Should i buy an old condo?

[TORealtyBlog]

Older buildings can be appealing if they have low maintenance fees, a good condo board, and their amenities are in good working order. For example, you should check out 22 The Esplande, built around 1987, main. fees are about 47cents a square, the lowest fees in the city, condo owns all the parking so the extra money goes back into the reserve fund, has a mature demographic, and they have recently redone all the facilities.

 

[NorthYorkEd]

For example, you should check out 22 The Esplande...

Did you mean 25 Esplanade? I think 22 is the new L-Tower project.

 

[tazz]

Hey,

Have you considered just renting an apartment from a website like rentseeker instead of buying a condo? It would definitely be the cheaper option short term.

 

[Shiny]

For investment purposes, newer condos are better because the monthly maintenance fees are low. For living purposes, I don't see much drawbacks of older condos, which were built in much better ways than today's condos

 

[NorthYorkEd]

After living in a new building, a 10-15 year old building, and having toured many newer and older builds, I'd lean towards an older unit if it's to be your primary residence. They just feel more solid, and were most likely built as a "home" rather than a cheaply-made and mass-produced commodity, intended only to generate short-term profit.

 

[TheKingEast]

After living in a new building, a 10-15 year old building, and having toured many newer and older builds, I'd lean towards an older unit if it's to be your primary residence. They just feel more solid, and were most likely built as a "home" rather than a cheaply-made and mass-produced commodity, intended only to generate short-term profit.

I'd have to agree. It is more apparent than ever that the condos today are strictly built for profit which means corners get cut everywhere. I liken it to Sorel boots. The old ones were made out of leather and were made in Canada. They lasted forever. The new ones are made in China and use all kinds of cheap synthetic crap. The quality has fallen off a cliff.

New condos look nice. You get high ceilings, a more open space, updated finishes, state of the art amenities. But you also get a lot of headaches which are so common place that we just deal with it.

Think something 10-15 years ago is ideal.

 

[yin_yang]

i live in a 80s condo and my family owns a few other condos built in 1990...and even between those two, there's a feeling that the 80s one has more soul and a more homey feeling.

 

[Ex-Montreal Girl]

Our building went up in the 70s, during the first condo boom in Toronto. She ain't all glassy pretty from the outside but I wouldn't trade the solid concrete walls and floor slabs, the space and the storage, the smart lay-outs and the sound-proofing for floor-to-ceiling windows and oversized "spa" bathrooms for anything.

The downside of course is that an older building is like an older person. More maintenance and upkeep.

But make no mistake. You move into one of these new towers and you're asking for cheap construction that may lead to big headaches very quickly, a lot of temporary owners (party city!) who rent, and the devil to pay when maintenance fees finally hit the place they should be at by year 4 or 5.