Neighbourhood Edition: Trudy Turner on Charleswood

Announcer:

Welcome to the I Love Winnipeg Real Estate podcast. Your premier resource for buying, owning, and investing in Winnipeg's real estate market. And now here's your host, Adrian Schulz, who loves all things real estate, property management, and mortgage financing.

Adrian Schulz:

On today's special edition, the neighborhood edition of the I Love Winnipeg Real Estate podcast, I'm joined by a lady who actually has agreed to come on a second episode with us. Trudy Turner, welcome back.

Trudy Turner:

Thank you very much.

Adrian Schulz:

So, Trudy, can you tell us a little bit about yourself, your business and the neighborhood that you specialize in?

Trudy Turner:

Sure. So I am a realtor, I've been born and raised in Winnipeg and currently live in Charleswood, which is the area that I specialize in. I've been a realtor for about 11 years now. My career, my background was in senior management in nonprofit, so it's been a very rewarding career and the real estate is extremely heartwarming. So it's a great fit for me.

Adrian Schulz:

And what firm are you with here in Winnipeg?

Trudy Turner:

I'm with RE/MAX Performance Realty. So I don't know if people in general understand, but RE/MAX is a franchise. So every RE/MAX office is independently owned. It's interesting, it's like a Tim Hortons.

Adrian Schulz:

Yeah. Independently owned and operated. Now what makes Charleswood unique compared to other parts of Winnipeg?

Trudy Turner:

Oh, so many things. It is a huge neighborhood. So it actually starts at the Assiniboine Forest or Assiniboine Park, goes all the way to the Perimeter, starts at the Assiniboine River and goes all the way out to Wilkes. So it is quite a large, I think it's the largest neighborhood in the city. And we have a ton of wildlife, which you don't find in other neighborhoods. So it's not unusual to come out your front door and find a family of deer on your front lawn, or there's been a lot of coyotes. So the families have to watch their family pet and make sure they're accompanied.

Trudy Turner:

We had a bear in a tree on Pepperloaf Crescent last spring, so that was interesting. That was a first time, but we regularly see raccoons and fox and it's quite interesting. And I think part of it is because the lots are in general, much larger than they are in other parts of the city. So it is not uncommon to find double or quad lots in city blocks. So it's nice, it feels very country, but you're in the city and don't forget, we do have the Charleswood ditches, which makes us very unique.

Adrian Schulz:

And you have gobble, gobble, you have turkeys.

Trudy Turner:

We have turkeys. Yes, we have it all.

Adrian Schulz:

We take our kids, what is it called? Playground crashing. We literally go to different neighborhoods to try different playgrounds.

Trudy Turner:

Excellent.

Adrian Schulz:

And in the fall right around Thanksgiving, we went to one and just at the beginning, after the park, after semi park and there was a family of turkeys walking around and I tried to convince my kids that this is how city people go hunting for their Thanksgiving turkey. Anyway-

Trudy Turner:

Which I'm sure caused some tears.

Adrian Schulz:

It didn't, as you can imagine with some of the things that fall out of my mouth, the kids were not surprised.

Trudy Turner:

We also peacocks that run loose.

Adrian Schulz:

Really? Yeah.

Trudy Turner:

Yes.

Adrian Schulz:

Why go to the zoo when you can live in Charleswood?

Trudy Turner:

Exactly.

Adrian Schulz:

What do you think is the most significant thing that has changed in Charleswood over the last decade?

Trudy Turner:

I think it's been the development. There is a lot of development going on. Some infill, not always popular with the locals. There's a lot of people that resent the extra population density that we're getting. But it's coming in pockets, some good things. There are some new apartment buildings and there's some new condo complexes going up, which is nice for seniors that live in Charleswood. So as they age, they don't have to move to a new community, they can stay in their beloved Charleswood, which that's been an asset, but the location of some of them has caused a little bit of, shall we say community involvement.

Adrian Schulz:

I love it politically correct right here on the I Love Winnipeg Real Estate podcast. Now, when you're working with clients, do you find that people who live in Charleswood tend to stay? Is it a destination area that people aspire to move to? What has been your experience in the last while?

Trudy Turner:

In general, yes. Both of those. You'd be hard pressed to find anybody who lived in Charleswood, who would say, "I can't wait to leave this community." So people that are here love it and they love to stay here. And there are also a lot of people wanting to move in and it's becoming a bit of a challenge lately. Citywide, we have a huge shortage of housing stock. Currently in Charleswood, we have six houses for sale in all of Charleswood. So it's challenging.

