Then:

The building was established as a hotel in 1864, but the site itself has a long history dating back to the 1800s.  Originally, the building was known as Long’s hotel, then the Arcade hotel, The Niagara House and finally, after a visit from the Duke and Duchess of York in 1901, it was renamed ‘The Prince of Wales Hotel’.

In the 1970s, the hotel was bought by the Wiens Family, who undertook serious renovations to expand the hotel to the east and to the south. The renovations stayed true to the late Victorian architecture when the hotel opened in 1864. The architectural style is called “Second Empire”.

Second Empire architecture actually goes back to the 17th century designs of French architect Francois Mansart, after whom the mansard roof is named.  The mansard roof (as seen in the photo below) is the key identifying feature of the Second Empire. It was not only a fashionable element, but  functional one as well since it created completely usable attic space.

Other commonly seen details are a bracketed cornice beneath the mansard roof, round arched windows, quoining, decorative dormer windows, an iron crest at the roofline (present in the original 1864 hotel but absent from the post 1970s renovated hotel), and columned porches or porticoes.

Now: 

Currently, the hotel is a temporary home to guests visiting the vineyards and historic Niagara on the Lake. The luxurious landmark offers a state of the art spa, restaurant with an in-house Sommelier and an afternoon high tea. These accommodations are fit for royalty (as I’m sure the Duke of York, George V, could attest…if he were alive), rates are approximately $300 per night.

At night the ghost of Mary, who was accidentally killed by an American soldier in room 207 during the war of 1812, can be heard haunting the hallways. Flickering lights, voices, empty showers turning on and off have been reported by frightened visitors.

Or spend $25,000 on a 3 bed, 3 bath 3 storey house across the border?

This little bungalow sold in a bidding war for over one million in the Spring of 2012.

I’m not saying the market in Toronto isn’t crazy (or depressing for buyers), but is it worse that this? Here is what’s going on the other side of the Lewiston Bridge in New York State: 

One forsaken home after the other:

Shattered windows.

Boarded windows.

Decaying wood porches and posts.

There’s a good chance that this vinyl sided home is worth less than your car.

At some point this was a beautiful property, and proudly maintained for decades. This property was likely built in the 1920′s, nearly one hundred years later it’s in a state of disrepair.

These properties were photographed at random in Niagara Falls, New York. There are streets with well kept homes and proud owners, but vacant, neglected houses are a common sight and not just confined to one area. Unfortunately they can be seen throughout the city. 

I don’t know about anyone else. Personally, I’d rather spend $1,000,000 on an exiguous bungalow anywhere in Toronto, than $25,000 in an auction on a condemned property across the border.

I came across an article in the Globe and Mail.  The headline read, “Clouds gather over Canadian Housing Market[1]”.

Wait, what?? What clouds??

What’s next, lightning, hail, tsunami?? Lake Ontario overflows and half the city is under water!! The housing market crashes as Torontonians evacuate!

Ok, Globe and Mail. It’s time to stop scaring my Buyers. These days I feel more like a psychologist than a real estate agent. I spend a lot of time reassuring stressed out, fearful clients.

Madame Toastmaster, Fellow Toastmasters, and Welcomed Guests,

Next time you see a headline like this, please take it with a grain of salt. Here are four reasons why:

1. Articles can be sensationalized.

Many writers use fear tactics to sell their articles.  A hard-hitting and controversial headline is attention grabbing and sells newspapers. Like Globe and Mail’s March headline that read “One word to describe Toronto’s real estate market: It starts with an F[2]”.

Toronto Life wrote the following line: “The house hunt has become a blood sport involving bully bids, bribery and a willingness to pay $100,000 over asking, without conditions, for the ugliest address on the street” [3].

Toronto Life, please don’t tell my Buyers that they’re going to end up bloody and swindled, the remorseful owners of an ugly house. I would never let this happen. I make sure my clients’ experience is PLEASANT. Ask any one of them.

2. Articles are sometimes published too late.

I don’t know how many articles I’ve read about a bidding war  for a specific address that occurred a season earlier.

3. Articles sometimes manipulate data.

You can make numbers say anything. There’s a lot of data out there, and when writers have a certain angle, they may omit certain numbers. If you read somewhere that the market has gone up by 6.5%, don’t just take that number at face value.  Does 6.5% mean sales are up, or does it mean prices are up. Is it for condo sales or for freehold sales? Is it for downtown Toronto or the GTA? Is it 6.5% more volume this month? Or 6.5% since the same time last year?

If I read that real estate sales have plummeted in July and August, I’m going to go crazy. It’s called seasonality and it happens every year.

