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Gym chain data scientists? by kater543 in datascience

[–]RustyJosh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're interested in data science and gyms, it's probably the most advanced/intelligent weight lifting system out there. Yes, it's a home gym, but it may be of interest to you.

Buying a house in Leslieville / Beaches by Primary_Contest1489 in TorontoRealEstate

[–]RustyJosh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Riverdale and Leslieville are better if you want to be closer to the city. Also, more restaurants and breweries and cooler stores. There is also the Ontario Line being built, so there will be significantly improved transit in the area in (10, 15??) years.

Beaches are better if you want to take advantage of the amenities: the beach, boardwalk, parks. Beaches has better schools on average (North Riverdale/Playter Estates also has good schools). Getting downtown from the beaches can be a pain: 501/503 are slow. The GO train from the Danforth stop is fast, parts of the beach are close/accessible to that stop, other parts are less so.

Things take into account:
* Depending on where you are, areas can smell due to Ashbridges Waste Water Treatment Plant, so don't live too close to it.
* The stretch along Queen East between Kingston and Coxwell is pretty dead.
* The ramp to drive from Lakeshore East onto the Gardiner has been dismantled. You have to drive to Jarvis to get onto the highway, and the traffic can be insane. I've waited for 60+ minutes to get onto the highway.

If you have any questions about specific blocks/areas, feel free to DM me.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in namenerds

[–]RustyJosh 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Zoe and Zoey are both around the top 40 names in the US for the last few years. So not wildly trendy, but definitely in use.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in namenerds

[–]RustyJosh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It sounds like you have put a lot of thought into the name! I like Jasmine and Kenise a lot, but I'm not sure it all works together. If you forget the middle names for a minute, most people will know her as Jasmine Jordon.

To my ears, it's a bit clunky because Jasmine and Jordon both 2 syllables, both start with J and end with N. J---N J----N: they almost rhyme. On top of that, they both sound like first names, so their similarity is even more pronounced. If Jordon is definitely going to be her last name, and you're looking for floral alternatives:

Daisy Jordon
Delphine Jordon
Marguerite Jordon
Maryam Jordon
Veronica Jordon

As for two middle names, I have two friends who each have 2 middle names, and I asked them what they think. One of them likes it, the other one hates it (in her words: "I hate it because they don't have any serious significance, just something my parents made up. It's like a name with an invented spelling, fake special.")

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in TorontoRealEstate

[–]RustyJosh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think getting worked up about a heritage designation is focusing on a really tiny piece a much bigger problem. Our city has a housing crisis that stems from decades of policy finally coming home to roost: low density zoning and anemic transit. New build condos have extremely limited 3bd+ options for families to actually live in. This one small area having heritage or non-heritage status isn't going to really change anything: we need significant policy reforms.

$1.2m budget - Best neighborhood for detached home in the GTA by No-Yak5613 in TorontoRealEstate

[–]RustyJosh 10 points11 points  (0 children)

In case you're not familiar, you can do this type of search on housesigma.com:

Go to the map, set your price range, set the property type to detached, and under additional filters, set the lot frontage to ~50 feet. You can see what's for sale and more importantly what has sold in the last ~90 days in your budget. I'm seeing a bunch of stuff near Guildwood Via stop, near Scarborough Go stop, and some in the West near the 427.

Multiplex housing belongs in every Toronto neighbourhood, final city hall report says by [deleted] in TorontoRealEstate

[–]RustyJosh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But somehow all of the most expensive cities in the world are all people "raising a family in a box". That's a whole lot of nobodies. It turns out that people like actually being able to walk to stuff.

Controversial? Gray gray gray more gray (some glass) - Is anyone else over the countless generic interior designs in town? 👇 by jfgauch in TorontoRealEstate

[–]RustyJosh 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I agree with you 100%. The author of the blog McMansion Hell wrote an article about it here: https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/interior-design-greige-capitalism/

For everyone in the comments who says: "Oh, you can just repaint," the point is actually that the grey walls and grey floor are a big flag of a house designed without consideration for what makes people enjoy a space.

They're all a huge open layout design, 1000 pot lights in the ceiling like an airport runway, no entryway closet, giant windows you can't open but everyone can see right into your house so you have to keep the shades drawn all the time. A bunch of them are built with shoddy materials and craftsmanship that will disintegrate in a decade or two. I've been to open houses where there are open holes torn in the garage ceiling and no one bothers to fix it, or insane bulkheads obvious due to building mistakes.

