Actually, it’s a GARAGE.
If you haven’t been stuck under a rock for the past several years, you likely know just how astronomical Toronto house prices have gotten.
But fortunately, it’s still possible to buy a house for under $230,000 in the inner city. Yes, you heard right: A house in Toronto, close to a subway station and walking distance to some of the city’s best neighbourhoods, for the very reasonable price of $229,000.
The catch? It’s about the size of a toolshed in a typical suburban back yard.
One of Toronto’s cheapest detached homes (and likely also the smallest) hits the market at just $229,000
It’s detached, bright, close to a subway, centrally located and listed at a rock bottom (for a Toronto stand-alone house) $229,000.
The catch? It’s a minuscule former garage with no running water, backyard, or parking and — buyer beware — purchasers will have to get an occupancy permit from the city before they can officially live in it.
But despite the lack of a number of key amenities, listing agent Paul Vallis said the approximately 230-square-foot near Danforth and Coxwell’s Monarch Park has been getting “quite a bit of interest, from curious neighbours and lots of people looking for a place to live in the city.”
The house at 30 Hanson Street on the city’s inner east side is some 189 square feet in size, roughly half the size of an average two-car garage. But it fits three rooms — kitchen, living and one bedroom. And the realtor boasts it’s “cheaper than a condo.”
“One because it’s so small and inexpensive, it’s cute, pretty and a great location.” Detached homes in this neighbourhood more typically sell in the $600,000 range.
So is it the smallest house up for grabs in the city? ”It’s certainly the smallest place I’ve sold,” Vallis says.
A bungalow billed as “The Little House”near Dufferin and Rogers Road apparently has less than 300 square feet of living space; it sold in 2007 as a fixer-upper for a reported $139,000.
The Hanson Street home, which faces Monarch Park high school, has a kitchenette, a separate bedroom, a small living room, electric heating and a wall-mounted air conditioner, but no bathroom.
Vallis estimates it would cost about $20,000 to install plumbing, and is waiting to hear from his lawyers about the feasibility of getting an occupancy permit from the city.
In a former life, it was a garage, but the current owner, who lives nearby, bought and fixed it up some 30 years ago. The owner uses it as a getaway, rather than a full-time home — “it’s a little oasis for him,” Vallis says.