4. Articles sometimes contain data from unreliable sources.

The only data my clients need to worry about is their own financial data and whether of not the can afford the monthly mortgage payments and maintenance fees, and property taxes.

For the record, the market is NOT crashing. To those of you who are wondering if and when the market will crash, I would suggest you stop speculating. In my opinion, speculating is like gambling. You don’t really know what you’re doing.

If you want to buy, then buy. If you don’t want to buy, then don’t buy. Just don’t fall victim to the Chicken Little Syndrome: The sky is falling, the sky is falling!  The sky is not falling and neither is the real estate market.

Disclaimer: The preceding commentary is the opinion of Hanna Stecewicz and does not represent the interests or opinions of Right at Home Realty Inc., Brokerage or the Toronto Real Estate Board. Therefore, Right at Home Realty will not be held responsible and/or liable for any of the opinions herein.

A man by the name of Manzoor Khan stole 20 million dollars from condo owners across the city. 20 Million Dollars. That’s a massive figure. It’s hard to wrap your head around such a large sum

This man was the president and owner of Channel Property Managed and managed 9 different condominiums in Toronto.

He opened up fake bank accounts in the each of the condo’s names.

He authorized fake bylaws and falsified papers that authorized him to borrow millions of dollars from a lending institution.

He did this all without anyone noticing. Not the board of directors, not the condo owners, and not even the employees really knew what was going on.

It was months before anyone caught on to his scam. It was only when the property management company began to default on payments, that the lender issued a notice to the condo board. And that’s when the scheme unraveled. But by then it was too late, Khan had vanished.  Speculators claim that he had fled with the money to the Middle East.

Madame Toastmaster, Fellow Toastmasters, Welcomed Guests,

Now those condo owners are on the hook for 20 Million.

This could have happened to anyone. It could have been you.

What do you do when your condo board announces you owe a lender 20 Million? Some people have succumbed to depression. Some people have tried to sell only to realize their units have become unmarketable. The negative media attention and resulting stigma has destroyed their condo’s reputation and nobody wants to buy.

They’re losing money on their investment; their units are selling for significantly less than a year ago.

Some people worry that the maintenance fees will increase to the point they can no longer afford to pay, or worse, a special assessment will be issued against the condo owners and they’ll be forced to pay thousands of dollars up front.

The truth of the matter is, that no one really knows what the future holds for each of these condos. The owners have pooled together and filed a lawsuit against Khan and his property management company. The case has gone to the superior court, but it could be years before they see an outcome.

This cautionary tale is not meant to scare off condo owners or condo buyers. This is an unprecedented case.

Sometimes despite your best efforts, there isn’t anything you can do. There are bad people in this world. And whether it’s in real estate, banking, in the stock market, in business fraud exists.

But there is something you can do to reduce the risk: your due diligence.

Future condo buyers: make your condo offer conditional upon the your lawyer’s review of a current status certificate.

The status certificate is a disclosure document which describes the financial state of the condominium, including information about maintenance fees, the condo’s budget, the amount of money in the reserve fund, special assessments, lawsuits, the status of the building insurance, etc.

Be diligent. Sit down with your lawyer and go over the document line by line.

If there is anything in that document that indicates the condominium is unhealthy, your lawyer will let you know. And you can walk away from the deal, with your deposit back in full.

Current condo owners: join the condo board. You’ll learn more about condos than you ever thought possible. You’ll have influence over how your condo is run, and at the very least, you’ll know where your maintenance fees are going.

In the meantime, we need to wait and see how this lawsuit plays out. Will the court recover the $20 million? Will the lender have to take a loss? Will the condo owners have to pay? These questions still need to be answered.

I’m certain that when the court announces a verdict, we’ll be reading it in the newspaper the next day.

Disclaimer: The preceding commentary is the opinion of Hanna Stecewicz and does not represent the interests or opinions of Right at Home Realty Inc., Brokerage or the Toronto Real Estate Board. Therefore, Right at Home Realty will not be held responsible and/or liable for any of the opinions herein.

Then:

This Neo-Gothic structure was built in 1913 by architects by Burke, Horwood and White. Originally, it was the headquarters of the Methodist Church of Canada until the church converged with another denomination and became the United Church. In 1985, CHUM (Canada Broadcasting Corp. which owned CityTV and A-Channel) acquired the building. In 2007, CTV Globemedia (owns CTV Television Network) acquired CHUM. In 2011, Bell acquired CTV (and CHUM…and everything else).

Despite it’s long history of being passed on from corporation to corporation, the architecture has remained the same, but it goes without saying that thousands have been spent to maintain the building.

