When I began my search, I was looking for a 1 bedroom or a 1+den condo in the 700-799 square foot range. My preferred neighbourhood was Yonge and Eglinton. I wasn’t fussy with the building’s amenities, but the condo needed to be relatively new (5 years or less), include a coveted parking space and generally ‘felt’ as though it was going to be worth the investment, which was totally subjective by me.

There wasn’t a ton available in the Yonge and Eglinton area in my budget, which was strict, so I wouldn’t go over. Shawn was very respectful of this when we got into making the offers and counters.

I was also curious about living in the Bayview Village area. There was definitely more square footage available in this neighbourhood for the price, but I never felt excited about the units I was seeing. I kept realizing I wanted to live at Yonge and Eglinton, which was right around the same time this unit popped up on the market.

While the condo is definitely is a little bit smaller than what I was hoping for (641 square feet), it ticked all of the other boxes and it was in the right neighbourhood, so I couldn’t pass on it.

I moved out of the place I was renting in May, and was away for the summer. I was eager to start looking for my condo in September, with a hope that I would be in a place by Christmas. Unfortunately, it took working with 3 different realtors BEFORE I met Shawn in November to be happy with my experience. As a first time buyer, I wanted to see lots of different condos to get a true understanding of what I was going to be buying. There are hundreds of condo towers and I wanted to see a lot of different layouts/units before I made a decision. I don’t thinkthe other realtors were happy about this.

After almost giving up, I was referred to Shawn from a friend who worked in the industry in Oakville. As soon as the connection was made, Shawn was quick to email and set up a time to meet. He was thorough, knowledgeable, experienced and attentive, things that I had not experienced when working with the other real estate agents, which had left me very frustrated, slightly jaded of the industry, and most of all upset that I hadn’t found a place to live.

The place that I ended up purchasing, I saw on Christmas Eve – talk about a great Christmas gift! Shawn was available (even though it was the holidays) and committed to helping me through the process despite the holiday season. When it came to making the offer, Shawn walked through every step of the process and helped to keep my nervousness at bay. It was so exciting to have my offer accepted on a place that I had loved.

I can’t thank Shawn enough, and have already recommended him to a few of my friends who are going to be in the same place as I am in the coming months.