Real eState
5 Stories of People Who Found Love When Buying a Home
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Buying a home is an emotional process. You spend years saving money and figuring out your list of non-negotiables in an effort to find “The One.” And when you do fall in love with a home, it can feel akin to being hit by Cupid’s arrow: lots of excitement, nervousness, and even sleeplessness.
But on your swan dive into the homebuyer pool, did you ever anticipate you’d find actual love along the way? Turns out, romance can bloom in all kinds of situations and places.
As Gerard Splendore, a broker for Coldwell Banker Warburg, puts it: “The real estate process provides a multitude of opportunities to find and embrace love in its many forms.”
Below, five sweet stories of oh, so lucky folks who found love—of all kinds—when searching for a new home.
1. Cupid in disguise
Often, real estate agents find themselves in the middle of love connections.
Compass broker Kimberly Jay has played matchmaker on more than one occasion. She once had a private appointment to show her exclusive listing in Manhattan.
“The buyer, a lovely older gentleman, told me he was a widower. I fixed him up with a past client. They dated for the summer,” says Jay.
Another time, she set up a single buyer she met at an open house with a friend of hers. The two called Jay on their first date to tell her: “Best date ever.”
Jay (aka Cupid) says open houses can also be an unlikely place for love. She says to look good, be friendly, and “start talking about something you like in the home.” Who knows? Your casual conversation with another potential buyer could lead to something more.
2. The love shack
Buying an apartment can change your life. But is it possible for a particular apartment to bring love right to your doorstep?
On two separate occasions, Jay has sold a particular apartment to someone who “moved in single and moved out married.” And, apparently, two other apartments in the same building also share this “good juju.”
If you want to increase your chances of discovering romance during the real estate process, Jay says to look for apartment and condo buildings with mainly studios and one-bedroom units—places where you’re more likely to find other single residents.
“Those seem to be the secret ingredients,” she says.
Jay also says it doesn’t hurt to let your real estate agent know you’re looking for love.
“Agents have large networks and are constantly meeting new people,” says Jay. “Since you’re already telling them your needs and preferences for a home, why not share that you’re single and ask if they know someone for you?”
3. Love is in the air
To that end: Real estate agents know a thing or two about building relationships and having heart-to-heart discussions with clients. Some are even known to go above and beyond to make a client happy—and sometimes that can lead to love.
Sheila Trichter, a real estate broker for Coldwell Banker Warburg, recalls another broker who helped a client decorate his new apartment. Sparks flew, and they fell in love and later moved in together.
“They did live happily ever after,” says Trichter.
4. The ‘fertility apartment’
First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby—thanks to an apartment?
There is a particular one-bedroom apartment in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY, that Splendore has sold twice. He lovingly calls it the “fertility apartment.”
“Both couples moved in as newlyweds and almost immediately got pregnant,” says Splendore. Both couples had baby boys.
Splendore did stage the apartment both times with a crib and a high chair, but the rest was fate. He says the current owners are moving out with their son, who is getting too big for the apartment.
Let the staging begin.
5. You can’t put a price on love
For many lovers, Valentine’s Day is a time to splurge on a dozen roses and a fancy bottle of Champagne. But some (wealthy) individuals take Cupid’s birthday to the extreme.
The day before Valentine’s Day 2018, Trichter’s client was involved in a bidding war with a buyer offering the full asking price and another buyer who decided to counter with a half-million dollars above asking.
Why did the second bidder offer so much above the asking price? He and his wife lived right next door, and he wanted to surprise her on Valentine’s Day with a full-floor apartment.
That’s one way to show you’d do anything for love!
Real eState
Judge Approves $418 Million Settlement That Will Change Real Estate Commissions
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A settlement that will rewrite the way many real estate agents are paid in the United States has received preliminary approval from a federal judge.
On Tuesday morning, Judge Stephen R. Bough, a United States district judge, signed off on an agreement between the National Association of Realtors and home sellers who sued the real estate trade group over its longstanding rules on commissions to agents that they say forced them to pay excessive fees.
The agreement is still subject to a hearing for final court approval, which is expected to be held on Nov. 22. But that hearing is largely a formality, and Judge Bough’s action in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri now paves the way for N.A.R. to begin implementing the sweeping rule changes required by the deal. The changes will likely go into full effect among brokerages across the country by Sept. 16.
N.A.R., in a statement from spokesman Mantill Williams, welcomed the settlement’s preliminary approval.
“It has always been N.A.R.’s goal to resolve this litigation in a way that preserves consumer choice and protects our members to the greatest extent possible,” he said in an email. “There are strong grounds for the court to approve this settlement because it is in the best interests of all parties and class members.”
N.A.R. reached the agreement in March to settle the lawsuit, and a series of similar claims, by making the changes and paying $418 million in damages. Months earlier, in October, a jury had reached a verdict that would have required the organization to pay at least $1.8 billion in damages, agreeing with homeowners who argued that N.A.R.’s rules on agent commissions forced them to pay excessive fees when they sold their property.
The group, which is based in Chicago and has 1.5 million members, has wielded immense influence over the real estate industry for more than a century. But home sellers in Missouri, whose lawsuit against N.A.R. and several brokerages was followed by multiple copycat claims, successfully argued that the group’s rule that a seller’s agent must make an offer of commission to a buyer’s agent led to inflated fees, and that another rule requiring agents to list homes on databases controlled by N.A.R. affiliates stifled competition.
