186 Helen St - $725,000

The Essentials

A really swanky and extensively renovated five-bedroom home in a great location. Or a seven- or eight-bedroom investment property, with in-law suite potential and a handsome MicroFIT contract.

The Bigger Picture

There comes a point in real estate when you think that while you certainly haven’t seen it all, you have seen enough that true surprises are rare. You can envision, more or less, how the days and weeks ahead will fill up. You can imagine the houses to come, see them sometimes in remarkable detail. And far too many dreams that really should be packed with aerial hijinks and brilliant conversation with dead poets, are instead full of dreary walk-throughs But then along comes a property like 186 Helen St to shake you out of your dull slumbers.

To boil it down, like maple syrup, to the sweetest of essentials, what we have here is a very spacious and extensively renovated property in a great location close to downtown Kingston, and the university.

On the one hand, It’s a really swanky five-bedroom family home, waiting only for your teak furnishings. I like the mid-century styling and the second-floor family room with its own balcony. I like all the new gold light fixtures, and the sense that you hang your fine art in here and what you have is a gallery you live in, and I hope that’s as appealing to you as it is to us.

On the other hand, it’s a really top-notch seven- or eight-bedroom investment property. Everyone living in there would feel like they’d scored. There’s a marvelous in-law suite waiting to happen on the lower level too, and an impressive guaranteed income for the next decade from the MicroFIT solar installation (unless the sun goes out, you’re looking at approximately 100K). The math is really impressive, and we assume the house will, for this reason, draw two quite different crowds. Maybe we’ll sit across the street and try to sort one from the other based on entirely arbitrary criteria - haircuts and shoes, cars and masks. We’ll sip on seltzers and keep score.

Already in place under the metal roof is an intensely stylish home kitted out now with brand new windows and brand-new kitchen. With refinished trim and new paint throughout, with a new furnace and water heater, those new lights … The list goes on more or less for days. There is a two-level studio/garage/ or workshop/barn behind the house as well, for your band practice or your home office (I’d install an endless desk and a big window and write a novel the world has been waiting for) and there is even a sweet little balcony off the second-floor family room.

We really haven’t seen a property quite like this before, so filled to the brim with design flair, as well as both income potential and single-family opportunity. We’re putting all the documents in one place - the MicroFIT details and last year’s solar income; a full list of renovations - and if you’re interested we’ll send them your way. Ir we’ll meet you there and we’ll marvel together at what’s been made here, and how perfect it seems for the times we live in, wherever you’re coming from.

The iGuide is here. And the Realtor.ca details are right here.

Any offers will be reviewed on Friday April 16 at 3 pm.