40 Scollard St Condos - Real Estate -

[carturo15]

I need an advice from someone who knows this building 40 Scollard St in Yorkville. I am planning to buy an unit in this building but I am not sure how good is this investment, it is an old building, more than 15 years, but the location is fantastic, just right in the heart of yorkville, in front of the upcoming 4 seasons. The unit needs a lot of renovations. any idea about the price per square feet in this building? Thanks

 

[investor]

It's always better to be the cheapest house on the nicest street,

I'm seeing a unit that sold in there in 03 for $250 per square foot. Nothing since as far as I know.

I'd be curious to learn what they're asking today.

 

[FSGIRL]

Check out this site for 40 Scollard info:

http://www.yorkvillecondominiumguide.com/html/scollard.html

 

[beaconer]

Age vs Location

hi carturo15,

I was considering buying in 2000 at 40 Scollard. It was a south facing unit that overlooked the parking lot (soon to be 4S).

Scollard at that time pretty much just had this condo in terms of residential and Yorkville was not expanding as it is today. It really was a barren street, and the price reflected that. It was 700sqft+ 1BR, ~$169,000.

I'd say 40 Scollard now is the most "affordable" in terms of purchase price to buy in the Yorkville area. But in a way, you get what you pay for.

The condo/maintenance fees at this building, are extremely high. I can't remember the exact condo fees back in 2000, but I remember them being reasonable. Another building where I lived in when it hit the 10-15 year mark, maintenance fees started to skyrocket.

I guess I am stating the obvious, but when condo's get to be a certain age, the maintenance fees skyrocket, as the infrastructure of the building starts to deteriorate.

Condo's as a pure investment hold their value best in the first five years. 15 years and older your operational costs make it much harder to carry. Special assessments, plumbing leakage,etc,etc.

However, I guess it helps a whole lot that is has three things going for it (location,location,location).

Myself personally, I would have a very hard time buying a condo that is over 15 years old as an investment. But if it is to live in I'd reconsider.

 

[Andrew]

High Maintenance

Hello Carturo15, I sold my unit in the building a couple of years ago due to the high and ever increasing maintenance fees in the building and the fact that there are a lot of new units out there in newer buildings. It is an older building with no balconies (which a lot of people didn't like). Also, with the building getting older there may be assessments coming up to repair/improve various items which I did not want to be hit with. I had rented it out and it needed some work as well - the tenants had not taken care of the unit and to my surprise caused a lot of 'hidden' damage (plumbing etc) that needed to be repaired.
There are a lot of new condos available in Toronto that are in great condition at a good price. Also, in the next couple of years there will be many more new condos flooding the market.

 

[investor]

Hello Carturo15, I sold my unit in the building a couple of years ago due to the high and ever increasing maintenance fees in the building and the fact that there are a lot of new units out there in newer buildings. It is an older building with no balconies (which a lot of people didn't like). Also, with the building getting older there may be assessments coming up to repair/improve various items which I did not want to be hit with. I had rented it out and it needed some work as well - the tenants had not taken care of the unit and to my surprise caused a lot of 'hidden' damage (plumbing etc) that needed to be repaired.
There are a lot of new condos available in Toronto that are in great condition at a good price. Also, in the next couple of years there will be many more new condos flooding the market.

FLOODING is right Andrew!

I actually see a building like this as an opportunity. If you can pick up a unit today at a big discount to new product, budget a pretty steep allowance for deferred maintenance and new capital expenditures, say $25,000 per unit), and then consider that you're still in at probably $250-$300 per square foot when idiot retail investors are paying $600+ for new stuff in the same area then I believe you may have yourself a winner.