By mandating that commission be split between agents for the seller and buyer, N.A.R., and brokerages who required their agents to be members of N.A.R., violated antitrust laws, according to the lawsuits. Such rules led to an industrywide standard commission that hovers near 6 percent, the lawsuits said. Now, agents will be essentially blocked from making those commission offers, a shift that will, some industry analysts say, lower commissions across the board and eventually force down home prices as a result.
Real estate agents are bracing for pain.
“We are concerned for buyers and potentially how we will get paid for working with buyers moving forward,” said Karen Pagel Guerndt, a Realtor in Duluth, Minn. “There’s a lot of ambiguity.”
The preliminary approval of the settlement comes as the Justice Department reopens its own investigation into the trade group. Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned a lower-court ruling from 2023 that had quashed the Justice Department’s request for information from N.A.R. about broker commissions and how real estate listings are marketed. They now have the green light to scrutinize those fees and other N.A.R. rules that have long confounded consumers.
“This is the first step in bringing about the long awaited change,” said Michael Ketchmark, the lawyer who represented the home sellers in the main lawsuit. “Later this summer, N.A.R. will begin changing the way that homes are bought and sold in our country and this will eventually lead to billions of dollars and savings for homeowners.”
Under the settlement, homeowners who sold homes in the last seven years could be eligible for a small piece of a consolidated class-action payout. Depending on how many homeowners file claims by the deadline of May 9, 2025, that could mean tens of millions of Americans.
Real eState
Two matching megacomplexes to totally transform Toronto neighbourhood
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A pair of twinned proposals aim to completely redefine the skyline of Toronto’s midtown area with an architectural statement that would set the neighbourhood apart from other high-rise clusters in the city.
Two separate proposals from developer Madison Group at 110 and 150 Eglinton Avenue East have been resubmitted to city planners, calling for two pairs of mixed-use condominium towers with standout designs unlike anything that exists in the city today.
In a surprising twist from a developer not exactly known for breaking the bank on architecture, the proposals now boast brand-new complementary designs from acclaimed firm Rafael Viñoly Architects.
The 110 Eglinton site, currently home to a pair of mid-rise office buildings, would be demolished and built out with two 58-storey towers.
A few doors to the east, the 150 Eglinton site includes a handful of mid-rise and low-rise commercial buildings along Eglinton, wrapping around Redpath Avenue. These buildings would also be demolished and replaced with a pair of 61-storey towers.
All four towers will feature matching designs boasting red aluminum cladding forming vertical piers that accentuate the towers’ heights, though there will be some key differences between the pairs at 110 and 150 Eglinton.
The 58-storey towers at 110 Eglinton East will be linked via an enormous floating bridge spanning levels five through 10, framing a large open public space below and supporting an elevated residential amenity floor above.
The 61-storey towers lack a skybridge, but will also feature amenity levels with panoramic views, including spaces on the 28th and 40th floors.
At heights of just over 236 metres, these four towers all stand taller than anything that exists in the neighbourhood as of 2024.
The combined proposals would add a staggering 3,364 condominium units to the neighbourhood, along with new retail and office space to maintain employment uses along this evolving corridor.
One standout of the proposals is a series of privately-owned publicly accessible spaces measuring over 5,000 square metres across the combined sites.
Among the publicly-accessible spaces proposed are the aforementioned area below the bridge at 110 Eglinton, along with pedestrian walkways that will allow foot traffic to filter through the block between Eglinton and Roehampton Avenue to the north.
It’s the type of proposal one would expect to be met with significant local backlash. However, early feedback from the neighbourhood is surprisingly positive.
Local city councillor Josh Matlow took to X to voice his support for the project, calling it “genuinely exciting.”
“The architecture is beautifully designed,” said Matlow, hyping up locals with a promise that renderings of the new public space would wow the community. It’s remarkable for our community and city — like bringing Rockefeller Center to midtown Toronto,” said Matlow.
Real eState
This Toronto home is a ’90s decor trip but a steal at only $600K
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If you’re a millennial and grew up in the ’90s, you’ll probably remember a fair amount of ’90s home decor trends that might still haunt you to this day.
There were sponge-painted walls, all-beige everything, wallpaper borders, oak cabinets, carpets in places where there shouldn’t be carpets, bedroom sets from big-box stores, Southwestern or Tuscan decor in homes that weren’t in Arizona or Italy, and the list goes on.
We thought we’d left those troubling times in the past, but 39 Hatherley Rd. really brings back all those memories.
Somehow this two-bedroom, one-bathroom house hit almost every ’90s trend, except for carpets in the bathroom (phew!).
What’s weird is this house has changed ownership a few times since the 90s. In fact, it was most recently purchased in 2010 for $250,000.
So it’s somewhat surprising that when you look at past listing photos, almost nothing has changed. In fact, it seems they added the sponge-painted walls in 2010.
But despite 39 Hartherley Rd. being a total throwback, this house is, as the listing says, “a diamond in the rough.”
First off, it’s a detached house with a 125-foot deep lot in a good location.
The main floor has a living room and kitchen with enough space for a dining table.
The layout is a bit awkward but the Dutch door off the kitchen is too cute.
Off the kitchen is a laundry room/mud room that leads to the spacious backyard.
Upstairs, there are two decently sized rooms and a small bathroom.
The house definitely needs some updating but the roof was done in 2015, the furnace is only a few years old, the electrical has been updated, and there’s room for expansion.
Also, a coat of paint will do wonders to brighten up the all-beige ’90s aesthetic.
However, the biggest selling point of this home is the price point.
39 Hatherley Rd. is listed for only $599,999, which is almost unheard of in Toronto, even if this place will probably go for closer to $700K.
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