Now don’t get me wrong here! As someone who represents investors (“speculators” – let’s face it there’s just no way around this “banker’s label” for investors) around the world I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that without this pioneer in the world of real estate investing, urban living would be a whole lot different!

The trouble isn’t with speculators themselves, but like with most things in life, it’s all about the people! There is no school of learning to be an investor and most of us are really left to our own resources when it comes to investing. When investing in condos it is important to remember that you are making the largest investment that most of us EVER make!

In the old days, people just lived in apartments. The way they got around ownership was “co-ops” where all of the owners in the building own their proportionate share of the actual building (one title deed) as opposed to what we have today where each owner in a condo receives their own title deed to the “space” that they have purchased.

My business breaks down into two simple disciplines. The first is INVESTOR REPRESENTATION which is what I personally do. I have developed a solid group of investors that I represent as an investor group that is willing to step in and purchase blocks of condo units in presale developments.

Developers in Toronto must presell 65% of their units in a presale development for the developer to meet it’s conditions for construction financing (the mortgage lender agrees to advance the funds to build the building conditional on the developer achieving 65% sales in under 2 years).

I am usually invited to all launches of presale condos in Toronto and usually have lots of investors for good developments.  I study developments and “tag” those good ones that I think may have difficulty achieving their required sales figures and then I wait.

My trusty smart phone will notify me in 18 months to follow up and see how that site is doing and if they haven’t gotten their required sales I offer to step in (providing the developer will meet my rigid requirements including but not limited to 15% - 20% discount off of the lowest selling suite per square foot plus my commission). I don’t put my clients into investments that I wouldn’t make myself thus I am always the lead buyer.

All purchases are individual buyers satisfying the mortgage lender’s requirements to the developer. Everyone wins! The most recent investment of this nature that we did was in Forest Hill in Toronto, a very high end building that was simply facing too much competition from two other developments in this stately community in downtown Toronto.

I was actually surprised to see that they hadn’t sold better as their finishes and appointments were second to none! It seems that the Forest Hill area, as prestigious as it may be (all the major houses in the city are found here with prices ranging from $5 million and up) is a tougher sale than Yorkville, for instance even though prices are less (go figure!).

I had been called in to one of the other two developments in the area and had already delivered them sufficient buyers to get their financing met, thus two out of three high end buildings in high end locations just didn’t sell as well as downtown lesser buildings!

The beauty of our program is that immediately after getting our deals, the developer was able to elevate their per square footage significantly (as sales were obviously now going well) recouping a good portion of what they discounted to my investor group.

I would remind you that we’ve been buying condos like this for years, specifically during the last “boom market” that Toronto has seen for the past seven years! I’m not trying to brag, but rather make a point. If you are one of the decided majority of buyers who went out to condo sales sites and bought without me or another knowledgeable buyers agent like me then you have been buying at “retail” and my clients (and others) have been buying at “wholesale” (less 15% + special consitions enabling us to rent/sell/assign) thus it will be extremely difficult for you to compete when it’s time to cash out.

I’m always looking to expand my investor group so please, if you are considering investing in a condo, whether in Toronto or anywhere in the world, Register with me right away.

We are expanding to include Palm Beach Florida in the immediate New Year and Costa Rica at the same time. Each market will have it’s own Exclusive simplycondos.com affiliate reporting on the best areas and condos within each area in each market throughout the world. We are talking with qualified condo specialists in Asia, Europe

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