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TORONTO TOWNHOMES
12 Sudbury Townhomes, Queen/King W. | Toronto
Annex on Brunswick Townhomes, The, Little Italy | Toronto
Berkeley Lane Freehold Townhomes, Downtown East | Toronto
Broadway Lanes Townhomes, Yonge/Eglinton | Toronto
Castle Terrace Townhomes, Yonge/St. Clair | Toronto
College Park Townhomes, Bay St. Corridor | Toronto
Davenport Townhomes, Annex/Yorkville | Toronto
Merton Townhomes, Yonge/St. Clair | Toronto
Humber Mews Townhomes, Humber Bay Shores/High Park | Toronto
Parkview Townhomes, Bay St. Corridor | Toronto
Prego Townhomes, Little Italy | Toronto
Russell Hill Townhomes, Yonge/St. Clair | Toronto
Spadina Townhomes, Yonge/St. Clair | Toronto
Townhomes on Belmont, Annex/Yorkville | Toronto
Townhomes on Merton, Yonge/St. Clair | Toronto
Townhomes on Pleasant Boulevard, Yonge/St. Clair | Toronto
The Townhomes of New Corktown, Downtown East | Toronto
Windermere by the Lake Townhomes, Humber Bay Shores/High Park | Toronto

U
U Condominiums, Bay St. Corridor | Toronto
University Plaza, Entertainment District | Toronto
Uptown Residences, Bay St. Corridor | Toronto
Uxbridge, The, Downtown East | Toronto

V
Vibe, Queen/King W. | Toronto
Victorian, The, St. Lawrence Market | Toronto
Village Terraces, Yonge/St. Clair | Toronto
Vinegar Lofts, Broadview/Riverdale | Toronto
Vu, Downtown East | Toronto

W
Waldorf Astoria I, Bloor East | Toronto
Waldorf Astoria II, Bloor East | Toronto
Waterclub, Harbourfront | Toronto
Waterford, Humber Bay/High Park | Toronto
Waterpark City I & II, Harbourfront | Toronto
Waterview, Humber Bay/High Park | Toronto
Wellington On The Park, Queen/King W. | Toronto
Wellington Square, Queen/King W. | Toronto
West40 Residences, Little Italy | Toronto
West 833, Queen/King W. | Toronto
West Harbour City I & II, Harbourfront | Toronto
West One (Cityplace), Entertainment District | Toronto
Westside, Queen/King W. | Toronto
Windermere, Humber Bay Shores/High Park | Toronto
Windsor Arms Residences, Annex/Yorkville | Toronto
World Trade Centre I & II, Harbourfront | Toronto
Worx, Fashion District | Toronto
Wrigley Lofts, The, Broadview/Riverdale | Toronto

X
X The Condominium, Bloor East | Toronto

Y
York Condominium, Downtown East | Toronto

Z
Zed Lofts, Fashion District | Toronto
Zen Lofts, Fashion District | Toronto
Zip Condos & Lofts, Queen/King W. | Toronto

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by Charles Hanes

"Dog Suites"

Here's the low down - Exclusive from Simplycondos.com

I am confident that I’m not bursting anyone’s bubble when I say that every condo development has good suites and not-so-good suites (in the business we call them "dog suites")... read more>>

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"Investing" In Condominiums

I have never been and probably will never be mistaken for a “world class investor”. Actually I have never made an investment that has ever paid off on the stock exchange and I found that I managed my repeated failed attempts in spite of substantial investments in research.

I find it frustrating to throw money at companies that I have no control over in the hope of seeing my money grow (RRSP or not). All I’ve ever managed to see is it wilt away to nothing usually. The recent dot com crash is an excellent example. Most recent the Nortel situation rings loud in the back of my head.

I researched the dot com phenomena closely trying to make my money work for me but every time I felt confident in making an investment the market would hit a new all time low! Example, I set aside $50,000 last fall to potentially invest in Nortel of Mississauga who had long been the Microsoft of Canada to most investors.

