Okay I’m going to get this right out in the open and say the reason I titled this blog ‘Single Men Beware’… is because I believe ALL women purchasers of condos aren’t this stupid.

Consider this dating advice 101. You should never purchase a condo without a locker. I repeat. Never.

Let me paint you a picture. You are a single guy who has managed to scrape enough cash together for a down payment on a condo unit in a trendy downtown location. Now this in itself is an impressive feat considering that most likely as a single male almost all of what’s left from your weekly paycheck is most often being spent in the pursuit of ________ (you fill in the blank).

You walk in to a cool designed sales site with a gorgeous young lady greeting you at the door before shuffling you off to a slightly more sexy, confident, sweet smelling builder sales person who in about 30 minutes is going to have you convinced that you are about to make the best buying decision of your life.

You browse over floor plans playfully chatting and dreaming about what your “new” life is going to look like once you own your own little play palace in the sky in 12-24 months — which in reality becomes four years –.

You are wrestling with the lofty purchase price of $300,000 and yet you don’t have the privilege (yes only “special” buyers who purchase units of a certain size unit have the option of buying a parking space) of spending an additional $35,000 for a parking space in this wonderful new development. Which is okay you say because you won’t need a car as you can walk everywhere and use the autoshare program the builder so kindly is installing in the underground garage.

Not much talk is spent on spending an additional $3,500 for a locker space as the sexy, confident, sweet smelling builder sales person senses you are crapping your pants over the $300,000 price tag for your 560 square foot players lounge.

So off you go feeling good about your purchase and walking with a little extra spring in your step because this cute young thing was really nice to you. There just might be something to this ‘owning my own place’ thing after all that the ladies dig!

Fast forward four years and you are finally occupying your new condo. Life is good. You are walking to work, smiling all the time, feeling great about yourself and allowing the positive feelings that home ownership provides to add confidence to your life.

Your new place is coming together nicely. Golf season is around the corner and the golf bag and clubs are sitting in the bedroom corner ready to go at a moments notice. It was a great winter for snowboarding and your board and gear are sprawled out in your living room. Cool. Feels like a ‘grown-ups’ frat house.

You head out to the locale pub to meet up with the cute new girl from accounting you’re crushing on who you’ve excitingly been telling about your new condo in the hippest-trendy-downtown hood you now live in. After sharing a few drinks together your excitement about your new condo leads you to blurt out “you got to see the view from my living room!” The cityscape at night is just magical. You really must see it!

So off you go back to your place, racing up the elevator shaft all the way to the 37th floor thinking to yourself “damn my condo pad is a chick magnet” and briefly wondering what could have happened if you made a move on the sexy, confident, sweet smelling builders sales person…

You open the door and in walks the cute new girl from accounting. The smile from her face slowly fades away as her eyes dart around the small room as she takes in the entire mess that is your living space. It’s June and you’ve got a snowboard and equipment everywhere! That case of empty beer bottles that is 75% full almost had her tripping stepping into the living room. But you don’t notice. You rush her over to the bedroom to show her what an amazing view you have of the city skyline.

She saunters in behind you only to find your golf clubs and smelly golf shoes on the floor in the corner pressed up beside your small bed.  In the other corner is the empty box from your new flat screen TV and a couple boxes of your collection of super hero figurines. Any hope she had of this responsible, fun, could-be-future husband material guy has quickly vanished. Much like the sexy, confident, sweet smelling builders sales person…

You know what happens from here. I think you now get my point. NEVER purchase a condo without a locker. The reasons for not doing so far outweigh the extra small upfront costs needed when buying new. This was only one humorous (but real) example.

Tight Market Drives Double-Digit Price Growth

April 4, 2012 — Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 9,690 sales through the TorontoMLS system in March 2012. This result was up by almost eight per cent in comparison to the 8,986 deals reported during the same period in 2011.

“The GTA resale market has not suffered from a lack of willing buyers this year. Buyers have been spurred on by the positive affordability picture brought about by low mortgage rates,” said Toronto Real Estate Board President Richard Silver.

“The challenge has been a lack of inventory. Many listings have attracted multiple interested buyers. Strong competition has led to annual rates of price growth well above the long-term average.”

