Condos are generally more affordable than detached homes in the same area, allowing condo owners to remain near or in downtown Toronto. Many condo buyers are also first-time home buyers who’ve found an affordable way to live where they want to while jumping into homeownership at the same time.

Is Toronto condo living for you?

Being able to afford something doesn’t always mean that it’s perfect for you, though. But condo sales are rising throughout the Greater Toronto – and sometimes, even surpassing sales of regular homes – meaning that many Toronto home buyers are finding that condos suit their needs perfectly.

All homeownership comes with pros and cons, but when you weigh the pros and cons of condo living, is it right for you? When it comes to condo living, many of the pros are considered cons for some people, while the opposite is also true. Here is a list of what condo living offers, and how each can be considered good or bad.

• Amenities such as swimming pools, tennis courts, bowling alleys and fitness rooms are available for your use, preventing you from having to pay membership fees elsewhere. In addition, you’re way more likely to actually visit the gym once in a while if you don’t have to go outside.
• Many people are drawn to the downtown area – they love that there’s always something going on and that they can join in whenever they like. Others feel the downtown core is too noisy and they’d prefer a more country-esque living situation. As you travel farther from Toronto you will find more affordable housing, but could end up with a commute a few hours long.
• Little maintenance is required in a condo, because your monthly maintenance fees pay for things like snow removal and lawn mowing. These monthly maintenance fees are seen by many as one of the biggest downsides to condominium living – but keep in mind the monthly maintenance fee is a set, monthly fee, whereas the upkeep and maintenance of a home can cost more annually, and also include surprise emergency repairs that can eat up your budget.
• Close quarters are also another fact of life when it comes to living in a condo. Some people like meeting and interacting with all sorts of people as well as being friendly with their neighbours. Others, not so much.
• Rules govern condo living. Each building has its own set of rules and is required to enforce them, and some may restrict pets, decorations and noise. Some people don’t like living by a set of rules, others love the structure and enjoy knowing that everyone else in the building has to abide by the same rules.

If you are still not sure whether a Toronto condo is for you or not, contact your Toronto Real Estate Team. We can help.

Is Toronto Condo Living Right For You? is a post from: Toronto Real Estate Condos

If you’re considering buying your first Toronto condo, you might feel bombarded by a number of different terms that relate to condo ownership – which you’ve never heard before.

What does "exclusive use" mean?

“Exclusive use” might be one of those terms. Here are a series of explanations that might help you better understand exclusive use in a Toronto condo.

Your condominium is “owned” by you. You do not own other areas of the building.

Common elements are everything not owned by you, including the heating and air conditioning systems, the swimming pool, walkways, gardens, garages and lobbies – you share these with other owners in your condo building, and your monthly maintenance fees help pay for their up keep.

Exclusive use refers to exclusive use common elements, which are elements only used by you specifically, but not actually owned by you in the sense that your condominium unit is owned by you. These elements include your balcony or terrace, storage locker and your parking space (although in some buildings you may actually own you parking space, and can sell it later.)

All of the specific definitions that apply to a condominium building (as in, what in that building is exclusive use or a common element) are found in the condominium declaration – this document is extremely important, but often written in complicated legalese. Your Toronto real estate agent can help you look it over!

What Is “Exclusive Use” In A Toronto Condo? is a post from: Toronto Real Estate Condos

Your Toronto condo declaration contains all the information about your condominium suite and the building itself, including what is “exclusive use” (what is available for use exclusively to you, but not actually owned by you, such as your locker, balcony and sometimes parking spot), the boundaries of your condominium suite and rules such as whether or not pets are allowed, noise and what can be done in your suite with regards to physical changes or alterations.

Condo buildings have an obligation to enforce the rules set out in the condo declaration.

A condo declaration is something you really need to read, although unfortunately they are written by lawyers and can be difficult to understand – it might be useful to have your Toronto real estate agent or a real estate lawyer help you look it over so you know more about a condominium and the condo building before you buy it.

Condo buildings have a legal obligation to enforce the rules set out in the condominium declaration.  In fact, they have a legal obligation to enforce the rules all the time for everyone, and not just enforce them against certain people. This is why some people are able to sneak pets into a “no pets” condo – if the rules aren’t enforced in general, it’s not likely the condo will get a ruling in their favour if they take you to court over it.

Toronto real estate lawyer Bob Aaron’s latest Toronto Star column deals with the enforcement of condominium declaration rules in court, and what can happen when the condominium building doesn’t bother to enforce them all of the time. It’s definitely worth a read if you live in a condo or are considering downtown Toronto condo living!

Your Toronto Condo Declaration: What It Means is a post from: Toronto Real Estate Condos

According to this article in the Toronto Star, the Toronto condo market has continued to break records through 2011 and even already into 2012.

