Buying a condo in Toronto

• thinking of buying a condo in Toronto. I need to know which are the benefits of a first time buyer. I understand that the required downpayment may be less. What is the catch?
  

  27 Sep 2005, 03:10 Anonymous

Replies

• 5% down for 1st time buyers

  the catch is that your interest rate will be higher.
  
  I do recommend that you get a mortgage broker. HE/she will negotiate with the bank on your behalf and the broker has way more leverage than you may ever have (especially as a first time buyer)
  
  The broker may cost you a flat fee of $500-$1500 (depending on many factors) but this could definitely save you much more than that in interest rates.
  
  

  Anonymous 29 Sep 2005, 03:01 - Report

• thanks!

  I have already talked to a mortgage broker. He has explained to me how it works and what are my options. I would have never known these people existed if it wasn't for this site!
  
  
  THANKS! ONE MILLION THANKS
  

  Anonymous 09 Oct 2005, 05:51 - Report

• amazing Toronto condos

  www.cityplace.ca

  Anonymous 25 Oct 2005, 04:49 - Report

• cool condos in Toronto 5% down 88 on Broadway!

  http://www.88onbroadway.com/
  

  Anonymous 25 Oct 2005, 04:50 - Report

• do not buy a condo in Toronto

  they take $300 to $500 a month only in maintenance fees of amenities that you rerely use.
  
  Beware. Buying a house is much better.

  Anonymous 27 Oct 2005, 12:31 - Report

• Great lake view condos in toronto

  Great lake view condos in toronto
  
  http://www.breezecondos.com/
  
  Monarch Development Corporation
  2025 Sheppard Avenue East
  Suite 1201
  Toronto, Ontario
  M2J 1V7 Canada
  Phone: 416/491-7440
  Fax: 416/491-3094
  Email: [email removed]

  Anonymous 27 Oct 2005, 02:21 - Report

• Great Condos by the Air Canada Centre in Toronto

  
  Just passed by the construction site today. They have a great location. Check them out at:
  
  http://www.mapleleafsquare.com/

  Anonymous 28 Oct 2005, 11:42 - Report

• Townhouses in King West - Toronto

  
  www.kingtowns.ca
  
  from $200K and up

  Anonymous 29 Oct 2005, 03:06 - Report

• Great portal for real state in Toronto/GTA

  http://newinhomes.com/
  
  

  Anonymous 30 Oct 2005, 04:00 - Report

• Condo Network in Toronto

  Real State agents focused on real state in Toronto
  
  http://www.torontocondonetwork.com/
  
  

  Anonymous 30 Oct 2005, 09:13 - Report

• german speaking real state agent in London, Ontario

  Any recommendations on a real state agent for average homes in London?
  
  Somebody who speaks German would be great.

  Anonymous 01 Nov 2005, 03:14 - Report

• optimal downpayment for the lowest interest rate.

  
  Sure you can give 5% down as a first time buyer, but at what borrowing costs?
  
  At which percentage of downpayment can you expect to obtain the lowest interest rate?
  
  Thanks.
  
  Lucie
  

  Anonymous 01 Nov 2005, 03:07 - Report

• optimal interest rate

  this is a bit tricky. It may also change depending on the period in which your mortgage is closed.
  
  Furthermore, it may depend on your credit rating. If your credit score is great, it may not be too much of a difference, but with bad credit the difference may be significant. You might need to do the math with your banker / mortgage broker.
  
  

  Anonymous 02 Nov 2005, 11:54 - Report

• calculating maintenance expenses

  the big turn off to buy a condo are the maintenance expenses.
  
  What is a reasonable rate for estimating your condo maintenance expenses?
  
  I assume that it depends on a few things suchs as how new the building is, the amenities, the area of your unit, etc.

