I have no strong opinion on this, but to be thorough wouldn't you have to figure in the carrying costs of a loan that you took out, and condo fees paid in that time period, less the interest that those amouts of cash would have generated if they were left in the bank? Not that this would make the investment unprofitable, but it seems to me that a straight comparison of "it sold for x in 1989 vs. y in 1999" does not provide a complete picture of the benefits.
 
There all all kinds of pessimists and crazy kooks in life. Just look at the people hunkering down and preparing for the end of the world with this swine flu "epidemic".

You could argue with them.... but I find it easier to just chuckle to yourself and go on making sensible decisions. Ultimately they end up being the losers.
 
Speaking of, hasn't anyone else wanted to sneak over to the Fly showroom and white out the bottom part of the letter y by the entrance to the showroom?
 
do they have free parking at the sales office? cuz i last time i went to check out Aura sales office i had to pay for parking. :mad:
 
Speaking of, hasn't anyone else wanted to sneak over to the Fly showroom and white out the bottom part of the letter y by the entrance to the showroom?


FLU condos ... that'll attract the crowds !

honestly, it's no worse than FLY condos with the fly glue traps i remember seeing on tv as a child hanging in the lobby.

fly4.jpg


http://pestcemetery.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/white-fly-trap-pestcemetery.jpg

http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/flypaper.jpg
 
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I just looked at the site plan of the Fly Condos. It looks like a significant number of units of facing the Element. Any idea how good these units are? I am excited at the 160K starting prices, but are worried that the sight from those units may not be very pleasant.

Am I just worried too much? Any insight will be greatly appreciated!
 
just hope you have good lookin' neighbours in the Element ... LOL

I suppose some people don't mind the short sightlines and would consider that simply a fact of 'downtown living'
 
I just looked at the site plan of the Fly Condos. It looks like a significant number of units of facing the Element. Any idea how good these units are? I am excited at the 160K starting prices, but are worried that the sight from those units may not be very pleasant.

Am I just worried too much? Any insight will be greatly appreciated!

I wouldn't bother with it. I heard the cheap ones are gone already. The prices jump pretty significantly when it hits a certain floor. parking is 40k. layouts aren't very good.
 
Hey guys, my girl friend and I put a deposit down on FLY and to be honest, I think the floor plans are quite good and FLY seems to offer much more value over 300 Front (Tridel).

Parking is a bit expensive I do admit.
When I was at the VIP showing, a lot of the units were picked up. The lofts and pent houses were completely purchased.

I'm curious what you guys think about FLY?

I think it offers good value, but we're unsure whether or not the market will take a further dip...

Love to hear your opinions on the place!
 
For the price, I think infinity is better. I compared the price from VIP and current price and there's no price change. The only difference is VIP got 5k discount. I think the prices there are reasonable compared to other new projects and it's closer to union station. Lowest starting price is $417 psf
 
Thanks AKS for your reply.

The VIP showing actually got a 4% discount on the units.

My girl friend and I got a 2 bdrm condo and paid $399/sq ft. To be quite honest I'm not 100% familiar with TO condo prices, but it seems to have pretty good value. Of course parking isn't included in the price.
 
prices depending on location is starting from around 525 psf in downtown areas (York st, 300 front, L tower, etc). Infinity is the lowest price in the area (beside ice). West past Spadina 400+ and east past Yonge is 350+ I think. Parking is around 27-37k. I think fly is very ambitious for 40k. They might be trying to discourage people from buying parking. Also from the size of the land, it will be difficult to park. There's not much space to maneuver to get to lower levels.

I forgot to mention. I think fly condo is 8' ceiling at the lower levels. The standard currently is 9'.
 
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Thanks AKS!

Thats a very good benchmark to go by. My girl friend and I are planning on going to the sale centre this Friday to try to talk down parking. Like you said, there is cheaper parking out there, so hopefully we can knock a few thousand from that or possibly get free upgrades on stuff.

What's your experience with negotiating with condo developers?
This is our first home purchase and its safe to say we don't know very much about it. I do know there are many other condo developers offering a lot of incentives around like cash back and stuff as well.
 
my experience negotiating with developers are bad. They won't budge. The only one that budged was Pier 27. They said if I didn't have an agent, they could give me 1% off or/(and?) locker. I forgot if was both or either. But won't budge on free parking. If you have an agent you can get percentage back from them.

I don't know if fly will get built even. How is their sales going? Their prices seem to jump fairly steep depending on level. Also, you should make sure what is upgrades and what is standard. Builders will build a nice model suite all upgraded. But you might not be getting what you paid for unless you upgrade. I don't know if they will be willing to write down all the upgrades on the contract if you have any. They try to make the contract so vague you don't really know what you're getting. Like putting *, **, ***. And it's like as per plan. But the plan doesn't really say anything specific. Also, might be good to have a clause where the builder pays occupany fees if they don't close within a certain time fame. Some take their sweet time closing. Course, YMMV builders don't like making changes on their documents.
 
Hey AKS, hmm...I guess we don't have much negotiating room, but I guess it's worth a try nonetheless!

As for their sales, when I was at the VIP session, they were selling pretty fast. I would say of the units they had on display (they had a board with the floors and units they were selling), 60% of the units were sold, not including the lofts, which they said were sold out.

They also told me they held back some units for the general public as well, I'm not quite sure how many that was.

I didn't stay till the end of the showing, but I would assume, including the lofts, pent houses and what I saw at the VIP showing 60% of the units are gone.

The broker event is tomorrow, I'm not sure how many of the units would sell but I'm going to take a stab and say by the time it opens to the public, it'll be roughly 70% sold and after the general public, probably 85% sold, which seems pretty good :)

We're still thinking if we should go forward with the deal. We've had 2 real estate agents (family and friends) tell us that right now really isn't the right time to buy and that the psf is a too high, but then again they specialize in uptown real estate and I'm sure the dynamics of down town condos and Markham homes are a lot different.

Personally we really like the place, but we also didn't necessarily look/shop around too much and weren't really sure what was out there. We got into the VIP, loved the unit and the condo features and location, plus with the 4% discount and financing available it seemed like a really good idea. We still have till Saturday to make our decision and have heard mixed opinions from different people.

Some agents are saying FLY offers great value especially compared to 300 Front as well right now is a very good time to buy a condo.

Others say right now is a bad time to buy a condo and prices will continually drop. I've taken a look at market data and condo sales seem to be increasing lately and the prices aren't dropping as drastic, I think they are in line with 2007 prices or so. I'm a bit concerned for resale value.

Our unit is on the 3rd floor with only 1 bathroom and I hear the higher the floor the more $$$ as well with a 2 bdrm it should have at least 1.5 baths. Since we are first time home buyers and don't know too much about real estate we don't know which we should side on...

But based on what you've told me I feel a bit more comfortable that the price we're getting is pretty good value. I think it depends if we can negotiate some terms on Friday will determine whether we stick with the unit or not!
 

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