Here we are. Already in 2025. What does the 2025 real estate market in central Toronto have in store for us? Truth is, it’s hard to say at this point. There hasn’t been enough activity to discern a definite trend and there’s so much uncertainty in the world right now things could go any which way. So far, there are signs the winter and spring markets will be stronger than they’ve been for the past couple years with homes selling faster and prices rising slightly, but only time will tell. (I’m referring to the market for homes and not condos, by the way. They’re not moving in tandem right now. The condo market is still slow and will likely remain slow longer than the market for homes.)

I could end this email right now if all I wanted to talk about was real estate. Or I could rhapsodize about bread, but I did that last time. All I’ll say on the subject of bread this time is that BlogTO posted a nice piece about Liz Phung and her company Doughlizious since I told you about her last time. Here’s a link to the BlogTO piece in case you want to read it: https://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2024/12/dough-lizious-bakery-ontario/

The feature presentation of this email is The Story of Anthony. Anthony Malecki to be exact. He’s the Anthony I refer to when I talk about Corinne, Anthony and I working together to help our clients. The route Anthony took to become a Realtor and work with us didn’t follow the usual script. It’s a bit of a story, which is why this is The Story of Anthony. 

Usually, a person gets their Realtor’s license and then looks for a brokerage to join. Not so for Anthony. In fact, I’m pretty sure becoming a Realtor never even crossed his mind until Alannah (our daughter) asked him about it. Here’s how things unfolded:

I was looking for a young person to join Corinne and I. She and I have very similar working styles. I was looking for someone I could train to do things the way we do them so clients would get the same quality of service and results no matter which one of us they worked with. Basically, I wanted to create a Mini Me. 

I started looking for that young person about fifteen years ago. Our kids were still in high school at Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute then. Alannah would often mention Anthony’s name. He worked in the office at Lawrence Park where Alannah tended to spend a fair amount of time. He also coached the girls’ hockey team on which she played.

One day Alannah came home and told us Anthony was losing his job because someone with more seniority from another TDSB school was being transferred over and bumping Anthony out. I always thought Alannah was a terrific judge of character. She would size her new teachers up in a matter of minutes every year. And I knew she didn’t suffer fools gladly so I figured Anthony must be pretty smart if she liked speaking to him. So I asked her “Do you think Anthony would be a good Realtor?” She said “Yes. He understands people the way Cole (our son) understands people.” Cole’s ability to understand people was beyond my comprehension so I half jokingly said to Alannah “Ask Anthony if he wants to become a Realtor.” And she did.

It took Anthony a while to consider it because, like I said, he’d never thought about becoming a Realtor before. When he decided he wanted to do it, I told him I’d mentor and train him and want him to work with us at Advocate, but first he needed to work at a large company with a lot of Realtors so he could get greater exposure to more deals and more working styles. He didn’t really want to do that, but he agreed to meet with some Realtors at other companies. I recommended the Realtors to him. They were all top Realtors who knew what they were doing. The final one he met with told him “Why are you looking to work with someone else? If you have the opportunity to work with Michael you should jump at that.” That sealed it. Anthony wasn’t going to work with anyone else.

Anthony joined us twelve years ago. I’ve tried to teach him everything I know, most importantly to put our clients first and to always act with integrity. He’s  developed into a terrific agent. But don’t take it from me. Take it from our clients: 

We had a great experience with your team. I am hard pressed thinking of any pieces of constructive criticism. We certainly weren’t the easiest clients; we learned a lot through the journey. It took us a while to know which area we wanted to focus on, how much we were able/wanted to spend, and what we prioritized in a home. Anthony was not only patient, but seemed to know when to offer advice and when to let us find the right answer. We never felt pressured to bid on a home that didn’t feel right, or to bid a higher number than what we felt comfortable with. When the right home came, he was very instructive on how to best position ourselves. 

Anthony was always available for us, be it showings, messaging, minor questions, etc. He made us feel like we were the only clients he had, even though we know that’s absolutely not the case. He was also reassuring when we were feeling discouraged with the process, giving the right amount of market context and explaining real estate isn’t always a rational or predictable business.

We also appreciate that Anthony (and you) disagree with some of the “shadier” practices involved in the space. There was certainly a good karmic feeling in going about things “the right way”, despite wishes to know exactly what number a selling agent wanted.

We are very grateful that my mom was able to refer us to you, and subsequently Anthony. She holds you in the highest regard, as do we. We are extremely grateful to Anthony, you and the team. We look forward to working with you again!

This is why I felt comfortable relying on Alannah and that’s The Story of Anthony!

My parting thought for now is something I heard this week that reminded me how important it is to look after ourselves and each other given what’s going on in the world today: “A person with good health has a thousand dreams. A person without good health has but one.” 

If you’d like to check out the numbers, take a look at the charts below.

Central Toronto – Market Overview

Prices – John Wanless and Bedford Park Public School Neighbourhoods

There are five typical home styles in the neighbourhood north of Lawrence, east of Avenue Road, west of Mount Pleasant Road and south of Old Orchard Grove and Snowdon Avenue. Each typical home style is shown on the chart below. Please remember that factors such as house size, lot size and dimensions, condition and location, amongst others, affect selling prices.

Prices – John Ross Robertson, Lytton Park, Lawrence Park and Cricket Club Areas

JOHN ROSS ROBERTSON – Chudleigh Ave., Cheritan Ave., Chatsworth Dr., Glenview Ave., Glengrove Ave. W., Glencairn Ave.

LYTTON PARK – east and west of Avenue Road: Alexandra Blvd., Lytton Blvd., Strathallan Blvd., Cortleigh Blvd., Hillhurst Blvd. (almost all of these homes are on 50 foot wide lots)

LAWRENCE PARK – between Yonge St., Bayview Ave., Lawrence Ave. E., and Blythwood Rd. (almost all of these homes are on 50 foot wide lots)

CRICKET CLUB – between Avenue Rd., Yonge St., Wilson Ave., and Brooke Ave.