Dear me, this one is a doozy! My regular readers will know I have a bit of thing for trolling the MLS, it's such an amazing opportunity to see behind all those closed doors. I've discovered an amazing space inside a
former bicycle shop on Selkirk Ave, a long lost piece of
Winnipeg Girl art, and even managed to meet
new people. This latest MLS discovery to be fair, did not come from my trolling, but rather that of another who passed me the link - houses built in 2005 do not generally generate a click-through on my part.
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| Completely unassuming looking house |
This house is in Algonquin Estates, a neighbourhood I wasn't even aware of to be honest, although I think it might be to East Kildonan what a sub-neighbourhood like St. John's is to the North End?
So, this completely normal looking house, holds a secret. Well, not quite a secret, Western Living magazine wrote an
article about it in 2008, detailing the crazy freaking transformation of the basement into a
Las Vegas style club and gameroom!
1070 McIvor is one heck of a house! Where to start? The roulette wheel dance floor? The 52 seats available? The poker tables? The separate gender multi-stall bathrooms?? I'm dying to know - have you been to this place? Someone who's reading this has, or at least knows someone who has (3 degrees of Winnipeg separation after all!). Now, I'm no expert at all as to property values in this neighbourhood, so I don't if the $599,000 asking price (dropped from $659,900 it seems from the feature sheet) is a good deal or not, but I'm thinking you could host at least a few nights down here and turn a profit before the authorities caught on!
If the appropriate people see this I would like to attend either the last hurrah for the old owner or the sure-to-be-one-hell-of-a-housewarming for the new owners!
Perfect for the 23-year-old high-income male! (Too bad there aren't many of them around.)
ReplyDeleteI've been keeping an eye on a "real estate porn" site out of Toronto called "FML Listings" (http://fmlistings.tumblr.com/). It's written by a market watcher who adds his own caustic comments on how Toronto's real estate market has gone completely bonkers.
That site is FANTASTIC - thanks for heads up! I had no idea that I could pick FLW houses for less than the cost of a two bedroom townhouse in TO. Mind blowing.
DeleteI am blown away by FML Listings... the juxtapositions are unbelievable... mediocre suburban bungalows in Toronto priced higher than a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece in the US, or a spectacular French chateau. When you see things like that, the crash can't be too far off. Hold on tight!
DeleteAs for the 23 year old high income males, didn't we just import a bunch of them from Atlanta? Paging Mr. Kane!
That's a good point, Walter -- we did import a few recently.
DeleteI think one (or more) bought a huge place on Oxford near Academy. Saw a group of 20-something guys having what looked like one heck of a Saturday night party last fall, complete with a chartered bus and a street hockey game in the driveway.
Not sure if they were Jets or not. But if they were, the homeowner had good taste. Great part of town to live in for those who can afford it. And with a 3-4 bedroom two-storey house in North River Heights selling for about half the cost of a North York bungalow, it shows how far detached from reality the Toronto and Vancouver real estate markets have become.
Excellent point about the recent influx of high income young males. I shall tweet this post to the Jets because if one of them buys it I am bloody well wrangling myself an invite to the housewarming. Sadly I am far too old for any of them (read: over 25) but I would be able to permanently elevate my cool factor to my young co-workers at my part-time restaurant job if I got to go!
DeleteHey Winnipeg Girl,
ReplyDeleteThis is actually my house :)
If you fine me a buyer through this blog, I will invite you to the final party. Deal?
Mark
Mark - see, I KNEW someone associated with the house would read my post :) And of course your buyer is likely to have come from this blog, I mean *really* where else would they have found out about it?! ;)
ReplyDeleteI shall lay out one of my best Vegas dresses (yes, I have more than one, I was a frequent visitor there for a while!) All I ask is that the farewell party not play more than one song that tells me to "put my hands up" as that is part of why Vegas has lost its magic for me, absolutely CR@P music at the clubs.
Oh, I grew up a block away from Algonquin Estates - it's NK. Didn't have any friends who had family homes with a game room like that in it. I'd never go home !
ReplyDeleteHey hey hey,
ReplyDeleteI know the owner of this house, they are thinking of selling it. Please anyone interested email me.