Close X
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
ADVT 
National

Speed-Dating Event Helps People Find Their Match In Toronto Real Estate Heaven

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 06 Jul, 2017 01:21 PM
    TORONTO — About 30 people gaze into each other's eyes in the basement of a Toronto pub. But none of them are here in the hopes of falling in love.
     
    At a recent speed-dating event for potential co-homeowners, guests who range from millennials to seniors have come to find The One — a match made in real estate heaven.
     
    They're given a list of questions to ask each other. They take a seat at the long table, where they have a few minutes to chat before the bell rings and it's time to move on to their next "date."
     
    "I'm an investor," one man with multiple properties in Canada and Asia declares to the young woman sitting across from him. He doesn't want to live here full-time. It's too cold.
     
    "I haven't seen many co-ownership deals," she responds, adding that she would like to find a home in the Beaches area. Her other criteria: "Close to transit," which she writes on her name tag.
     
    Some are cheekier. "Walls," reads someone else's badge.
     
    The housing matchmaker behind this event is Lesli Gaynor, a social worker-turned-Royal LePage realtor who launched a company called GoCo Solutions to help people get into Toronto's red-hot real estate market through co-ownership. The average selling price in the Greater Toronto Area in May was $863,910, up from $752,100 the same month last year. The average detached selling price was more than $1.1 million.
     
    Gaynor said she's had the idea for a long time because she herself co-owned a home with a friend in the early 90s. "I couldn't afford it on my own. I was a single mom," she said.
     
    When they sold their duplex for more than double the price nearly a decade later, they used the profit to go their separate ways and buy their own properties.
     
    More recently, the speed-dating element came to Gaynor when she was joking with her three sons about how they can now use apps like Tinder to find a date, then it hit her: "Why couldn't we use something similar to hook people up — to buy a property together?"
     
    "It helps people increase their net worth, and it's not just about a landlord making money off of your rent," she said.
     
    Karen Turner and Kelly Wilk just co-purchased a home in the upper Beaches area of Toronto. Both in their late 30s, they have been friends since they were roommates during first year university. It is split into three separate apartments, one for Turner, one for Wilk and her six-year-old son and one for a live-in child caregiver Wilk hopes to move into the basement.
     
    Turner, a first-time homeowner with student loans to pay off, has a full-time job, so she would be able to get a mortgage on her own, and Wilk already owned a home.
     
    But the two women are looking forward to the mutual benefits of their co-purchase. Wilk's son will be able to play with Turner's dog. When she needs a break from child rearing, she can send him to spend time with Turner, who also wants to have kids eventually. Wilk likes knowing that there will be someone around to help.
     
    Pooling financial resources is not the only reason strangers flocked to Gaynor's speed-dating night. For both the young and the old, it's about community and feeling more connected.
     
    Michael Weirich, 25, won't be in a financial position to co-purchase a home for another few years, but he's considering it. He said he likes co-ownership because it gives him more buying power and access to larger spaces, as well as better amenities and locations that he otherwise wouldn't be able to afford on his own.
     
    A sustainability consultant in the building industry, Weirich is a renter who shares a semi-detached house with three 20-something roommates, one of whom is the landlord. He would like to buy a downtown home in a neighbourhood with a lot of trees and nature. He doesn't mind sharing the kitchen as long as the other co-owners are tidy, but he wants his own living room, in addition to a communal living room.
     
    Weirich said he's "big" on community.
     
    "Co-owning a (home) with somebody or a few other people is a good way to have a community around you that you trust and you know will support you," he said.
     
    Actor Sherry McLaughlin, whose family is not in Toronto, has similar motivations.
     
    "It would be nice to have someone nearby that I can trust and lean on," McLaughlin said. Apart from friendship, the 54-year-old could see herself needing a hand with any heavy lifting and gardening.
     
    Young families might want to share childcare and dog walking responsibilities, Gaynor said. Older potential buyers might need help shovelling the driveway.
     
    Toronto as a whole would benefit from co-ownership, Gaynor said, making one last argument for it.
     
    "We can reduce our carbon footprint," she said. "I think we are over-housed."

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Witness Describes Man In Alleged Getaway Vehicle After B.C. Gang Leader Jonathan Bacon Murdered

    Witness Describes Man In Alleged Getaway Vehicle After B.C. Gang Leader Jonathan Bacon Murdered
    KELOWNA, B.C. — The driver of an SUV speeding from the scene of a gang murder tried to shield his face from witnesses but a woman who was leaving a coffee shop has described the man in B.C. Supreme Court.

    Witness Describes Man In Alleged Getaway Vehicle After B.C. Gang Leader Jonathan Bacon Murdered

    Premier Warns NDP, Greens That Delaying Site C Dam In B.C. Could Cost $600M

    Premier Warns NDP, Greens That Delaying Site C Dam In B.C. Could Cost $600M
    VANCOUVER — British Columbia's political leaders exchanged duelling letters over the future of the Site C dam project on Tuesday, with Premier Christy Clark arguing that delays will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

    Premier Warns NDP, Greens That Delaying Site C Dam In B.C. Could Cost $600M

    Flood Risk Downgraded On Some B.C. Rivers, But Kelowna Residents Still Watchful

    Flood Risk Downgraded On Some B.C. Rivers, But Kelowna Residents Still Watchful
    VANCOUVER — A flood watch is in effect for the South Thompson and Shuswap rivers in B.C.'s southern Interior, but the River Forecast Centre has downgraded the risk on the North Thompson River and on the Thompson River through Kamloops.

    Flood Risk Downgraded On Some B.C. Rivers, But Kelowna Residents Still Watchful

    New Brunswick Boxer David Whittom Remains In Induced Coma After Post-Bout Brain Hemorrhage

    New Brunswick Boxer David Whittom Remains In Induced Coma After Post-Bout Brain Hemorrhage
    Thirty-eight-year-old David Whittom is listed in stable condition at Saint John Regional Hospital.

    New Brunswick Boxer David Whittom Remains In Induced Coma After Post-Bout Brain Hemorrhage

    Autopsy Report Shows Canadian Killed Fighting ISIL Died From Head Injury: Mother

    Autopsy Report Shows Canadian Killed Fighting ISIL Died From Head Injury: Mother
    Tassone was killed on Dec. 21 in the city of Raqqa while fighting militants associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known as ISIS or ISIL.

    Autopsy Report Shows Canadian Killed Fighting ISIL Died From Head Injury: Mother

    Parking Enforcement Officer 'Powerless' As 3 Toronto Cops Had Sex With Her

    The woman, who cannot be identified due to a standard publication ban, is testifying at the trial of Joshua Cabero, Leslie Nyznik, and Sameer Kara, who have all pleaded not guilty to sexual assault in connection with the alleged incident.

    Parking Enforcement Officer 'Powerless' As 3 Toronto Cops Had Sex With Her