TOWNHOUSES
THE NEW HEN’S TEETH IN TORONTO
October 15, 2007
Charles L. Hanes
Lots of condo dwellers are hoping to turn away from their “mansions in the sky”
frustrated with security guard companies that have been “bait and switched” as
“executive concierges”, who get upset if you should dare not respond to their
incessant greetings and with cramped elevator rides every time they come and go from their
home.
They are turning to townhouses but finding that this is a much more pronounced challenge
than one would anticipate. It’s not hard to understand as today’s high rise
towers are ranging from 65 to 75 floors of up to 10 to 20 suites so when looking for a
high rise condo you have upwards of 600 units to choose from where the average townhouse
complex runs around a dozen homes.
The logical beauty of townhouse living is found in the freedom one enjoys in coming and
going. Walk up to your own door, no temperamental security guard to deal with, put your
key in the door and ….. Home sweet (suite) home! I’ve made the move and
I’ll never go back!
You will want to know a little bit about construction as many townhouses are “hollow
core” wall construction which means they have stud framing the walls with allegedly
sound proofing inserted between the walls. Consistently this sound proofing is installed
poorly resulting in sound attenuation problems (you can literally listen to conversations
of those in the units beside you). |
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This problem is
surprisingly evident in many high rise developments throughout the city especially in
“retrofit buildings” (buildings not built from scratch but rather old warehouses
and/or office towers converted to residential).
Don’t expect anyone to tell about this problem as it’s one of the city’s
“dirty little secrets”. Developers know that the unfortunate souls who buy their
deficient buildings won’t rat them out as they have to keep the equity value of their
home and they intend to sell it so, tragically, they just live with the deficiency until
they can’t take the sound intrusion any longer and sell it to some other poor
unsuspecting soul.
This is why you want your own professional “hands on” Buyer’s Agent to
represent you but you’ve got to know that your agent has the experience and
background to know about these buildings as no-one will ever make the issue public.
That’s why you should register with me as I’ve dealt in this market for the past
three decades and know the truthful backgrounds on all of the developers.
I’ve got a few good townhouses on “Assignment” (buying the position of the
original purchaser) priced in the $1.25 Million Dollar range and another stacked townhouse
also right in this area priced at $450,000. If you would like details please contact me.
That’s it for now. I’m Charles Hanes |
