The Real Estate Magazine
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Step into the world of real estate with unparalleled insights into the international and Toronto markets. Experience cutting-edge design, explore lifestyle trends, and immerse yourself in a curated collection of stories that inspire, inform, and elevate your property passions. Welcome to The Real Estate Magazine – where every detail is crafted to perfection.
How to Maximize Your Condo's Patio Space
Ah, condo patios—that beautiful little slice of outdoors in the sky, the oasis built into your urban home. An oasis that can quickly become overrun with pots of neglected plants, mismatched garden furniture, and bikes waiting to be stored.
When you first move into a condo, the patio seems filled with limitless possibilities. But if you’re not careful, it’s easy to start using the space as a form of fresh air storage. Follow these steps to make sure you get the most of your condo’s balconies and outdoors spaces.
Well-Rounded
Circular homes make a striking statement.
These high-design residences are often one-of-a-kind, with interiors as novel as their curving facades. “When you’re buying luxury, you don’t want it to be a cookie-cutter home,” says Michael Pallier, the managing director of Sydney Sotheby’s International Realty. “You want something unique. A distinctive home means something to a buyer.”
Round residences certainly qualify. They are also somewhat rare, according to Pallier, giving them a rarified vibe. He is currently representing the Oculus, an “interstellar” Sydney, Australia, home that melds an expansive circular entertaining area with a more traditionally shaped wing that encompasses the kitchen and bedrooms. The six-bedroom, five-bathroom home was by architect Frank Fox in 1961. The circular entertaining area is at the center of Fox’s design.
Scandinavian Poise Meets Downtown Cool on Park
On the walls of the New York loft of acclaimed design firm Søren Rose Studio are two photos: one of Steve McQueen—“understated and ever-cool”—and another of Keith Richards, the hard-partying, “rough and rugged gentleman.” These seeming opposites inspire the team to create original interiors that blend “Scandinavian poise” and “downtown grit.”
Garden Party
Beautiful residential gardens are the green equivalent of surround sound. They envelop, intensify, and enrich the very experience of being. It’s like an embrace from nature.
The opportunity to interact with the landscape provides homeowners with a sense of belonging. “The more personal, the more meaningful,” says Edward Furner, landscape designer and horticulturalist at Mariani Landscape in Lake Bluff, Ill. “Engaging in the landscape—that’s the ideal scenario where homeowners are reaping the biggest benefit.”
The Sky’s the Limit: Five Homes with Stunning Views
Whether it’s a contemporary retreat on a hilltop outside Santa Fe or a penthouse atop the hemisphere’s tallest residential tower, these homes have views that make staying at home satisfyingly scenic.
Inside Meg Ryan’s Former Pacific Heights Victorian
In a city known worldwide for its storybook Victorians, this 1889 Queen Anne home, located on a lovely block in Pacific Heights, fits right in. Its eye-catching façade features decorative millwork, stately columns and marble steps, elegant sashed and bay windows, and whimsical trim, all telltale elements of the period style.
488-square-foot Hawaiian forest cabin comes with a fire pit
It might seem wild to build a splendid cabin mere miles from two active volcanoes, and yet, that’s exactly what happened with this Hawaiian vacation home. Working with architect Loch Soderquist, owner Jeff Brink built the compact dwelling in a forest on Big Island, just five miles from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Winners Across the Board: Five Unique Equestrian Properties
Offering a veritable triple crown of distinctive style, consummate luxury, and the finest accommodations for horses and their human friends, these equestrian estates from West Coast to East will have distinguished buyers champing at the bit.
Inside a Light-Filled Park Avenue Penthouse
Floods of natural light lend this loftlike penthouse a stylish cheerfulness that is both effortless and inescapable. Three exposures of impressively oversized windows and soaring 12-foot ceilings contribute to a sense of open, inviting airiness throughout, and the home’s enviable wraparound terrace encourages relaxed living and festive entertaining outdoors. Every inch of the 4,017-square-foot floor plan benefits from a chic minimalist palette; clean, crisp lines; and astutely employed organic materials that maintain a natural softness and welcoming quality. Nearly every space enjoys some aspect of the home’squintessential Manhattan skyline views, which include the Chrysler Building and the last hand-painted billboard in the city.
Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs Abandons Toronto's Smart Neighbourhood Project
Alphabet subsidiary Sidewalk Labs will no longer pursue its dream of a smart neighborhood in Toronto.
In a Medium blog post, CEO Daniel Doctoroff said “unprecedented economic uncertainty” meant it was “too difficult” to achieve its dreams for Quayside, a proposed redevelopment on the city’s waterfront. If the company pushed forward with its vision — which was yet to receive sign-off from the Canadian government — “core parts of the plan” would need to be sacrificed, he said. “And so, after a great deal of deliberation, we concluded that it no longer made sense to proceed with the Quayside project,” Doctoroff added.
Virtual Vacations | 5 Incredible Places You Can Visit Virtually Right Now!
Now that we’ve had a chance to visit museums and see a show or two, let’s take it one step further. Staying home doesn’t mean that you can’t still be well traveled; from UNESCO World Heritage sites like Machu Picchu to world-class zoos and aquariums, here are five incredible places you can visit right now from the comfort of your own home.
Luxury Properties for Sale over $16 Million
From a striking penthouse in Dubai to a historic Venetian villa in Italy, these are this month’s four featured notable properties for sale over $16 million.
Inside a Historic Home in Presidio Heights
American architect Charles Frederick Whittlesey is best known for his work across the American Southwest—where, as chief architect for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, he designed stations, hotels, and a handful of Harvey Houses. Whittlesey relocated to California in 1907, and during his early days there—in 1908—he crafted this striking Spanish-Revival residence. Its lines, hues, details, and eye-catching façade subtly bring to mind the most iconic structures of the Southwest.
Market Watch | May 2020
Toronto Regional Real Estate Board President Michael Collins released the following key housing market statistics for April 2020
The Sotheby's Auction House | Making Miami's Art Scene with Collector Jorge M Perez
Billionaire real estate developer and philanthropist Jorge M Pérez has erected gleaming towers in cities throughout the world, and his name is attached to the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), the flagship contemporary art museum in his adopted hometown. But at the moment, his pride and joy is a squat two-storey warehouse building called El Espacio 23, in a little-known industrial area of the city.
An experimental arts center inaugurated in December, it is the culmination of a great American success story – one which began overseas.
Reopening Ontario after COVID-19
Ontario is planning for the next phase of responding to the coronavirus (COVID‑19) outbreak – reopening our province.
As a first step, we have developed a framework to guide our approach. This framework outlines the method and principles we will use to reopen businesses, services, and public spaces to responsibly lead Ontario’s economy back to a strong position.
The Ontario Jobs and Recovery Committee is a key part of applying this framework. The committee will consult with people and businesses to assess the economic impacts of COVID‑19, learn about their unique needs, and help guide Ontario to our “new normal.”
A $25.5 Million Napa Ranch is Perfect for a Long Shelter in Place
In 1978, four friends set out to buy a house in Napa, Calif., and quickly discovered that they couldn’t afford what they wanted. So they enlisted a larger network of friends—acquaintances, really—to chip in to buy an $850,000, 950-acre property that they broke into 17 shares.
“We set up this communal landowning experiment,” says Bob Dickinson, one of the property’s stakeholders and the owner of Full Flood, a lighting design company. “We all were in our 20s or thereabouts, and we bought it—probably didn’t analyze it correctly—but got lucky. It turned out that we owned a piece of the most outstanding property, the kind people in California dream of.”
Best Renovations for Return on Investment
Whether you’re considering minor updates to perk up a room, or a full-scale renovation of your entire home, it’s important to be aware of how renovations might affect your property value, especially if you’re thinking of selling in the near future.
Travel | Tales from Tokyo
On any given day, Shibuya Crossing is a blur of bodies traversing the street in every direction. At this famous intersection — said to be one of the busiest in the world — almost half a million pedestrians cross the scramble every day. But what might seem like a recipe for chaos is, in reality, a perfectly executed synchronized dance of locals and tourists. At night, the scene is similarly entrancing, as cars whiz through the busy junction, their lights glowing like fireflies. It’s one of the most iconic and enduring images of Tokyo, showcasing the city’s many unique singularities.
4 Reasons Why Home Matters
There are many famous quotes about home – “home is where the heart is,” “there’s no place like home,” and “home is where your story begins,” to name a few. These are sentiments we can get behind now, more than ever. Let’s settle into our favorite spots and take a look at the importance of home.