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Some home sellers don't like to have a sign on the lawn. That sign can invite a lot of questions from the neighbours. If the house doesn't sell immediately, the sign advertises the fact that the property has been sitting a while.

The sellers of a house on Mildenhall Road in north Toronto felt reluctant to stick a sign out front. When Cheri and Jeffrey McCann of ReMax Hallmark Realty Ltd. listed the house for sale, they pointed out the advantage of having a house on a corner lot close to Toronto French School. Mr. McCann felt there was a strong chance the buyers would be parents who just happened to be driving by on their way to drop off their kids at the esteemed school.

Sure enough, that's what happened.

In fact, the house with an asking price of $3.195-million sold in less than a week with two offers. The winning bid was $3.22-million.

It's rare to have multiple offers in that price range these days and Mr. McCann credits the sign with drawing the attention of buyers who might have let their attention to the market waver.

"This is someone who has been looking for a long time who purchased it," says Mr. McCann, who had shown the same couple another house more than a year ago.

The three-year-old house has five bedrooms and seven bathrooms. It also has parking for six cars, which is unusually generous. Mr. McCann says those attributes - plus luxuries such as heated floors and a wine cellar - likely helped to sell the house but some equally well-appointed houses are sitting.

Agents have been finding the Toronto market quirky and unpredictable for months now. Mr. McCann says that's still the case.

"In all honestly, I didn't think it was going to sell that fast."

Looking ahead, Mr. McCann expects the traditional summer slowdown to start any time now.

If sellers have a choice of when to sell, Mr. McCann says, this is about the time when he starts recommending that they wait until the fall market to list a property for sale.

As we head into July, people are thinking about vacations, kids' camp and barbecues. This week's heat wave in Toronto will also stifle the motivation of many house hunters, he expects.

"Do people really want to go out and look when it's this hot if they don't have to?"

Mr. McCann says that listing a property during the summer doldrums can be a bad strategy because the house can seem stale when house hunting ramps up again in September.

"You don't want to put it out in the summer and just have it sit there because it becomes a barometer."

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