Posts Tagged ‘Toronto Real Estate’

Ever wonder why some people call their place of residence an apartment and others a condo?  I sure did!

It was about 7 years ago when my curiosity had gotten the better of me (I wasn’t yet licensed as a Realtor).  At the time, many of my friends were either buying or renting a place of their own.    It was common to hear my renter friends say “come to my apartment this weekend” while the purchasing friends would say “you’ve got to check out the views from my condo”…or something like that.

For the most part I thought I had the terminology all figured out…the renters lived in apartments and the owners lived in condos. I’m sure some of you have thought…or at least asked the same question! After correcting numerous people on the differences, I’ve decided to put together a simple explanation that should clarify this often confusing use of terminology!!!

Here we go:

An apartment is a word used to describe the style of building!  For example an apartment can take the shape of a high-rise or low-rise.

A condo (or condominium as they’re legally known) is a style of ownership and could come in a variety of forms…townhouses, detached houses, high-rise, low-rise, industrial or even retail!  Therefore, a condominium is not defined by its physical structure but rather the way in which owners have agreed to share the ownership of the common elements of the property while retaining individual ownership of parts of the property which make up their units!

Now that we’ve gotten that straightened out, let’s get you a condo of your own…send me an email or give me a call I’d love to help!

Yes, it’s true, as Canadians we are rather polite people…but in Toronto we’re also quite vocal! One of the many things I love about living in the City is how involved the people are in voicing their opinions, especially when it’s about the look of our high-rises!

Like any industry, the real estate one has a bunch of awards and competitions set up to reward builders for a job well done…problem is, none of these gives out trophies for the bad or the ugly. Thankfully we also have the Pug Awards!

Founded in 2004 (by Anna Simone, principal of design firm Cecconi Simone, and Gary Berman, president of real estate financier Tricon Capital Group)  the goal of the Pugs is to give every day citizens a voice amongst the City planners and developers on what works and what doesn’t.

In total 41 projects (completed in 2009) are up for nomination. This year they’ve expanded the awards to also include projects outside of the downtown core. Pure Spirit at the Distillery, Toy Factory Lofts, the Arc and 60 Richmond East Housing Co-Operative are just a few of the 34 residential projects up for an award!

Past Pug winners include: the Art Gallery of Ontario, One St. Thomas Residences and Argyle Authentic Lofts…and for the losers we have: Hampton Plaza, Marriott Residence Inn, and Wellington Square to name a few. The Pugs will wrap up on June 16,2010 at the Art Gallery of Ontario with an award ceremony and round table discussion by several of the mayoral candidates.  The candidates will be sharing their thoughts on how tomorrows Toronto should look like!

I’ve submitted my votes and now it’s your turn to either ”Love”, “Like” or “Hate” the newest additions to the Toronto skyline!

The Deoxyribonucleic Acid (or DNA) of Canderel Stoneridge latest project, DNA3, is really starting to come together! The developer is no stranger to the King West/Liberty Village area having already built DNA, DNA2 and The Massey Harris Lofts! For DNA3 I particularly like the rectangular highlights placed along the condos facade as shown in the rendering above.

Approximately 600 units will be constructed on the King and Shaw site with suite finishes designed by Cecconi Simone. Other amenity spaces will include an outdoor terrace space, sundeck and misting station, private lounges and dining areas, a state of the art fitness facility and relaxing yoga lounge.

You may remember me talking about DNA3 back in October as the site was also used as the headquarters for LG Fashion Week…since then, the catwalk has been cleared and the curtains closed to make way for a new star. With all the interest surrounding DNA3, I’ll be posting more details as well as preview opportunities in the coming weeks!

A few posts back, I wrote about how much I liked the 500 and 530 St. Clair project… now that a Starbucks opened up on the main level of 500, add another reason!  I actually don’t drink coffee (per-say) but I do love their green tea and the occasional moca-frappucino!

So why is a Starbucks such a big deal??? After all, it’s just another coffee shop right?  Well yes, but Starbucks doesn’t just open a place on any corner.  It’s not very often you see a Starbucks close down, and I believe it’s because of all the research and surveying that’s done before one actually opens. I was prepared to write a whole post on the “Starbuck Effect” and the type of positive changes that one brings to an area….BUT another blogger beat me too it!  Instead of rewriting what he’s already written, I encourage you to check out David Fleming’s post entitled “The Starbucks Effect“ He pretty much sums up all the areas that have benefitted from having the popular coffee shop open up in their area!

