r/TorontoRealEstate

Hi all! Sharing an article with updates on the current state of the Toronto market from our real estate reporter, Carolyn Ireland. Some interesting information about what's happening in different neighbourhoods and at different price points (including the fact that there are plenty of would-be buyers out there, but not necessarily people who are actually buying). This link here should give you access without our paywall.

There is one semi-detached house in our neighbourhood. Investors got the house and tried flipping into a “two-unit” house by creating “upper” and “main” unit by adding walls and creating rooms.

They failed to sell and are now using it as Airbnb. They have not been able to rent it out as apparently they were bad landlords.

It appears that their “corporation” owns multiple properties throughout Ontario.

Some Airbnb guests come in late at night and are quite disruptive. It also is not a secure environment for the kids with random people coming in. In addition, what they are doing is clearly illegal (not primary residence) and they are taking advantage of the system.

We have tried reporting to 311 but the owners are claiming that it is their “primary residence” and just showing pictures of them “dwelling” in it. The city inspector is saying that they can’t really do much.

Are there any options?

Is the cottage market dead like the condo market? Asking for a friend.

For RENTAL: what is the best condo in the yonge-sheppard area? I need something which is close to a grocery store, cineplex, LA fitness, GO transit so this intersection seems ideal and I've been to the area personally and I love it since it's like DT but with way lower amounts of panhandlers and foot traffic.

Also, I DO NOT DRIVE, so parking is of no concern to me at all!

I’m a preconstruction buyer about to occupy and my mortgage broker got me approved with TD at 4.44%.

He called me excited about this approval but the possibility of an appraisal coming in low is like a cloud over my head, so I can’t help but not be so thrilled about this. He’s telling me that they will use an APV which is better than having someone come out to appraise.

Another broker was trying to get my business by saying that he can bypass the appraisal and possibly get some of my deposit back from the builder, but didn’t go into much detail. I didn’t go with him because it just didn’t feel right.

Can someone help me understand the pros and cons to having an APV? Just trying to prepare myself for what may be around the corner.

Thanks

There's a house I drive by on my way to work and today I noticed an open house sign but no for sale sign on HouseSigma. There isn't even a for sale sign on the lawn, but just an open house sign there now.

This place has been fishy all along with terrible and cheap construction. The city fined them a bunch of times. The owners ran out of money one neighbour told me once. I'm just curious what it's selling for.

I have a property under contract. It is a 2+1 bungalow. The main floor used to be a 3 bed but they took down a wall to make 1 large room and then a smaller room. The main floor has a bathroom but no laundry. The basement has 1 bedroom, a bathroom, laundry, and it's own private entrance. I plan to make the main floor back into 3 bedrooms and hopefully turn the dining room into a 4th bedroom as for some reason it looks perfectly set up to be so because it has a closet and a good sized window and duct work. I also plan to give the main floor it's own laundry. The basement I plan to make a legal ARU by fully separating the side entrance to be a exclusive entrance to the basement. I understand I have to fire rate the Drywall. I plan to make a 2nd bedroom in the basement in a corner where it has its own window, lighting, and ductwork already. I plan to add a kitchen in the basement as well. The problem I find is that I the living room space will not have a window. My questions are:

What are the issues with making 4 bedrooms on the main floor? As I've heard it raises some problems when you cross over to 4 bedrooms.

What steps should I take to make sure I have the least down time while waiting for a permit? Should I get an engineer or a bcin designer?

Can I get the permit process going before I get possession of the property in a month from now?

I am using heloc for down payment. My heloc is only $200k. Purchase price $500k. A-lender would mortgage 350k and I'd have to use $150k from heloc for down payment and then the remaining $50k for Reno's. Or a B lender who would mortgage $400k and then $100k from my heloc for down payment and then $50k for Reno's and then I'd be able to keep $50k in heloc for emergencies. Im hoping to refinance after I improve the value and pay off the heloc. Should I go with A-lender or B-lender?

Property is in Peterborough. Should I student rental by the room or should I rent to 2 families?

Here's the math I have for expenses. It includes paying down some principal for heloc. But should I do interest only payments until I refinance? Am I missing anything from my expenses?

A Lender

Mort+prop tax ($350k mort) = $23,472

Heloc 15,600k annually ($200k loan) (down payment + renos)

Vacancy 1600

Lawn/snow 2200

Insurance 2500

utilities 0 (tenants pay)

=45,372 annually 

B Lender

Mort+prop tax ($400k mort) = $26,760 annually

Heloc 12,000 annually ($150k loan) (down payment + renos)

Vacancy 1600

Lawn/snow 2200

Insurance 2500

utilities 0 (tenants pay)

=45,060 annually

I'm hoping to achieve $50k - $57k annually in rental income. Depending of I can do the 4th bedroom on main floor or not. Maybe not a whole lot of cash flow but it is a fully leveraged property. Do you guys think it's worth while?

Thank you!

Also why do some people think that it's the home owners who are the arsonists especially if there are security cameras there?

So I was initially charged with vacant home taxes for 2024 which I paid however I didn't realize I'm qualified for one of the exemptions. After giving the city a call and waiting on the line for over 90 minues I got a refund for my VHT via transferable payments/credits. This happened in spring 2025. At that time I havn't paid for my property taxes for 2025 yet and my plan was to use the transferrable credits that will soon be refunded to me to pay for my 2025 property tax. However, it somehow took the city almost a year to ACTUALLY transfer my refunds meanwhile my unpaid property tax balance was just sitting there racking up interests.

Fast forward to last month I finally received my transferred credits/payment for my VHT last month while the interests & penalty fees alone from the balance that I owed accumulated to almost $1000. And earlier I checked both my unpaid property tax of 2025 and the $1000 interest were deducted from the refund credits that I finally received.

My question is.. I don't think I should be paying that $1000... I was going to use the transferable credits that I THOUGHT would be refunded to me almost immediately to pay for rest of the stuff I owe. It's not my fault the city took fking forever to process the refund while my unpaid property tax was just sitting there and slowly accumulating interests... Is there something I can do?? Maybe call the city again and explain the situation? Why do I not get interests from the municipal for the refund that they owe me for almost a year but when I owe them money i have to pay interest this is absurd

Its a 2 storey semi on a 15x75 lot. What am I missing? Is the area that good?