• 17 Ravenal Street
• Asking price: $289,900
• Selling price: $304,900
• Previous selling price: $163,000 (2002)
• Taxes: $2,056 (2008)
• Lot size: 22 by 95 feet
• Days on the market: seven
• Listing agent: Julie Kinnear, Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd.; co-op agent Anil Khera, Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd.

The real estate market is slowly recovering from the recession, but properties in the lower price brackets - such as this semi-detached house in the former city of York - are snatched up quickly by first-time buyers, agent Julie Kinnear says.

"It was a very interesting experience," she says. "We did not hold back offers [until a certain date] and we had three offers anyway."

Between 2003 and 2008, the 1930s house received upgraded wiring and copper plumbing, new high efficiency furnace and air conditioning systems, and updated roofing and windows.

Cosmetic changes to the 1,098-square-foot house included freshly painted interiors, refinished hardwood floors in the living and dining rooms, new broadloom on the second floor, and two modernized bathrooms.

"It was a really nice house," Ms. Kinnear says. "It had what buyers are looking for right now, which is an old home with character and charm, yet is completely turnkey with all the hard work done."

Slate floors and Shaker-style cabinetry spruce up the kitchen, which has access to a mudroom and deck.

The front yard can be reached from the enclosed porch.

Three bedrooms are upstairs, while the fourth is off the lower-level recreation room.

The extra wide lot accommodates a large backyard, shed and a private driveway for three cars.

The quiet dead end street is close to parks, malls and schools, plus amenities in Bloor West Village and the Junction.