I firmly believe that the strip of St. Clair (From Bathurst to Oakwood) will be seeing positive changes in the coming years.  It already has streetcar AND subway access, not to mention the massive Loblaw’s for shopping, and Cedervale Park for leisure.  With big name chains like Starbucks moving in, it’s only a matter of time before others set up shop!  Local residential hot spot “Ferro” also looked like it was expanding its space in anticipation for more business along the strip!

Property values aside, there is another reason why this particular store deserves attention.  It’s the first (at least to my knowledge) Starbucks in Toronto that was built to LEED standards!   LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system, and a system that more and more Toronto developers trying to incorporate into their buildings.  Though ordering your moca-froca-whatever from a LEED Certifies Starbucks won’t taste and different than any other Starbucks… It is good to see the massive coffee chain reducing their environmental footprint through energy and water conservation, recycling and green construction.

Drop in to the new Starbucks; it has a very loft-like look to it with a decent combination of wood and concrete finishes!

Ladies and gentlemen, boy and girls, movie buffs and doc-heads alike…step right up and get ready for hotDocs 2010, live from various cinema’s across Toronto!

In it’s 17th year, the hotDocs festival will be in town for 11 days (April 29 to May 9). North America’s largest documentary festival will have over 170 films from more than 40 countries!  This will be my second year attending the event.  Last year I had the chance to watch “Jazz Baroness”, the story of a white British Baroness (Pannonica ‘Nica” Rothschild) who fell in love with the musical genius Thelonious Monk. (one of my favourites!)

This year, I have my eyes and appetite set to watch “Candyman: The David Klein Story“.  He’s been called the real life Willy Wonka because of his idea for Jelly Belly jellybeans!

From docs about Canada’s own Josh Dolgin aka “socalled” to films about Choirs singing songs of complaints (you’ve gotta check this one out…they even complain about haiting their condo association! lol) hotDocs is sure to have something you’ll enjoy!  Check out their full schedule here.

If you’re thinking of moving up to “Hollywood North”, give me a call or send me an email, I’d love to help!

Yesterday I took to the streets of Trinity and Eastern to show exactly what the area has to offer…incase you missed it, check it out here! Today I’m taking it a step closer to home and looking at the features Trinity Lofts will offer. The 8 story building (shown above) will have a total of 81 lofts plus 2 town homes. Similar to SYNC and 2 Gladstone, units will be 9ft high with exposed concrete ceilings (except areas with bulkheads, as required to accommodate architectural, structural, mechanical or OBC conditions). Floors will be pre-finished engineered hardwood throughout, except for tiled area as per plan.

Expect contemporary kitchens with granite or quartz countertops, under cabinet lighting, porcelain subway tile backsplash with an under mount sink! They’ve stayed away from the frivolous amenities and kept it simple with an equipped exercise room, furnished terrace with shared BBQ, dog wash room, a bike share system and an auto share parking space. Parking is available but is only available on units over $310,900 BUT with the TTC up the street and the various transportation sharing programs in the building, it’s not such a bad thing. Also without a car (or parking) you may actually be able to qualify for more of a mortgage as you’ll have less financial commitments hindering approval!

From Thursday April 30th to Wednesday May 5th, they’ll be accepting work sheets from Realtors who’ve been invited to sell at the project. For this early launch, roughly 55 units are being released so buyers are encouraged to pick 3 units of choice. On Thursday May 6th, they’ll be confirming successful worksheet and scheduling times to sign the agreement of purchase and sale for Saturday May 8th (purchasers must be present for signing!!!) The deposit structure is $5,000 on signing with the balance of 5% in 30 days, 5% in 90 days, 5% in 180 days and 5% on occupancy. Parking is $30,000 for units $310,900 and higher, with locker/bike lockers at $5,000 and $2,000 respectively.

I do have floor plans and price lists but am not emailing them out, I’d much rather meet in person to better explain the process and go over the details (plus usually it’s just other Realtors trying to get info for their blogs/site… as much as I love them, they tend to not hire me to represent them). There’s tons of amaaaaaaazing cafes in the Distillery where we can meet to discuss buying a unit at Trinity…feel free to call or email to set up an appointment, I’d love to help!

Floor plans and prices for Trinity Lofts have now been released…instead of yapping about prices and layouts, I decided to shoot a short video showing the lofts advantageous location to 51 Division, Distillery District,   King East  and Corktown to name a view.  From today until Thursday they’ll be accepting worksheets, if you’d like to call Trinity Lofts home…call me.  I’d love to help!