1. Disappearing Parking Spots.

There are now countless buildings downtown that are under construction that will have multiple-times more units than parking spots available. RCMI Condos by Tribute is actually being built with no parking spots at all. Mega towers like INDX and Massey that were both launched this year will have 600+ units each and only around 100 parking spots each. Only 1 out of every 6 or 7 units will have a parking spot! Compare this to buildings built even just 10 years ago where pretty much every unit came with a parking spot. Resale buyers today who need a parking spot area already feeling the pinch and are being restricted to a smaller and smaller portion of the overall condo marketplace.

Two things to take from this trend:

1. Consider buying a parking spot with your next investment condo. While it’s true that many downtowners are giving up on car ownership altogether, I find that those in the $100K+ income bracket still have cars and have no plans on getting rid of them.

2. Prices for parking spots have only one place to go: UP. The imbalance between units and parking spots being built today will result in very high prices in the near future. I could definitely foresee a parking spot in a non-luxury condo building go for $100K in the next 5 years.

2. Disappearing 2 bedroom Units.

Check out this chart from Realnet which shows the breakdown of the different unit types for new condos in the last 12 years:

This chart shows a dramatic change over the last 8 years in the suite mix of new condominiums. In 2004, 2 bedroom and 2 bedroom+den suites made up 49% of the market and 1 bedroom and 1 bedroom+den suites made up 42% of the market. Today, in 2012, the 2 bedroom share is 31% (down 18%) and the 1 bedroom share is 65% (up 23%).

The obvious takeaway from this trend is that 3-5 years from now we may have a serious shortage of 2 bedroom units in the city. This is particularly interesting if you are an investor: consider buying a 2 bedroom unit in pre-construction today because a shortage of this type of unit could cause rental rates (and prices) to rise quicker than for 1 bedroom units. Move-up buyers who want to stay in a condo will have fewer and fewer choices as well pushing up demand for larger suites in the resale market.

Questions or comments? I’d love to hear from you.

Selling your condo can be a surprisingly time consuming and emotionally draining task, especially if you’ve never done it before. Having a plan from the start and working with an experienced professional can help you avoid mistakes and get your condo sold quickly and for top-dollar. In this video, I’m going to talk about the main selling rooms in your condo. More than the rest, these rooms will ‘sell’ your property!

This is one of several videos in my series about “How to Sell Your Condo and Buy a House“. Check out my Youtube Channel for the entire series.

1) ENTRANCE

Buyers will determine how they feel about your condo within seconds of entering. Having a front entrance that is welcoming and inviting is very important. Also consider how the other parts of your condo that you can see from your front entrance appear.

2) KITCHEN
It probably comes as no surprise that the kitchen is the number-one main selling room of your condo. Your kitchen is the room that buyers will gravitate to first and it’s very important to make sure your kitchen is showing in top-form. Here are a few tips for making your kitchen show its best:

First of all, make sure your kitchen sparkles like never before. Every surface, even the kitchen sink, should shine!
Second, de-clutter your counter tops. Removing as much as possible from your counter tops will give the impression of space and a large workspace.
Finally, add some colour to your kitchen with accessories like a fruit bowl or some fresh cut flowers.

3) BATHROOM
Your bathroom needs to look and feel spa-like. Of course it needs to be spotless just like your kitchen, and you want to keep all counter tops as clean an clutter-free as possible. Make sure there is no mold or mildew in the shower, close your toilet seat lid! Fold your towels neatly and use simple art work and accessories to make your bathrooms feel inviting and comfortable.

When you are preparing your condo for sale, you need to think about the entire unit, however, depending on your time and budget constraints, your main selling rooms need to get the most attention.

If you are thinking about selling your condo and buying a house this year, I’d love to help. For more information contact me.

Buying a house can feel like a scary thing at times because unlike buying a condo where you are basically just buying 4 walls and some windows, buying a house means you are buying an entire building with all it’s potential defects. It’s important to buy smart and protect yourself against potential hidden defects.

This is one of several videos in my series about “How to Sell Your Condo and Buy a House“. Check out my Youtube Channel for the entire series.

Every house will have some hidden defects. They can’t be entirely avoided. Generally speaking, the older the home, the greater the chances of unforeseen issues. Understand that even if a home is brand new you will discover some issues when you move in that you didn’t see during your first visit before you put in your offer to purchase.

A defect can be something serious like a leaky roof or unstable foundation, or it could be something small like a broken dishwasher.

Besides getting a home inspection and doing your normal due diligence on a house, here are some tips for avoiding any surprises after closing day:

Visit the property twice before putting in an offer whenever possible. You always see things differently on your second visit.

If a property has a tenant in it, talk to them. Tenants are often a GREAT resource for learning about a property’s issues and will often divulge more than their landlords would probably want them to!

