Topic: First Drive: 2019 Audi A6

[Jaeger]

^^^ OT - I will never understand the appeal of ginormous homes stacked together 10 ft. apart.

same, but cutting grass and yard work isn't for everyone...to each their own.

Anyone with a McMansion and an exotic hyper car can afford a lawn care service. But I agree with your point- to each his own.  This wouldn't be how I would spend $2m on a home, but I don't suffer under the delusion that my preferences are universal. 

I see these clusters of sardine-packed McMansions up by my parents' place in Stouffville. Then I see some beautiful older homes on large rural lots. I know which I'd prefer.

We have friends in Cambleville who live in a fairly modest bungalow. But you can step out of their front door and go for a 30 min walk and still be on their land. They have money. But they'd never trade what they have for a bigger house just a hockey stick width from another equally huge house.

To each their own, indeed.

[ChaosphereIX]

would rather have a small home with lots of nice natural land,


and a huge garage

[Jaeger]

Aurora and Stouffville are part of the GTA now?  Lols before long we will call Barrie a suburb of Toronto.

VMan I get your point overall, but mine is that if you have $5m to spend on a home (as we are told the owner of the home in question does) then you have choice.  Maybe your choice for a larger lot is limited in Toronto, but as Torontonians frequently need to be reminded, Toronto is not the universe.  Part of the reason for buying rural is to be able to have more land around you than the average suburban subdivision planning generally allows.  Developers / builders sure as don't want to sell you land, they want to sell you as many homes as they can stuff into the land available to build on.  But man I would sure hate to see more of these lovely rural areas transformed into small plots for freaking huge homes crammed in shoulder to shoulder.

Again with the lawn-cutting.  Anyone with a 4000 sq foot home and a cottage can afford professional lawn care.  "I don't want to cut the grass" is a reason for a fixed income senior to live in a condo - not for a McMillionare to feel compelled to have a comparatively small plot of land shrink-wrapped around his / her home.  Unless that's just what they want, because they think it's an awesome look, in which case back to where we started:  to each their own.

It just strikes a discordant note for me - spending multiple millions on a home with zero land around it.  Kinda like buying a Bentley with 4 carboard boxes for seats because you don't like to bother to condition the leather.

To be clear, I'm not claiming to be able to purchase a $5 million home or a Bentley - but if I won the lottery tomorrow my Bentley would have rich thrones draped in the finest leather, and I would not be able to reach outside my window and touch my neighbor's house.  Professionals would detail my car and cut my grass, because I'd have better things to do with my time.

[dirtyjeffer]

New home on an old lot is the gold standard to me.

Proper house on a proper lot.

tough to do around here...permits, zoning, heritage designations, neighbourhood objections, etc.

[Gurgie]

All I need is a 6 car garage with a 1300sq.ft. bungalow somewhere on the same property [emoji16]

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[Jaeger]

All I need is a 6 car garage with a 1300sq.ft. bungalow somewhere on the same property [emoji16]

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Sounds good to me. We have never craved a huge home - we are just 3 people and don't need or want a lot of space.  There is a beautiful small stone house on a spacious wooded lot right down by the lake that would be an instant buy if availability and funds were to coincide in the future.

[rrocket]

I grew up on an extremely large lot (there was a by law that stipulated lots had to be minimum 120 feet wide). It was several acres long. Hard to tell, but that's a 3500+ square feet house, 5 bedrooms. Full 2.5 garage, plus you can see another 2.5 garage out back.

So I've always tried to get farther away from neighbors....

[OliverD]

I thought I wanted a big lot in the country. Our house is on almost four acres, with a 250' driveway. We're surrounded by woods and you can barely see the house from the road. We love the privacy aspect and the fact that the dogs can run around without needed to be leashed or fenced. We can have fires and blast music and no one cares.

On the other hand, walking dogs on a road with a 70 km/h speed limit (where most people drive 80-100) with no shoulders is no fun. It's not so bad in the summer but it's impossible in the winter. The grocery store is over 15 minutes away. The only "amenity" within a five minute drive is a gas station/pizza and sandwich shop.

We want to move into town, so we can easily walk the dogs year round, walk to bars and restaurants and friends' places, etc. Yes, we'll be on a much smaller lot and be very close to our neighbours but we'll have easy access to so many amenities. For us that trumps what we have now.

[rrocket]

I thought I wanted a big lot in the country. Our house is on almost four acres, with a 250' driveway. We're surrounded by woods and you can barely see the house from the road. We love the privacy aspect and the fact that the dogs can run around without needed to be leashed or fenced. We can have fires and blast music and no one cares.

On the other hand, walking dogs on a road with a 70 km/h speed limit (where most people drive 80-100) with no shoulders is no fun. It's not so bad in the summer but it's impossible in the winter. The grocery store is over 15 minutes away. The only "amenity" within a five minute drive is a gas station/pizza and sandwich shop.

We want to move into town, so we can easily walk the dogs year round, walk to bars and restaurants and friends' places, etc. Yes, we'll be on a much smaller lot and be very close to our neighbours but we'll have easy access to so many amenities. For us that trumps what we have now.

I love being away from everything.  Sure, it's a 15 minute ride to wherever for us too.  But hearing the lake waves crashing in is delightful music and worth the trade off IMO.

Saw this today:  https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/05/22/canadians-happier-small-towns_a_23440876/?utm_hp_ref=ca-homepage

[OliverD]

I thought I wanted a big lot in the country. Our house is on almost four acres, with a 250' driveway. We're surrounded by woods and you can barely see the house from the road. We love the privacy aspect and the fact that the dogs can run around without needed to be leashed or fenced. We can have fires and blast music and no one cares.

On the other hand, walking dogs on a road with a 70 km/h speed limit (where most people drive 80-100) with no shoulders is no fun. It's not so bad in the summer but it's impossible in the winter. The grocery store is over 15 minutes away. The only "amenity" within a five minute drive is a gas station/pizza and sandwich shop.

We want to move into town, so we can easily walk the dogs year round, walk to bars and restaurants and friends' places, etc. Yes, we'll be on a much smaller lot and be very close to our neighbours but we'll have easy access to so many amenities. For us that trumps what we have now.

I love being away from everything.  Sure, it's a 15 minute ride to wherever for us too.  But hearing the lake waves crashing in is delightful music and worth the trade off IMO.

Saw this today:  https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/05/22/canadians-happier-small-towns_a_23440876/?utm_hp_ref=ca-homepage

That article is confusing. They reference both rural vs. urban and city vs. small town. That's not the same thing.

[carcrazed]

Well, this thread certainly got off track.

I hope I'll get to see the 720S in person soon, and see if I can fit in it.  I gotta be prepared for my lotto max purchase!

[carcrazed]

Aurora and Stouffville are part of the GTA now?  Lols before long we will call Barrie a suburb of Toronto.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Toronto_Area

All part of the York Region.