The listing: 41 Rosemount Ave.
Asking price: $1,529,000
Taxes: $6,514.49
Lot size: 29.06 ft. by 80.86 ft.
Listing agent: Susan Froese-McHardy, salesperson, and Don McHardy, broker, Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., Brokerage
When it comes to picking a neighbourhood to live in, everyone has their special reasons. But for Natalia Lobach, hers goes back to her childhood.
She grew up just outside of the city but joined a children’s choir and through it made a friend who was living in Bracondale Hill, a little community near Christie and Dupont. The friendly feeling of the area stuck with Ms. Lobach for decades.
“So I thought that if I ever wanted to live in the city, I’d buy a house in this neighbourhood,” she said.
The back story
The trick was, Ms. Lobach and her husband wanted to buy a new home because neither of them were jazzed about the prospect of living in a house constantly under renovation.
So when they came across 41 Rosemount Rd. in 2009, they were pleasantly surprised. It is one of the newest houses in the area – the lot had stood vacant until 2007 when a builder erected a home for his daughter.
Ms. Lobach remembers her first time stepping into the four bedroom, four-bathroom, multilevel home.
“What struck me was the way the space flowed and the way the light was streaming in,” she said.
“You don’t feel crowded,” she added. “It’s partitioned [by the levels] in such a way that you feel continuity throughout the house but still have distinct spaces.”
“But the big attraction for my husband is that he could drive to work – at Queen and Yonge – in 25 minutes, even in traffic,” Ms. Lobach said, adding that she tends to bike to her work at Avenue and Bloor in about the same time.
“This is one of the hottest pockets in the city right now,” said real estate agent Susan Froese-McHardy. “From here, you can walk to a farmer’s market at Wychwood Barns or walk to really great Italian food on St. Clair.”
Ms. Froese-McHardy says that neighbourhood is undergoing a bit of turnover right now and Ms. Lobach confirms that there are lots of young families moving in.
“There is definitely a baby boom in the area,” she said.
One of the likely reasons why is that there are lots of schools, including Oakwood Collegiate Institute right across the street. Many might worry about the high school’s proximity but Ms. Lobach says it’s hardly noticeable.
“It’s surprisingly quiet because the kids don’t tend to hang out on this side, they’re on the St. Clair side,” she explained, adding that the perk of having it as a neighbour is easy access to the school’s outdoor track.
Even though the school is across the street, the home feels very private thanks to many large deciduous trees around the lot line, including a towering Norway maple that the builder planned the house around.
Upon entering the home, you take a few stairs up to the living and dining space. From there you can go down a half level to the kitchen and family room or up to the kids’ bedrooms a half level above. Up another level is the master suite and a small room that could be an office or a nursery.
On the level beneath the kitchen, there’s a space Ms. Lobach used as a gym (big enough for a treadmill and a set of free weights), a cantina, where she stored her homemade canned goods and access to the attached garage. And then the basement, a half level below, contains another family room with a walkout to the backyard.
Over the span of their ownership, Ms. Lobach and her husband have made a few changes. Their biggest undertaking was renovating and upgrading the basement in their second year after there was a power outage during a storm and the original sump pump, which didn’t have a back-up, failed.
“As soon as the power fails, you’re toast because the water can’t be pushed out,” Ms. Lobach explained.
So they used that as an opportunity not just to flood-proof (with a sump pump with a power backup) but to renovate the basement by adding a heated floor and upgrading the laundry machines.
“We’ve had power outages since and no problems. It has pumped out perfectly. Everything has been dry as a bone,” she said.
Favourite features
“My favourite thing about this house is that you can always be in natural light during the day,” Ms. Froese-McHardy said. “The builder really used all of the different levels to get great exposure [to light].”
And one of the areas that Ms. Lobach really enjoys the light is on a little deck tucked on the west side of the home on the top floor.
“This is my favourite spot in the house,” she said. “When the tree fills in, it’s absolutely screened off and private and so beautiful.”
“I love sitting out there with a cup of tea and a book.”
Ms. Lobach’s other favourite space is the backyard.
“When we bought the house, the backyard just had some shrubbery and that was it,” she said. “So we decided to make that another room of the house.”
So during the summer of 2010 – in their first year of ownership – the backyard was transformed over the course of two months to accommodate an outdoor dining space, a barbecue hook up, a kitchen garden and a hot tub.
“Probably the most exciting day of the backyard renovation was having the hot tub craned over the house,” said Ms. Lobach, who admits she held her breathe as the eight-person hot tub – encased in only cardboard and bubble wrap – dangled above her new home.
Thankfully it landed safely and it is now one of the many elements that make 41 Rosemount so relaxing for Ms. Lobach.
“It’s so quiet and so bright. It always felt so incredibly calming to come home,” she said. “I was really able to live such a great lifestyle in this house.”