This Week's Editorial
Well Happy New Year! 2005 is going to be an
excellent year. The media appears to have finally woken up and smelled the coffee with
respect to it's ten month "Bubble" Theory to finally, only last week admit
officially that we are not experiencing a Bubble in the condo market.
With every month last year providing irrevocable
proof of a Boom shown by new housing starts as well as progressive monthly Board Resale
volumes!
If you haven't read my article last year "Manhattan North" I would recommend taking a
minute to do so while juxtaposing the outrageous drive in the market over the past seven
or eight months since it's publishing.
The New Year has brought about this weekly
publication. It's kind of my New Year's Resolution to get back to work. It's easy to
become a fat cat in this business and I am constantly checking myself to make sure to I
remain on the cutting edge of the Toronto condo industry.
New condo and loft developments have been coming on
at a feverish pitch! The Clairmont,
The Met, London on The Esplanade, The Winston, Trump International Hotel and Tower,
The Hazelton Hotel and Residences,
in Yorkville, 1 St. Thomas, The Regency
in Yorkville (Yorkville is booming), 18 Yorkville, 100 Yorkville, are all names that the
city hadn't heard a year ago and are all under development and/or construction as I write
this.
More significantly, many (and I emphasize many) are
priced in the $1,000 per square foot range. A year ago we hadn't ever seen $500 per square
foot so when you asking why I'm so confident in the downtown Toronto (core) property
market, flash back to this interesting fact.
Last year I wasted an inexcusable amount of my
personal and professional time and resources fending off frivolous law suits. Many of you
have commented so positively on these in your face articles that I felt it worth it
however, too many of my client suffered as I wasted about 1/3 of my time fighting threats
of frivolous litigation which ends up depriving Buyers of access to my personal services.
This year I've made a Resolution to focus 100% on
constructive information here on the site (as much I think the in your face articles
worked). This doesn't mean that I don't have the ability to apply this knowledge to
uniquely helping my clients, I just must share it under "agency" as "full
disclosure" is a legal obligation thereunder.
So if you are buying and you become my client you
still have full access to all the dirt and insider stuff of the industry, I just won't be
airing it all publicly here. I'm sure that you understand.
This market is unique to any in the world. With
quality condos somewhat hidden by mediocre condo developments, now like no other time, is
it imperative that you use your own buyer's agent to negotiate your purchase. My services
are FREE to you (providing you don't "register" at new condo/loft sales sites
first) so before you make a move be sure to read and understand "Agency
Explained" and "Why Use a
Buyer's Agent" and you'll see why you should not visit Open Houses without your
own agent with you, or even phone listings (when you find them simply have your agent
follow up for you). |
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Most people don't
negotiate well and I do it for a living! Could it be more obvious. Developers continue to
get away selling non-negotiable transactions simply because consumers insist on allowing
themselves to get lulled into thinking that they can do their own research (developers
don't usually put their names on developments that they do) and then visit sales sites to
buy their condo. You will want to read "Who Buys The Dog Suites" before doing so
yourself.
I came into this business in 1981 and have been
involved intimately in one way or another since that time. There are very few condos that
I do not know intimately to the point that I can probably tell you the good units in a
development without going there. There are not a lot of Realtors in Toronto who work only
with condos and certainly not with new ones like I do (I also do resales but in the
majority I deal with new developments more than resales).
The key to successful buying rests in knowledge and
this knowledge cannot be acquired casually on the street or on the Internet. Industry
magazines carry editorial looking pages promoting various developments but don't tell you
that these editorial pages were in fact written by that developer's marketing people given
to him/her for buying full page ads.
Newspapers frequently used to call me for
interviews but the outcome of the interviews always ended up so distorted that I had to
give it up. If I disclosed anything negative about a developer or development I'd be
surprised to see me shifted off to a small by-line with the merit and integrity of my
answers watered down to nothing.
It's not hard to understand that a newspaper that
sells full page ads at $35,000 - $50,000 a day would have difficulty publishing anything
negative about that developer. We don't allow developers to advertise here. Anything you
find here is written by me and I'm not for sale. An electronic ad rag The Market Today
will NOT become!
I'll go on giving you the bottom line truth
underlying all of the smoke and mirrors involved in the sale of condos/lofts today. You
will find honest commentary and factual reporting here. In return I ask only for your
frequent visits to the site and feedback.
If you see a way to make this magazine more
effective or useable please let us know. We don't get paid to publish this magazine
although one day it is anticipated that furniture stores, designers, carpet and floor
covering stores, etc. will want to introduce themselves to you and we'll disclose at that
time if they are advertisers or endorsements.
This is going to be an exciting year as the market
has been booming and continues to boom. Interest rates are extremely low and not being
forecast to spike any time soon. The economy is growing steadily and we have a balanced
budget. Sleepy old Canada, like theenergizer bunny just keeps chugging along. The Toronto
market, as I've been saying for a year now, is far from experiencing a Bubble.
Rather, it has simply grown into adolescents.
For those who last year were telling me that the
prices will fall, you will have to give up the strategy of wait and see as prices have
reportedly gone up 10% plus 10% the year before last.
Be sure to tune in each week for a fresh view from
the inside. That's the Market Today, from my perspective. I'm Charles Hanes |
