Today is Black Friday, and if you’re tired of looking at the sales being promoted all over social media, we thought we’d look at it from a real estate perspective.

In the past, we’ve talked about how while there may not be such a thing exactly as Black Friday for real estate, there are opportunities to buy homes at a discounted price.  We went through what to look for and gave an example of a property that was for sale that fit the description.

In another article we gave some examples of door crasher type deals that buyers managed to secure.

That was back in 2021, so we thought it was about time we take another look at the idea of Black Friday for real estate!

This time around, we looked to see if we could identify some properties currently for sale that theoretically could be advertised as Black Friday specials.  While I’m sure the listing agents and the sellers don’t think of the homes that way, if you’re offering something for sale at a considerable discount to what it used to be priced, we think it falls under the same category as a Black Friday deal.

Let’s check out the deals!

First, how we found ‘em.

We followed the same criteria we described in our article about how to find discounted homes and did a search for vacant homes with immediate possession who have changed their price since listing the home for sale.

We decided to look at detached homes in Toronto, as that is generally considered the holy grail of real estate in the city – and any bargain in that regard is worth hunting down!

As of today’s date, (November 28, 2025) that gave us 79 properties for sale.  We had to remove 23 of those properties, as the houses were actually now higher priced than originally listed, up by about 15%.  While that may sound bizarre, what it means is that these 23 houses listed at a price they considered lower than market value, held off offers for a marketing period of a week or so, and then failed to sell.  When that happened, they changed their approach and raised their price to the actual price they’d take.

When we look at the 56 homes that remain, we start to see the bargains show up!

7% off doesn’t sound like much.  How about a $142,000 discount?

The average price drop for these 56 homes is 7.2% and the new discounted prices range from just 1.7% below their former price to 17.4% off!  In real dollar terms, sellers have slashed between $19,000 to $701,000 off their original list price, with an average discount of $142K.

Let’s look at the bottom of the barrel as well as the top of the list to see what’s happening in the extremes.

Worst of the Bargains

The worst of these Black Friday type bargains is a detached bungalow located in the Woburn area of east Toronto.  Originally priced at $948,888, the price was dropped down to $929,888 on November 11^th, after 31 days on the market.  It’s been another 17 days since then and the home remains available.

With a listed possession date of October 31^st and currently vacant, it seems likely that the modest price 2% discount off of the original price isn’t the end of the line for this property.  We say “original price” but that’s just for the latest listing.  The history for it shows no less than six previous unsuccessful attempts to sell it, going back to September 2023, so it is pretty clear the owner thinks it is worth more than the market.

Click on the photo to see the listing.

Heck of a Deal!

The most appealing Black Friday bargain for a detached home isn’t really for a detached home, despite how it being listed as one.  It is effectively vacant land, with just a foundation and building permits in place on a large lot in the St. Andrews – Windfields neighbourhood of Toronto.  That’s a very desirable and affluent neighbourhood in North York and the property has a fascinating and somewhat tragic history.

The original home on the lot was torn down and back in October 2023, a French chateaux style home was built on the lot, with six bedrooms, ten washrooms and a six car garage.  Listed for $13.8M in October 2023, it was the start of a new period in the life of the property, or at least it was supposed to be.  On Thursday, December 14^th, the home burned down in what was determined to be arson.  Here’s the Global News story on it.

Almost exactly a year after the newly built was put on the market for $13.8M, the property was relisted at $5.188M.  With the building razed down to the above grade level, with just the foundation (including the six car built-in garage) remaining, it was marketed as a “Builder’s Dream in York Mills” with a building permit and foundation already in place.

After two months on the market, the listing was terminated and the owner, now a numbered company, held the property for close to a year.  In September 2025 it was relisted at $4.7M, and two years after the built mansion was listed for $13.8M, the price for the remaining “as is” property was dropped down to $4M.  The listing is now being shown as power of sale on behalf of the numbered company that owns it, so clearly there is trouble behind the scenes.  As of today, it’s been on the market for 74 days with no takers, despite the drop of over $700K in asking price.

Click on the photo to see the listing.

And the best actual bargain goes to…

In terms of an actual detached house that has dropped the most from their original list price, that dubious honour belongs to a detached two storey home with 5 bedrooms and 4 washrooms, located in the Agincourt neighbourhood of north east Toronto.

Originally listed at $1.68M, it has dropped in price to $1.388M, a whopping 17.4% decrease.  That’s down $292,000 and given it is vacant, with an asking possession date of September 19, 2025, the current price is likely more than what it will actually receive.

Click on the photo to see the listing.

