Over the last 5 years just about every little piece of land in the central core has been turned into condos.
Developers have had a field day. From the moment the sales offices opened, they were ready to post the “sold out” signs.
Today, of course, you won’t find anyone other than sales staff (and relatively few of them) at the sales office.
As Mark Twain once said “buy land, they’re not making it anymore”. That generally seems like good advice, but when you think about it; it really doesn’t apply to condos.
Let’s assume that you buy an excellent penthouse apartment at one of the City’s premier intersections. You hold the condo for 10 years and now, it’s time to sell. Only one little problem, the same developer that built your apartment 10 years ago, is building a new tower right across the street. It’s just as good as yours. In fact, it’s better:
- It’s brand new
- Provides choice of colours and options to the buyers
- Has improved recreational amenities
- Contains substantial upgrades
- It hosts all the new green energy advantages
- It comes with low interest financing
- An HST rebate applies
- It has lower taxes
In your neighbourhood, it’s THE place to be!
Now, one unit just like yours would be tolerable, but there are 80 units just like yours, two on each of the 40 floors. You now have 40 floors blocking your view.
This doesn’t happen if you pick a good house on a good street. In 10 years, it will still be a good house on a good street, or on an even better street.
Be careful and do your homework before you purchase a downtown condo.
Brian Madigan LL.B., Broker
Comments 3
Not to mention the fact that the condo buildings, as they age, require large increases in the maintenance fees. We owned an older condominium in Oakville for three years. The condo fees went from roughly $270 to $380 in three years. We sold it 10 years ago. The condo fees in that building are over 2 times higher now as the parking area in the basememt required a total redo!
Author
All good points. As the building gets older and older the maintenance fees can easily increase substantially.
All true…but rest assured, you’ll still sell your unit because the builder is selling the unbuilt units at 10x the price per sq foot of existing units. And for the end user, your unit is available for occupancy in two months VS 3-5 years.