  Anonymous 04 Nov 2005, 02:19 - Report

• coolest condos in Canada

  
  Concord Adex
  http://www.cityplace.ca

  Anonymous 04 Nov 2005, 02:21 - Report

• New Condos - Yonge & Eglinton

  
  Quantum 2
  http://www.mintomidtown.com
  

  Anonymous 06 Nov 2005, 04:18 - Report

• living in High Park, Toronto

  It is a beautiful place. I wonder where can I find local listings for properties in High Park.
  Thanks
  

  Anonymous 08 Nov 2005, 11:53 - Report

• Great Canadian condo builder

  
  Great condo projects throughout Toronto and the GTA starting at $132,000
  
  http://www.tridel.com

  Anonymous 10 Nov 2005, 04:14 - Report

• What about other properties?

  Houses, apartments, townhouses, etcetera. How can I find information about prices, options and properties from outside of Canada?

  Anonymous 12 Nov 2005, 11:59 - Report

• Condo listings in Toronto

  Condo listings in Toronto
  
  http://www.torontocondonetwork.com/

  Anonymous 15 Nov 2005, 03:12 - Report

• Want to buy Real Estate (Apartment | Condominium | House | Townhouse) in Toronto?

  Try http://www.Torontomyhome.org -- Real Estate (Apartment | Condominium | House | Townhouse) for Sale in Toronto Ontario
  
  http://www.Torontomyhome.org

  Anonymous 15 Dec 2005, 12:57 - Report

• Article in the Toronto Life Magazine - the condo generation

  
  http://www.torontolife.com/magazine/index.cfm?listing_id=104
  
  Great article on Condo Living options in Toronto (From Toronto Life):
  
  The New Starter Home
  
  With property prices in the GTA skyrocketing, 50 per cent of condos are now sold to first-time buyers. How 700 square feet has changed a generation
  
  By Leanne Delap
  Photography by Tom Feiler
  
  
  John Downs, a 29-year-old reporter at AM640 Toronto Radio, and his girlfriend, Domini Clark, a 26-year-old food editor at The Globe and Mail, met one night in 1999 at Whiskey Saigon while dancing to '80s nostalgia. They became friends, and a few months later, Downs asked Clark over to his place to watch TV. "I was stoked because he had cable," says Clark, “so I put on fishnets and sexy boots.” It was love during Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. “I didn’t know what was turning me on more, the boots or the fact that she knew all the answers,” he says. After three years of dating, it was pretty clear they were in it for the long haul. Downs worked out what his folks were dropping on his sister’s wedding and concocted a plan: “I decided to ask if they’d just give me the money to use as a down payment. A home is more important to us than a party.”
  
  Clark and Downs scoured the city for properties and fell in love with Radio City—the townhouses and towers then proposed for Mutual Street south of Wellesley, on the site of the old CBC building. As journalists, they dug that it was all new but that the heritage buildings were going to be preserved. They responded to the feel of the artist’s renderings (boho and orderly at the same time) and got chills in the sales centre. But they couldn’t quite afford Radio City: for the 677-square-foot unit they coveted, on sale for $206,000, the developer wanted some $40,000 down. Undeterred, they wheedled a special deal to pay in instalments, and a 20th-floor suite was theirs. Standing beside a mock-up in the showroom when it all became official, Clark was overwhelmed. “They put the bought sticker on the unit,” she says, “and I started crying.”
  
  The couple expected the building to be ready 18 months after the September 2002 purchase, but construction delays turned that into three years, time they spent cruising other loft projects to keep that new-home buzz going (“We’re addicted to sales centres,” Downs says). They loved the idea of creating their unit, tile by tile, each upgrade carefully assessed, cost versus benefit. They even spent four months stalking the perfect kitchen faucet: in an open space, every detail counts.
  
  Now, several months after they moved in, they’re hopelessly house-proud in this, the first flush of ownership. Lifting the bed to show off how cleverly they’ve stored the board games beneath, Clark dislodges Mae, one of their two cats. Lowering the bed, she carefully smooths down the duvet. “We’re so excited to have a second room,” Downs adds, pointing to the den–slash–guest space, “but we don’t really know what to do with it.”
  
  “The nicest thing is the ceiling,” says Clark, looking up at the bare concrete finish. “I didn’t want stucco. That’s a waste of the nine-and-a-half-foot ceilings! Can you believe they made us pay $600 extra to leave it the way it was?” Downs and Clark wanted the most they could get out of their little box in the sky. And they aren’t alone.
  
