June 23, 2017 | Real Estate Musings

I met with a wonderful new client yesterday. She was talking to me about buying in The Annex. As it stands she and her family live in North Toronto. North Toronto is a very peaceful, relatively quiet neighbourhood in Toronto. Her home is set on an exceptionally quiet street. This got me wondering what the draw to the busyness of downtown is…

Well, it turns out that the family has lived in many incredible cities around the world. Which has led them to a desire to be more central and walk to the wonderful shops and cafes that they have grown accustomed to while living abroad.

What is particularly nice about Toronto’s Annex is that it is actually a quiet neighbourhood, despite being downtown.

There are a number of reasons for this, whether that be the larger houses (less people and cars on your street); but the commonly overlooked reason why it is so quiet despite being surrounded by major streets is that the neighbourhood streets are hard to navigate unless you know the hood very, very well. Have you ever driven through The Annex and found yourself on a one way street going in the opposite direction that you would like to go in? This is precisely what keeps The Annex quiet. Drivers avoid it all costs…even with the new bike lanes on Bloor Street. (which has severely impacted the other streets like College, Harbord, Dupont and Davenport Ave)

The Annex is one of my favourite neighbourhoods in Toronto. It’s got a diverse population of students, professors, artists and business people. The architecture is also fantastic! Century homes abound! Whether that be Victorians, Georgians, Queen Anne or whatever you may fancy the Annex has it all. There are also many trees that date back to the turn of the last century.  I love this mix.

It’s no wonder that a family that has lived in some of the major metropolises of the world would choose to transition into one of Downtown Toronto’s finest neighbourhoods!

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