2011 saw a number of records for Toronto condo construction and sales:

132 Toronto condo projects are currently under construction - a world record.

-The announcement of the tallest residential tower in Toronto at 75 storeys.
-The smallest condo suites in Toronto with two 270-square-foot condos in motion for the King Street West DNA condos project by Canderel.
-High-rise condo sales in the 905 area code surpassing sales in the 416 area code for the first time ever in August.
-Sales in the range of 27,000 far outshot initial predictions, while about 20,000 are predicted for by Ben Myers of condo research company Urbanation.

And already, Toronto holds the world record for the most high rises under construction in 2012 with 132.

Across Canada, about 11 per cent of homeowners live in condominiums, while more than twice that number live in condos in the city of Toronto.

Toronto Condos Keep Breaking Records Through 2011 To 2012 is a post from: Toronto Real Estate Condos

In December, downtown condo average sale prices were up 5.2% in C01, west of Yonge and south of Bloor and up by 5.6% in C08 east of Yonge and south of Bloor compared to one year ago.

When you compare year-over-year average numbers, both condo areas tracked the overall market average quite well… The C01 annual appreciation number was 7.1% – slightly below the TREB average and the C08 appreciation came in one percent over the average at 8.9%.

These numbers seem to put to rest the mistaken belief that the downtown Toronto condo market is going to disintegrate and prices are going to freefall – the evidence just does NOT point to that at all !!  These sales numbers show us that whenever new inventory does come on the market, it’s being absorbed within a 33-37 day marketing period on average.

Lower inventories in both TREB districts compared to November caused the C01 ratio of sales-to-listings to be 26.7%, squarely in neutral market territory and the C08 ratio being a moderate seller’s market 37.7%.

We expect there will be more new condo buildings completed and occupied in the first two quarters of 2012 so watch for inventory to increase slightly both east and west of Yonge.

Watch the video below for the full report.

Downtown Toronto Condo Price Appreciation Matches The Overall Market is a post from: Toronto Real Estate Condos

One decision Toronto condo buyers have to make when choosing a building or a unit in any existing building is whether to buy a condominium in a building with rental restrictions.

Not all condos allow renters in Toronto.

Rental restrictions mean that a building restricts the number of rentals allowed in a building or event outright prohibits them. This results in a condominium building that is comprised of all or mostly condo owners instead.

In most cases, choosing a condo based on this is simply a personal choice. Owners tend to create a sense of community and can often take more pride in their living situation than renters, who are not responsible for keeping common areas clean or fixing things because their landlord handles it. Of course, some renters are stellar and everyone is different, but it may be something to consider when choosing a condominium in Toronto.

Before you start shopping for a new or resale condominium, speak to your Toronto real estate agent about your wants and needs regarding the condo you’ll choose, and tell them how you feel about rental restrictions. They will be able to find out the building’s policies on rentals or might even know them already and be able to steer you towards a condominium you’ll love living in.

For more information, read this great article in Moneyville on rental restrictions in condos.

Toronto Condo Rental Restrictions is a post from: Toronto Real Estate Condos

It’s an issue that comes up frequently, and one that can cause great hesitation for buyers who are thinking of moving into a Toronto condominium – are pets allowed? And what if you already have pets that you just can’t part with?

There are ways around "no pets" rules, but they are hardly worthwhile.

This very issue was addressed in a recent Moneyville article, discussing two condo buyers who made their offer conditional upon being satisfied with the condominium’s certificate of status – which contains all of the condominium rules, including ones relating to pets.

Upon finding out that there was a rule stating only one pet was allowed per unit and that pet couldn’t exceed 25 pounds – they had some concerns about their two dogs, each weighing almost 50 pounds – but their options to get around the rule weren’t worth it.

There are two ways to keep your pets with you when you move into a “no pets” condo:

1. You are able to get 80 per cent of the owners in the building, as required, to agree to change the rules to allow pets. This is an extremely unlikely scenario: Many people move to condos because of the “no pets” rules, some condo owners may be worried about noise, and worse yet, some owners in the building may have already had to make a heartbreaking decision and part with their own pets to move into the building – they may not take kindly to a rule change after they followed the rules.

2. You find out that the condo, while stating “no pets” in their rules, doesn’t bother to enforce this rule and doesn’t seem to care – people in the building may have pets and be open about it. If this is the case, and you bring a pet into a building like this, in a situation where the building pursues legal action to get rid of you and your pet, their inability and inaction to enforce the rules previously will likely work against them.

Obviously, since the first scenario is more than unlikely to go your way and the second scenario involves a legal headache, its best to just be very clear about your condo’s pet rules before committing to buy by reviewing your condominium status certificate.

