Eug
Senior Member
Buy resale.
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Or sit and watch for the opportunity to go by and regret later.
I think that opportunity passed several years ago.
Open your eyes, guy. Currently, units in RoCP are selling, quickly I might add, at $ 650 sq.ft. Not enough units for sale in the building for eager buyers.
Sq. ft prices quoted by you are around $ 650 sq.ft. Hardly worth worrying about.
Curious Ka1
What is so special about Pace condos?
And if you believe they were good value, did you take the plunge and invest?
If you did, the next question is academic but if you did not, apart from not wishing to invest yourself at this time, would
you actually be recommending INVESTING in a condo now at Pace. I am not talking about personal use.
Open your eyes, guy. Currently, units in RoCP are selling, quickly I might add, at $ 650 sq.ft. Not enough units for sale in the building for eager buyers.
Sq. ft prices quoted by you are around $ 650 sq.ft. Hardly worth worrying about.
And you don't think people in Miami were buying up inventory? The prices aren't sustainable. Torontonians spend too much money and don't make enough.
Interested, you and I have been good 'cyber' acquaintances. I will not go far enough to call us 'cyber' friends, though. We have replied to each other's posts. More significantly, you , with all the grace, have ignored my purposesly thrown jabs at you -- with all the contempt they deserved. As such, I will give detailed answers to your questions and in the process open my private life to the public. In doing so, I will open myself to potshots from Redfirm and darts from the others. Just for you, Interested.
I did not take the plunge in buying a 'value' priced unit in Pace simply because I am a conservative investors.
As you, and perhaps others as well, know that I have bought a unit in AURA -- on the 'Executive' 59th floor. When I bought this 1142 unit @ 700 sq. ft., units on the lower floors were going for $ 550 per sq.ft. I purposly bought this expensive unit on the higher floor simply because, in the last few years of my life, I wanted to ' look down' upon others' to pay back others for 'looking down' upon me most of my life.
I have been busy saving for a maximum downpayment when the opportunity comes to close the deal. I am glad to state that I will have saved at least 50% of the cost for down payment when the time comes to close the deal.
Now that I will have saved 50% of the price as downpayment, I have second thoughts about moving there. I will be able to look down upon others but I will not be able to spit and/or throw stone at others, simply, because, at that level, there is no balcony. I am seriously thinking about being as magnanimous as Lord Jesus -- just forgive them for their ignorance -- and rent the place instead. With a 50% downpayment, I am bound to have a 'positive'cash flow. I fully expect Redfirm and, perhaps a few others as well, to tell me, on my face, that this is a stupid thing to do.
If I was not busy saving for AURA, then, I would, most likely, have considering INVESTING in a unit there -- not with 10/15 or 20% down but at least around 40% down. At that level, there will be a postive cash flow.
Earlier, someone -- who I shall not name because that person seems to have a slightly thin skin -- had made a post to the effect that Dundas and Jarvis is 'infested' with hookers and drug dealers. Hookers are human beings. It is better to have them as 'neighbours' than, say, a skunk or a racoon. Sit on the balcony and watch hookers bargain with their client. Listen to the interesting conversations.
When unit owners move into the building, hookers will move away simply because there will be no customers for them. Area will self-clean itself. Then the prices will increase. When move developments follow, prices will increase even more.
Key to the purchase decision would have been substantial downpayment -- even more than 25%. Remember one thing, keeping money in GIC is, definitely, a loosing proposition. Interest rates for upto 2 year term deposits are around 1.85%. Forget about Bank of Canada official inflation figures. Gas prices do not increase by 2% neither do the prices of food or real estate. Instead of keeping money in GIC, use it to make a hefty down payment. One step at a time, Interested. Swallow one bite before you make another bite. That's the key.
Great post Ka1.
Along the same venue, I was considering Yonge and Wellesley area. Again an area that I think will be up and coming. Again, near the subway and I believe reasonable potential for price appreciation. But that said, I think one has to look at the whole TO market and yes, I think it is long in the tooth.Thanks for the detailed response.
at $650 psf, any buyer becomes house poor whether the property is for personal use or investment because the average buyer for this market is a working professional with a median income of $55-60K
Cdr 108, I am replying to your post on the understanding that you will not take my comments personally.
You have to look at the individual/pesonal situation and take decisions accordingly. Forget about the average joe.
If the average joe will be poor by buying a house because of a median income of $ 55-60k, then, the simple answer is: get off your behind, work extra hours, earn extra money and get out of the median income range and afford a house.
Getting off the behind will require sacrifices. And if someone is serious enough, then, that particular individual will make sacrifices. To start with, that could mean, not wasting money on hockey apparel -- as I have seen a few individuals going around town wearing Canuck apparel --, not going to bar to watch hockey games on big screens, ordering beer by the jugs and eating all the unhealthy food -- spare ribs, coke, potato chips and, till a few years ago, inhaling cigarette smoke, directly or idirectly.
It is a question of priorities.
For the life of me, I can't understand as to what an individual achieves by, my standards, wasting money on these and other follies other than the fact that, psycholigically, an individual feels great by associating himself with a 'goon'.
As you must have read in my posts that, during day time, I am a self-employed bean counter. As a result of my hard work -- starting with studying for accounting designation, along with full time job --, I am financially comfortable to the extent that I can sit on my balcony and watch the traffic go by on Bay Street and live comfortably on my savings/OAS and CPP. However, I still work long, at times long long, hours. My income is at a level where almost all of my OAS is clawed back. This means that, beyond a certain point, every dollar that I earn, 48% goes back in taxes and claw back. This still does not make me stop working. It took lot of soul searching to say goodbye to a secure, pensionable govenment job to take a plunge into an uncertain self-employment field.
In the end, does it really matter to me as to who wins the Stanley Cup? Not a bit. Would it matter if mortgage interest go up to, say, 5 or 6%? Once again, not a bit. As I have said in earlier post, in a reply to Interested, that, in March 2008, I purposely choose to buy a unit in AURA at 'Executive' floor at $ 700 psf rather than a $ 550 psf on the lower floors. Nonsense reasons for buying a unit on 'Executive' floors -- looking down upon others -- is for jokes.
So, it is a question of choices -- personal choices, dear friend. If you want something badly, then, you have to work for it. Sitting on the behind and watching sports and other programs will not do.