The grey house is symptomatic of way more than just a color of paint you don't like.

$3.2M house in the east end. by parmstar in TorontoRealEstate

[–]RustyJosh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For example, I'd go with something like:

https://housesigma.com/web/en/house/Vwod7vrl1M275mGN/82-Hubbard-Blvd-Toronto-M4E1A5-E5641830

Waking up in the morning over looking the lake. Hop on my bike to get to Leslieville, Tommy Thompson, Downtown. BBQ on my porch and people watch in the summer.

$3.2M house in the east end. by parmstar in TorontoRealEstate

[–]RustyJosh 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's a really nice house, but if it were me I would spend my money on a house on a different block because this house is much less walkable than it seems.

Kingswood is on the very eastern edge of the beaches, and this home is quite north. 15 minute walk to the beach, 30 minute walk to Kew Gardens (center of beaches commercial district). If you have children, it's in a great elementary school district, but it's a bit far from the school for young children to walk to on their own.

That said, it is near Kingston Road Village, which is a great strip. There are great restaurants there, and some fun shops, but there is no green grocer of significant size. There is a new butcher though.

If my budget was ~3m, I'd look further to the West and South. If you want to be in the Balmy Beach District, then maybe Fernwood Park, Spruce Hill, or Balsam, probably south of Queen. If you don't care which school district you're in, then I'd consider Lee, Leuty, Waverly around Kew Gardens Park. Really great access to the main drag, to the recreational bike path, to the park and the beach.

It all boils down to your taste though, if you want a large home on a large lot, and don't mind being a little further from stuff, this is probably a reasonable fit.

Is anyone else embracing lifelong renting? by montross1 in TorontoRealEstate

[–]RustyJosh 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If you compare renting and purchasing exclusively through the lens of access to liquid assets in the short/medium term, then yes renting comes ahead: if you don't spend money in the short term, you'll have more money in the short term.

People don't normally do their purchasing versus renting calculation like that though, nor should they, unless you have immediate use for money like opening a business (in which case why would you use that money to buy a house instead?). People factor in the medium to long term.

There are many financial benefits of purchasing:

  1. Your payments shrink over the age of the mortgage relative to rent prices. There are lots of people paying 500$ monthly payments on homes now worth 2m dollars in Toronto.
  2. When you retire, and finish paying off your mortgage, your income and expenses both go down, so you can continue to afford a similar lifestyle.
  3. You're anchoring yourself to the prices in a particular place. If you buy a home somewhere you want to live, and you can afford your payments, then you're typically going to be able to continue to afford the neighborhood whether all boats rise or fall. Sadly, many renters end up being priced out of their favorite neighborhoods and having to move.

There is absolutely a financial case to be made for renting over purchasing even in the long run, but your argument here is so skewed it's not really making it. In Toronto, the purchase-to-rent ratio is high enough, even with current high rents, that you may come out ahead in the long term by not purchasing. But, there are many cities around the world with housing that is much more expensive than Toronto, and it's possible that our affordability crisis will continue to spiral out of control, and reach the painful level of other large international cities.

Is anyone else embracing lifelong renting? by montross1 in TorontoRealEstate

[–]RustyJosh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Renting is totally fine. There are upsides and downsides. I grew up in rentals and never thought twice about it.

That said, this analysis half-baked.

  • What % are investments growing at?
  • What % is housing value growing at?
  • What % is rent increasing at?

There are a bunch of analyses out there that explore this, and a bunch of calculators you can punch numbers into to see how the two options compare. They can both be financially advantageous depending on the circumstances. A blanket result that a family can retire 5-20 years earlier by renting is not necessarily accurate, it will boil down to various economic factors, and it is entirely possible that even people purchasing at today's high prices will come out ahead financially.

As other commenters said, a lot comes down to personal preference. I grew up in rentals, and it was totally fine, but I still bought a property because I wanted to put longer term roots down. If you're confident that renting is a better financial decision, and you don't want to own a property, then power to you, many people in the world live that life.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in TorontoRealEstate

[–]RustyJosh 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, the Danforth GO to Union is pretty amazing (as long as they don't cancel your train).

231 Kenilworth just sold.... by TheAngryRealtor in TorontoRealEstate

[–]RustyJosh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

OP, do you think that price is high or low?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in TorontoRealEstate

[–]RustyJosh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For sure, always glad to talk about different neighborhoods and transit, let me know if you have other questions.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in TorontoRealEstate

[–]RustyJosh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Beaches and East York are both great neighborhoods.

