THE TORONTO CONDO MARKET IS SHRINKING !

Having started selling condos way back in the 1980’s (I’m dating myself now) I have watched the condo industry develop from its infancy.

Back then I was selling the Reichmann Family’s prestigious Queen’s Quay Residences atop the Queen’s Quay Terminal on Toronto’s Harbour Front. At that time the harbourfront as it’s come to be known was a rather desolate isolated space somewhat cut off from the rest of the city by the Gardner Expressway.

At that time, Hunter Milbourne was selling 33 Harbour Square and we mulled over strategies on how to get people to understand the significance of the lake front in down town Toronto let alone these relatively new things "condominiums".

Today of course we have 33 Harbour Square, 55 Harbour Square, 65 Harbour Square, The World Trade Center, King’s Landing, Admiralty, comprising the "old guard" and a newer wave of condos at the west end of the Queen’s Quay running from 500 & 550 Queen’s Quay, 600 Queen’s Quay, and Atrium on Queen’s Quay and Southbeach. This of course does not account for Waterview (3 Towers) Riviera (2 Towers) the new developments putting literally thousands of new residences into this once vacant land. Today the harbourfront is a thriving, vibrant part of the communities that make up Toronto and a destination sought after by Europeans.

Back in the 1980’s when we told someone we had residences at the Queen’s Quay ranging from 650 square feet to 1200 square feet the most common response was "I don’t think that I could live in anything that small". My solution at that time was to remove walls and form custom suites of 2500 square feet to as large as purchasers wanted.

This week I visited a new development just launched on Bloor Street East immediately west of the Signatures on Bay and just north of Shane Baghai’s Tiffany Terrace. Across the street is 8 Park Road.

Today the average condo is ranging approximately 600 square feet with the starting one bedroom here running at 460 square feet. The 650 square feet in the Queen’s Quay was a bachelor suite! A one bedroom plus den is 610 square feet with two bedroom models at 800square feet. The development does offer a 1,065 square foot model starting at $359,900.

The quality seems good, but have you ever seen a show room that did not showcase everything substantially better than many have turned out. This is no slight on the developer or the development but really, some of the entirely upgraded show rooms that you will experience at some are down right objectionable.

At prices starting at$345 per square foot, what you see is absolutely what you should get. At 85 Bloor this appears to be the case. Maintenance is a reasonable $0.38 per square foot. Occupancy is scheduled for September 30, 2003. All in all I give this development a "thumb’s up" on its presentation and design. Location is a no-brainer.

This leads me to share a mild warning with you with respect to just walking into a sales site or show room as the sellers prefer to call them. Whether you are spending $159,900 for the least suite in the development or whether your present budget allows you to chase the carrot and go for the $400,000 and up model, remember this is real money, a real contract and a real long term consequences.

I feel sorry for those unsuspecting purchasers who innocently walk into sales sites, many times just "to look" and who, before they know it are proud owners of real estate thanks to the strong arm tactics of sales professionals similar to me (I say similar because I’m a reformed high pressure salesman) who can pretty well make you buy a condo even if you don’t want to.

I know this sounds stupid but believe me, a highly trained sales professional can literally have you buy without you really having had the opportunity to ward off their well applied psychological gimmicks. Don’t take it from me, check with the Provincial Government who has imposed a law that gives purchaser’s a Recission Period ("cooling off period") to allow some kind of a level playing field (under law you are protected for 10 days from having received the condominium documents during which time the developer will not even cash your deposit check). This time period is for you to reflect on your purchasing decision and to have you lawyer read through the documents. If strong arm selling were not a part of the industry then this law would never have been enacted!

Read the article "Use A Buyer’s Agent" which I have posted on the site at the request of one of my clients who recently had me represent them to purchased a condo in Harbour View Estates.

Most credible developers work with and invite purchaser’s to get their own agent to represent them. Some developers do not and this might serve as a red flag to you the purchaser because why would they not when the greatest majority do? Again, with the kind of money at stake you really are best served by working with your own agent who holds the legal obligation to protect you and your best interests throughout what can prove to be a harrowing experience.

Another client of mine recently experienced a very bazaar encounter at a sales site of one of the leading developers in the City. I am very familiar with the company and moreso familiar with the Realtor that represents them at their sales site. My client has requested that I publish his letter with his name unpublished for obvious reasons. I am happy to always publish your comments and views on experiences or the market in general. I think that with purchaser’s publishing such material that the market may finally adjust to serving the public instead of "working them".

With that said I can absolutely assure you that you should always have your own professional, knowledgeable agent (I keep reinforcing knowledgeable because too many people seem comfortable using cousins or relatives to represent them even if they don’t know the intricacies of condos or more importantly the intricacies of each development that they would be considering.

With simplycondos.com you can rest assured that you will be taken care of. It is never my job to attempt to influence your buying decision. Rather, it is my job to find all qualifying quality condos/lofts that meet your needs and wants as set out in our Find Me A Condo Form and present them to you (we do this by sending you multimedia "Links" to your own private area of the site where you can study the details on any suite available as well as jump into our interactive mapping to study each neighborhood and development surrounding it).

You are granted the professional courtesy of NO PRESSURE or INFLUENCE. Once I have presented the available residences I will arrange viewings of those of interest, again introducing NO PRESSURE OR INFLUENCE onto you. I’m your agent not serving the needs of any seller! I don’t get paid for selling you any one particular condo, loft or townhome. I get paid (by the sellers agent who has offered to share his/her commissions from the seller with either sub agents working on the sellers behalf or buyer’s agents like me) when you convince yourself that you have found the right one based on having made your own INFORMED decision. Once you have done this, I once again go to work for you crafting the offer and negotiating the transaction insuring that your best interests are served along the way.

With new developments we don’t get to write the offer, rather we are limited to signing the very skillfully drafted documents prepared by the developers lawyers which without a doubt are slanted totally in the developers favor. If you want to visit sales sites on your own you need just give them my business card and there will be absolutely no pressure applied to you from them. If they inform you that they won’t work with me representing you take that to mean exactly what it says.

That’s all for today as I have got to run out and show some properties. Tune in again next weekend and I’ll share some other tidbits of insider stuff. I’m Charles Laurie Hanes for simplycondos.com.