The average selling price in the GTA was $501,614 in March – up by 10 per cent in comparison to March 2011.

“The number of new listings was up last month in comparison to March 2011. However, based on the historic relationship between price and listings, the GTA resale market should be better supplied. If competition between buyers remains as strong as it is right now, we will almost certainly see an average selling price above $500,000 for 2012 as a whole,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis.

Often this question comes up when I am in consultations with prospective customers looking to purchase and/or sell their home.

Selecting the “right” Realtor® for your home buying or selling needs is not an area that you as a consumer should treat lightly.

All real estate agents who are licensed in the province of Ontario and wish to associate themselves with the Realtor® trademarks have to be associated with a local real estate board, provincial and national associations. Well documented rules and a strict code of ethics follows…but this doesn’t necessarily protect you the consumer upfront from potentially putting your biggest financial decisions into the hands of someone who has less experience than you do in buying or selling a home!

One doesn’t have to look too far to see examples of an unhappy consumer who got shafted by their agent for whatever the reason. I should also make clear that I am not here to defend the actions of unprofessional, inexperienced, or just plain crooked real estate agents. Every industry has their black sheep and I personally have heard countless stories from friends and clients relating their dissatisfaction with an accountant, mortgage broker/bank rep, lawyer etc.

What does bother me though is that I as an experienced real estate agent for 16 years who has successfully helped over 500 individuals and families with their real estate needs, through my associations with my real estate board, get lumped into the same group as the part time agents, non committed agents, and fly-by-nights who have got their license looking to ride the booming real estate market.

I also distinguish between a part time agent and an agent who has years of success and experience behind her who now may be selling selectively on a part time basis. Personally I have sat across the table in many negotiations with agents of this sort and have never been worried about the outcome of the sale once its been accepted.

My main beef is with the “one size fits all” tag that I have to adhere to and the brand-new-never sold a house part time agent gets camouflaged into as well.

My second beef is a simple one. Consumers need to take accountability for a negative experience that they may have been part of based on a decision they made to CHOOSE this part time agent.

Yes your brothers girlfriend just got her license and until she can earn a regular living she will only help family and friends falls under this category. Or your Police office friend or Firefighter who work part time on days off also fall into this category. I would love to be a part time cop. Where can I sign up!

Caveat Emptor (let the buyer beware) also applies to stupid decision making on behalf of the consumer looking for the easy way out, the to good to be true deal, or my personal favorite…but my agent offered me a great deal on commission. People wake up! Great deal for who?

Take the time to interview a couple of agents, three at the minimum. And be upfront with each and every one of them. Tell us that your sister-in-laws brother is one of the three that you are considering to assist with your sale. Worst case you might end up learning a few things that could help you out and save you thousands of dollars (and more importantly a relationship!)

“With slightly more than two months of inventory in the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) market area, on average, it is not surprising that competition between buyers has exerted very strong upward pressure on the average selling price. Price growth will continue to be very strong until the market becomes better supplied,” said Toronto Real Estate Board President Richard Silver.

“It is important to note that both buyers and sellers are aware of current market conditions. This is evidenced by the fact that homes sold, on average, for 99 per cent of the asking price in February,” continued Silver.

The average selling price in the TREB market area was $502,508 in February – up 11 per cent compared to February 2011. The Composite MLS® Home Price Index for TREB, which provides a less volatile measure of price growth compared to the average price, was up by 7.3 per cent compared February 2011.

“If tight market conditions continue to result in higher than expected price growth as we move into the spring, expectations for 2012 as a whole will have to be revised upwards,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis. “While price growth remains strong, the average selling price remains affordable from a mortgage lending perspective for a household earning the average income in the GTA.”

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Jason Loper

Image: Emma Jeffs via HGTV Design Happens

In typical political brainwashing today’s Ontario Liberal government is floating the idea of placing a casino in the heart of the country’s largest city, my beloved Toronto.

Touting the economic benefits such as job creation and added tourism (yeah like any sane citizen believes that one) the Liberal government seems to be talking out of both sides of their ass- yes all politicians these days have two asses- one they speak out of and the other…well you know.

