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Condo living in Waterloo Region
#1
(11-05-2018, 10:29 AM)Watdot Wrote: Saw a price list and they definitely will be able to get buyers who are just trying to enter the market now.  For 500 something sq ft of inside living space, the pricing was in the $200's.  I believe condo fees were 40cents a sq ft.  There are a variety of units ranging from one bedroom to three bedroom.  If I remember correctly, nothing exceeded 1200 something sq ft of inside living space and nothing was priced over $500k.  Not sure about 80% sold, would expect to see that promoted on one of their sites or their seller's (condo culture).  Nevertheless, the location actually is not bad.  Once the LRT is up and running and bus routes are reorganized, it will take 5 minutes to get to the mall (Conestoga Mall LRT station) by bus right outside the door.  You could also walk to the mall in probably 15 minutes from that location.  In addition, beer is available right across the street at Innocente Brewery!  A significant amenity for some people.  Smile

See, I never understood there, there are 2 bedroom, 1200 sqft units with separate garage in my building one block from an LRT station that are completely renovated to brand new condition, which cannot sell at 300k.

Condo fees are a fair bit higher, but I still cannot understand why someone would buy in a new building, they seem seriously overpriced
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#2
(11-05-2018, 11:21 AM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(11-05-2018, 10:29 AM)Watdot Wrote: Saw a price list and they definitely will be able to get buyers who are just trying to enter the market now.  For 500 something sq ft of inside living space, the pricing was in the $200's.  I believe condo fees were 40cents a sq ft.  There are a variety of units ranging from one bedroom to three bedroom.  If I remember correctly, nothing exceeded 1200 something sq ft of inside living space and nothing was priced over $500k.  Not sure about 80% sold, would expect to see that promoted on one of their sites or their seller's (condo culture).  Nevertheless, the location actually is not bad.  Once the LRT is up and running and bus routes are reorganized, it will take 5 minutes to get to the mall (Conestoga Mall LRT station) by bus right outside the door.  You could also walk to the mall in probably 15 minutes from that location.  In addition, beer is available right across the street at Innocente Brewery!  A significant amenity for some people.  Smile

See, I never understood there, there are 2 bedroom, 1200 sqft units with separate garage in my building one block from an LRT station that are completely renovated to brand new condition, which cannot sell at 300k.

Condo fees are a fair bit higher, but I still cannot understand why someone would buy in a new building, they seem seriously overpriced

That's shocking to me.

Condo fees scare a lot of people off though.
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#3
(11-05-2018, 11:40 AM)Spokes Wrote:
(11-05-2018, 11:21 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: See, I never understood there, there are 2 bedroom, 1200 sqft units with separate garage in my building one block from an LRT station that are completely renovated to brand new condition, which cannot sell at 300k.

Condo fees are a fair bit higher, but I still cannot understand why someone would buy in a new building, they seem seriously overpriced

That's shocking to me.

Condo fees scare a lot of people off though.

And many people don't realize that the condo fees on new buildings are rather optimistic, and are bound to go up. 

But if you don't realize it, it looks like may $0.20/sqft extra in condo fees, that's $240/month or almost $3000/year. If people are looking at solely their payments, that may look like it's as expensive (in terms of total monthly payments) as a new unit priced $100K higher. And on top of that, many people still love "new".
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#4
(11-05-2018, 11:46 AM)tomh009 Wrote:
(11-05-2018, 11:40 AM)Spokes Wrote: That's shocking to me.

Condo fees scare a lot of people off though.

And many people don't realize that the condo fees on new buildings are rather optimistic, and are bound to go up. 

But if you don't realize it, it looks like may $0.20/sqft extra in condo fees, that's $240/month or almost $3000/year. If people are looking at solely their payments, that may look like it's as expensive (in terms of total monthly payments) as a new unit priced $100K higher. And on top of that, many people still love "new".

I suspect most people also vastly underestimate the money they put into a house.