The history for this home is one of those cautionary tales that the media loves to focus on, as the current owners paid $1.55M for it when they bought back in September, 2023.  A bit over two years later, they’re now willing to sell for $162,000 less than they paid – and that’s before the double land transfer tax they paid when they bought and realtor commissions to sell.

Apparently it’s a good time to buy a custom home.

A number of the top bargains – either on a percentage discount off their list price or in actual dollars dropped – are new custom homes.

We’ve seen this in our work with buyer clients in the new custom home space, where builders who bought a few years ago at the height of the market now struggling to sell the completed home at a price that allows them to make a profit.  The five highest priced months in Toronto for detached homes was the first five months of 2022, from January to May.  If a builder bought a tear down home in February 2022, they would have bought at the highest average price for detached homes in the last 15 years.  The average price for a detached home in Toronto is down almost half a million since February 2022, which means that for many builders, the market drop has erased their hoped for profit.

Above are links to five examples of new (or newish) builds currently for sale that are hundreds of thousands of dollars less now than originally listed.  They range from $1.75M up to $6.7M, so while they aren’t cheap, they are certainly cheaper!

If you’ve enjoyed this look at some bargain properties out there and you love the idea of having us look for ones that fit your specific requirements, it’s what we do.  Get in touch with us to chat about what you’re looking for and we’ll do the rest!

In the past, we’ve talked about how while there may not be such a thing exactly as Black Friday for real estate, there are opportunities to buy homes at a discounted price.

When we wrote that article back in November 2020, one opportunity we identified was when a home is sold conditional and then that deal falls through.  Such situations often result in sellers being motivated to find a new buyer and finally be done with the deal.

In that article, we talked about a specific home that was for sale and we thought we’d update you on what happened!  Here’s what we said back then:

As of right now, there is one property that fits these criteria.  It is vacant, want to close immediately and their previous conditional sale fell through.

 It’s a detached two-storey home in east Toronto, near Kingston Road and Meadowvale Road.  4 bedrooms upstairs, a den in the basement, two and a half washrooms and is less than five years old.

 It was listed September 29, 2020 for $849,900, holding back offers in the hopes of receiving multiple offers.  That didn’t happen and on October 28, 2020 they upped the price to $949,900, accepting offers anytime.  On November 16, 2020 it was sold conditional.  Two days ago it came back on the market at $949,900.

 Something went wrong with one (or more) of the conditions and as of today, it’s for sale again and has now been on the market for just under two months – 59 days.

 Do you think an offer well below the current $949K would be considered on Tuesday, December 1st as the seller looks to another month on the market starting, with the holidays only weeks away?  We would almost certainly classify the seller as motivated and willing to give on the sale price if they can get a firm deal done that closes soon.

We went back to check and see if we were right and whether there was in fact an opportunity for a buyer to scoop up the home at a discount.  The answer is yes – we were right, and someone did seize the opportunity.

The home sold a week after their return to the market at $949,000 to a lucky buyer for $925,000.  After 64 days on the market, multiple price changes and a failed conditional sale, the seller settled for 97% of their asking price.

That’s a good deal, but arguably not a great deal.  In Black Friday terms, it’s a deal, but not a Door Crasher.

If we take the idea of a Door Crasher and apply it to real estate, it would mean a property that sells for a significant discount below the list price.  In order to make sure it’s actually a great deal, it would also have to be a property where the sale price is considerably lower than what people typically pay for a similar home.

We’ve searched the GTA for the best deals that buyers have managed to obtain and here they are, your Black Friday Real Estate Door Crashers!

Door Crasher # 1 – Richmond Hill Townhouse

On November 18, 2021 our first Door Crasher sold in the Langstaff area of Richmond Hill.

Listed at $1,088,000, it sold for $880,000 after six days on the market.  That’s only 81% of list price!

It’s a freehold townhouse with three bedrooms and two and half washrooms and a built-in garage.

A very similar home just a few doors down sold almost two years ago (December 2019) for $907,500.  The average price for a townhouse has gone up 42% in Richmond Hill since then, so the fact that our Door Crasher townhouse sold for less than a comparable from back then makes this an absolute steal.

We can’t know the specifics around why the seller chose to accept such a low price, but it is clear from reviewing the sale and comparables that this home sold for a considerable discount.  With a sale price of almost 20% below their list price and likely a similar actual discount versus the average on the street, this was absolutely a Door Crasher for a lucky buyer!

Door Crasher #2 – Toronto Semi-Detached

On November 13, 2021, our second Door Crasher sold in the Trinity-Bellwoods area of Toronto.

Listed at $1,600,000, it sold for $1,300,000 after 30 days on the market.  Again, that’s just 81% of list price!

