I had a 10am appointment and front of the line VIP status and it was tough for me to get my needs taken care of. When I left there were no A and Bs left and the C's were close to finish. I know that some folks were going for D's when they had no intention of going that high. Some cell pics and video of the scale model. More later. It was madness.

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[video=youtube;4sDqB1u3B-s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sDqB1u3B-s[/video]
 
The site was chaotic this morning which is to be expected. Overall it could have been organized a little better, but what can you do. The sales staff were very good. I'm happy as is everything with me. The project is a beauty.

I stand by what I've said all along, very few of the general public that went in on this without an agent will get anything, let alone their first choice of suites.
 
Had an 11 am 'appointment' and an agent...didn't get in until 12:30 despite the 'appointment'. Obviously I didn't get anything and it was a huge waste of time.
 
FutureBuilder said:
The site was chaotic this morning which is to be expected. Overall it could have been organized a little better, but what can you do. The sales staff were very good. I'm happy as is everything with me. The project is a beauty.

I stand by what I've said all along, very few of the general public that went in on this without an agent will get anything, let alone their first choice of suites.
Click to expand...

A question: are you an agent? If so, while your point may be correct, it would be very self serving and hence people reading may be inclined to be somewhat skeptical of your motivations for the post.

A comment: based on my read of the previous few posts, it does not sound like agents will have fared any better than John Q Public but I guess this will need to be clarified. Am I incorrectly interpreting this or do you have additional information which would prove this wrong?
 
I don't think he works for Concert. My guess is Brad Lamb as there were lots of those were busy talkin' up the product to their clients. I guess Brad can't develop projects like this on his own (Theatre Park, maybe).

So, here are my impressions of what I saw going on and talkin' to various folks.

1. Biggest Surprise - NO UPGRADES AVAILABLE - You could choose from one of three palletes (two if you were less than 1000 sqft). I liked it. There was lots of good high quality features built-in as standard. No need to upgrade. Well done Concert!
2. The building design, in terms of LEEDS, and everything else is of high quality, right up there with Tridel (their partner at Huntington). The kitchens are very nice, as were the bathrooms and finishes.
3. The lack of small suites was a killer for those looking to buy. Some suites were on hold by Concert, reserved for the grand opening later this month, but why bother? It could have been sold all today in minutes.
4. The Concert staff did their best but I think will look back at today with many lessons learned. Customer service was actually there but you had to put your face in front of them due to the overwhelming numbers. Having appointments every 15 minutes with 6-8 names on the 15 minute list was ambitious. I don't think Vancouverites are this aggressive (I know they aren't!)
5. There was pushy real estate agents that were playing games, some were letting in supposed clients when you could tell that they had more than two clients coming through the door. That pissed me off. I even overhead a Concert rep telling one agent that she couldn't change the name on one of the suites that had already been taken by one of her clients.
6. Prices compared to the pre-advertised starting points were not upheld. In my case, it was at least 10k higher compared to the sales sheet issued May 20.

Overall, this had been my fourth forray into opening minutes of condo sales and I can say that the hunger of the crowd to get in and purchase was at its peak. Folks knew that it was going to be tough to get their picks. Some people did purchase over their limit and I suspect that some will get cold feet over the next 10 days, so some suites might come up before the 25th.
 
It's an incredible location - one of the last few in that area, so i'm not surprised it was mayhem. As for appreciation on the suites however, I don't they'll see any by the time they move in. Eventually for sure, but not for at least 5-10 years.
 
simuls said:
It's an incredible location - one of the last few in that area, so i'm not surprised it was mayhem. As for appreciation on the suites however, I don't they'll see any by the time they move in. Eventually for sure, but not for at least 5-10 years.
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I think the price is around 500-550 psf. You really don't see this going up in 10 years? I can understand there being a correction but 10 years?
 
simuls said:
It's an incredible location - one of the last few in that area, so i'm not surprised it was mayhem. As for appreciation on the suites however, I don't they'll see any by the time they move in. Eventually for sure, but not for at least 5-10 years.
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I'm going to echo JayBee's sentiment.

If the pricing was more in line with some of the newer developments in C1/C2/C8 - i.e. easily north of $600 pp sq.ft, then I could see your point.

However, most units were in the $500-$550 range, so I think in 3+ years, there is room for some decent appreciation.
 
Wrk_InProgress said:
I'm going to echo JayBee's sentiment.

If the pricing was more in line with some of the newer developments in C1/C2/C8 - i.e. easily north of $600 pp sq.ft, then I could see your point.

