Condo living

[Topol-M]

I have lived in rental apartments and had my detached house ( in Ottawa ) and now considering buying a condo apartment in Toronto now.
What are adavantages/disadvantages of buying an apartment instead of renting?
Is there privacy in a builing that is not rental ( like seeing SPs)?
What part of city is better?How is the future of condo. market.

 

[to-guy69]

Condos have high maintenance fees depending on the age and amenities of the building...you are at the mercy of the building management for rate increaeses. New condos have riduculous closing costs....you are much better off buying a slight used one (1-5 years old). One and three bedroom condos are much harder to sell than two bedroom ones.

 

[Weekly]

Condo Condo...

 

[red]

yeah- there is no money spent upkeeping a house. its all free profit

 

[Esco!]

Have ever increasing monthly maintenance fees.They will gut you.Stay away unless you just don't mind tossing your dough down a bottomless pit. Buy anything else, keep for a few years, and then, 'take your profit' and move on.

Not completely true, they can only increase monthly fees by so much.
And it has to be approved by the board.

You have no lawn to mow, usually no major repairs, less worry about break-ins, pool, sauna, rec room, squash courts, etc (at least in my building).

I love condo living

 

[Questor]

I have lived in rental apartments and had my detached house ( in Ottawa ) and now considering buying a condo apartment in Toronto now.
What are adavantages/disadvantages of buying an apartment instead of renting?
Is there privacy in a builing that is not rental ( like seeing SPs)?
What part of city is better?How is the future of condo. market.

I think a book could be written based on answers to your questions. They are very difficult to answer because the answers are quite different depending on your personal situation and also the characteristics of the building you are considering. Myself, I don't want the hassle or responsibility of house ownership. But renting for me has become too expensive. My last rental unit was over 5 years ago, in a shitty neighbourhood with lots of hassles and inconveniences, and I was paying $1000 a month. The only plus was that it was a nice apartment. If I am going to put $1000 - $1500 into my dwelling per month, if I am renting, I am kissing that money good bye forever. At least with a condo I am building equity in my home.

I live in a small building with no security people, no common use facilities to speak of, no cameras etc., so privacy is good, maintenence fees are minimal and increases to the fees have been very moderate and reasonable. But it is true that you have to watch out for maintenance fee increases in new buildings. Developers deliberately low ball the condo fees to suck you in. I think condo market is nearing the top. To buy for a home makes sense. To buy for an investment is risky.

 

[Esco!]

It's also my opinion that the condo market is gonna crash soon. They are putting up new buildings everywhere in Toronto and I'm not sure if the market can sustain the demand at this rate.
So right now may not be a good time to buy.

 

[Cardinal Fang]

From http://biz.yahoo.com/cnw/050427/td_bank_homeownership.html?.v=1

Concerns about a housing bubble are overblown, as speculative buying is not fuelling today's market. - Other fears including overly leveraged homeowners, excessive building in the condo market and a possible demographically inspired crash in home prices in the future are also exaggerated. - As such, housing should still be considered a solid long-term investment

 

[Esco!]

From http://biz.yahoo.com/cnw/050427/td_bank_homeownership.html?.v=1

Concerns about a housing bubble are overblown, as speculative buying is not fuelling today's market. - Other fears including overly leveraged homeowners, excessive building in the condo market and a possible demographically inspired crash in home prices in the future are also exaggerated. - As such, housing should still be considered a solid long-term investment

Those are opinions but nobody knows for sure where the economy is gonna take us. Not even the "experts" that you quoted, Fang.

 

[SucroseFree]

From http://biz.yahoo.com/cnw/050427/td_bank_homeownership.html?.v=1

Concerns about a housing bubble are overblown, as speculative buying is not fuelling today's market. - Other fears including overly leveraged homeowners, excessive building in the condo market and a possible demographically inspired crash in home prices in the future are also exaggerated. - As such, housing should still be considered a solid long-term investment

Do you think a mortgage lender like TD would have a reason to produce such a report?

And some of their reasoning is pretty weak and questionable;

Whether it has been because of heightened uncertainty or a lack of risk taking, consumers have been building up a sizable stockpile of cash sitting in their bank accounts, money market funds and direct currency holding over the past few years. If need be, they could deploy these cashable assets to meet their debt obligations in the short term.