  Toronto has become condo city. Almost four of every 10 new homes sold in 2004 were condominiums, up 13 per cent since 2003. Affordability is the fuel for this red-hot market, with interest rates still tempting and prices dropping from the intense competition. According to the Greater Toronto Home Builders’ Association, the average price for a new condominium in the GTA is $288,587 versus $387,369 for low-rise homes.
  
  First-time buyers used to acquire older homes with the intention of fixing them up. But now it’s hard to find a decent fixer-upper for $300,000. According to a recent Century 21 Canada study on first-time homebuyers, this generation is shying away from costly renovations. Even if they can find something cheap and unique, how many 28-year-olds have an extra $75,000 kicking around to redo the kitchen, knock down a few walls and prop up a sagging foundation?
  
  Condos offer choice in their price range: there are 50,000 units in development throughout the GTA, representing more than 235 projects, some still at the drawing board stage, some nearing completion. And for the design-conscious and consumer-savvy condo generation, there’s a unit for every customer. Buildings today are personality statements.
  
  Condos have made the most obvious intrusion downtown—the corridor running from the lakeshore to just below Bloor, from Cabbagetown to the Exhibition. These units attract a new breed of city dweller: young women and men (or, as marketers like to say, those who see themselves as young) who are single and professional (they tend to have interesting and creative careers), rarely own a car and marry late, if at all. They’re self-starters; they take risks, have freedom and mobility, and aren’t suffering from too-much-stuff disease—at least from what you can see (many have gnarly storage lockers).
  
  They want to be in the action; they groove on reclaimed urban areas (as opposed to the sterile park-underground units along Bay Street). They go out and use the city, mixing with like-minded consumers: there is a growing café society around Queen West West and King and Spadina in particular, where restaurants and nightclubs are within walking distance of prime loft zones. Galleries and hole-in-the-wall bars are supporting players. Condos also breed second-hand stores, avant-garde boutiques and dog groomers.
  
  The designers, marketers and builders know how to pitch that white-wall-and-Eames-chair fantasy, and they know exactly who will swallow it. Each project is its own microcosm. From the outside, buyers may seem similar, but they categorize themselves into tiny subsets where little details mean a great deal. I like Prada, you like punk, the guy down the road has eyeglasses with too much personality. These first-timers are doing what they have been programmed to do: they are buying brands.
  
  It seems as if we’ve been surrounded by lofty living forever, but the phenomenon is actually quite new. The branding of condos grew out of the Toronto condo boom-bust experience. Back in the mid-’70s, when Harbourfront’s transformation into a wall of glassed-in towers began, individual buildings differentiated themselves by offering finishing upgrades. In the ’80s, when granite counters, brass bathroom fixtures and state-of-the-art appliances became standard, bigger, better, brag-worthy amenities started to appear as the next sales focus. Gyms went mega; some places installed driving ranges and offered concierge service. Then consumers realized the prices were becoming inflated for gewgaws they’d never use.
  
  For a few years after the market crash in 1987, people still thought property was a safe bet, so speculators continued to buy. As with the day-trader phenomenon, sales had been dominated by amateurs flipping units. Then, finally, in the early ’90s, the condo market bottomed out. Interest rates soared. Investors lost their shirts, condos went on fire sale, developers teetered, and banks lost their taste for handing out fat mortgages.
  
  In 1991 and 1992, developers were forced to put down their hard hats. David Feldman of Camrost-Felcorp was a big player at the time, having completed the Marina Del Rey in Etobicoke in 1989. “I had 1,000 units on my hands,” he says, referring to buildings like 10 Yonge Street and 10 Queens Quay West. “It was not pretty.” Other ambitious projects of the yuppie era suffered the same fate, and condos sat empty. Swaths of industrial and commercially zoned lands remained boarded up. Then the artists came to squat. Back when the Jeff Stobers of the world were inflating the high-tech bubble, artists hid their showers and hot plates and used communal bathrooms on Queen West. I remember friends—artists and bartenders and PR girls—living in illegal lofts around that time. They flouted law and convention and threw big after-hours parties.
  