After accounting for utilities and insurance I used to pay at my house, my 750 dollar condo fees come down to about 450, and accounting for ONLY the money I put into the house and ignoring the hours and hours and hours of my own labor I put in, 450/month is a reasonable estimate of my monthly cost.  Now I did have to put on a new roof, but I managed to avoid replacing a 30+ year old furnace.  It's not a small bill to swallow, but the fact is, it isn't any bigger than a house would be, just more visible.
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#5
(11-05-2018, 11:46 AM)tomh009 Wrote:
(11-05-2018, 11:40 AM)Spokes Wrote: That's shocking to me.

Condo fees scare a lot of people off though.

And many people don't realize that the condo fees on new buildings are rather optimistic, and are bound to go up. 

But if you don't realize it, it looks like may $0.20/sqft extra in condo fees, that's $240/month or almost $3000/year. If people are looking at solely their payments, that may look like it's as expensive (in terms of total monthly payments) as a new unit priced $100K higher. And on top of that, many people still love "new".

Often by a significant amount too.
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#6
(11-05-2018, 12:10 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(11-05-2018, 11:46 AM)tomh009 Wrote: And many people don't realize that the condo fees on new buildings are rather optimistic, and are bound to go up. 

But if you don't realize it, it looks like may $0.20/sqft extra in condo fees, that's $240/month or almost $3000/year. If people are looking at solely their payments, that may look like it's as expensive (in terms of total monthly payments) as a new unit priced $100K higher. And on top of that, many people still love "new".

I suspect most people also vastly underestimate the money they put into a house.

After accounting for utilities and insurance I used to pay at my house, my 750 dollar condo fees come down to about 450, and accounting for ONLY the money I put into the house and ignoring the hours and hours and hours of my own labor I put in, 450/month is a reasonable estimate of my monthly cost.  Now I did have to put on a new roof, but I managed to avoid replacing a 30+ year old furnace.  It's not a small bill to swallow, but the fact is, it isn't any bigger than a house would be, just more visible.

Do you not have to pay those in the condo too?
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#7
(11-05-2018, 12:19 PM)Spokes Wrote:
(11-05-2018, 12:10 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I suspect most people also vastly underestimate the money they put into a house.

After accounting for utilities and insurance I used to pay at my house, my 750 dollar condo fees come down to about 450, and accounting for ONLY the money I put into the house and ignoring the hours and hours and hours of my own labor I put in, 450/month is a reasonable estimate of my monthly cost.  Now I did have to put on a new roof, but I managed to avoid replacing a 30+ year old furnace.  It's not a small bill to swallow, but the fact is, it isn't any bigger than a house would be, just more visible.

Do you not have to pay those in the condo too?

Typically condo fees cover most of the utilities as well as the building insurance, and you only need to pay for contents insurance.
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#8
(11-05-2018, 12:10 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(11-05-2018, 11:46 AM)tomh009 Wrote: And many people don't realize that the condo fees on new buildings are rather optimistic, and are bound to go up. 

But if you don't realize it, it looks like may $0.20/sqft extra in condo fees, that's $240/month or almost $3000/year. If people are looking at solely their payments, that may look like it's as expensive (in terms of total monthly payments) as a new unit priced $100K higher. And on top of that, many people still love "new".

I suspect most people also vastly underestimate the money they put into a house.

After accounting for utilities and insurance I used to pay at my house, my 750 dollar condo fees come down to about 450, and accounting for ONLY the money I put into the house and ignoring the hours and hours and hours of my own labor I put in, 450/month is a reasonable estimate of my monthly cost.  Now I did have to put on a new roof, but I managed to avoid replacing a 30+ year old furnace.  It's not a small bill to swallow, but the fact is, it isn't any bigger than a house would be, just more visible.

Sadly, perception is reality, and many people never get past the initial sticker shock, to the point of figuring out what it really means. Sad
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#9
(11-05-2018, 12:30 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(11-05-2018, 12:19 PM)Spokes Wrote: Do you not have to pay those in the condo too?

Typically condo fees cover most of the utilities as well as the building insurance, and you only need to pay for contents insurance.

Thanks for clarifying!
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#10
(11-05-2018, 12:19 PM)Spokes Wrote:
(11-05-2018, 12:10 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I suspect most people also vastly underestimate the money they put into a house.

