{"id":10401,"date":"2026-04-19T13:56:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T13:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/10401\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T13:56:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T13:56:24","slug":"toronto-house-with-wooden-planks-barring-entry-is-going-for-under-400000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/10401\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto house with wooden planks barring entry is going for under $400,000"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve been feeling personally victimized by Toronto real estate prices lately, this one might make you do a double-take.<\/p>\n

Because yes, a detached house at 54 Westbrook Ave. is currently listed for only\u00a0 $399,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Located in East York, this property is being marketed as a redevelopment opportunity, and from the outside, things already feel a little ominous.<\/p>\n

\"54<\/p>\n

The front of the house.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are no interior photos, which is never a great sign.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also, the front entrance is literally barred shut with two wooden planks screwed across the door.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It’s giving strong “do not enter under any circumstances”\u00a0energy, and\u00a0the listing confirms as much.<\/p>\n

\"54<\/p>\n

The backyard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The home is being sold in as-is, where-is condition, which, in this\u00a0case, means you’re buying the land, not the house.<\/p>\n

That said, the land itself isn’t nothing.<\/p>\n

\"54<\/p>\n

An aerial shot of the property.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sitting on a clean 25-by-100-foot lot on a quiet residential street, the property is positioned as a solid opportunity for builders, contractors, or anyone looking to start from scratch.<\/p>\n

The surrounding area is already seeing plenty of reinvestment, with older homes being replaced by modern builds, which gives a pretty clear hint at what the future here looks like<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So while the house itself might be\u2026 uninhabitable (to put it generously), the neighbourhood isn’t a dud.<\/p>\n

Detached homes in this pocket of East York typically sell anywhere between $720,000 and nearly $1.8 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And location-wise, you’re within walking distance of transit, including the subway, plus all the caf\u00e9s, restaurants, and shops. There’s also easy access to parks, schools, and the Taylor Creek trail system, which adds a bit of nature into the mix.<\/p>\n

\"54<\/p>\n

An aerial shot of the neighbourhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So seeing a detached property pop up for under $400K in this area in 2026 is, at the very least, attention-grabbing.<\/p>\n

But between the boarded-up entrance, the lack of interior photos, and the heavy emphasis on redevelopment, it’s pretty clear this isn’t a hidden gem waiting to be polished.<\/p>\n

It’s a project. A big one. And it won’t be cheap. Construction costs are still high, and a typical house can cost anywhere between\u00a0$350\u2013$650-plus\u00a0per square foot to build<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"54<\/p>\n

The front yard and front of the house.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, in a city where even empty and teardown lots can push well past the million-dollar mark, the idea of getting your foot in the door \u2014 or, in this case, behind the planks \u2014 for under $400,000 is kind of wild.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you’ve been feeling personally victimized by Toronto real estate prices lately, this one might make you do…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[5758,1668,48,5759],"class_list":["post-10401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-5758","tag-avenue","tag-toronto","tag-westbrook"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}