Smiling and gleefully speaking of job creation while at the same time lowering their voice and muttering about closing some of the already 10 casinos throughout the province losing money seems typical political ingenuity. Up to 6000 new jobs will be created which many will be temporary through construction and the like, while closing down other casinos and laying off workers already employed who have established their families and lives in areas already developed to cater to casinos. Doesn’t make much sense?

Bringing a casino to Toronto is a stupid thing plain and simple. A pure cash grab for a desperate government who knows nothing about fiscal responsibility.  Leave the casinos where they are. We don’t want them in Toronto. Our amazing city has many reasons for people to come and visit. Too many to list! Hopefully the citizens will revolt if this hair brain idea comes to fruition. I for one know I will.

The Toronto Real Estate Board, along with the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA®) and four other major real estate boards across Canada have developed a new system called the MLS® Home Price Index (MLS® HPI).

The MLS® HPI is calculated using a sophisticated statistical model that takes into account a home’s quantitative (e.g. the number of rooms it has) and qualitative (e.g. whether is has a finished basement) features.

The MLS® HPI approach provides a less volatile measure of price than averages and medians, which can swing dramatically in response to changes in the share of very expensive or inexpensive home sales from one time period to the next. Each month there will be two key outputs published using the MLS® HPI:

1. a series of price indices – The MLS ® HPI price indices work in a similar fashion to the Consumer Price Index ( Canada’s measure of consumer price inflation.) The indices have a base month/year of January 2005, where the indices are equal to 100. In January 2012 the TREB’s composite HPI was 143.1. This means that the composite price index grew by 43.1% between January 2005 and January 2012.
2. A series of benchmark home prices – The MLS® HPI has also been used to establish benchmark homes down to TREB’s Community level of geography for major home types including single family (detached and attached, townhouses and apartments). a benchmark home is composed of a set of attributes typical of homes in the area where it is located, and remains constant over time. This allows for an apples-to-apples comparison of price over time.

This new approach will provide clarity for the consumer and prove to be a major improvement over any other method to measure home prices and home price change available in the marketplace today.

Source: TREB

Being an entirely referral based real estate agent I have a very hands on relationship with my clients from the beginning of the consultation process right through after my clients have moved into their home or condo.

Being hands on has exposed me to many of the frustrations clients of mine (and in many cases I myself) have had to deal with when working with a builder to remedy defects, mistakes in construction, shoddy workmanship and materials or plain old builder fuck ups which seem to happen in almost every instance today!

I’ve recently been dealing with Streetcar Developments which have a hand full of projects mainly located in the the east end of Toronto. I have sold seven units in their Corktown Development which consists of three boutique buildings in phase 1 as well as a mid size building in phase 2. Phase 2 is currently under construction and working towards an all-so-common late completion date of approximately one year.

Now on to the customer service part. In phase 1 two of the three buildings (at least 549 and 569 King Street East) many buyers were pushed into occupancy at the builders direction into largely unfinished buildings and in some cases with units that should have been considered inhabitable (which in our pro-builder city is a stretch). For instance in one unit there was no shower wall (glass was not installed as per agreement) and the shower floor tiles were only done on the morning of the PDI inspection so there was no grout holding the tiles together and the only shower in the unit was unusable for a week.

Add this to the major inconvenience that the one elevator in the building was unavailable for up to six weeks from the get go and picture this: during our hot July summer after hauling yourself and your belongings up four levels of  extremely dingy and dirty stairs you cannot even take a shower to cool  or clean yourself off!

I get that financially there is a reason on why buyers are forced into unfinished units/buildings in order to meet deadlines (mainly builder financial ones) but it’s sad to see how commonplace this has become. When it gets to the point that the PDI or 30 day Tarion form is a page and a half long…and the unit is only 600 square feet…something is not right.

Some of the building amenities promised and included in the purchase price of the unit along with the monthly maintenance fees in the Corktown development are still not available….after one and a half years!

I used to be an advocate for Streetcar Developments because I liked their idea of smaller urban lofts and condo buildings nestled into developed neighbourhoods. But witnessing first hand their poor customer service and blatant disregard for the quality of construction they force buyers into, I will not put myself ever again through the unpleasant process of purchasing from them brand new.