Finally, talk to the neighbours. Knock on their doors and ask them what they think about the street, the neighbourhood, the house itself. Neighbours are often a golden source for information when buying a house!

Recently I had some clients who were looking for a house in the east end. We had been looking for a few months and finally they found the perfect house for them near Pape and Danforth. The house had everything thing they were looking for but while they were just doing a home inspection before finalizing the deal. While doing their inspection they saw a drug deal going down in a walkway directly beside the house. They discovered this walkway was a place where many shady characters passed through and they decided to walk away from the house. A couple weeks later they did end up finding an even better property just a few blocks away.

If you are thinking about selling your condo and buying a house this year, I’d love to help. For more information contact me.

Because you usually don’t own your heating and air conditioning equipment in your condo, you probably never think about it as long as it’s working properly. However, when you are buying a house the furnace is a very important piece of equipment in your new home.

This is one of several videos in my series about “How to Sell Your Condo and Buy a House“. Check out my Youtube Channel for the entire series.

When it comes to furnaces, the more efficient the better. A high efficiency furnace will save you a lot of money versus a mid or low efficiency model. The typical lifespan of a furnace is about 20 years.

My expert tip for quickly figuring out if a furnace is a high efficiency furnace or not is look on the outside of the house for plastic vent pipes. There should be 2 of them, one pointing up for air intake and one pointing down for exhaust. This means your furnace is a high efficiency unit.

The most recent high efficiency furnace vents will be white PVC plastic, however, the slightly older models use black ABS plastic which is also OK.

Here’s an example of a high-efficiency furnace. This one says it was installed in this house in 2005. As you can see, it’s nice and small, probably half the size of a unit that was built 20 years ago, and you’ll notice the plastic venting pipes coming out of it, indicating it is a high efficiency furnace.

Another thing I wanted to point out about this unit is that it has a humidifier built in which is great for keeping your house from getting too dry in the dead of winter.

If you are thinking about selling your condo and buying a house this year, I’d love to help. For more information contact me.

The Kitchen is probably the most important room in any house. More than any other room, the kitchen will usually determine how you as a prospective buyer feel about a house you are thinking about buying. Unlike in most condos where kitchens are pretty much cookie-cutter from one to the next, no two kitchens are alike in Toronto houses.

This is one of several videos in my series about “How to Sell Your Condo and Buy a House“. Check out my Youtube Channel for the entire series.

Most people know a good kitchen when they see one. But like most things in real estate, it’s the details that make all the difference. The best and highest quality kitchens are custom crafted for the house they are in, have a sensible and well thought through layout, and contain high quality materials that are built to last.

Every appliance manufacturer has tried to take advantage of the stainless steel trend by selling what I call ‘fake’ stainless steel appliances. They are just black appliances with a stainless steel front on them or in some cases, it’s just regular steel that is painted to look like stainless steel! Learn to spot the difference! You can buy a fridge, stove, & dishwasher in these imitation stainless steel appliances at future shop for around $1500. A real quality stainless fridge like this one will cost 3x that much. Don’t be fooled by cheap imitations!

I wanted to show you the kitchen in this house in Cabbagetown because it has everything a GREAT kitchen should have. Check out the custom built, real wood cabinetry. Notice how the trim goes right up to the ceiling giving it that built-in look. The appliances are all high-end real stainless steel. You’ve also got great bonus features like a built-in desk area, under cabinet lighting, soft close drawers, beautiful granite counters and under mount sink. The list of premium features goes on and on. This kitchen was obviously built by a craftsman and will still look great in 20 years.

If you are thinking about selling your condo and buying a house this year, I’d love to help. For more information contact me.

Canary District Condos is here. Platinum VIP Sales are on now. If you are interested in purchasing a unit at Canary District, simply complete the form below to register for the Platinum VIP sales event.

As the first new condo in the heart of the West Don Lands neighbourhood, this project is already generating a lot of attention from Realtors, the media, and condo investors alike. Because the West Don Lands is a brand new neighbourhood, being built from scratch, most people don’t even know where it is! This post will help you understand where Canary District Condos is going to be located in relation to the downtown and in relation to the West Don Lands.

The first image above in this post shows the entire downtown east side, including the West Don Lands. Side note: many people find it confusing that the “West Don Lands” neighbourhood is actually on the east side of downtown, the name is derived from the Don River which empties into Lake Ontario here. The name is derived from the fact that the area is on the west side of the Don River.

This next image below is a zoom in of the West Don Lands which shows Canary District. What is not on this map is three new TTC streetcar stops which will be located along Cherry Street.

