A
RARE BIRD ON THE HORIZON “stacked townhouses in the core”
Charles Hanes
February 13, 2008
I wrote in a previous article that townhouses in the core are like hen’s teeth but
every once in a while a unique collection appear. You may recall me saying earlier that to
think of a downtown townhouse you must expect to pay somewhere around $1.5 million. Glas had some very nice town homes
very well priced below a million but they’ve all SOLD OUT (there may be one or two
for sale when the building is completed so if you are interested please Register with me right away and
I’ll be sure to let you know when the time comes. To be hones, I can find you some in
the $600’s but, as always you get what you pay for.
A self contained townhouse is the way to live as far as I’m concerned. I’ve had
it with security guards masquerading as concierges and lobbies, and elevators and garbage
rooms where there’s always that one great occupant who refuses to push their garbage
down the shoot, preferring to leave embedded in the flap door so no-one else can dispose
of their garbage without first pushing theirs down for them!
But for many people a self contained townhouse is just out of reach as their budgets just
don’t allow. The next best solution is a “Stacked Townhouse” where
developers put one two level unit on the ground and first floor up and another two level
above that. Usually the disadvantage to these is that the ground level is actually below
grade and that always makes me feel like you are buying to live in a basement and when you
realize that you have another residence above yours, you are!
The greater majority of stacked townhouse developments in the city have been built out in
the trendy King West Village area however the greater majority of them are night mares as
they were built of hollow wall construction (as opposed to |
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poured concrete -
get the point?) and neighbours end up knowing far too much about neighbours simply by
hearing everything through the supposed bearing walls. You will see that I have not bought
any of my clients into these.
That’s why I always preach that the reason that you use a buyer’s agent is not
to be your chauffeur or cab driver but to give you the first hand truthful knowledge that
is not readily available to you as a buyer. If you are buying from the Seller’s Agent
that Realtor has a legal obligation to protect ONLY the “best interests of the
Seller” and only are required to deal with you “honestly”. If you know all
the questions that need to be asked you may be about a third of the way there. Maturity as
a condo investor (or end-user buyer for that matter) comes with understanding that you
can’t and shouldn’t even try to do it alone and only use a Realtor when they
bring the selective expertise and knowledge that you as a consumer lack!
A simple glance at my recent articles will reinforce my position that the hottest condo
area in the city surrounds College Park at College Street and Bay. Within the single block
of core downtown real estate you have Canderel Stoneridge’s College Park I and College Park II and the
upcoming Aura at College Park. One of my personal favourite developments “du
jour” is The Met I and Met II
by Edilcan, who in my estimates are one of the best in the city for delivering what
they’ve sold you. It’s a local family builder that developed Signatures On Bloor, 1121 Bay among others.
It is here, at the Met II that I’ve found unique stacked townhouses (poured concrete)
about to be launched within the next month or so. They SOLD OUT the initial inventory of
these stacked townhouses but are launching the second phase of them shortly. They will be
priced from around $600,000 and will be somewhere around 1,000 square feet and up. They
will sell out in a blink so if you are interested Register with me immediately and
emphasize that you are interested in these stacked townhouses in the comments area.
Talk soon
I’m Charles Hanes |