After accounting for utilities and insurance I used to pay at my house, my 750 dollar condo fees come down to about 450, and accounting for ONLY the money I put into the house and ignoring the hours and hours and hours of my own labor I put in, 450/month is a reasonable estimate of my monthly cost.  Now I did have to put on a new roof, but I managed to avoid replacing a 30+ year old furnace.  It's not a small bill to swallow, but the fact is, it isn't any bigger than a house would be, just more visible.

Do you not have to pay those in the condo too?

The answer is complex, for insurance, not all of it, and for utilities, it depends on the condo building.

For insurance, I pay for content insurance and upgrade insurance, it's costing me about 8 bucks a month--basically the same as renters insurance, the building pays for most other insurance costs.

As for utilities, it depends on the condo, some have separate metering for all utilities (but you still don't pay for say, hydro for exterior lighting or water for landscaping).  Mine has metering for hydro only.  Further, mine has central heat and cooling, so in my unit there are pipes carrying hot or cold water into a blower unit, I pay for hydro for the blower fan only.

In my house, I paid about 150-250 for water+storm drain+water heater rental+gas, this is all in my utility bill.  Plus, air conditioning ran about 50-100 bucks a month in the summer.  Plus insurance ran between 50-120 dollars a month.  Hydro is also far less, even in the winter, my house ran 60-80 monthly, where as the condo is around 35-40 monthly.  Not that it applies to the condo fee, but it definitely lowers the total cost of ownership.
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#11
(11-05-2018, 12:32 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(11-05-2018, 12:10 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I suspect most people also vastly underestimate the money they put into a house.

After accounting for utilities and insurance I used to pay at my house, my 750 dollar condo fees come down to about 450, and accounting for ONLY the money I put into the house and ignoring the hours and hours and hours of my own labor I put in, 450/month is a reasonable estimate of my monthly cost.  Now I did have to put on a new roof, but I managed to avoid replacing a 30+ year old furnace.  It's not a small bill to swallow, but the fact is, it isn't any bigger than a house would be, just more visible.

Sadly, perception is reality, and many people never get past the initial sticker shock, to the point of figuring out what it really means. Sad

To be totally fair, this took me a long time too...I lived in a house for 5 years due in large part to the high price of the City Centre Condos, but even when I started looking, I though the condo fees were really high.  I spent a long time with a spreadsheet to convince myself that they weren't...I literally took all the repairs I did over 5 years and distributed them over the 5 year period, and was surprised how much I'd spent.
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#12
(11-05-2018, 12:51 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: To be totally fair, this took me a long time too...I lived in a house for 5 years due in large part to the high price of the City Centre Condos, but even when I started looking, I though the condo fees were really high.  I spent a long time with a spreadsheet to convince myself that they weren't...I literally took all the repairs I did over 5 years and distributed them over the 5 year period, and was surprised how much I'd spent.

I did exactly the same thing. Yes, the condo fees are somewhat less than we were spending. And we were also spending time ourselves maintaining the house and property.
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#13
(11-05-2018, 01:19 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(11-05-2018, 12:51 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: To be totally fair, this took me a long time too...I lived in a house for 5 years due in large part to the high price of the City Centre Condos, but even when I started looking, I though the condo fees were really high.  I spent a long time with a spreadsheet to convince myself that they weren't...I literally took all the repairs I did over 5 years and distributed them over the 5 year period, and was surprised how much I'd spent.

I did exactly the same thing. Yes, the condo fees are somewhat less than we were spending. And we were also spending time ourselves maintaining the house and property.

So much time.  This is the first fall in a long time I haven't spent many weekends cleaning up leaves, I'm so happy.
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#14
(11-05-2018, 12:30 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(11-05-2018, 12:19 PM)Spokes Wrote: Do you not have to pay those in the condo too?

Typically condo fees cover most of the utilities as well as the building insurance, and you only need to pay for contents insurance.

And for water damage insurance, no?
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#15
(11-05-2018, 02:09 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: So much time.  This is the first fall in a long time I haven't spent many weekends cleaning up leaves, I'm so happy.

Yes! I love trees, but now I can stroll through Victoria Park and the many downtown neighbourhoods to enjoy them. And someone else will take care of the leaves!
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