Adrian Schulz:

What a great time to sell.

Trudy Turner:

Great time to sell. Yeah. We just had one that just sold recently with nine offers and it went 130,000 over asking price. It's crazy, if you're looking to sell, this is the time. With COVID people are not wanting people to traipse through their house, but there's lots of safe ways of doing things. So I encourage you, if you're thinking of selling, do it now.

Adrian Schulz:

What is the price range for an average family home in your neighborhood?

Trudy Turner:

So Charleswood prices are a little higher than a lot of neighborhoods. In the past year, we've had close to 300 sales, ranging in price from about, I think the lowest price was 224 and the highest was five million. So Charleswood is divided into two distinct areas, there's the area north of Roblin, and then the area south of Roblin. So we call them 1F and 1G. So 1F is a little pricier and their average price is about 500,000. And 1G is a little lower at an average price of about 450-ish. But having said that there are great opportunities, we had 86 houses that sold under 400,000. So there are entry level and we do have pockets of side by side and lower income areas, that can be a great entry point for the new buyer.

Adrian Schulz:

Yeah. And you mentioned earlier how the lot sizes in Charleswood are bigger than many other lots in Winnipeg. And with this recent pandemic, I was saying to a prior guest on how the yard, right. Your own land that you own has become increasingly important again. And Charleswood is one of those areas where you can in fact have that extra space that you may desire for your family.

Trudy Turner:

Yes. And lots and lots of room for things like skating rinks in the winter and play structures and trampolines in the summer, and it's really lovely that way.

Adrian Schulz:

What do you love about Charleswood?

Trudy Turner:

I think pretty much everything. The neighbors are fantastic, and I hear this, not just in our area, but we have a lot of different Facebook groups that we belong to in Charleswood. So every group is feeling the same way that the neighbors are good, everybody's friendly, they're out walking, we've got a great off leash dog parks if you're a pet owner, there's a place that you can go, we don't know for how long yet, but for now it's going to eventually be the Moray extension out to Wilkes. So there's some discussion, shall we say about whether that's going to happen or when. But yeah, it's a really friendly neighborhood. There's lots of kids and people are generally out a lot, outside, they spend a lot of time outside.

Trudy Turner:

We have the Harte Trail that runs through, there's lots of community centers. We have 17 schools in all different levels of education and private schools, religious schools, all kinds. So anything that you need that way. So it does attract a lot of families, which is wonderful. Last Halloween, we had about 135 kids at our door, which is unusual in the city, so we enjoy that.

Adrian Schulz:

As you know, we live in Tuxedo, but I think we spend most of our life in Charleswood, right. There is the Springers Gymnastics, the dog park, which has helped us avoid getting a dog thus far in our house. We just go to the dog park and the kids are in heaven.

Trudy Turner:

And visit.

Adrian Schulz:

Yeah. And visit. And of course, then for dad, there's the McDonald's across the street to get coffee in the morning. No, I agree with you that there's a lot of really positive aspects to the community. And it really is a community, the minute that you're in Charleswood, you feel like you're in a part of town, which is a wonderful feeling to have.

Trudy Turner:

It's like a separate little city and we have lots of restaurants and coffee shops and all kinds of things. The Harte Trail adds a lot to the neighborhood, because you meet your neighbors all the time when you're out walking. We've even got a driving range and mini golf over at Shooters. Pretty much got it all.

Adrian Schulz:

Yeah. Now for anyone that is wanting to move into the area to buy a home or that lives in the area that wants to sell their home, how can someone reach you?

Trudy Turner:

I'm really easy to reach. So I have my cell on all the time and it's a great number, it's 204.29.TRUDY, so it's 298-7839, but 29-TRUDY. My mother is thrilled that I'm the only one that she can remember the phone number for. Anyway, and my email is trudyturner@remax.net. Pretty easy.

Adrian Schulz:

Thanks so much for coming on the show today. It's great to have you back the second time, Trudy.

Trudy Turner:

It was a pleasure. Thank you.

Announcer:

Thanks for listening to the I Love Winnipeg Real Estate podcast. If you like this episode, please of subscribe and give us a rating, which will help us reach more listeners. Until next time, connect with us on social media and online at ilovewinnipegrealestate.ca.