Did they teach you that in broker school Josh? Good idea for you maybe, not necessarily for the buyer!

Don't listen to the brokers son. It's a crappy idea! If you want exposure to real estate and can't afford to buy a house/condo buy some REIT shares. It costs you nothing to buy them and you can sell anytime. How easy do you think it will be to sell your 1/4 interest in an apartment...

Josh, A word of advice- those of us with the kind of assets that you describe are very aware (more than you in fact) of their value and we also know the most effective exit strategies should we choose to elect to sell. Coming here looking for sellers, while cheap, is an utter waste of time...

Shock, Fees (legal, municipal, consultants) burn through any profit margin associated with a small conversion. The key to successfully converting a property is to have a large enough project to absorb the fixed costs associated with it. Some have/will do it no doubt, but it is more of a...

My take on the story is that speculation is rampant in the higher-end condo projects and that our market is headed for a fate similar to Miami and Las Vegas where ghost buyers are nowhere to be found upon completion as overall weakness due to the over supply of units pushes prices down...

Urban scrawl: Sherry Cooper BMo economist Sherry Cooper says the explosion in ultra-luxe condos in downtown Toronto is helping turn the city into a worldwide financial and economic capital. The following commentary will appear in tomorrow's National Post: There is a stealth influx of...

Hamilton is a sh*thole that will continue to deterioate. Any purchase there will not keep up with inflation. By the end of next decade it will start to resemble Detroit. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. Alternatively, value any investment as with a terminal value of zero.

Beac, You need to make the distinction between the broad based subprime meltdown and the condo crash. While the condo crash in part was driven by the cheap and easy credit, the buyers in places like miami and las vegas were specuvestors, just like the buyers in much of toronto. No one is...

I'm not suggesting that a correction of the same magnitude will occur here, ie 30% discount to initial sales prices. I am suggesting that the trends are quite similar, particularly in higher end projects, and if you bothered to read the article you'd realize that many pre-construction buyers...

Perhaps the correction will not as evenly as it is occurring in places like Florida and Vegas but the exact same dynamics apply. Specuvestors snapping up suites in the Four Seasons, The Ritz, Shang, etc. outnumber end users 2-1 I am POSITIVE. Developers are loathe to disclose that information...

I have seen the future of Toronto's condo scene and this is it! ________________________ A Bank Bet on Condos, but Buyers Want Out Sandy Huffaker for The New York Times Jeanette Graham of San Diego moved into her new condominium development last year, but few others have joined her...

If you're going to compare Toronto to Detroit then you obviously aren't familiar with the economic and cultural diversity of this city. Toronto city 'nabes more closely resemble Manhattan 'nabes than Detroit- FH, Rosedale, Lawrence Park, Cabbage, Beaches, High Park, Yonge/Eg, Moore Park...

Definitely don't hate it, in fact I admire the developers gusto if not his taste of architecture, just familiar with the area and the difficult problems that plague that stretch of St. Clair. The housing stock northwest of that building is an impediment to any real gentrification imo.

Gated community? Are you speaking metaphorically?

I only really know Paris, so I'll take your word for it. The most pathetic name that I've seen in the recent boom has HANDS DOWN got to be the SUCCESS TOWER. Anyone DUMB ENOUGH to think that living at the wedge of land between that noisy albatross of a highway and the hotel wall obstructing...

Coming soon, The Champs D'Elysees! Be at the centre of it all! Catch the action! Love the romance, the food and the wine in picturesque ETOBICOKE! Brought to you by the purveyors of tackiness and poor taste, The Menkes Family! Only suckers buy into this marketing nonsense.

The river and valley form a very distinct psychological gap for buyers. The east side of the DVP clearly delineates to anyone that you're no longer in Rosedale or Cabbagetown. It's common sense. Brooklyn, Queens and New Jersey are easily accessible to Manhattan by bridge and tunnel, yet will...

This kind of activity is extremely speculative. You could get caught with your pants down like all the suckers in South Florida who are on the hook for $750,000+ units that are being dumped for under $500k by the anxious developer looking to salvage whatever equity remains in the project. Same...

The ceiling on Riverdale will always be, THE RIVER. That said, Danforth/subway proximity and desirable streets and topography will always keep these nabe in high demand. I would trade a 'Sauga subdivision McMansion for a comparably priced Riverdale 2-storey any day.

More like a future home of Forest Hill nannies than Forest Hillers, imo.