says.Listing Broker: Prudential Lifestyles Real Estate (Bob Johnson)
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 Fairfield Estates home with hardwood floors, media room, and in-ground pool 6 Fairfield Pl. (Bayview and Steeles avenues, Markham)Asking price: $1.499-millionSold for: $1.418-millionTaxes: $13,659 (2009)Bedrooms: 3+1Bathrooms: 6Time on the market: 98 daysBy Connie AdairRavine views can be enjoyed from this three-bedroom, six-bathroom brick home, on a pie-shaped lot in Fairfield Estates.The living room and dining room have hardwood floors. The kitchen has a breakfast area, a centre island and a walkout to a deck. A fireplace in the family room, a built-in bookcase and a wet bar in the main-floor library and a walk-in closet and a six-piece ensuite bathroom in the master suite are other features.The home also includes a media room, a recreation room, an intercom, an alarm system and central air and vacuum systems.The 76x140-foot lot has an underground sprinkler system, an in-ground pool and an attached three-car garage.Listing Broker: Re/Max Ultimate Realty (Jerry Hammond)
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 Ugly Ducklings and claraboias By Brenda McMillanOn a recent visit to the old part of Porto (a World Heritage site) in Portugal, I was shown through a centuries-old townhouse with a design that blew my mind. It was 17 feet wide, three storeys tall and four rooms deep -- and I thought, before going through it, that the interior rooms would be dark like they are in Toronto (see this week's Ugly Duckling here). I was wrong.As most townhouses in Porto are, the main floor of the townhouse is occupied by a retail business (linens, antiques, clothing, etc.) even though it is on a residential street. A door from the sidewalk opens to a wide staircase leading to the second floor and an open space with the staircase to the third floor in the middle of it. Over this staircase is a claraboia - a large skylight - that floods the middle of the second and third floors with light. Middle rooms have railings, or windows or French doors facing the open space with the stairwell and the claraboia. Rooms at the front and back usually have tall French doors that open to Juliet balconies, so light comes from each end of the house as well as through the middle. Claraboias are all large, but their shapes vary from round domes to rectangles with pitched tops, to flat styles. I think they are a fabulous design element, but to be used extensively here, they'd have to be thermal, leak-proof units.In this week's Ugly Duckling, we'll just use the Canadian version and dream of the claraboias.
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 Snowbird Diaries: Foreclosure-hunting in Arizona, Part VIII By Roberta Avery"Think of me as Switzerland," says Cathy Weir, branch manager of the Grand Canyon Title Agency in Phoenix, Az.My husband, John, and I are meeting with Ms. Weir to sign the purchase papers for the foreclosure home we are buying in Sedona (see previous instalments here and here), and as we are new to the idea of working with a title agency to buy a home -- instead of a lawyer as we have done in Ontario -- we have a lot of questions."Totally neutral," she says about the title agency's role in the process.Ms. Weir and our real estate agent, Sylvia Ray, have been pulling out all the stops to ensure our documents are fast-tracked so they are ready for us to sign before we fly back to Canada next week. We had thought we could sign documents in Canada and simply have them notarized and couriered back. We were wrong -- dead wrong, Ms. Weir says.It turns out that, as Canada was not part of the Hague Convention relating to legal documents and public notaries, the United States does not recognize signatures notarized in Canada on real estate transactions."If we hadn't got the documents in time, you would have had to go to a U.S. embassy or consulate in Canada and try to find a U.S. notary there," says Ms. Weir.As Ms. Weir is a notary public, she is able to notarize our signatures, so the paperwork is good to go.After taking photocopies of our passports, Ms. Weir walks us through the documents, which include a favourable termite report on the house, as well as a "settlement statement," which shows how much we will owe at closing when such things as property taxes are worked into the mix. We agree to take the optional title insurance (US$1,343), which guarantees us clear title to the property. As we are financing this in Canada, and the U.S. Housing and Urban Development department -- which foreclosed on the property after its mortgage went into default -- has picked up the tab to pay the title agency for handling the deal, the title insurance is the only extra we have to cover.On completion of the documents, the purchase goes into "escrow," which means a neutral third party (a title agency) creates a trust account in which all the funds of the transaction are held until closing. Our purchase closes June 14, by which time we'll be back in Canada, so there is much to do and explore before we fly home. Buying a foreclosure means that you buy a home "as is" and we're about to find out more about what that means, so stay tuned . . .(Photo: It's easy to see why Sedona was named the "Most Beautiful Place in America" by USA Weekend Magazine. Credit: Roberta Avery)
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 Arren Williams: It's curtains for fashionable Rodarte
Kate and Laura Mulleavy, the sisters and fashion darlings behind design-forward womenswear label Rodarte, have hooked up with venerable furniture firm Knoll to create a capsule collection of interior fabrics for Knoll Luxe. The eight sumptuous fabrics - five for upholstery and three for drapery - are inspired by Rodarte's collections that trotted down the runway in 2009, and are the second outing for Knoll Luxe with a fashion brand, the first was with Proenza Schouler. Standouts include the dreamy washes of colour in Auden (centre), an homage to the ethereal dip-dyed gowns from the duo's Spring/Summer '09 collection (bottom), and the delicate, softly metallic embroidery of Emerson (top), a sheer that reinterprets Rodarte's studded pieces from Fall/Winter '09 into fabric that - yes - is destined for curtains.