Watching the stock tumble from the $80 range down to $12 or so last September I felt confident that this stock had nowhere to go but up. Fortunately every time I tried to get around to actually investing the money (I got my E-Trade Account operational twice) something always seemed to come up and I didn’t make my move. I watched the $12 price drop to five and became absolutely convinced that now was the time to buy. Yesterday’s $1.67 price sealed my fate to never again jump into such uncharted waters.

On the other side of the investment coin is investing in real estate, specifically condos. Most people know that wealth is not generated from the conventional growth in real estate. The long term holding of quality real estate certainly pays huge dividends but to the average small investor five star commercial real estate holdings are a little beyond our grasp.

The Worldcom, Teleglobe, Enron fiascoes that are still reverberating throughout the global investment industry set a pretty clear example of the true potential underlying investing in stocks. Far from an accountant, it is not difficult for me to understand that millions on millions of dollars in stock options not expensed on the companies books can only lead to destruction. Who allows such ridiculous rules over this industry any way?

I have yet to find an investment that offers the upside that condo investing offers built off of sound conservative investment principals offering minimum risk. After all you always need to live someplace and to most small investors their home conventionally is their major investment. Residential condo investing (whether strictly as an investment or also as a home) offers three excellent alternatives that are unique in all other forms of investment.

A conservative investment strategy would suggest that purchasing a presale condo to live in while focusing on paying down your mortgage (using accelerated and flexible banking options) to be a good first step. Of course, you have got to know when to buy in and then which suite within the building thus requiring familiarity with reading floorplans. These are both reasons to have your own experienced agent work with you and not really the focus of our communication here (see “How To Purchase a New/Presale Condo” or “How to Purchase a Resale Condo”).

From an investment perspective when assessing condos it is important to understand that condos furnish 3 unique options that hedge your investment significantly. Before going into these three alternatives it is important to set a foundation of return on investment when assessing condos.

Without professing specific financial analysis knowledge, it is reasonable to say that growth on equity on condos is pretty much consistent with growth on equity of real estate in general. For ease of establishing a common understanding lets say that over the long run Toronto condos grow in value consistent with growth of cost of living. Let’s say that based on historic data we can expect a 4% growth in real estate values per annum. Therefore, if we purchase resale (an existing previously lived in condo) we can expect our equity base to grow each year by approximately 4%. This is not to say that 4% return on a $300,000 asset is to be sneered at.

The major return in condos comes from purchasing a presale (nonexistent). A recent example of your projected or possible return on investment is reflected in a recent purchase of a loft at 1029 King St., that I handled. We were actually buying an “Assignment”. The unit was offered on MLS. The development had originally been marketed approximately 2 years earlier and now the building was just about complete (see new vs resale) and units were being offered for sale by the original purchasers (be careful here - additional serious legal concerns apply).

As the transaction was an “Assignment” we required disclosure of the original sales agreement. In this case it

showed the original price to be $60,000 less than we were offering to buy it for. The original purchaser had bought it at $150,000 and we were paying $210,000 two years after they entered into a presale agreement and agreed to advance 15% of the $150,000 ($22,500 in 3 spread out installments) resulting in basically a 250% Profit to the investor. Not bad if you have the time and position to allow yourself to wait a couple of years and providing that you are good at reading floorplans and/or site plans and have the ability to juxtapose these concepts into the physical environment where the building is to be built. From occupancy you can expect the 4% conventional growth in real estate.

Whether you are intending to live in the unit or rent it out or resell (as above) it is extremely difficult for the value of your investment to go down (unlike all those blue chip companies now admitting to Billions in Fraud under public offerings). Even if we assume the worst and the market takes a dip (with the constant demand for core condos it is highly unlikely as everyone needs somewhere to live) condos offer the best hedge in the world in that you can always live in your investment.

