In a city where the average price of a home is pushing $700,000, a 25,220-square-foot mansion listed for sale at $1 is attracting plenty of attention online.
After all, the true value of the 1880s heritage-designated property, known as William Harris House, is probably somewhat higher than a loonie.
After serving for decades as a Salvation Army home for single mothers, Harris House was sold in 2011 to a developer for $1.7 million.
But it’s back on the market after plans to build dozens of condominiums on the site fell through.
Property prices have climbed substantially in the interim, and there’s nothing like it in the neighbourhood, making it difficult to know what the property is worth.
The listing does offer one big hint, however: taxes are estimated at $35,207. Toronto’s residential property tax calculator equates that with an assessed value of $5-million.
The house sold once before 2011 too, when the Salvation Army bought it in 1927 for $20,000. (That’s about $276,000 in 2016 dollars, according to the Bank of Canada’s inflation calculator.)
William Harris was a well-known entrepreneur who started the company that eventually became known as Maple Leaf Foods. The property received a heritage designation in 2010.