What defines this building as Neo-Gothic are the terra-cotta carvings and crests beneath each set of three windows. Neo-Gothic architecture commands strong vertical lines and a sense of great height. With it’s pointed finials (the ornamental pinnacles protruding from the roof), 299 Queen St W certainly has a looming presence.

Now:

It’s known as the iconic Much Music building. The constant influx of celebrities attracts teens from all corners of the GTA. The streets are shut down once a year in June when Much Music hosts the Much Music Awards. It’s a definite treat for youngins hoping to catch a glimpse of Miley Cyrus, but a “screeching” headache for local residents who know well enough they need to leave the city until it’s all over the next day.

Not a traditional characteristic of Neo-Gothic architecture is the CityTV turned CP24 truck that projects through the eastern wall of the building. That CP24 goes through great lengths to bring us the news eh?

Forgive my sad attempt at a joke. I’ll just stick to real estate.

Then:

Looking south onto the seemingly quiet Bedford Rd. The CN tower was absent from this view until 1976.

On the right is the Creed’s Storage Vault building, which was the storage and cleaning location for Creed’s Fur Ltd.

Creed’s was a women’s specialty store which specialized in furs and high end designer fashion. The retailer opened it’s doors in 1916 but went bankrupt in 1990.

The building itself is designed in the Art Deco style, embellished with hard-edged designs and geometric shapes. To keep costs down, ornamental treatment was limited to the most visible parts of the building.

In Ontario, the style was adopted by wealthy and very fashionable patrons who wanted the Art Deco detailing to make their buildings look lavish and exotic.

Now:

The building was converted into residential lofts in the mid 80s. Named the Creed Lofts, the space contains 19 multi-level units with 13 foot ceilings, skylights, and atriums. The original building had only two stories, the third storey was added during the loft conversion.

Then:

205 Yonge St and it’s twin 199 Yonge St were formerly the Bank of Toronto. Both buildings were built in 1905 by architect E. J. Lennox. The structure, made of grey limestone, is a prime example of neo-classical architecture.

Neo-classical buildings were constructed on the traditional Georgian plan but the Greek empire became the standard for architectural decoration. Detailing became more refined, delicate, and elegant.

The focus of 205 Yonge St are the four Corinthian flutes (Greek columns with channels cut vertically in the shafts) adorned at the top with an Acanthus (Mediterranean plant whose leaves are stylized into decoration for the column) framing the entrance. The domed roof, carvings, cornices all added to the richness of the architecture, which ultimately showcased the wealth of the landowner.

The buildings were designated as a heritage site under the Ontario Heritage Act in 1975.

Now:

The two buildings still exist today. They’ve been the home of a bank, a Heritage office, even a dentist’ office but they’ve been vacant for the last 25 yeas. Today, the landmark is known as “The Bird Poop Building”. If you’ve ever walked by either of the buildings, you would notice the horizontal surfaces are covered in pigeon droppings. Although the city has put up netting to keep the birds off, it still isn’t enough. It’s a shame to see a structure that was once a symbol of wealth turn into a such derelict state.

The good news is that MOD developments announced it’s purchase of 199 and 205 Yonge St and plan develop the property into a 60 storey condo, which will incorporate both neo-classical buildings into the architecture. The condo has been named “Massey Tower”.

While I have never sold pre-construction condos to my clients, and won’t be selling this one, I think it’s a necessary evil. If the city won’t spend money to bring the historical structures back to their former glory, I welcome a developer to step in.

Then:

This factory was built in 1907. It was the home of the Wrigley Gum Factory.

The Industrial Revolution had brought steel, plate glass, and mass-produced components. These enabled a world of bold structural frames, with clean lines and plain or shiny surfaces. In the early stages, a popular motto was “decoration is a crime”.

The side view of this building is completely unadorned. The front of the building however, does show case a repeated geometric motif between the windows.

Now:

The company moved the manufacturing operations to Leslie and Eglinton, and in 1998 Atria developed the building into residential lofts. 245 Carlaw Ave is now home of the Wrigley Lofts.

The building has been preserved wonderfully and residents can enjoy all the characteristics a hard loft has to offer from 14 foot ceilings, exposed brick and wood beams, concrete floors, large fluted columns and floor to ceiling warehouse windows.

For those who can afford loft living (a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom unit sold in March 2012 for $499,000), the space is filled with inspiration. William Wrigley Jr. founded Wrigley at the age of 29, with only $32 in his pocket. He started out as a soap salesman. He offered merchants two packs of gum as a thank you. When the gum proved to be more popular, he made it his focus.

The company was acquired by Mars Inc in 2008 for $23 billion.

