Buying Your Condo with Confidence

by Andy Shaw and Lynn Waghorne

Our aim was to simplify our lives. As empty-nesters, it was time to downsize. Sell the house in the burbs and buy a small downtown condo. A common and simple enough goal these days. Or so it seemed. We soon discovered that for the uninitiated, buying a condominium is no straightforward exercise.

It's simple enough to figure out what you want (waterfront view, gas appliances, swimming pool, please) and what you can afford (one bedroom, not two). But things get complicated the moment you "sign in" to view a developer’s model suite. In effect, what you're doing is agreeing to be your own agent. You’re denying yourself the advantages of having a professional "buyer's agent" act on your behalf.

We knew nothing about buyer's agents before we saw a desirable condo in the King West area of downtown Toronto. We signed in. Found a very appealing corner suite (no gas appliances or pool, however) at an affordable price and said we'd be back in a few days with our first deposit. It's a scenario that probably gets repeated by starry-eyed condo buyers like us a few hundred times a day. Luckily, second thoughts kicked in soon after we got home. A World Wide Web search landed us on www.simplycondos.com. And our whole condo-buying process soon got a lot simpler.

Free Service

We learned via the site what a buyer's agent is and could do for us.

"My services are free to you," wrote Charles (Laurie) Hanes, a buyer's agent and the spirit behind www.simplycondos.com in response to an inquiring e-mail. "I'm compensated out of commissions or referral fees paid by developers or realtors. Not by you."

Professional help at no cost? Was this too good to be true?

To find out, we arranged to meet Laurie. He promised to show us the kind of condo our money could buy and further explain his role. It was a smart move.

"We're part of the industry," Laurie explained as he showed us a vacant one-bedroom condo that had just come on the market. "We bring developers customers so they accept us. But we represent the buyer, not the seller."

And Laurie knows the seller’s business. He spent 20 years on the other side of the fence working for developers and training their sales reps.

"What you don't want is high pressure sales tactics, said Laurie. "Once they know that you are protected under a buyer's agency they will drop the pressure and give you the info you want."

And what you need to know isn’t always obvious.

Condo Know-How

"Not all suites within a condo are the same," said Laurie. "On your behalf, I study the site plan and actually go to the site. I do things like figure out the premier views, see what the obstructions are, and look at the future uses of adjacent lands. Once that's done, we work together on picking the condo that best meets your needs. After that, I help you negotiate the purchase agreement. It may sound a little complicated but it's a systematic approach that enables you to make informed decisions."

As we left the condo, Laurie added, "You've found a suite on your own and it looks pretty good, but it’s not exactly what you want. If you designate me as your agent, you can send me a list of all the things you're looking for -- and I'll find what you want. Good condos come on the market everyday."

That gave us confidence. We pocketed the check for our first pick and went home. We then e-mailed Laurie, formally asking him to be our agent and providing him with list of things we would like to have in our new home. Within 10 days, and with Laurie's help every step of the way, we had found and purchased our condo hard by the Toronto SkyDome. The condo hit 16 out of 17 items on our wish list including all our “must-haves” and a waterfront view.

Negotiation Help

Most helpful was Laurie's presence during the signing of our 21-page agreement. He joined us in the developer's office to go over both our lawyer's and his own recommended changes -- reminding us that such agreements are always cast in the seller's favour. He helped us move through the agreement page by page, negotiating changes and overcoming the developer's resistance to us initialling each page -- a step that ensures neither the developer nor anyone else can change those pages without our consent. Closing a deal on your new home is pretty heavy stuff and tricky territory for the neophyte. If it weren't for Laurie's level head and vast experience we would not have got the best deal possible.

Our building's not built yet. It's still just a parking lot. And we won't move in until November 2003. But already, thanks to Charles Laurie Hanes, our lives are a lot simpler.

Andy Shaw is a freelance writer and broadcaster. Lynn Waghorne is an editor and graphic designer. Their story may be reproduced with permission. You can reach Andy at andyshaw@ca.inter.net   or Lynn at lynnwaghorne@sympatico.ca.