(Image 1,2: Rodarte for Knoll Luxe. Credit: Knoll. Image 3: 212 Dressing Room)
The work of Arren Williams, a freelance stylist, editor and trend reporter, can be seen in Canada's top decor mags, as well as on Citytv's CityLine. Expect a roundup of fabulous finds every few days as he brings his eye for style to Post Homes. See his blog here.
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 Snowbird Diaries: Foreclosure-hunting in Arizona, Part VII By Roberta AveryIt's 1 p.m., a little more than 20 hours after my husband, John, and I made a US$276,000 bid to buy a home in Sedona, Az.The U.S. Housing and Urban Development department (HUD), which foreclosed on the three-bedroom, two-bath home in January after the mortgage went into default, posts its responses to bids from the previous day on its website at exactly 1 p.m. every day.At 1.01 p.m., we anxiously log on to the HUD website and find the listing with "Sold" marked across it.Our hearts skip a beat, then sink when we see the accepted price of US$262,200."We've been underbid. How can that be?" John says, as we wait for the page to fully load.A few seconds later, the page loads and we are stunned -- then thrilled -- to see it is our bid that has been accepted. HUD posts the net amount from the sale, after a 5% real estate commission. But now we face a new hurdle: In some southern states, including Arizona and Florida, a title company handles home purchase transactions, not a lawyer. Our agent stops our hearts a bit when she says: "The title company needs your passport and visa to register you on title." But we don't have visas.We tell her that Canadians can visit the United States for up to six months without a visa, so we don't have one, apart from the plastic credit card variety.After our earlier fiasco chasing around after an elusive and unnecessary IRS number and now a request for a visa we don't have, I decide it's time to ask an expert in such matters. I contact Jim Yager, a partner in the International Executive Service division of KPMG in Toronto.In a recent paper, Mr. Yager explains the ins and outs of home ownership and tax consequences for Canadians buying real estate in the United States,There's a lot to consider.We have carefully researched the vacation rental market in Sedona and are confident we will be able to rent our new home out to fellow snowbirds when we are not using it, to offset a significant part of the cost of ownership. Mr. Yager explains that as we will have rental income generated in the U.S., we will be issued with an IRS number and will have the option of filing a tax return with the IRS and electing to pay tax on net rental income. If not, such rents will be subject to a 30% withholding tax on gross revenue.
The IRS also, with a few exceptions, withholds 10% of the gross sales price should we sell the property, even if we sell it at a loss, to offset any U.S. capital gains tax owing, and Mr. Yager also explains that there are significant estate tax consequences upon the death of a Canadian who owns property in the U.S.Mr. Yager offers a lot of helpful suggestions on minimizing the tax consequences and I recommend that anyone planning to buy a home in the U.S. contact this type of expert.A few days later, armed with a printout from the U.S. immigration website stating clearly that Canadians don't need a visa to enter the U.S., we head to the title company in Phoenix to sign on the dotted line and take another step forward in our quest to own a home in the sun . . . so stay tuned.(Photo:
The Averys, who have an accepted bid on this house in Sedona's Village of Oak Creek, are glad it has a walled backyard as they plan to bring their dog, Zoe, with them on their next visit. Credit: John Avery)
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 Two-storey suite with 17-foot ceilings 80 Cumberland St. #1703 (Bay and Bloor streets, Yorkville, Toronto)Asking price: $999,900Taxes: $2,932 (2009)Bedrooms: 2Bathrooms: 3Monthly fee: $998MLS# C1833766By Connie Adair"The owner has spent $300,000 to customize this one-of-a-kind sub penthouse in a unique, chic and stylish fashion," says listing agent Eric Glazenberg.The two-storey suite has a floating staircase, two tiled balconies and 17-foot ceilings in the living room. Hardwood floors, a granite counter in the kitchen and a walkout to a balcony and clear sunset views from the master suite are highlights of the two-bedroom, three-bathroom suite.Built-in seating on the terraces, stainless steel appliances, a custom wine rack, floating cabinets in the living room and glass doors are other highlights of the approximately 1,400-square-foot suite.The suite, which is also available fully furnished for $1,049,900, comes with one underground parking space.Building amenities include a concierge, an exercise room and a gym.Listing Broker: Keller Williams Real Estate Service (Eric Glazenberg)
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 Arren Williams: Sleeping with Deep Purple
Think of this as the paint version of that fave of yesteryear, the mood ring - CIL has launched a new online tool here that can help you figure out a palette based on the mood you'd like to create for your space, rather than standing in front of a store display and blanking out at the thousands of colours on offer. Take this bedroom (above) tricked out in a delish colour called Deep Purple, a fashion forward tint from CIL's Deep & Luxurious mood palette, and a tone that gives the room a saucier feel than if the walls had been painted in a predictable tone of beige. Though if beige is your bag don't despair, answer the mood test's quick questionnaire and you'll probably end up at the paler end of the paint scale with the Soft & Elegant selection of creamy tints.
(Image: Bedroom in Deep Purple. Credit: CIL)
The work of Arren Williams, a freelance stylist, editor and trend reporter, can be seen in Canada's top decor mags, as well as on Citytv's CityLine. Expect a roundup of fabulous finds every few days as he brings his eye for style to Post Homes. See his blog here.
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