Walk to Everything.

Five minutes to the river. Two to The Elm. Ten if you’re dawdling to the downtown core. There’s an antique store to your right; a doctor’s office and drugstore to the left. The Mulberry School is across the street and McBurney just over and up the hill a bit. It’s perfectly located, is what we’re saying.

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Amenities

Two lovely bedrooms made from four small ones. Pine flooring and high baserbooards. An on-demand water heater. A lovely porch. Parking. All the appliances. Light flooding in.

The Bottom Line

Taxes $2996. s.f. 1200 Beds 2 Baths 1

THE BIG PICTURE

In case you were wondering, 257 Montreal St is right at the end of John St. And so if you buy this sweet sweet house you can (once you’ve unpacked, and mused a while on how things really have turned out pretty well for you) sit on the big front porch and take in these great views west all the way up to Barrie. The Mulberry Waldorf school is maybe fifty yards down John on your left. Off to your right is The Elm Cafe.

You’re sitting pretty, in other words. The world is changing fast all around you and you’ve got front row seats. And that change is good for the city and the neighbourhood, I really think so, but not unconditionally so. You can log in to the McBurney Park Facebook page, I guess, and read about how you’re part of the problem, or part of the answer, depending on what time of day it is. This tortured hand-wringing is as important as it is infuriating, as intermittently productive as it is consistently draining. But more likely you’ll be walking your kayak the five, ten minutes down into Doug Fluhrer Park, and from there the world really is your oyster and the sunlight breaking up on the water is more conducive anyway to clear thinking.

But what about the house itself? We’re glad you asked. This two-bedroom century home has been really nicely renovated, with lots of original detail left in place. The pine floors in the living and dining rooms have that honeyed glow I’ve referenced before and which even just summoning in the mind’s eye is enough to warm a person. The modern kitchen has laundry tucked in at the back (next to the on-demand water heater) and a door to the pretty little yard and your parking. You should check out the tour here. You’ll like it, we swear.

The floor plan upstairs has been rejigged at some point and we like it a lot, with a huge master bedroom across the font of the house and a nifty space at the top of the stairs for an armchair and a stack of books, or even a desk and some cool gooseneck lamp you found at the antique store on the same block.

We wonder whether the Montreal St address itself will slow down business at the new listing. We hope not; it really shouldn’t. But we’ve been careful with the price for that reason. And we still get out-of-town buyers insisting that they won’t buy anything north of Princess, after all. And reminding people that the wonderful Artillery Park Aquatic Centre backs onto Montreal, and that the new dentists’ office just opened up at James etc etc, is part of our daily practice.

I could go on all day about this delightful place, or at least until well past lunch. But check out the mls® details here (any minute now). Or call us.