  In 1995, in regions like Scarborough and North York, condos started to be marketed to Asian buyers in anticipation of Hong Kong’s handover. Chinese immigrants and investors, planning against an uncertain future in Asia, began scooping up presale units across the 905. Meanwhile, downtown developers pressured the city to allow experimental boutique lofts. In 1996, then mayor Barbara Hall changed the zoning laws on industrial spaces and legalized loft living. Developers began to talk about selling the romance of Paris- or New York–style lofts. They were marketing Prohibition-era glamour. It worked for the same reason speakeasies work: everyone loves to be a scofflaw.
  
  The predominant condo design at the time was the wedding cake, the tiered and terraced units you see at Harbourfront, or the stiff box-like constructions along Bay Street. One of the first projects to break that mould was 20 Niagara, completed in 1998. Niagara was a modernist vision of clean lines and simple shapes, employing industrial architecture to make a new kind of residential space. That sounds like a cliché now that everyone is doing raw piping and high ceilings, but back then it was radical. Buyers willing to live in that new ultra-urban environment made out like bandits: the penthouse at 20 Niagara sold for $360,000 in 1996; it went for $937,500 in April of last year. (The units in the building are still highly sought after—most never hit the open market because buyers line up in advance.)
  
  A boarded-up building at Queen and Strachan soon followed. It was marketed as the Candy Factory, which started the local tradition of playing up industrial histories. Now there’s the Merchandise Building, the Toy Factory, Gooderham & Worts, the Massey Harris Lofts, the Tip Top Tailor building. But there are only so many warehouses to gut and retrofit. To cash in on industrial chic, developers built entirely new, from-the-ground-up projects with the aura of a conversion (known in the industry as “soft lofts”). Others used cutesy names like DNA (for “downtown’s next address”) or hard-to-swallow ones that evoke other locales, like the Malibu (hovering over the not-so-scenic Strachan streetcar dead end at the Ex) or French Quarter (on a bleak stretch of Jarvis).
  
  Brad Lamb, the tall, bald reigning downtown condo king, is a fixture—both on garbage can advertisements and in restaurants along King Street, his main strike zone. Now 44, he earned his realtor’s licence in ’88 and weathered the crash of the early ’90s. He leads a team of 18 agents who, he claims, sell $700 million worth of condos each year, some 1,800 units. “Toronto is on fire,” he tells me, wearing a skinny suit (no tie, slick), standing on King West and looking out at his kingdom. Lamb says he likes having the young, hip first-timers as clients, because they generally grow with him. “We get them single,” he says. “We get them when they move in with someone. Then we get them when the relationship breaks up.”
  
  “The very best thing about living here is Olivier at Clafouti,” says Jane Tattersall, the 34-year-old general manager of AddVICE Marketing, a company that promotes such bands as Franz Ferdinand, Metric and Death Cab for Cutie, and hip clothing lines such as G-SUS Industries. She’s talking about the cute pastry shop on Queen Street, where Olivier mans the steamer. “He’s so pretty to look at. What a nice way to start the day, and you get a cappuccino, too.”
  
  When Tattersall hit 30, she decided she should get a grown-up place. She was living with several girlfriends in a sprawling house on Dovercourt, a post-grad hangout that suited raucous parties. “I had an overwhelming job, and I needed my life at home to be more peaceful.” (She also deejays at Teatro restaurant once a month.)
  
  Fiercely independent, unsinkable right down to her ’70s-in-Gstaad ski bomber, she wasn’t going to wait for marriage to get herself set up properly in life. “I called my bank’s mortgage guy and he came right to my house,” she says of her sudden home-buying burst. “I wanted two floors, which is hard to find in a 700-square-foot loft.” And she wanted Queen West, too. She looked at a few places, then a friend called to say she was selling her place in the Trinity Park Lofts, which she had lived in for only a few months. “It was brand new, right across from Trinity Bellwoods Park, and all ready to go; basically, all I had to do was paint.”
  