Next up is a picture of a scale model of the West Don Lands neighbourhood. In the foreground is the Don River Park. Right up the middle is Front Street which will act as the centre piece of the neighbourhood. It will be as wide as Spadina avenue, but will only have 2 lanes for traffic. The remaining expanse will be filled will extra wide pedestrian-friendly sidewalks and sitting areas, lush landscaping, and patios for the restaurants, cafes and shops.

Next is a photo of the actual site for Canary District as it looks today. It is amazing to think that this empty piece of land will play such an important part of Toronto’s future. The West Don Lands will be a model for urban renewal and brownfield redevelopment for cities all over the world!

Finally, here is a promotional video for Canary District put out by the developer and just released yesterday:

To get floor plans and pricing for the Platinum VIP sales event for Canary District Condos, simply complete the form below.

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Most people who live in downtown condos never get a chance to get to know their neighbours. You can pretty much co-exist right next to each other without ever seeing your neighbours. Living in a house on a street is quite different, and who your neighbours are is suddenly very important.

This is one of several videos in my series about “How to Sell Your Condo and Buy a House“. Check out my Youtube Channel for the entire series.

They say you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your neighours. This may be true once you have already moved in, but before you buy that house, it’s quite alright to find out who will be living beside you – sharing the sidewalk, possibly the backyard, or who’s one the other side of the wall if you buy a semi.

Expert Tips

First, look around! when you are thinking about buying a house, look at the adjacent properties and those on the same block. How are they kept up? do you see any broken down cars on blocks in the yard? does it look like people generally care about their homes or are they all falling apart? The condition of the property can tell you a lot about the people who live inside.

My second expert tip is quite obvious:
-Talk to the neighbours! ask them about the neighbourhood and the street. find out how long they have been living there. find out if there are any unsavoury characters on the block!
You’ll be amazed at what people will tell you!

There are many horror stories of how bad neighbours have made home buyer’s lives miserable. But I can tell you from my own experience my neighbours have been great. Every summer I get fresh tomatoes and cucumbers from my next door neighbours’ vegetable garden, and every September there is a block party for the whole street in my other neighbour’s back yards.

If you are thinking about selling your condo and buying a house this year, I’d love to help. For more information contact me.

When you’re shopping for a house, going down to the basement is probably not one of the first things you think of when first entering a home, but the basement can actually tell you a lot about the overall condition of the home.

This is one of several videos in my series about “How to Sell Your Condo and Buy a House“. Check out my Youtube Channel for the entire series.

The basement is actually the first place I go into whenever I am looking at a house with a client. There are a few key things I always look for:
1) the ceiling height
2) the furnace and hot water tank
3) the electrical panel
4) any signs of water damage, mold or mildew

In my opinion ceiling height is the most important feature of any basement. You can change just about anything else in a basement for minimal cost, but ceiling height is one thing you can’t unless you are prepared to spend $50,000 to dig your basement down.

My expert tip is to try to find a house with good ceiling height. Even if the basement is completely unfinished, just the potential of what you could do with a basement with good ceiling height adds tremendous value to your home.

I wanted to show you this example of something that is quite common in basements in older homes in Toronto and that is efflorescence. Efflorescence occurs on the walls of a foundation when water penetrates the brick and as it evaporates it leaves behind a mineral residue. It can also occur when the air in a basement is too moist. If you see a lot of efflorescence it might be a sign that there was a moisture problem in the past or there is one currently. Proceed with caution.

If you are thinking about selling your condo and buying a house this year, I’d love to help. For more information contact me.

Next to the Kitchen, the bathroom is probably the second most important room in any house. Just like when you bought your condo, adding multiple bathrooms to a property can dramatically increase its price.

This is one of several videos in my series about “How to Sell Your Condo and Buy a House“. Check out my Youtube Channel for the entire series.

Many starter homes in the best neighbourhoods in the city priced around $600K or less will only have 1 bathroom in the house and it’s usually on the 2nd floor. It may seem crazy but it’s simply because most of the homes in Toronto’s best neighbourhoods were built 80-100 years ago. Having a main floor bathroom is actually a very highly sought after feature, and if you can find one in a house priced under $600K be prepared to fight for that house!

Water pressure is something that you probably took for granted while living in your condo, however, in many of Toronto’s older neighbourhoods in particular, water pressure can range from mediocre to horrible. My expert tip for bathrooms is to always check the water pressure in the place that it is most important: the shower. One way to really test it is to run two things at once and see how the pressure in the shower holds up.

I wanted to show you this gorgeous bathroom in one of my client’s homes in cabbagetown. This is actually the master ensuite which used to be a bedroom in the original Victorian house. Notice the details that make this one special including custom vanity, built-in storage, high end finishes etc.

If you are thinking about selling your condo and buying a house this year, I’d love to help. For more information contact me.