Posts Tagged ‘canada’

I was cleaning up some old footage from my Flipcam the other day when I came across a few clips I caught of the City.  With the Hot Docs film fest coming to town, I felt a bit “Spike-Leeish”  and decided to put together a short vid of my own…enjoy!

When you’re ready to call Toronto home…call me!

What a year 2009 has been for the Toronto Condo Market! Back in the early part ’08 I remember getting invited to a new condo launch several times a month. Every time I checked the BlackBerry it was a different developer announcing a different launch… that was until the ‘World Wide Recession’ kicked in!

The broker lunch invites ceased, the glossy packages of beautiful condo renderings stopped and my cell phone usage also started to slow down. With the weak sales numbers in the resale market, no developer wanted to risk launching during the uncertain times. So for the last half of 2008 and the first half of 2009 hardly any new projects where released. It almost became the year of the “Relaunch” as most developers worked to clear old inventory and get ground broken on their projects.

530 St. Clair was about to be the first developer to launch a new product, but held off citing a redesign of units to better suit the market. Fly Condos also had their sales event, with many small sized units being released at low prices that matched. Camrost-Felcorp made a bold move in June. They erected a huge sign on the highway advertising prices for their California Condo starting at $149,900! This wasn’t their first launch, but like many others, the re-launch was necessary to move more units.

September of 2009 is when activity in the pre construction market really started to pick up. 530 St. Clair , 2 Gladstone, Reve, x2,Ice 2, U Condos 2, and finally River City (to name a few) all made their launch towards the last quarter of the year!

So what’s in store for 2010? If you’re in the market for a preconstruction condo, you’ll want to check back throughout the week, as I take a look at what’s in store for the New Year!

Get updated with this week’s mortgage rates, provided by everybody’s favourite S.O.B….Chris Molder!

Chris Molder from SonOfABroker.com is back with another installment of his Mortgage Minute.  For a full list of rates, check out his blog.

The busy bees at BuzzBuzzHome have whipped up another cool feature!  Keeping with the apidae theme (that’s nerd talk for bee) they’ve just launched the “Hive” .  It’s basically a forum for discussing preconstruction projects in the City and is also available in Calgary and Vancouver.  I think this is an amazing idea and a great middle ground for Developer, Consumer and Realtor to meet. It brings the 3 parties together in an informal way to discuss, demystify discover more about a particular project. As more people join in on the conversation, the story of the condo can be better documented from start to finish thanks to this evolution from BuzzBuzzHomes.  

To access the Hive, click on your desired preconstruction condo and select “Enter the Hive.”  From there you’ll be able to view prices, unit sizes and even other developments in the area (plus a ton more).  To comment on the project, scroll down to the bottom and buzzzz away!  Here’s my thoughts on Casa Condo, by Cresford.  Being the shutter bug that I am, I naturally love the ability the site has to upload photos!

Once you’ve found that perfect project and are ready to take the next step give me a call…i’d love to help!

Toronto is home to many things but most notably it’s been the base for “World’s Tallest Free Standing Structure.” At 553 meters it is the tallest and most recognized structure in the city. For 35 years it was also the tallest in the world… that was until the Burj Dubai stepped in (or rather up) and took that title from us!

Earlier this week, Guinness World Records changed the wording so it now reads “World’s Tallest Free Standing Tower.” I never was a fan of “labels” and this case is no different. For me it really doesn’t matter what you want to call it. Truth is, in a few years some other City will build a bigger Tower!

What they can’t take away from us is its significance. It’s a symbol of achievement, greatness and success. The Tower is a lot like a celebrity to the City, but one who never goes to rehab… or worst, moves to the US. Not only is it a treat to look at, but also spectacular to look out of.  It’s rotating floor perched high above the City allows for amazing panorama views. Whenever I’m working out of the City, seeing the Tower on the drive in is like getting a hug from a loved one after a long departure…it’s makes you feel home again.

If you’re ever in the City, I highly recommend going up to the top (it only takes 58 seconds to get there). Better yet, if you’d like a downtown condo with views of the Tower send me an email…i’d love to help!

I spend a lot of time downtown; eating, living and most importantly WORKING.  One of the great advantages that I can offer my clients is knowledge, and specifically in the downtown core.  Before even getting into the business I spent over 3 months building (what I thought at the time) “THE ULTIMATE GOOGLE MAP.” I had everything from condos to grocery stores and even side streets with free parking.  The map (which I still use) is a great tool that helps better inform my clients of the features and amenities located around their future home.  As I spread out to different parts of Toronto, I’m faced with the problem of creating similar maps for the rest of the city…that was until I stumbled across the ZOOCASA website.

In a nutshell, the website is a similar public version of the googlemaps I had created…except on steroids (actually unlike steroids, they’re perfectly legal).  These guys cover it all, from schools and daycares to gyms and bowling alleys!!  I was really impressed with the level of detail ZooCasa went into, especially with school info.  Just type in the neighbourhood you’re interested in researching and in seconds a list of schools pops up. They even have the Provincial Testing results (provided by the Fraser Institute).  BUT WAIT, it gets better.  Aside from area features and schools it also provides something that really caught my eye…LISTINGSSSS!  You can browse available homes/condos for sale in your search area and in a few clicks get tons of info on the property as well as options to contact the brokerage for more info. 

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