Yahoo Finance Got a loonie? Bid on this fully detached Toronto house
Got a loonie in your pocket? That’s all you need to bid on this detached home in one of Canada’s hottest real estate markets.
Okay, okay — not really. Even though this Park Lawn Rd. detached home was listed at $1 this week, it’s virtually impossible for the home to actually sell for $1.
The two-bedroom, two-bathroom home in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke is described in the listing as “livable” and ideal for investors and contractors. No images of the inside are included with the listing, but it does have blueprints for the home’s interior.
It does include all light fixtures, a stove, refrigerator, washer and dryer, and is available for showings seven days a week.
A quick search on MLS listings site Realtor.ca shows that this isn’t the only home listed for $1 in the area, either; two listings in Milton, Ont. (one home and one vacant lot) are also on the market right now for less than the price of a cup of coffee.
Why the ridiculous price?
Pierre Leduc, media relations for the Canadian Real Estate Association says that while he doesn’t know specifically why this particular house is listed for $1, the strategy is used by realtors for a couple of different reasons, depending on the situation.
“Listing at $1 may be to end up being listed among the first results when searching for properties,” says Leduc. It’s similar to the strategy used by plumbers all calling themselves “AAA Plumbing” in the days of Yellow Pages, as it meant someone looking for a plumber would see them first.
“It may also be a method to let the market price the property,” says Leduc.
A lack of comparable listings in the immediate area makes it more difficult for a realtor to establish a price. In this case, other homes currently on the market in the same Toronto neighbourhood range in price from $989,000 to $2,799,900, but all are in considerably different condition and are very different styles of homes when compared to the $1 listing.
There’s a third benefit to listing a home at such a low price, too: attention. While listing the home in the hundreds of thousands is likely closer to what the actual sale price will be, it isn’t as headline-grabbing as a $1 home.
With homes in Toronto selling for well over asking, like this home that recently sold for $1 million more than its listing price, listing a house for $1 doesn’t seem so outlandish, after all.
