Rob’s Blog and Flog

The saga continues. February 29th was to be the Discoveries date for my quest to buy my Toronto house. Lawyer called yesterday - Kissana’s lawyer can’t find him.

I don’t think I’ve explained the situation fully on the blog, and while most readers already know me well, some day I might get other people viewing. After I returned (reluctantly) to Canada last year, I bought a dumpy duplex in the east end of Toronto. After being on the market for a month or more, nobody had bought this ugly duckling, probably because of the tenants in the upstairs unit. An extended immigrant family, 3 beds per bedroom, roaches climbing over the piles of garbage in the kitchen - pretty much every budding landlord’s worst nightmare. The place was to be delivered vacant though, so I wasn’t worried. A new IKEA kitchen, pull up the 80s dusty rose carpet, a bit of work on the bathroom, and the place would be liveable. Downstairs was in slightly better condition, with a reliable tenant, so nothing would need doing down there. The downstairs rent would almost cover the mortgage, and there was a basement apartment too, which would push the house into “live for free” territory.

Back and forth the offers flew, and eventually we came to an agreement on price and terms. Or so I thought. Weeks after signing the agreement, the vendor, a Mr. Kissana, had a change of heart. He wasn’t going to close. Why? I have an idea, but until this thing gets resolved, I’m not going to speculate publicly.

Kissana has gone through a few lawyers, and a few reasons as to why he shouldn’t have to honour his agreement. The latest one, which has all my friends and real estate contacts laughing, is that “it wasn’t him”. It’s identity theft - he has no idea who I am, and never had the place up for sale. Yah, right. Did the big real estate sign on the front of the house for over a month not give it away?

Enter the lawyers. I was referred to a good one, and he is currently taking the long torturous (read - expensive) path through courts. The latest chapter in the saga was to be this coming Friday. Discovery. Kissana’s lawyer was to examine me, and my lawyer was to examine Kissana. But, as is par for the course, Kissana is trying more delay tactics.

Will I ever own a house in Toronto? Yes. Will it happen in the next two months? Not likely at this point. But that’s OK, property values continue to rise in Toronto.

Sell me the #@%!#%! house already!