It’s a freehold semi-detached that is actually zoned as a legal duplex.  It has 5 bedrooms, two full washrooms and two half washrooms and two kitchens.  There is a detached two car garage that qualifies for conversion to laneway housing.

A very similar home a few doors down sold in April, 2021 for $1,650,000. It was also a semi-detached on a very similar lot but was not zoned as duplex.  It appears to be a similar size but has fewer bedrooms and washrooms.  It again has a detached garage that qualifies for laneway housing.

From an income perspective, the duplex would actually be worth more than a single-family home, but it clearly didn’t achieve that as it sold for $350,000 less than a nearby neighbour.

Again, it is impossible for us to know all the specifics around why the seller chose to accept such a discount on their list price.  It was an estate sale so that may have impacted their willingness to do helpful work on the home or wait for a better offer.  Given the sale price of $300K below their list price, which was already lower than a comparable sale price from earlier in the year, this was definitely a Door Crasher sale for the purchaser.

Door Crasher # 3 – Toronto Detached

On November 14, 2021, our third Door Crasher sold in the Lawrence Park North area of Toronto.

Listed at $1,499,000, it sold for $1,200,000 after 47 days on the market.  That’s 80% of the list price!

It’s a freehold detached home with three bedrooms, one and half washrooms, a private driveway with three parking spaces and a finished basement with a separate entrance.

A semi-detached home across the street with a narrower and shallower lot sold for $1,620,000 in March, 2021.  It has the same number of bedrooms and washrooms but only had one car parking.

We don’t know the reasoning behind why the seller of the detached sold for $420,000 less than the seller of a semi-detached across the street earlier in the year.  We do know that the seller of this Door Crasher originally wanted $1.799M, which means their eventual $1.2M sale price is almost $600K less than what they hoped for initially.  That definitely qualifies as a Door Crasher for the buyer of this home!

It can feel like there are no bargains to be had in the GTA given how frenzied most real estate markets are right now.  The above three examples show that not only do bargains exist, there are even Door Crashers available!  If you’re looking to buy a property and want to make sure you get the best deal, get in touch.  We’d love to see if we can’t locate a Door Crasher for you!

One of the most common questions we get asked on the team is “Where should I buy an investment property?” so let’s take the time today to answer that question.

The question of where to buy an investment property is a complex one and your particular situation is of course very relevant.  Your financing options, budget, level of desired management, comfort with vacancies, tenant interactions – all of these play a big part in what makes the right investment property for you.

We can, however, talk in a general sense about where there are opportunities to buy an investment property in which the numbers work.

Let’s start with one core concept.

Multi-unit properties beat single-unit properties

This is true every day of the week, 52 weeks a year.

I have met many investors who proudly talk about their investment portfolio of X number of “units” they own, valued at X millions of dollars.  While any income property is something to be proud of, not all are created equal.

Whenever you have a single-unit property, such as a single family house or condo, you run into three limiting factors.

1. Vulnerability to vacancy
2. Repetitive repair costs
3. No additional income

Let’s go over these three factors quickly before we get to where to buy an investment property.

Vulnerability to vacancy

With a single-unit property, you are reliant, by definition, on a single tenant.  Tenants lose jobs, break up, over-extend themselves and generally have the financial and life issues we all do.  When there is only one tenant paying for your property, you can lose 100% of your income that pays the mortgage, utilities, maintenance fees and so forth.  You are very vulnerable to any vacancy, as you are either fully tenanted (one tenant) or totally vacant (no tenant).  With a multi-unit property, you are rarely in a situation where all of your tenants can’t pay their rent or need to leave their lease.

Repetitive repair costs

The second factor that makes single-unit properties less desirable is that your upkeep responsibilities (and therefore repair costs) are virtually the same as a multi-unit property with less income.  If you own three single-unit properties, you can be on the hook for three roof repairs, three lawn mowing services, three foundation cracks, three AC units, three washing machines and so on.  If you own a triplex with three tenants in it, you only have one roof, one lawn, one foundation, one AC unit and so forth.

No additional income

The final factor is of course the income levels.  When you have a single-unit property, the level of rent you can charge is based on what your tenant can afford.  With multi-unit properties you charge rent based on what multiple tenants can afford.  Any house with a basement apartment is proof of this principle.  A house with a separate basement apartment is worth more to many buyers because they can charge X amount for the basement and Y amount for the main/upper levels.  The rent you can charge for X + Y is almost always more than you can charge for Z, which is the rent for the whole house.  After all, how much is the basement worth to a tenant who is also living in the main/upper levels?  It’s worth something for sure, but not as much as to a tenant for whom that basement is the entire housing option.  With multi-unit properties, you have additional income at relatively low incremental costs.  This additional income often means the difference between a good investment and a poor investment.