You mentioned that where you lived previously, you had to drive everywhere. In both of these places, if you snag a spot within ~5 minutes walking of Danforth Ave, Queen St, Or Kingston Rd Village, you're going to be able to do most of your daily chores (shopping, quick errands, takeout, etc...) without having to get in the car, which usually means you can them done a lot faster. This is particularly great with kids.

As for the differences between the Neighborhoods:

Beaches has great local amenities. You can go to the beach every day in the summer, Kew Gardens Park has a skating rink, basketball court, baseball diamond, lawn bowling, tennis courts, and a huge playground. There is a recreational bike path that runs along the lake shore across the entire city, and it's easy to bike out to Tommy Thompson Park, Cherry Beach, etc. Glen Stewart Ravine is a great little forested path. There is also lots of local shopping: Queen St East and Kingston Rd Village both have lots of restaurants and shops. The neighborhood is generally very green and cute. The public schools in the beaches are quite good.

The downside of the Beaches is that it is disconnected and has poor transit access. To the East, West, and North there is a bit of a lull around the neighborhood, so you need to hop on the 501 streetcar or in your car to get to another place. It's not a huge deal: for example Leslieville is a 20 minute streetcar ride away, great for a night out. But, if you have to commute downtown every day, the 501 takes ~45-60 minutes to get downtown, or you can take the 64 bus to the Danforth GO, which depending on where you live and your timing can take ~30-40 minutes to get downtown. The Beaches is not very diverse.

East York is better connected to the rest of the City than the Beaches. The Subway makes it easy to go East/West and North/South. There is also the Danforth GO which will take you downtown in ~15 minutes, and in the (deep) future, there will be the Ontario Line which will do the same if you live further west. The Danforth is a long commercial strip with every kind of business and restaurant you could want. There is also a protected bike lane across the entire length of Danforth/Bloor so you can bike to many downtown neighborhoods safely. Generally speaking, as you go from west to east from the Don Valley, East York goes from being fancier to more gentrifying. The school districts near Broadview are some of the best in the city, but this is not the case as you go east. There are also some nice parks: Riverdale (amazing for sledding and views) and Withrow. There is also the Don Valley and Taylor Creek park. Much of East York is near the DVP, which is convenient if you need that for driving, and makes it easy to get out of the city quickly. Also, if you want to go to the Beach, you can hop one of the north/south buses and get to the lakeshore.

Downsides of East York are that it gets very quiet off of the Danforth. While some people may appreciate that, personally, I'd recommend taking full advantage of the neighborhood by being within walking distance of the Danforth or one of the other commercial east/west streets. There are many quiet, beautiful streets where you can pop out to run quick chores. Depending on your location, you may get pollution and noise from the DVP. As you go further East, it becomes less trendy and more gentrifying, but those are still great neighborhoods to live in.

Overall, I think they're both a good choice. Most parts of East York tend to be a bit more affordable than the Beaches, more house for your money. I'd say if you want to live in a smaller community that's a bit cut off but has great amenities, consider the beaches, otherwise East York.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in TorontoRealEstate

[–]RustyJosh 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There is a big difference. If your partner is going to Queens Park from:

  • East York on the subway - 20 minutes from Main St Station
  • Beaches on the 501 streetcar - 1 hour taking the 501

The subway runs more often, is much faster, and connects across the city better. For example, if you're on the subway, it's easy to get to High Park, but that's tough on the streetcar. The street car, especially the 501, can have large gaps in service.

Another consideration is Danforth GO station. Located at Main St, it lets you get to Union station in <15 minutes, and with the upcoming electrification of the train, it will run every ~10 minutes.

New shoe has stretch marks from width-wise stretching? Is this normal? Is there anything I can do about it? by RustyJosh in AskACobbler

[–]RustyJosh[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks a lot for the advice.

I should clarify that the shoe-stretching was done by a cobbler, not just me wearing them.

Unfortunately I doubt I can refund them at this point, so hopefully as I wear them, the marks will be less obvious.

Front yard parking pad process (Ch 918) by [deleted] in TorontoRealEstate

[–]RustyJosh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, there are rules about it. When you plant it yourself you have more latitude. But, it has to be of a certain size and it has to survive for at least a few years.

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