Houses are apples, condos are oranges
They’re both real estate but beware the differences in size, shape and forms of tenure
Excerpt from an article by Ellen Roseman – Toronto Star
My husband and I have lived in the same Toronto house for 20 years.
We moved in with our five-year-old son. Our second son was born within a week.
Both boys still live with us. But now they’re in their 20s, we’re thinking ahead to the next phase.
We’re considering buying a condo apartment for the kids. They’d live there and pay rent, while we enjoy peace at home — and the possible appreciation of our real estate investment.
Condo fever is raging in Toronto. More than 17,000 condos were sold last year, the most on record.
Condos now account for 44% of new home sales in the city, up from a historical average of 25%.
I thought I was immune to the condo craze. Who wants to squeeze into a tiny box, perched many floors above the busy street life below?
But that was before I visited the Pinnacle Centre, a 37-storey building on Yonge St., looking over the Gardiner Expressway. A second tower is under construction next door.
I went there at the request of a Toronto Star reader, who wanted to know if this condo development was a good deal.
I was in a 30th-floor unit facing east, with few obstructions blocking my enjoyment of Lake Ontario. I felt I could drink in this view all day and night, without tiring of it.The one-bedroom plus den unit had only 750 square feet, which included the balcony. You’d need to buy new furniture, built extra small to accommodate its dimensions.
But I snapped back to reality when I started asking questions of the real estate agent.
The price I was quoted was $270,000. But this didn’t cover a parking space ($20,000) and a storage locker ($4,000).
The condo fees — at 37 cents a square foot — were levied on the suite, but not the balcony. They added up to $260.48 a month or about $3,125 a year. Hydro and heating costs were included in the condo fees, but not cable TV.
Shopping for condos is a different proposition from shopping for freehold homes. You need a whole new vocabulary and frame of reference.
Is there a condo purchase in your future? Maybe so.
You could be buying a first home and finding condo prices more affordable.
You could be looking for a recreational property in an area where condo development is rampant (such as Collingwood’s Blue Mountain ski resort).
Condo living, similar to condo buying, presents challenges if you’re a newcomer.
He and his wife live in a condo townhouse in a 260-unit Burnaby, B.C. development that they bought into 14 years ago.”If you’re buying a resale condo,” he says, “you need to know the history. Ask for the last two years’ worth of minutes from the condo meetings.”
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If you need help wading through the endless maze of Toronto condos, help finding the perfect one for you and your family, then be sure to contact the Jeffrey Team, your Toronto condo realtors!
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