However, most units were in the $500-$550 range, so I think in 3+ years, there is room for some decent appreciation.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what units you found in the 500-550 range. Were they 1brms? I went in for an afternoon appointment and walked out a few hours later very disappointed. I guess I actually believed the marketing when I heard that this project was 'well priced'. I also thought this developer would stick to the ranges provided earlier but was shocked that when I got in to the center that 'only units $730,000 and higher' were available. Are you kidding me? I then learned that Concert were holding back units for tomorrow's showings and then the grand opening. Wouldn't be so grand without any units to show I suppose?

I had my sights set on E1, C7 and a few others in case I was a 'little' off with my estimations of much they would cost. Turns out I was a LOT OFF. I was told by the Sales Manager that C7 went for $850,000!!! I almost fainted. That is $200,000 more than what I was thinking. Not $20,000 but $200,000. It works out to roughly 800PSF. I'm sorry, did I just make a wrong turn and step into the 1BORE sales center? I was scared to ask about 2 storey homes. There was actually no point asking because only E3 and a few others remained at $730K+. I'm sure there was a lot that remained but this concept of holding suites really annoyed me. Sure they are looking out for themselves because ppl will realize today and tomorrow they were victims of hysteria buying and return to their senses but it's unfair to those who signed up early and thought they were getting an honest shot at suites. I guess I will just keep my hard earned 100k for a little while longer and invest on my terms.
 
Friend I was with bought a D something..My plan was to buy a A or B( I figured A would be optimistic at best) but had went hoping for the best, when heard at 1115am that all A and B were gone, and still wasnt inside with my 1045 appointment I thought ok C but thats my max. Walked in and all C's gone as well. So pulled the rip cord. My friend was buying to be an end user so her needs/ expectations etc were different and even getting something she wanted was a challenge. Plus with all the chaos the sales people didnt even know what was available and what wasnt really. I think there were alot of end users there, being that I am 1/2 investor 1/2 end user since it is always so hard to forecast where one is going to be 3 years down the road in their life I wasnt willing to commit to 550K plus without parking or anything espically without an assignment clause. Now for people to not think this building will appreciate, you need to look around. at the 500-550 a sq ft range with the finishing I feel these units were being sold near or below MLS pricing thus a good deal. The hype at the event shows that people want to live in and around St Lawrence market and this clientele demands a high end building( what Berczy appears to be). I think anyone that bought suites today 500/550 a sq ft before parking can comfortably say they made $50 dollars a sq ft as someone else in line would have died for that unit. If you want to throw Brad Lamb in there, his suites at the King East are over 500 a sq and I would say a less desirable location but a very nice building just King and Parliament still up and coming. Moreover, Brad's building finishes are TOP TOP notch he also had a proven track record. so I dont know why people want to criticize him, he is an excellent brand manager. Dont hate someone for being successful and good at what they do. Theatre Park when I saw pricing in Dec was near 570 -600 a sq ft and up, also a world class building great floor plans crazy desirable location I would argue one of the best for end users sadly he stopped selling the project. I dont work for Brad, I dont work for Concert and I am not an agent.
 
The idea of Rumors of suites being held back I cannt see 100 percent, because for 1 bedrooms I think there might have been a total of 15 only.... when you look at the book and see the floor plans and the floors there on with location you start to understand why with only 160 suites things went so fast. I am sure things will get returned and they are counting on it. When I left it was 80 percent sold out. I am hoping maybe some big suites are re drawn but based on today. I cannt see much left, and if things are re drawn prices will be much higher to reflect today's chaos.
 
All this VIP nonsense is just that...nonsense. The key is to have an insider with the builder and get in when the builder is selling the units to friends and family...after that there's really no use.....you're going to be in the middle of a zoo...prices will be higher and your suite will probably already be sould out.

Berkzy looks to be a nice building though... at least they went all out with the finishes.

I also wouldn't call the finishes at KingEast TOP TOP NOTCH... no built in applicances...pretty standard finishes for a loft IMO. I bought a unit there so I went through the feature list pretty extensively prior to purchasing.

Berczy finishes > King East

However, I personally like King East better when you consider the price and I think the floorplans are nicer.
 
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Guys I would appreciate your honest opinion on this: this morning I got the cheapest unit per sq ft in the building Berczy ($475 psf), the A3 unit on the 3rd floor (see floorplan attached). the unit has 650 sq ft interior plus a terrace of aprox 115 sq ft. In my opinion the unit has a great layout, however the low price as you can see in the floorplan is due to the unit has another unit's terrace in front and another one to the left so the unit won't have the best sunlight, it will be dark. Due to the position of the unit I think that maybe you will have some view of the CN tower, but very limited. A great building, one of the betters corners in downtown, the location is amazing, boutique building, very nice finishes, good price I think (475 per sq ft), very good layout, big terrace, but the big concern is that terrance in the front of the unit. I have 10 days to make my decision. what do you think?

http://www.theberczy.com/pdf/planA3.pdf
 
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