The view from up here

With a commanding view of the city, Joshua Pinter and Michelle Maguire are enjoying the high life

Thirty-somethings Joshua Pinter and Michelle Maguire made the leap into home ownership in November of 2016.

The couple purchased a two-bedroom home on the 26th floor of the second tower at the Guardian project in Victoria Park. The recently married and energetic duo have busy careers: Joshua is a product manager for a software company and Michelle works in business development. The couple says they both have the downtown mentality so they kept their home search to a small radius around the core. They both loved the view from the Guardian with its floor-to-ceiling glazing and vistas of both the mountains and the downtown's high rises.

Michelle jokes that the condo was a bit of a surprise. "Josh just came home one day and said, 'Here are the keys.' We took possession on my 31st birthday," she laughed.

CREB®Now: What were some of the features that attracted you to the Guardian project?

Michelle: Definitely the view – it's spectacular. Some days it looks as though the mountains are right outside of the window, so close that you can almost touch them. You should see it at night with the lights downtown – it's stunning. The first week we moved in here, we just stared out the window. It's nice when I do conference calls from here. I set my computer up on the island with the backdrop being the downtown, and people in Montreal and Toronto are like, 'where do you live? it's amazing.'

Our plan is to be here for the next four years. We are close to the East Village and Inglewood – both vibrant and young areas, perfect for kids.

Joshua: There is a gym and I use it four times a week. It's really convenient and it saves money – I don't have to buy a gym membership somewhere else. I just go down there, work out, and come back up to the condo and shower. It's really nice, especially since I work from home.

Michelle: The building is dog friendly and that was high on our priority list. There are a lot of young professionals with young children and dogs in the building. We really want a yellow Labrador. We dog-sit all of the time for our friends. There is a green space just behind the building and on the ridge in Ramsay, across the walking bridge, is an off-leash park and that's a seven minute walk from here. In the morning, it is filled with people walking their dogs. And we will have our first baby in this home. Our plan is to be here for the next four years. We are close to the East Village and Inglewood – both vibrant and young areas, perfect for kids.

CREB®Now: You mentioned that you enjoy cooking. How does the condo's layout and the kitchen work for your lifestyle when it comes to cooking at home and entertaining?

Joshua: We used to eat in restaurants fairly often, until we realized how much we were spending, so now I cook at home quite often. I really appreciate the ample amount of counter space in this kitchen and I love that while I am cooking I can face both the view and the TV because it's this big open space with these huge windows. The fridge and freezer are designed European-style, so they are quite small. You open it up and it is half the size of a typical fridge and freezer, but this way, everything is really fresh. We get enough groceries for a few days – Sunterra is walkable and we will do a big shop once a week at Superstore and the Farmers' Market.

Michelle: Josh and I both take so much pride in this home, in having people over, and hosting parties. People come over and they really don't want to leave. They love looking out the window. All of our friends are pushing for some sort of Stampede party because you can see the fireworks from here.