Buying First Condo

Originally Posted by RedStick

Are they already priced or open for negotiation? In this market, offering 60% of the asking price is not uncommon. That could be a good first step and would all but guarantee you'll make a nice profit when you sell it.

Originally Posted by syynik

Congrats Mr Winky! When's the housewarming? Be forewarned: I usually end up under the furniture if there's margaritas involved.

Check local banks/brokerages. They often have (here at least) first-time-homebuyer seminars on evenings/weekends that cover lots of info. I went to one, and it covered types of loans to how much you should be spending, etc, etc. Very informative!

Good luck, keep us posted!

Originally Posted by StockJock-e

Toronto real estate is hot, it never crashed, actually it kept going up, I believe prices are up 2% in June alone.

Originally Posted by Zixi

there's a lot of things to look for that are often overlooked

#1. drainage

make sure the condo slab is not lower than landscape around it..if it is sitting lower than landscaping don't buy a ground floor unit! you will have mildew problems, smelly walls/carpet etc from moisture

#2. association fees - know what they are and how often they have gone up

#3. did previous owner smoke? if they did you will have a yellow film everywhere and in heating and air conditioning ducts - never will get rid of the oder completely

#4. neighbors - no way to really know this just looking inside unit but it's not uncommon to have noise problems and floods from neighbors in condo's - I have lived in condo's before and have had a few "waterfalls" from ceiling when upstairs bathtub overflowed. when neighbor lets kids play in bath you may get a lot of that water flowing into your unit...once a party upstairs resulted in puke in my downstairs deck...

#5. does each unit have its own water cutoff? shared water can be a problem

If you can swing a older house instead of a expensive condo can be a much better way to go, don't have association fees or same neighbor problems. Oh and make sure you look in all cabinets, kitchen etc and inspect the bathtubs for small holes or cracks. Also, do bathrooms have windows? If not, expect mildew and mold soon due to lack of air flow...one shower will fill the place with mist that has nowhere to go.