To invest in a condo that you will live in is the best investment that you can make, providing you live in it. Your unit represents the ONLY tax free investment that you can make (providing that it is your principal residence and not something that you buy and sell frequently or it will be considered an investment and you will face capital gains taxes). But, providing that you live in your condo you pay NO INCOME OR CAPITAL GAINS TAXES when you sell it! Using the scenario above that will equate to a 250% return on investment equal to $60,000 TAX FREE! Compare that to the stock market!

The ideal, from my street kid understanding to personal finance is to buy your first condo and get the mortgage paid off in full. From here you face only maintenance fees and taxes of approximately 25% of the going rental rate (my condo costs me $325/month in maintenance fees and approximately $200/month in property tax and a comparable unit to rent will run you $2500 per month).

Once you have your home paid for (or depending on your financial advisor’s advise) the next best investment is . . . . . you’ve got it . . . . . a condo. In the “old days” developers built rental buildings (they are starting to do this again in Toronto) and rented out the units, then somewhat influenced by Rent Control they stopped with the introduction of “condos” in the late 1960’s. With condos every “little guy” could become a landlord and today there are small guy landlords with investment portfolios of condo units paying them monthly incomes with appreciating real estate values. Again, let’s compare that with these blue chip investments like worldcom, Nortel, Teleglobe, etc.

It is important that you buy at the right stage of the sales process as well. To understand how pricing works I’ll set out a very basic snap shot of selling a condo development. The developers do not get deposit money from buyers. This money is held in trust with the developer getting construction financing from the bank.

The developer has done all of his accounting, forecasting, market analysis and come up with a “mean price” or the price that he intends to net out at after all units are sold. For convenience sake only, let’s use a visual prop of a ladder with five rungs, the middle of which being the market price that he intends to net out at. The two rungs below are discount prices that he will offer to early buyers. These buyers allow the developer to show his bank how well early sales are going thus motivating the banker to advance approval on the construction funds. Banks require 60% sold or there abouts today to grant this funding. As sales are achieved he will move the price up the rungs eventually getting to the delivered market price (top rung) when the building is completed (this is why developers don’t mind not selling suites until the end as lots of people walk into the site once the building is built).

You have got to know what rung the developer is working on when you arrive or you may buy a unit that others paid decidedly less for higher in the building simply because they got to the sales site before you. You will never be able to sell out at prices that these earlier buyers can sell at down the road, thereby being at a financial disadvantage simply by buying in late. A knowledgeable professional condo specialist will know what rung the development is working on.

The science in investing wisely in condos rests in your ability to select the right developer, in the right location, with the right development and once having done so going on to find the right suite, negotiating up front any/all changes, modifications or alterations to be built into the suite. Again you are strongly advised to have a professional handle the purchase for you. Some developers will not co-operate with Realtors and that, in itself, should tell you something.

* can be included in your mortgage

Monthly Expense

Condo Fees $ __________
Car loan/lease $ __________
Line of Credit $ __________
Car insurance & license $ __________
Car repair and service $ __________
Car gas & oil $ __________
Public transportation $ __________
Clothes/personal/sundry $ __________
Groceries/lunches/eating out $ __________
Child care $ __________
Life Insurance $ __________
Electricity/hydro (non-heat) $ __________
Water $ __________
Telephone $ __________
Cable TV/video rental $ __________
Entertainment, recreation, movies, sports, etc. $ __________
Beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes $ __________
Newspapers, magazines, books $ __________
Home maintenance and repairs $ __________
Home insurance $ __________
Furnishings/consumer goods $ __________
Savings (bank account RRSP’s) $ __________
Charitable donations $ __________
Charge accounts/credit cards $ __________
Other loans/payments $ __________
Total monthly lifestyle expenses $ __________
Payroll deductions:
Income Tax $ __________
Benefits/other $ __________
Total monthly expenses $ __________
Monthly income $ __________
Subtract: total monthly expenses $ __________
Amount left for housing costs (PITH) * $ __________

* principal, interest, taxes, heat