  She bought for $240,000 two years ago and loves it. “A lot of models and actresses live here,” she says. “It’s pretty safe these days, not like a loft in a more warehouse-y part of town.” In fact, it’s almost totally gentrified, but neighbourhood reputations die hard. Opposite the park, there’s a groovy bike store and romantic guitar repair shop; across the way is Oyster Boy and the Swan, the feeder stations for other nearby condos and lofts.
  
  In the den off her bedroom, she has constructed an iTunes zone, where she has been burning her vast collection of CDs. A giant candle adds a spicy patchouli fragrance to the room; her bedroom windows are hung with generous loops of red fabric. “And the closet! I can fit all my shoes, for the first time in my life.”
  
  Still, she has a few things left to do. “Furniture shopping is hard since I don’t want to buy the wrong thing. I’ve been looking for a coffee table for two years. The space feels big, but there isn’t a lot of room to juggle. That’s the thing about lofts. You think it’s going to be a box to fill. But it looks best when it looks empty.”
  
  Hence the success of the interior design firm Cecconi Simone, the city’s leading condo designers for the downtown projects. In charge of everything from research to marketing to model suite dressing, and lobby and floor plan design, Elaine Cecconi and Anna Simone are the Brian Gluckstein of small spaces. They have some 15 projects under construction, and another eight on drawing boards due to begin in the spring.
  
  The partners complement each other well: Simone is the expansive, exuberant, pint-sized dynamo under a cloud of curly dark hair; Cecconi, taller and also dark haired, is the contemplative, detail-oriented partner with the quick wit. They staked out their turf as condo queens early on, designing model suites in 1996 for the Merchandise Building, the old Sears warehouse on Mutual Street. “The buyers we’re dealing with are consumers with sophisticated tastes,” says Simone, “but not sophisticated finances.” In 2002, as the trend moved toward smaller condo suites, the duo began to create their own compact, stylish furniture line. “We were bombarded with requests for the furniture we designed,” says Simone.
  
  Responding to the clean, streamlined lofter’s dream, they used white pleather for their soft furnishings. Most of the hard pieces are based on a simple cube that you can use in multiples, adding or subtracting. “It is totally a scale issue,” says Cecconi. “In less than 700 square feet, everything must be functional.” Plus, old things don’t work. “You can’t very well have a shabby-chic couch in a crisp loft,” Simone added. “And Canadian pine looks totally wrong.” Another thing they understand is the way young people use space. “Many people don’t need a dining room. They don’t use it. They eat in bed with their laptops. They need a tray.”
  
  Three years ago, the duo opened a retail outlet below their design offices—on Dundas West near Ossington—called Oni One. Little Portugal seemed an unlikely destination for shoppers looking for sleek new furniture for their condos, but when the soaring white showroom rose out of the down-market row of wedding halls, dollar stores and caipirinha purveyors, the Mini Cooper set with brand new pads to furnish followed. They stuffed their hatches with modern plastic-crystal chandeliers, a monastery’s worth of candles, stacking trays and bright orange throws. “Some 95 per cent of people who come to our store buy,” says Simone. “Our average sale is $7,500.”
  
  Their slogan is “My life is bigger than 624 square feet,” and it hangs on a large, orange-print banner just below their boardroom. There, Cecconi and Simone throw around the term “psychographics”—whereby crafty marketers try to sort consumers into little lifestyle cubbies, human specimens neatly labelled by their consumption preferences. Essentially, it means they imagine every possible detail about a customer before creating a product. “We have learned that each block in this city, each side of each block, has a different identity,” says Cecconi. “People identify themselves with a district, then with a street within that district, then with a doorway on that street.”
  
