I hate to be an “I told you so” but my long standing readers will recall my position disclosed in my articles about Waterford, an upscale residential condo development in Humber Bay Shores. The Waterford originally launched with only Million Dollar residences.

They did come with unobstructed views of Lake Ontario and upscale living appointments and conveniences considered as substantially upgraded to most competitors on what used to be known as motel row (hourly rates apply if you know what I mean). Developers have long lobbied to remove the sleazy continuity of small motels that pilfered one of the city’s few stretches of lakefront and five years back gained approval the restructure density on this land and high rise developments started to appear.

About twenty five years back we saw the emergence of what still today is one of the better upscale residential communities (“Palace Pier”) and then about ten years later came one of Bramalea’s last endeavors “Palace Place” slipped in between the eye line of south and south east facing units in Palace Pier and the downtown city panorama. Not quite as good a quality as Palace Pier (Bramalea went broke during the completion) these two towers remained the only signs of change in the area up until the late 1990’s.

The pioneer to the area was Canderel Stoneridge with Newport Beach, an upscale dual tower residential community with it’s southern tower offering some dynamic lake views. The development is of good quality (Canderel qualifies as a simplycondos.com “Preferred Builder”) and has great facilities including a cigar smoking room (specially ventilated) suitable for the upscale clientele envisioned for the property. They also built a row a beautiful townhomes.

A plethora of developments followed that literally were built on top of each other. I wrote about “They Sell You The Sizzle” in which I expressed my shock with how each development was allowed to impact the other’s views and my overall surprise with the rather haphazard overall design of the newly developing residential community.

The bottom line, is that all of these extremely successful developments all had a mix of small medium and large units, a something for everyones intellectual approach. This concept introduces a need to trade off some finishings and certainly the no-view end-product of many of these Humber Bay Shores condo communities. As a Buyer’s Agent I am not required to tout the merits and grandeur of the developers. I’m not dependent on them to advertise with me so my narrative is always unbiased and truthful.

Well, as I said above, Canderel tried the all million dollar homes formula and it did not work with Waterford. Unquestionably the top product out there, Waterford could not be completed on it’s original approach and they ended up buying another parcel of land immediately adjoining the property and expanding to include two additional towers with a balanced suit configuration mix. Once they did this, sales were plentiful as many buyers already knew the quality conventionally built in by Canderel Stoneridge.

The most recent challenges to this theory is Great Gulf Homes (another of simplycondos.com’s Award Winner as “Preferred Developer”). There recent efforts to launch and develop the upscale residential condo development “The Russell Hill” (now called The Winston) has helped them to learn (and supports my position) that a suite mix is absolutely necessary to successfully sell off a development.

Located in the prestigious residential community of Forest Hill, this development above any other should have defeated my position that you can’t sell all multi-million dollar homes to form one condo. Great Gulf has just taken this project back to the drawing board and reworked the units to include more smaller units having managed to sell only (an impressive) about half of the homes.

I have been hesitant to give this project my personal thumbs up simply due to my belief that they would be restructuring. Certainly one of the premier developers in the city (and one of the few that I give my personal endorsement to) with a better mix of suites and resulting lowering of price point (due to size) this development will undoubtedly be looked at seriously from our end with accompanying recommendations to follow. If you are considering a luxury condo in Toronto register with me. If you are interested in The Winston I’ll arrange a private viewing appointment at your convenience.

My services are absolutely FREE to you as the developer will cover my Buyer’ Agency Fees in full for you providing you attend with me and do NOT visit or register with them in any way. These rules are fair as developers get the run around by Realtors after the fact so to make sure everything is legitimate (you don’t want to pay for something that they will give you FREE) they impose these very sound policies. Simply Register with me and I’ll take care of everything for you to make sure you get priority viewing and selection.

The Regency in Yorkville, The St. Thomas, just below Yorkville, The Hazelton in Yorkville, Trump International Hotel & Tower, all offer Multi-Million Dollar residential condominiums. I just learned that the Ritz Carlton is coming to Toronto (here’s more competition for Trump) and that my all time favorite site on Yorkville Avenue has just gotten the green light, the selection of million dollar alternatives has broadened horrifically over the past six months.

Unquestionably my forecast of “Manhattan North” is seriously manifesting here in Toronto. Our 25,000 “Hits” Per Day shows clearly that Toronto is on its way to becoming the Manhattan of tomorrow . . . Today!

A weighted percentage of my clients are from international destinations. I represented a buyer from Abu Dubai and another from Riyadh last year, with many, many clients being Americans who long dreamt of retiring in Manhattan and enjoying the theatre, sports, shopping, dining, etc.

Well, at $1,500U.S. per square foot they are quickly realizing that they simply cannot afford to live their dreams there and once they realize that they have the same shopping, theatre, sports and entertainment up here in Toronto and at only about $U.S.300/sq.ft. they quickly see the light.

Yes, the day of the $400 per square foot condo residences is here and for luxury product so is the day of the $1,000 per square foot. Locals are going to have to realize that Toronto is a cosmopolitan city with huge growth potential. The downtown core is the Manhattan of Canada, Dundas Square is our Times Square and on a global scale we are very much undervalued with respect to property values.

Those preferring to hide behind the myth of a “Bubble” in this market are really simply preferring to avoid the obvious. Our condo market downtown is booming with a capital “B”! I see people turning back to stocks as if the track record alone isn’t enough for them to understand the speculative nature of an investment that can realistically drop to $0.

In all my years I haven’t seen real estate anywhere drop anywhere close! Like the Energizer Bunny, real estate values just keep on keep’in on, even with that one blip that we called the crash of the 80’s!

If you are considering investing and you are renting an apartment you have better seek out advice on the basic and fundamental of investing especially when you realize the profits made in the sale of a condo that you live in (“principal residence”) are TAX FREE.