Welcome to 26 Castle Frank Crescent. This Rosedale property is steps away from Castle Frank subway station and was the home to Torontism’s very own Richard Silver. The property is currently listed for sale at $3,248,000.
“[My family and I] had made the decision to downsize, giving us more flexibility,” Silver said. “We bought a condo that will be ready in 2021 and are curious if we could live in a smaller property.”
About the property
This 3+1 bedroom and 4 bathrooms residential home is approximately 3,479 square feet. It comes with professional grade appliances, a beautiful backyard with mature trees and a koi pond, and a Smartified home system.
The house is a detached side split and one of the only side split homes circa 1955 in the Rosedale area,” said Silver. “It has been substantially updated over the years and is an excellent house for entertaining.
When Silver purchased the property, he wanted a cottage-in-the-city type lifestyle to accommodate his busy schedule. The garden, which centres around a 200-year old tree does that for him. The garden is so amazing that it has even been featured in a magazine. Yet, other parts of the home are just as wonderful.
The main floor family room is where [my family and I] spend most of our time enjoying friends, family, the fireplace and the garden access.
Silver notes that property of this type would be ideal for someone looking to downsize as they plan to move into a condo.
The selling process
When an agent prepares to sell a home, there’s a certain process that must happen, and this includes more than just listing the property. Primarily, the seller must declutter, stage, and make minor renovations to the property to prepare it for showings.
“It is not a fun process,” Silver states, “But we had lots of help from our stager, declutterer and painter that made it almost pain free.”
When asked about his experience in the shoes of a seller, Silver described that,
We had to divorce ourselves from the home. The colours [of the walls] were lightened, the furniture came from our stager and we depersonalized it for showings. We had to always assume that there may be a showing that day and that the house [must be] in the best shape for the showing.
Staging
Though staging your home is not cheap, Luanne Kanerva, owner of Katu Design, who was in charge of staging Silver’s home explains why it’s so important:
Staging can benefit both the sellers and the buyers. Sellers sell faster and for more money and buyers often see potential in a home they might have otherwise overlooked. Staging also makes rooms look bigger and gives a sense of space. It can be difficult in an empty room to decide if a king bed or large sofa will fit. Most people now decide to come to see a property from online photos and a series of blank wall/bare floor shots reveal nothing and are not very inviting.
Kanerva has worked with Silver for about 15 years. However, she treated Silver as as any other client and started with a consultation. Together, they decided on new paint colours and Luanne made recommendations on taking away certain pieces of furniture that were too dark or large. Furniture was rearranged to create a better flow for buyers to move through the rooms.
I always tell my clients that selling is not living! So, although you may want five side chairs because you have family visiting every weekend, for selling we need people to walk freely through the room. Therefore, we take away three of the chairs.
Kanerva loved the layout and flow of the Rosedale property. She noted that it’s perfect for entertaining or a home/work situation, and that the garden is so peaceful that it can be hard to remember you’re so close to downtown.
Kanerva, in staging 26 Castle Frank, started off slowly. “…but then I realized he had some very large dark pieces of dining room furniture that really had to go, so I just did my job!” Kanerva said,
[Richard] was fine but I think it was a good reeducation for us about how emotional and time consuming the decluttering and staging process can be for some homeowners
To Kanerva, Silver was the ideal client because he trusts her work. Her biggest challenge is often reluctant homeowners.
Decluttering
Another important part of selling a home is decluttering.
“Decluttering is the process of sorting through your belongings to determine what you want to keep, donate, give to friends and family, sell, and discard,” according to Ann Christie, owner of Declutter and Downsize.
By completing the decluttering process, you will transform your space into organized functional areas that are not overcrowded and are easy to maintain.
Christie has worked with Silver for 15 years. She sees the importance of decluttering in the home selling process because the accumulation of “stuff” can often overwhelm homeowners. Decluttering helps organize a seller and presents the home to potential buyers in the best possible manner. When a buyer walks in, they can better imagine themselves living in the home when they’re not distracted or put off by mess and chaos.
The challenges of decluttering are similar to the challenges of staging — homeowners commonly have a strong attachment to their decorating style. However, this was not a major issue in declutter 26 Castle Frank.
“Richard and [his family] are great clients, to be honest – ideal clients, they make good, quick decisions and stick with the decisions they make,” said Christie. “They trust the decluttering process, because they have seen the results so many times when we have helped Richard’s clients prepare their homes for sale.”
Selling any home is a huge process. Staging and decluttering can often be the hardest part because it involves a seller detaching themselves from their personal belongings and watching their home become just another house again. But Silver, who understands the importance of staging and decluttering, made the selling process seem easy by reminding himself to not get attached and to work with his stager and declutterer, instead of against them.
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