  To wit: people who buy at 20 Stewart wear Yohji and Prada, are members of the Spoke Club and eat at Lee. Prospective purchasers at Vü, where the Jarvis and Adelaide Goodwill used to be, ride bikes or take transit. They love being east of Yonge, used to shop for vintage clothes at the Goodwill; now they buy labels like Ben Sherman from Delphic on Queen West. They are avid gallery-goers and don’t do mainstream. They read I.D. Magazine and Wired and would like a Vespa. The buyer at The Boutique on Adelaide is a lawyer open to a career shift; he—and it’s almost always a he—likes to paint, and so there is a little studio off the bedroom in the model suite. He travels a lot, uses the building’s dry-cleaning and dog-walking services, and likes the idea of a private bar on the roof (no riff-raff here). He goes to Ultra Supper Club and drives a 911 and is divorced with three kids. It sounds like extreme stereotyping, but Simone claims 80 per cent of all buyers fit their preconceived psychographic client profile.
  
  The firm now employs 35 designers and has devotees across the country (they’re opening a second store in Vancouver) and beyond. They’re particularly popular in comparably sized U.S. cities, where developers have only recently caught on to the idea of urban densification. The Cecconi Simone firm has been commissioned by developers to design Toronto-like lofts all over the States: Florida, New Jersey, Georgia, Oregon and Illinois. Because Torontonians have spent the past decade getting accustomed to the idea of creating homes in high-rises, we have valuable lessons to teach other cities about lush living in tiny spaces. Cecconi Simone has even been hired to work on projects going up in Turks and Caicos, Dubai and China. “The loft thing is so huge,” Simone says. “Toronto is ahead of everywhere else in the world on this.”
  
  Young condo owners often have flex hours and work at home, which changes their relationship to the city. Nolan Dubeau, a soft-spoken 29-year-old, runs his own interactive business from home (graphic design and Web sites) and subcontracts to others who do the same. He used to live in the east end, then two years ago bought a $316,000 two-storey unit in the Tecumseth Lofts on King West, a classic retrofit building that has just 28 units, each slightly different from the others. Now he sits on the building’s board of directors. He knows he won’t be on Tecumseth forever and is very conscious of resale. In fact, thinking ahead is one reason he chose the building: “When I bought the condo, I figured there would be better resale in a project with such individual character.”
  
  The suite is 1,200 square feet, with industrial-style railed stairs to the second floor and a catwalk between bedroom and bathroom. His main floor is open, with his office right across from his couch—evidence that he works long hours. But even the most wired among us need some time away from the siren song of the Apple. Dubeau escapes his keyboard two or three times a day by frequenting local bars, cafés and restaurants like the Drake, the Beaconsfield and Czehoski. “This area is terrific,” he says, and the condo is perfect for him. He’ll stay as long as he can, probably until he decides to have kids. Then he’d like to buy a house, ideally somewhere downtown. But if necessary, he’ll stay put for a while, even with a family. A loft with a baby, he believes, is probably “doable for a year or two.”
  
  Other members of Dubeau’s demographic are clearly thinking along the same lines; they’re an acquisitive bunch. Royal LePage predicts that the rate of condo purchases among first-time buyers will double in the next three years. Maybe this is a sign that we’re maturing as a city, becoming more like New York, Rome or Paris, where living in apartments your whole life is considered normal.
  
  When 39-year-old Sidney McCain, a senior manager at V2 Records, moved from Manhattan to Toronto to live with her boyfriend, Mike D’Abramo, she thought she’d be able to buy a house and was excited by the prospect. “Toronto is so strange to a New Yorker—all the lawns, all the three-storey single-family houses downtown.”
  
  Mike D’Abramo is a 33-year-old manager of account services at Youthography, a company that studies trends in the tween and teen markets. McCain met him when she flew into town in 2002 to promote Spiritualized, what she calls “an epic stoner band from the U.K.” Now the couple are the entertainers of their circle, hosting all major holidays, awards shows, even the Kentucky Derby. “If there’s an occasion,” she says, “we’ll find it.”
  
  At first, they rented a 1,000-square-foot wide-open single room in the Kensington Market Lofts, right in the heart of the market. But all their friends were buying, and buying is contagious; it spreads through groups of friends the way marriage and babies do. “We were paying $1,700 a month, and we figured we could get a mortgage for less,” says McCain. They hit the pavement looking at houses but were disappointed with the variety in their price range.
  