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” - Henry David Thoreau.

If you haven’t heard, the story is about a run down 1200 sq ft property that sparked a 31 person bidding war. Nothing special, nothing that really deserved 31 people fighting over it.

If I could sum up the whole debacle in one word, I would call it disgraceful.

Madame Toastmaster, Fellow Toastmasters, Welcomed Guests,

Before you start pulling out your hair, know this: Real estate prices have not shot up 150% over night.

So how could something like this happen?

It’s the result of an unethical, uneducated, and disrespectful tactic put forward by the Seller and the Real Estate Agent who listed the property for sale.

Here is the secret that no one else will tell you.

The little bungalow in Mimico was $200,000 underpriced to begin with. A mere tactic to lure in some unsuspecting Buyers.

The tactic goes like this:

1. Listing agent meets with Seller of a $600,000 property.
2. Listing agent may or may not know the market value of the house, convinces the Seller to list for $200,000 less than what the true value is.
3. Listing agent counts on naïve Buyers to ­­­throw in offers, and eventually arrive at a sales price that is 150% over asking.

I’ve been in the real estate business long enough to know this is wrong.

1. It’s unethical. The Real Estate Council of Ontario has distinct rules about this type of practice. What has been demonstrated here is false advertising. The Seller never had any intention of selling a $600,000 property for $400,000.  It’s illegal for Starbucks to advertise a $4 latte, and charge you $6 at the counter. Why isn’t it illegal in real estate?

2. It’s uneducated. I’ve had conversations with my colleagues and we wonder if perhaps the agent didn’t even know how to determine the market value. The most difficult job for a listing agent is to price a house. It’s a moving target, and it takes experience to get it right. If you list too high, you’ll scare off a large pool of Buyers. If you price too low, you may be leaving money on the table.  A knowledgeable listing agent would apply the market conditions, competitive listings, and strategy to determine the listing price.

3. It’s disrespectful. To pull in 30 Buyers into a what is basically a game, shows exactly how little regard the listing agent had for people’s time and emotions.

To add fuel to the fire, the listing agent double ended the deal, which basically means he cheated.  First he reviewed all 30 offers with the Seller. Then he called the 31^st Buyer – his own client – and let him know the highest offer on the table is $600,000. If his Buyer client wants the property, all he needs to do is add a $1 to the highest bid and he’ll come out the winner. Whether or not his Buyer client’s offer was $1 higher or $1,000 higher, we’ll never know. The point is his own client had an unfair advantage and the listing agent was motivated to play unethically because if he can double end the deal, he can double his commission.

So what happened to the 30 other bidders? They walked away stressed out, defeated, and broken hearted.

There will be mixed feelings in the room after this speech. Some of you will be completely appalled and sympathetic towards the 30 poor bidders left with nothing. Some of you might think a listing agent should do everything in his power to get the maximum price for his Seller.  Fair enough.

There’s only one thing I want you to remember, and it’s that there’s a right way and a wrong way of doing business.

When you conduct yourself in a manner that’s unethical, uneducated, and disrespectful – it’s the wrong way.

In my opinion, I think the Seller and Listing Agent could have obtained the same financial outcome without the dramatic misleading scheme.

The lesson I want you to take away is for the potential Buyer.

If you ever find yourself in this position – where you’re up against 30 or so bidders – do your research. Find out what similar houses on the street have sold for. If you know ahead of time the house is worth around $600,000, you won’t waste your time or emotional well being offering anything less.

Disclaimer: The preceding commentary is the opinion of Hanna Stecewicz and does not represent the interests or opinions of Right at Home Realty Inc., Brokerage or the Toronto Real Estate Board. Therefore, Right at Home Realty will not be held responsible and/or liable for any of the opinions herein.

Then:

The detached building with a storefront is an example of Edwardian Classicism. Edwardian Classicism provided simple, balanced designs, straight rooflines, un-complicated ornament, and relatively maintenance-free detailing. These buildings generally have a smooth brick surface and many windows.

The building still exists today, relatively unchanged. Although it’s morbid past creates a stigma.

306 Davenport Rd is the address that’s famous for the “Just Desserts Shooting”. On April 5th 1994, three armed robbers invaded the storefront, which at the time was the Just Desserts Cafe. When a dispute broke out amongst the patrons who refused to hand over their wallets, one of the robbers fired his shotgun killing an innocent bystander inside the cafe.

Today:

The building has been listed for sale in 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2010. Today, the building is leased out to the Subway Sandwiches franchise.

I wonder how Subway’s sales are impacted by the cold blooded murder of 1994. Perhaps the crime has been forgotten?