Rob Ford's Toronto

[CN Tower]

UNRELATED ?.... If the units are that cheap would it be profitable for a developer to buy all the units rip it all down and sell new condos there...

It's a nice thought however the discount relates as much to the unfortunate lack of desirability of the area as to the condition of the buildings themselves.

 

[DSC]

It's a nice thought however the discount relates as much to the unfortunate lack of desirability of the area as to the condition of the buildings themselves.

It is also very hard to buy up every condo in a Building or even enough to force major changes.

 

[voxpopulicosmicum]

Because the police got their full cooperation. That's why.

You mean to tell me that Ford's old friends the Bassos cut a deal with Ford's old friend Taverner? unthinkable

 

[ShonTron]

You're right, CN Tower.

 

[ShonTron]

Oh, it is possible. Use the same tactics as blockbusting developers in the 1960s and 1970s. Buy a few units at market value, move in bad tenants, buy more units as the smart or lucky ones move out, take control of the board of directors, run the place down and raise fees and bring in more bad tenants. Eventually you have control of the building; and there is a threshold at which that a condo corporation can dissolve and the property goes private, forcing out remaining minority owners.

This likely takes at least 3-5 years, but it can be done.

 

[CN Tower]

Oh, it is possible. Use the same tactics as blockbusting developers in the 1960s and 1970s. Buy a few units at market value, move in bad tenants, buy more units as the smart or lucky ones move out, take control of the board of directors, run the place down and raise fees and bring in more bad tenants. Eventually you have control of the building; and there is a threshold at which that a condo corporation can dissolve and the property goes private, forcing out remaining minority owners.

This likely takes at least 3-5 years, but it can be done.

Praying on the weak and less fortunate is not only a good way of building bad karma in your life but it should be a policy that the City should look to prohibit. If anything the TCHC should be buying up these units themselves, at probably 1/3 the replacement cost of new units, and playing an active role in the management and maintenance in order to create a better living environment for all residents.

 

[Michael62]

Thank you Torontovibe

 

[nfitz]

Because property taxes are paid annually (in installments) and condo maintenance fees are paid monthly. One reason the maintenance fees are high might be the size of the unit. The age of the building is also a factor.

Don't take my word for it, though. Here's a comparable (in price) listing in Malvern at $99,000. The maintenance fees are listed as "$433.77 Monthly", which is in the same ballpark. (It's certainly not around 1/12th of $576, if you were implying that the $576 maintenance fee in the other listing was annual.)
http://www.realtor.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?&PropertyId=13070057&PidKey=-861096212

Fair enough.

Not sure why anyone would buy a condo with those type of maintenance fees!

 

[atm0s]

Praying on the weak and less fortunate is not only a good way of building bad karma in your life but it should be a policy that the City should look to prohibit. If anything the TCHC should be buying up these units themselves, at probably 1/3 the replacement cost of new units, and playing an active role in the management and maintenance in order to create a better living environment for all residents.

I don't have time or interest in a detailed response. Read this:

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/9248

i don't know, you're idea sounds a bit 'socialist' to me. you know, something like David Miller would propose. you better check what Canada Free Press has to say before you get into trouble.

 

[Tulse]

Praying on the weak and less fortunate is not only a good way of building bad karma in your life but it should be a policy that the City should look to prohibit. If anything the TCHC should be buying up these units themselves, at probably 1/3 the replacement cost of new units, and playing an active role in the management and maintenance in order to create a better living environment for all residents.

So, just to be clear, you are advocating for the government to not only prohibit a free market practice, but to actually purchase housing and run it for the collective good, to avoid the evils inherent in a purely unregulated capitalist system.

It's amazing your brain doesn't explode from the contradictions it's forced to contain...

 

[gwanstarr]

So, just to be clear, you are advocating for the government to not only prohibit a free market practice, but to actually purchase housing and run it for the collective good, to avoid the evils inherent in a purely unregulated capitalist system.

It's amazing your brain doesn't explode from the contradictions it's forced to contain...

I was thinking the same thing and blows my mind! I'm surprised my own brain doesn't explode from such contradictions.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Praying on the weak and less fortunate is not only a good way of building bad karma in your life but it

Let's leave religion out of it, thanks.

 

[JWBF]

Fair enough.

Not sure why anyone would by a condo with those type of maintenance fees!

Do you have a cell phone?

 

[guitarchitect]

It lists taxes as $735 and then Maintenance as $576. Tax must be annual, given it's about 25% of what I pay, at about 25% of the property.

So why assume the Maintenance is monthly?

It's always monthly.

For everyone else's reference, the way it works is that every condo owner has a vote in the Condo Board of Directors, and certain residents will take on certain tasks within that. Each Condo Board must manage the state of good repair of the building, so they will be both billing residents for things like overall month to month maintenance (landscaping, pools, etc) but also creating a slush fund for big-ticket items that will come up in the future (roof replacement, window replacement, rooftop mechanical replacement, etc). Since each condo board decides for themselves how to collect and allocate these resources, you end up with some buildings with really low maintenance fees (usually because they are mismanaged) and some buildings with really high maintenance fees. Typically the ones with really low fees will hit a point where they have a big ticket expense but nothing in the coffers, so everyone's maintenance fees will skyrocket for a month or two to cover the cost.

So to answer someone's question "Why would anyone live in a building with such high fees?" The simple answer is, you can never really know what your maintenance fees will be... you just have to hope that your condo board has its wits about it and is properly managing their books. You can typically get this information before purchasing a unit in a building for peace of mind. I'm sure the fees in that building weren't always so high, and it can sometimes be a reason that people are selling (which has a habit of depressing the value of the unit)

Praying on the weak and less fortunate is not only a good way of building bad karma in your life but it should be a policy that the City should look to prohibit. If anything the TCHC should be buying up these units themselves, at probably 1/3 the replacement cost of new units, and playing an active role in the management and maintenance in order to create a better living environment for all residents.

So did you actually, like, read the stuff I wrote about Social Democracy? 'Cause this is a good example of it (it's not Socialism!), and this is hilariously ironic. I'm not sure how you can hold opinions like this but then shit all over anything remotely related to it when it comes to labelling people and their political affiliations.

 

[TOvp]

I thought it was a twitter joke but apparently not:

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/06/15/rob_ford_assault_woman_arrested_for_allegedly_throwing_drink_at_mayor.html