SOLD AT LAST
Ossington Ave. murder house is finally off the market,
GT1
Two years after a man was murdered in an Ossington Ave. luxury home that belonged to his estranged husband, the property has sold for $900,000.
The buyers, a professional couple in their mid-30s, were aware of its gruesome history and went for it anyway.
“It’s a great conversation piece,” says their Realtor, Ali Ahmed.
Pause. “No, I’m kidding. They are aware about the history and they’re not the superstitious type.”
After a four-month property hunt, the new owners of 934 Ossington Ave. snagged the three-storey, five-bedroom detached brick house for $50,000 shy of its most recent asking price.
They are set to take possession next month. Although they felt badly for the victim, the couple had no qualms about buying the Ossington Ave. house. It took multiple listing agents, 16 months and a bit of a discount to sell the so-called “stigmatized property” — a blanket term used to describe homes with unfortunate histories that could affect their market potential. Police have released few details about the March 2011 murder of Allan Lanteigne, but it is believed the 49-year-old was beaten to death inside the Ossington Ave. home. Lanteigne had been living there since 2006, two years after he married Demitry Papasotiriou, a Greece-born Toronto lawyer who co-purchased the house with two
Realtors are required to disclose anything that could affect a property’s value, including a murder, suicide or suspicious death
elder family members. The couple had been estranged for some time before the murder, according to friends and police. Lanteigne, a University of Toronto accounting clerk, was living alone at the house. Last November, more than a year and a half after Lanteigne was killed, police charged Papasotiriou, 33, with first-degree murder. Soon after, a man named Mladen “Michael” Ivezic, 52, was arrested in Greece and also charged with murder. Police allege Ivezic and Papasotiriou are business associates and have said Papasotiriou was in Switzerland when his husband was murdered. Papasotiriou, who was named sole beneficiary in Lanteigne’s life in- surance policy, filed claims after the murder against two firms that insured his spouse, seeking the $2million policy proceeds, court records show. He is awaiting trial. The house, which sits on a busy stretch of street a few blocks northwest of Christie Pits Park, was originally listed for sale in November 2011, eight months after the murder took place, with an asking price of $973,000.
Heavily renovated and bathed in old-world luxury, the house has four marble fireplaces imported from Europe, hand-carved crown moldings and a grand oak staircase.
In Ontario, realtors are required under the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act to disclose any “material fact” that could affect the value of a property, including a murder, suicide or suspicious death.
Toronto real estate agent Tony Domingues, who listed the house for sale in February, said he made sure all potential buyers knew about the home’s history, though there was really no hiding it anyhow — a simple Google search reveals the details.
“Some people mind it. Some people don’t,” Domingues says. “Personally, I wouldn’t mind it . . . it’s a gorgeous house.”
Ahmed, agent for the buyers, made light of the superstitious aversion some people have to homes with a dark history. “We had people who wanted to go in and cleanse the place, spiritually and all that and they (his clients) were like no, it’s OK, no worries,” Ahmed says. “We’ll bring out our Ouija board.” That was a joke, too, he says. The home purchase deal came with one major stipulation: as part of the agreement, the sellers get to keep two of the marble fireplaces.
According to Ahmed, that was fine with the buyers.
“They just don’t need that many fireplaces.”