Our recommendation for the vast majority of cases is that investors consider a multi-unit property.

The question then becomes, where can one buy an affordable multi-unit property that is a good investment?

The options as of today

As of July 7, 2017, there are 117 multi-unit properties for sale in the GTA.

The prices range from $399,900 up to $8.6 million.  Let’s see what you get at the low end and the high end.

Currently listed at $399,900, we have a duplex located in Oshawa at 272 Haig Street.  It’s a legal detached duplex, bungalow style, with two separate units.

The rental income for the property is $1,915 per month according to the listing.  With a purchase price of $399,900, operating expenses of just over $300 (monthly property taxes and insurance) the capitalization rate for the property is 4.84%.

From a financing perspective, the $399,900 purchase price means that with 20% down ($80K), you have a mortgage of $320K.  At about $450 per month for every $100K of mortgage (for a principal and interest payment, amortized over 25 years), you are looking at a mortgage payment of about $1450 per month.  With interest rates as low as they are, from your first payment you are paying more than 50% of that payment towards principal repayment.

So for $80K down, with about $6K more for closing costs (legals, land transfer tax), you own a property that is bringing in $1,915 per month and costs about $1,750 per month.  Roughly speaking, you clear about $165 per month.  Don’t forget that each month, your tenants are allowing you to pay down about $725 in principal on your mortgage.  Add in some property appreciation over the years and you have a decent investment property.

Now let’s look at the high budget option.

Currently listed at $8.6M, we have 336-340 Jarvis Street.  There are three buildings located in Toronto near Jarvis and Carlton Street, with 13 units total.  No virtual tour for this one.

The rental income for the property is $37,750 per month according to the listing.  With a purchase price of $8.6M, operating expenses of just about $3,600 per month, the cap rate for the property is 4.77%.

Financing for three buildings with 13 units is quite different than a two unit duplex, but in order to compare apples-to-apples, let’s assume the same approach as our lower end property.  To be clear, the financing for this unit would likely be considerably higher as once you get over 4 units in a building (or buildings in this case), fewer lenders are interested and rates generally rise.

The $8.6M purchase price means that with 20% down ($1.72M), you have a mortgage of $6.88M.  Using the same rate and terms as the duplex in Oshawa, we have a monthly principal and interest mortgage of about $32K.  Again, we’re using the same interest rates, which means about half of that is principal repayment.

So with $1.72M down and about $340K in closing costs (land transfer for both Toronto and Ontario in this case), you own three buildings in Toronto that are bringing in $37,750 per month and costs about $35,600 ($32,000 mortgage payment, plus $3,600 in operating expenses) per month.  That means you clear about $1,150 per month, plus the principal repayment your tenants pay for on the mortgage. These numbers are optimistic given the likely higher cost of financing.

With three buildings, this multi-unit complex still faces the same issue with three roofs, three HVAC systems and so forth.  I would be much happier with the numbers on this 13 unit investment property if it was in one building rather than three.

From a cap rate perspective (which is independent of the cost of financing, basically as if you bought it outright), the properties are almost identical.  You have a cap rate of 4.84% for the bungalow in Oshawa and a cap rate of 4.77% for the three building complex in Toronto.

Both properties cashflow positively on paper, but with the Oshawa bungalow costing about 1/20^th the price of the three buildings in Toronto, the cashflows for the Toronto property should be much higher. Again, given the financing is likely more expensive than our apples-to-apples comparison, the cashflow numbers will get worse for the Toronto property.

We find that when we work with investors we see variations of this scenario happen quite often.  The high price of properties in Toronto means that properties outside of the city are often better investments.  Rents may be lower, but the significantly lower purchase prices often means the cashflows are still better.

This is shown by looking at the stats for the 117 multi-unit properties for sale today in the GTA.  If we look at the properties that in Toronto proper (61 of them), the average list price is 1,934,511.  Compare that with the 56 properties outside of Toronto, where the average list price is $912,259.  That’s less than half the price on average.  Are rents less outside of Toronto?  Sure.  Are they less than half the rent of Toronto?  Nope.

While every investment property needs to be examined to consider how the purchase price, operating costs and rental income shake out, the lower the purchase price, the lower rent you need in order to have positive cashflow, the more vacancies you can tolerate and less of an investment you actually need to make.

With that in mind, our top three locations for multi-unit investment properties in the GTA are Oshawa, Whitby and Brampton.  The combination of lower prices, reasonable operating costs and decent rental income means these locations offer investors the chance to get a good return on their investment.

If you or someone you like is considering buying an investment property, you need to work with a Realtor that is an investor themselves and understands what goes into making a great investment property.  If that’s the case, please get in touch with us.