  Then they found a condo unit for sale at 150 Beverley, next to the Italian Consulate, a partial conversion (the façade was the only part preserved) from the mid-’80s. It cost $299,000 and was unloved. “Things were pretty rundown,” says D’Abramo. “The skylight had a big hole in it, and the walls were painted brown.” But it was relatively big—900 square feet—and the rooms were more “traditional,” as in they had walls. “We wanted that,” he adds. “The open-concept Kensington Loft was a little extreme for our lives.” When you come from somewhere else, friends and family come to stay, and an open-concept loft is not the most comfortable space to share with Aunt Ida.
  
  Their favourite feature was the 700-square-foot patio—the kind of space almost never found in newer buildings. “We could have the outdoors, too!” says D’Abramo. “We were planning parties there before we even put in an offer!” So, like dreamy renovators everywhere, they signed on the dotted line and dove in.
  
  Given the last condo bust, when speculators lost their shirts, it’s hard to believe all this won’t end badly. In the GTA, there were approximately 16,000 condo unit sales in 2005, up some 25 per cent from 2004. No other city in North America has the volume of sales that we do. But with so much of the market driven by first-time buyers, demand could dissipate. When the young condo buyers start having kids, they’ll need more space. Even large lofts aren’t conducive to raising a family: the light will wake the baby, and while it might seem thrillingly unconventional to let your toddler tricycle around indoors, when you have kids, you want somewhere to hide.
  
  And yet Jeanhy Shim, the editor of Urbanation, an industry quarterly that tracks the Toronto condo market, isn’t worried. When those lofters move out, others will move in. She believes there’s no reason to expect an early ’90s–style crash. Because speculators fuelled the market then, units flipped several times before anyone pulled up with their U-Haul. Shim estimates that only about one-fifth of units are now purchased for investment purposes. The rest are sold to “real” buyers, who want to live in their condos. In the last boom, 50 per cent of supply was unsold; today the number of unsold units on the market hovers around 22 per cent. Another difference is that though unit prices are rising, they’re doing so moderately: only 24 per cent in five years. You might even say that there are bargains out there: in 1989, at the height of the last boom, square footage sale prices were $425; today they are firm at $330.
  
  Julie Di Lorenzo, president of the Greater Toronto Home Builders’ Association, is equally optimistic. She started out as a construction contractor when she was 18 and is now a partner at Diamante Development Corp. (the company that built 1 Balmoral, 2 Roxborough and the Royalton at Bay and College, and is now working on 1 City Hall, which will be ready for occupancy in June). “With immigration rising, land is going to run out,” she says. “There is so much competition that buying a condo within the city of Toronto is the opportunity of a generation.” Looks like the generation is listening.
  

  Anonymous 01 Feb 2006, 03:36 - Report

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  Anonymous 10 Feb 2006, 04:47 - Report

• negotiating

  usually new condo developments want about 20% downpayment within the first 6 months even though the property is 18 to 2 years away from being finished. Is it common to offer 5% instead?

  Anonymous 09 Mar 2006, 10:55 - Report

• timing of and amount of the downpayment

  if the development is close to the scheduled construction start, you may be offered a lower downpayment (i.e. 5% or 10%) instead of 20% or 25%. The downside is that there are far less units available for sale and the choice is less.

  Anonymous 20 May 2006, 01:10 - Report

• Try out this website

  Enjoy an enhanced real estate experience with Royal LePage Downtown's Al Daimee, specializing in new and resale condominiums and townhouses from downtown to uptown Toronto. For your <a href="http://www.topofto.com">toronto lofts</a> and condo needs visit http://www.topofto.com

  JP Richards 19 Jun 2007, 09:21 - Report

• Toronto Condo Reviews

  If you're looking for a condo review of a building you're considering check: http://www.toronto-condominiums.ca/reviews

  Franny 23 Sep 2007, 04:56 - Report

• www.1blooreast.ca

  www.1blooreast.ca

  www.1blooreast.ca 23 Oct 2007, 04:34 - Report

• toronto listings?

  hi franny,the link above was really useful. do u know more sites with toronto condos? i found this one the other day which was pretty informative and right to the point http://www.condosintoronto4u.ca
  but im lookin for more listings to choose from.

  omid 07 Jul 2008, 07:23 - Report

• Riverwalk Project

  SUN CITY ARIZONA
  
  
  
  We have just listed a development project comprised of 13.3 acres 210 units fully entitled and permit ready for
  
  
  
  Senior living with all the Sun City Amenities, Seven Golf courses , Clubhouses, Ect.
  