My advice to anyone dealing with them is to make sure each and every conversation you have with them is in writing (if possible) and to constantly hound them until what you were promised in your agreement has been met. Especially once you take occupancy of your unit and you are dealing with any defects or non-completes.

Here is what I think is in store for the Toronto Housing Market in 2012:

Let’s start with the good.

In centrally located neighbourhoods a continuation of the frantic multiple offer events that we have been exposed to pretty much over the past 7 sevens will continue through the spring and fall markets. Parents with school age children and young professionals want to raise their families in micro neighbourhoods where others share the same values, morals and interests. Nothing new here other than these micro hoods have a finite amount of homes available on a yearly basis and more people are looking to join than leave. Prices will continue to rise above city wide averages.

The income gap is widening these buyers will spend what it takes to house their kids in a hood that offers good schools, friendly neighbours, central locations to transit and transportation and a great place to park your money if the real estate market slows down.  Think of areas like Leaside, The Kingsway, The Beach, Roncesvalles, Denlow, Riverdale, Moore Park and others as like what gold is to investors when the stock markets are uncertain. Everyone seems to flock to it.

Downtown Toronto will continue to see increase in both demand and prices. Too many reasons to list why this is but all one has to reference is the recent crazy over paying for the city owned homes on Crawford street last month. One semi sold for $221,000 above the asking price and the other semi sold for $265,000 above the asking price. Really this is all you need to know about downtown. According to the land registry it says the city paid $2 bucks each. Not a bad return on it’s investment!

The resale condo market is continuing to soar with many downtown and trendy neighbourhoods experiencing increase in demand as buyers discover or (rediscover) fascinating hoods that bring them closer to work, where they play and just pretty much about where they really want to spend all of their time. It’s not in a car or subway commuting outside the core.  The key here will be in the second half of the year. Will the common run of the mill units in areas like cityplace continue to thrive? The investors have been leaving so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Now lets look at the not-so-good.

NEW CONSTRUCTION CONDOS! If you are an investor put your money somewhere else. Many of these projects make little sense with expected returns on investment. Unless rents increase by 30% in the next 3 years I think many of these buyers are going to be stung! And it will have an impact on all housing. Industry experts can’t even agree on how many of these projects are investor driven. Some say 30%-40%, with other saying as high as 60%. Funny it wasn’t too long ago where many were saying as high as 80% in many new developments. Personally I agree with the latter.

If you are purchasing new construction for owner occupied purposes then you should be careful on where you buy (I mean building and builder) because many builders will not tell you the truth on how many investors have purchased. And make no mistake, this matters.

The surrounding neighbourhoods from the core will most likely have a solid first half as inventory levels remain low and record low interest rates continue driving the herd. The  second half could play out the same as affordability in many high demand neighbourhoods push buyers outside their first choice areas. Many east and west end fringe neighbourhoods will probably see a cooling to more normal levels of appreciation. Which truthfully isn’t such a bad thing.

Overall I think 2012 will continue to be a good time for first time and move up buyers alike. Strong fundamentals such as low monthly carrying costs, pride in ownership, decent local economy and good equity appreciation in previously owned real estate  will make for a healthy housing market.

Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 4,567 sales through the TorontoMLS® system in January 2012. This number was 8.8 per cent higher than the 4,199 sales reported in January 2011. Sales growth was strongest for low-rise home types in the regions surrounding the City of Toronto.

“A favourable affordability picture bolstered by very low posted fixed mortgage rates has kept home buyers confident in their ability to achieve the Canadian goal of home ownership,” said Toronto Real Estate Board President Richard Silver.

“The buyer pool remains diverse in the GTA with strong interest in home types across the pricing spectrum,” continued Silver.

The average selling price for January 2012 transactions was $463,534 – up by almost nine per cent compared to January 2011.

“Low inventory levels have kept competition between buyers strong, resulting in robust annual rates of price growth over the last year. Strong price growth is expected to attract more listings. A better supplied market should result in a slower rate of price growth, especially in the second half of 2012,” said Jason Mercer, the Toronto Real Estate Board’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis.