“It was time to pass the torch to another young family”
As one family moves on to a new chapter, another family finds the house of their dreams. Together, they show a change happening in Wellington West
It started with a horse — or at least the dream of one. Kerry Lynn Armstrong lived with her husband, Tom Grozinger, for more than 20 years in Wellington West, raising two children and enjoying the village vibe. But as their children grew up, she started thinking about her dream of a retirement that involved horses. That dream took root before the pandemic, when the couple bought a century-old hobby farm in Maberly, just outside Perth.
The 60-acre farm is a work-in-progress and not a fit place for two people who still have desk jobs, but when the pandemic sent everyone into work-fromhome mode, they thought, Wouldn’t it be nice to live a bit closer to the farm?
Their three-bedroom, two-storey house, which had been renovated in 2005, was well positioned to sell; they frequently found unsolicited letters of interest in their mailbox, many of which noted the desirability of the quiet street and the proximity to the walking path that runs from Holland Avenue to Churchill Avenue.
“I literally walked that path for 27 years of my life,” recalls Kerry Lynn. “I loved being able to walk the kids everywhere. The walkability makes it seem like a small town.”
When their son Derek moved into a rental place with friends last summer, the couple put the pieces in motion to downsize. “At a certain point, when the kids were gone, it was time to pass the torch to another young family who can benefit from all that accessibility.”
They started watching the market and saw that properties were being sold in less than a week. Stittsville stood out as a top choice. It’s about an hour from their farm, plus their daughter Katrina and her fiance Martin had already bought a townhouse there.
Selling was easy — they listed on October 1, and it was sold before Thanksgiving weekend for just over asking. The challenge came in the hunt for a new home. “Every townhome we would try and bid, only to be outbid. They would go so much higher,” recalls Kerry Lynn. “We were almost ready to give up and rent.” Finally, on October 19, they were the highest bidder on a townhouse in Stittsville, on a cul-de-sac that offered a shared park for their Maltese-Yorkshire terrier, Oskar. They appreciate the low maintenance lifestyle and the neighbourhood with its mix of young families and older people.
For Tom, keeping the habit of walking to shops was important, so he now walks to the Food Basics mall regularly. For Kerry Lynn, the purging was stressful, but the new townhome offered no basement and little storage. As for their children, Kerry Lynn says they were sad to say goodbye to their childhood home but recognized that their parents were at the next phase of their life. “We convened a last supper — they bought us takeout — a few nights before we vacated,” recalls Kerry Lynn.
In about five years, Kerry Lynn and Tom will retire. For now, their three-bedroom townhouse allows them to bridge the gap between life as working parents and retirement on the farm.
Kyle Lambert and Jessica Galienne had been thinking about moving for a while. They were starting to feel cramped in their semi-detached near Carling and Kirkwood, and they had fond memories of their first home as a couple, a two-bedroom in Hintonburg. “The pandemic made it more of a priority,” says Kyle, a lawyer with McMillan LLP. The fact that they have two kids — Stella, 4, and Theo, 7 — who might be spending school days at home had them itching for more space, and soon they were eyeballing listings in Wellington West. Jessica is a policy analyst with Health Canada, so their move also involved her eventual return to the Tunney’s Pasture government campus.
When they began looking seriously last summer, they noticed that listings were moving very quickly, especially in coveted neighbourhoods such as Wellington West. On October 2, they spotted the three-bedroom renovated house on a quiet side street and jumped at a chance to view it. Their real estate agent took them on separate tours while the kids waited outside. They figure Kyle had been in the house a total of six minutes when they decided to put in an offer. By Thanksgiving weekend, the house was theirs.
“We have young kids, so being on a quiet street close to Fisher Park was really attractive,” Kyle says. “This house has a nice balance of old and new, with an addition on the back.”
Next, they had to sell their house. They painted and staged and talked with their agent about their strategy. Knowing it would sell quickly and receive a lot of visits, they minimized risk of exposure to COVID-19 and stress by renting an Airbnb for the weekend. The place was listed by the end of October and sold within 10 days. They couldn’t be happier about the move.
“We like the older character of the house,” says Jessica, noting that the front porch quickly became a favourite spot. The finished basement is a playroom, and there is even a built-in desk that served as a virtual classroom during lockdown.
Though the pandemic has closed many businesses in the area, they still feel lucky to have easy access to the Bagelshop and Herb & Spice. “We love this neighbourhood, and we like to support local businesses, so every Friday night, we order from a neighbourhood restaurant. And we’re very much looking forward to when those restaurants open up.”
WILLEM PEREBOOM, 28, had been looking to buy a two-bedroom condo for months before COVID-19 hit. He hit pause at the beginning of the pandemic, then restarted his search in mid-2020. As he was already renting a two-bedroom apartment in the Glebe, it wasn’t a desire for more space that motivated him. Instead, he was looking for a good investment that would allow him to build up equity by using his salary as an analyst with the federal government.
He focused on downtown areas and neighbourhoods near the LRT. “I would very much prefer not to have to drive,” he says. Pereboom’s imminent mortgage was an added incentive to avoid monthly car payments.
Being near urban amenities was also a priority. While he might have found more square footage for his money in the suburbs, he couldn’t picture himself there. “Where are you going to go for dinner? And how long is it going to take you to go there?” he asks.
Pereboom bid on several properties, only to lose out when the condos attracted multiple offers and went for much higher than asking — $40,000 more, in a couple of cases. Then he learned of a twobedroom unit for sale in a Centretown tower where he’d already viewed other properties. The price was right, and — perhaps because it was listed in September, traditionally a slower month for real estate sales — it hadn’t attracted much interest.
The unit offered many of the elements on his wish list, including lots of southfacing windows, in-room laundry, and recently upgraded floors. It also came with a parking spot, which he figures will increase the condo’s value even if he doesn’t use the space himself. He put in an offer. As the only bidder, he was able to negotiate a price of $330,000, which was $5,000 below asking.
COVID-19 changed the move-in process in several ways. For instance, in non-pandemic times, Pereboom would likely have rounded up half a dozen friends and a truck to move his belongings. Instead, he paid $300 for movers.
Overall, though, he says, buying during a pandemic wasn’t that difficult. Yes, he had to wear a mask, avoid touching surfaces in the places he viewed, and keep his distance from his realtor, but that’s the sort of thing everyone is doing everywhere now, he notes. “It was a little weird, but it was as weird as going to the grocery store.”