  
  
  Also adjacent to this parcel there is a 2 acre parcel with permits in place zoned for
  
  
  
  Office/Medical or Retail, which may be purchased separately or together.
  
  
  
  
  
  If you have any interest in receiving a full package on the properties please call or Email
  
  [email removed] 480-266-6234

  Mike 21 Aug 2008, 10:52 - Report

• for first time home buyers

  better check my blog for the answers to your questions, its all about latest updates in property and realty development

  toronto realyt blog 04 Dec 2008, 08:29 - Report

• for first time home buyers

  better check my blog for the answers to your questions, its all about latest updates in property and realty development >> http://torontorealtyblog.com/

  toronto realyt blog 04 Dec 2008, 08:29 - Report

• But with a house, you must cut the grass, shovel the snow, paint the outside, do the maintence, etc. etc.

  Probably the dumbest comment dont purchase a condo because of the maintence fee.. Idiot with a house you must do all the maintence yourself.. cut the grass, plant flowers, paint the trim,, etc. etc. etc. If you have a busy lifestyle then a condo gives you more freedom to enjoy other activities, if you enjoy cutting the grass, shoveling the snow then yes purchase a house.

  eric lange 16 Jan 2009, 03:47 - Report

• Toronto Real Estate is tough

  I have been doing some research on who to go to in the Real Estate market especially for first time home buyers (I just bought my first house last month) and I loved the experience i had at MyCondoNetwork.com. They provided me with everything i needed to know about condominiums in Toronto. I also didn't feel pressured at all from them because they provided me with a HUGE database of Condominiums and townhomes.
  
  If your looking at buying and your a first time home buyer you have to look at www.mycondonetwork.com

  Andrew White 21 Jan 2009, 07:01 - Report

• buying new condo & mortgage

  You do not need to pay a mortgage broker. A good one will get you a good deal and get paid by the lender.
  As far as buying is concerned visit my site at www.johnlavin.ca and check out "new condo buyers" page. Also mortgage info available as well as a lot of other useful information.
  
  John Lavin
  Realtor
  email: [email removed]

  john lavin 25 Feb 2009, 05:35 - Report

• Looking for local listings in High Park

  Hello,
  
  I would be more than happy to send you local listings in the High Park area. I am a sales representative with Sotheby's International Realty, which is affiliated with the Sotheby's Auction House.
  
  Please feel free to email me:
  Cierra Watson
  [email removed]
  416-960-9995
  www.sothebysrealty.ca

  Cierra Watson 13 Mar 2009, 03:57 - Report

• What to do with poor repairs/customer service

  I'm nearly 2 years into living on my condo and repairs (from my PDI and 1-Year) are still needed. Other owners in my building are in the same situation, engineered hardwood floor boards cracking. The builder's customer (dis)service group has offered to replace boards with "similar" wood (colour is slightly off but they insist it is within the acceptable variance). Our fear is the replacement wood, even though slightly different, will also crack within a few months to a year since it is the same (poor) quality.
  
  Any advice on what to do in this situation? If we allow the replacement of the wood it will crack again as several owners in my building have been through 3 and sometimes 4 complete flooring replacements.
  
  advice?
  
  thanks

  Mats 18 Mar 2009, 03:34 - Report

• Crestford

  But you also have to keep in mind that the people who own and are building the condo don't care about the people who live in them even in the slightest, I used to work in New Condos and townhomes doing diffeciencys bacically fixing all the mistakes the builder made and wow for 400k + what a waste buy a house FUCK buying a condo you get screwed no matter what, i worked closely with some of these companies like CRESTFORD and they will cut costs and screw u at every turn GOOD LUCK

  Kris Potts 14 Apr 2009, 04:38 - Report