Shawn was an excellent realtor with whom we very much enjoyed working last summer in our search for a new home. He was very knowledgeable about the Toronto market and knew all of the condo buildings that we asked about. He was very patient, not making us feel rushed into making a decision,  which made our search an enjoyable experience. He was always so very pleasant and accommodating, answering all our questions and explaining and describing the various buildings. We were coming from suburban Toronto, leaving a large family home where we had lived for many decades and raised our family. Making a move to the city of Toronto seemed an overwhelming and daunting task even though we were both familiar with the city, having grown up in Toronto. Shawn quickly assessed what our parameters were, what neighbourhoods we would consider and soon learned exactly what we were looking for in style, design, and character.

When we started looking we thought we would like to live in an urban environment in the city between Eglinton and Bloor, Spadina and Bayview. We wanted a condo of a certain size (about 2500-3000 square feet) with two bedrooms , a den/office, new kitchen and bathrooms. We were not interested in renovating. We wanted an attractive building but did not, at the outset, consider the age of the building, only thinking of the age of the interior of the condo. Particular amenities and views of parkland were not initial priorities. But we soon discovered that the age and attractiveness of the building, the lobby, the presence of green-space and amenities such as common areas that were modern and attractive and a swimming pool along with a slightly larger condo (about 2500-3000 sq. ft.) were things that we would like.  This narrowed our search to just a few, select buildings.

We would say that what we ended up purchasing, after 6 months of looking, exceeded what we had hoped for when we initially started our search. We did not expect to find a condo with both a den and a family room plus a formal dining room and living room; we did not expect to have a gorgeous swimming pool, such attractive and spacious public spaces and lobby, beautiful landscaped gardens surrounding the building and a spectacular view of parkland and still be close to all that Toronto has to offer. Having owned a condo in Florida for fifteen years we were familiar with what we enjoyed in a condominium and thought it would be easy to find what we had there in the city of Toronto which we knew so well. But we soon discovered in the Toronto market it was indeed difficult to find what we owned abroad.. By taking us to viewings at buildings we thought we would like to live in, we learned what features were really important to us: the age, design and appeal of the building itself, as well as the condo within the building that we were considering, the view of green-space vs urban landscape, having spacious yet intimate and warm interior spaces, more amenities (i.e. pool, fitness and entertaining rooms), high vs low rise and, of course, the neighbourhood. Shawn quickly understood and did not waste our time suggesting unnecessary visits to condos that didn’t meet our criteria. Very soon, he helped us to narrow our search to a very select number of buildings that met all of our criteria and watched for opportunities for condos in those buildings. In the end we did increase our budget to achieve what we wanted but Shawn  again did not waste our time suggesting condos that would not be of interest nor ones that greatly exceeded our budget.

Once again, we would strongly recommend Shawn. Working with him was indeed an enjoyable, efficient and pleasant experience and he helped us to find a beautiful new home that exceeded what we had hoped for.