Last week I put my house up for sale. Before the sign went up and before the agents tour, my agent asked if she could have three potential buyers come through. They came, they saw, they bought! After the first viewing there were talks of an offer. Two days later they put in a near asking price offer, but wanted an April 8th closing date because they sold their house with that closing date. I accepted the offer and decided to rent a condo in Toronto for 6-12 months instead of buying one. That will give me time to learn Toronto's areas and also to see what happens to the housing market.

Yesterday I took the day off work to view a few apartments. The first was a nice 2 bedroom condo in a new building. Allows pets, in unit laundry, A/C, forced air natural gas heating, balcony, granite counter tops, parking space, storage locker, 5 min walk to subway, etc. WHAT A VIEW. From every room you can see a beautiful Toronto skyline including the CN Tower. Allowing pets, and the view are the most important things to me. What I don't like about this place is the location. It's at Bloor/Lansdowne which is a bit dumpy with a handful of brand new residential developments. It's a 20 minute walk to High Park, and 5 minute walk to subway. He'll let me do a 6 month lease then go month-by-month after that. I saw a second larger unit in the same building that is $100 more, and min 12 month lease.

The third place I looked at was High Park Village. One company owns about 7-10 high rise apartment buildings. The location is beautiful, it's across the road from High Park, lots of great shopping and restaurants within walking distance, 5 minute walk to subway, allows pets, etc. They have multiple vacancies but could not show the one with a city view without 24 hour notice to the tenant. I looked at another without a view instead. The building is 40 years old, parquay floors, no A/C, dated looking balcony, and some really old kind of heaters along the base of the walls. It costs an additional $85/month for parking, more for storage locker, more for access to shared laundry facilities, and if I want a 6 month lease instead of 12 month I have to pay an additional $200/month. This is a lot of money.

I'm going back on the weekend to check out some places in Queens Quay, and maybe by The Beaches. I'm most excited about Queens Quay because this is going to be close to what I will eventually buy. I want a great downtown view, newer or completely renovated interior, pets allowed, nice places to walk the dog, shopping within walking distance, etc. From what I hear, Queens Quay has it all.

What concerns me is that I can't figure out how I will set up my living room furniture in any of the units I've seen. Most units have small living rooms. My furniture fits, but not properly. I need a 10 foot or larger wall for my entertainment center, and the couch needs to be parallel to it. In these units my couch would be in the way of a doorway no matter how I place it. The only way around this is to get rid of my home theater and buy something that will go in a corner. It can be still be large, but it can't take up a 10 foot wall! I'm going to see if I can sell my home theater, but if not I'll find a way to make it fit.

Today my agent emailed to say that the deal has been finalized and the SOLD sign will go up tomorrow.