*Keep in mind that if you live in an apartment in Ontario, you can have a pet even if the rules state “no pets” – unless they are dangerous animals or keeping them is against local bylaws. This is because it is considered a human rights violation to evict you for having a pet in your apartment. Condominiums are different because of their pre-existing rules that you, in effect, agree to when you buy.

Can You Keep A Pet In A Toronto Condominium? is a post from: Toronto Real Estate Condos

Part of the Toronto Star's condo info-graphic.

The Toronto Star just published an amazing info-graphic all about Toronto condominiums.

It’s definitely worth checking out if you are thinking about buying a condo in the coming months and are interested in Toronto condo life.

It’s peppered with fun facts such as:

• The most expensive parking spots in the city (a parking spot at the Florian in Yorkville will cost you $75,000… And that’s not even the priciest spot).
• You cannot keep pet ducks on your condominium balcony in the city of Toronto.
• While most people are aware that many tall buildings forgo the 13th floor because of superstition and perceived bad luck associated with the number, older buildings may also skip floor number four: it sounds like the word for death in Cantonese.
• The golden-crowned kinglet was the bird species with the most casualties in 2005 thanks to Toronto’s towering condo windows. But peregrine falcons have also returned to the city, perching on condo ledges and feasting on delicious pigeons.
• Newer condominium elevators travel at speeds of up to 800 feet per minute, while office elevators in Toronto can travel up to twice that fast.

The graphic also lists the smallest studio condos ever in Toronto, along with the largest penthouses – complete with outstanding floor plans (the smallest studio condominium in Toronto easily fits into the master bedroom of the city’s most extravagant penthouse at the Four Seasons.

The info-graphic also includes a graphic that helps you visualize the tallest buildings in the city – as well as those under construction to see which buildings will come out on top once they’re finished. The info-graphic is available at the Toronto Star’s website here.

Vertical Toronto In The Toronto Star is a post from: Toronto Real Estate Condos

One bedroom, 737 square-foot Mississauga condo

Our newest active Mississauga condo listing is a beautiful one-bedroom condo in a quiet and well-maintained and managed building.

The spacious kitchen is one of the highlights of this Mississauga condo!

There is plenty nearby for people of all ages and lifestyles, including great shopping at Square One, plenty of parks and a community recreation centre.

The kitchen is one of the best highlights of this well-designed, east-facing condo, and its quite spacious with stainless steel appliances – effortlessly move throughout the kitchen when entertaining! Track lighting and lots of natural light from wall-to-wall windows complete the package.

The building has fitness facilities as well as an indoor pool, along with plenty of extras: a sauna, a tanning room, tennis courts, a billiards room and many more amenities.

Fridge, stove, dishwasher, washer, dryer, window coverings and electric light fixtures all included. Your condo fees will cover the usual building insurance, parking and common elements, as well as water, heat, hydro and central air.

For more information on this Mississauga condo listing, including a video tour, maps and a floor plan, visit the listing here. Our listing details also crunch numbers for you, giving you better specifics of how you can easily stop paying rent and build equity depending on your down payment size.

Newest Mississauga Condo Listing: 4205 Shipp Drive #208 is a post from: Toronto Real Estate Condos

Since the several incidents involving glass from Toronto condominiumsfalling to the ground from the balconies above during the summer months, condominiums built using glass have been under more scrutiny than ever before.

The condo builder is at fault when it comes to faulty glass - not the glass itself.

A recent CBC article called many of Toronto’s glass condominiums “throw-away” buildings, because their glass windows are apparently destined to fail over the next few decades and will cost millions to replace or repair.

But a significant number of the comments on the story accuse CBC of fear-mongering and cherry-picking quotes from industry professionals to create a generally scary story that reflects poorly on condos that use glass in their construction.

The crisp, clean-looking beauty of glass condo towers appeals to many condominium buyers and owners – not to mention the spectacular views they can offer. But according to the CBC report, Toronto’s temperamental seasonal mood swings can result in the insulating argon gas between panes escaping, rendering them no longer energy efficient and even leaky.

But this response by glass industry representatives says that’s just not the case. In reality, the failures are not the fault of the glass but the fault of the building practices around the glass – cheap construction and cutting corners will cause any material to fail. The proper manufacturing of the glass will prevent any argon gas from escaping at all, and the windows will remain energy-efficient so long as they are built and installed properly and continue to be well-maintained throughout the life of the building.

Condo buyers need to ask the right questions when buying a condo in a primarily glass building, and hiring a real estate agent who knows the Toronto condo industry and is familiar with local developments and builders can help avoid less than desirable builders who are known for cutting corners – as well as help Toronto condo buyers find a building that is financially healthy and well-maintained, ensuring they enjoy their condo for years to come.

Have you encountered glass issues in your Toronto condo? Or have you not experienced any problems whatsoever? Let us know!

Do Toronto Condominiums Have Glass Issues? is a post from: Toronto Real Estate Condos