SO WHAT'S
WRONG WITH CONDOS? Now For What I See as the Biggest Problem of All - Tenants
December 28, 2008
Charles HanesCondos were invented as a lifestyle
alternative to enable mass population to reside downtown. Without condos you would have
everyone wanting to own their own home living out in the suburbs.
So when you buy a condo, you are under the illusion (or delusion) that you are buying your
castle. Oh, you could live in an apartment building but there is no pride of ownership in
that! So you are willing to lay out that mass of downpayment and undertake those monthly
mortgage payments, tax payments, insurance, etc. to OWN YOUR OWN HOME.
Oh, did I mention to you that many developments in Toronto have 80% - 90% speculator
buyers. These investors buy the units to either flip them at closing or rent them out.
This means that, in theory, at least 80% of your neighbours could be renters! Isn’t
that the same thing as living in an apartment. Now if the building has only 8 foot ceiling
heights and 80% renters I’ve got to ask you what’s the difference!
How well do you think your investment is going to hold up with 80% renters occupying the
residences? College Park II
just registered last month and the elevators are already a mess, with lights pulled down,
damage to the floors, the lettering on the panel all scratched off. The equipment in the
exercise room is already showing signs of abuse and the building is only a month old!
College Park II is one of
those high ratio investor bought suite buildings. I’m not trying to pick on College Park but it serves as
an ideal example in a number of ways. |
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In our condo I
recently got in an argument with a renter who had his dog walking through our gardens
using them as it’s private bathroom while it’s leash tore up all of the plants.
When I confronted this jerk he became belligerent and when I took him to the security
guard he became even more so belligerent with me and the guard. A tenant clearly as an
owner would have realized the stupidity of his/her ways having at least an awareness of or
appreciation for “pride of ownership”.
I really think that condos should identify owners and tenants uniquely and when an owners
observes someone abusing the property and reports the occurrence, that security and/or
management would see the issue under the proper light instead of just seeing two people
arguing.
This all revolves around getting a good property manager and board that intellectually
understands this very significant issue and is willing to do something constructive to
remedy it.Be sure to tune in each week to read this
Series:
1.
“What’s Wrong With Condos . . . . It all starts with the developer”.
2. “What’s Wrong
With Condos . . . . Board of Directors”.
3. “What’s Wrong
With Condos . . . . Property Manager”.
4. “What’s Wrong
With Condos . . . . Tenants”.
5. “What’s Wrong
With Condos . . . . Speculator/Investors”.
6. “What’s Wrong With Condos . . . . End User Owners”.
That’s it for now. I’m Charles Hanes |
