About York County, ON

Lets compare Condo Maintenance Fees Toronto

02-07-12

David Pylyp

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Office: (905) 272-3434

Mobile: (647) 218-2414
Secondary: (905) 361-3387

Lets have a look at and compare what makes the maintenance fees in your building.

First Lets establish a few things,

Your furnace unit consumes electricity; usually through a heat exchange unit in a central part of the condo or maybe you are blessed with two. The heat exchange units take warmth (hot water heated from a boiler) from the coil and disperse it into your unit. The cost of operating the fan blower is yours, the costs of heating the water as to your maintenance fees. The unit is inside your unit and operates from the Common Expenses. The liability for maintenance and annual inspections is yours although most buildings have annual maintenance inspections.

Having a building schedule an annual inspection, cleaning and filter replacement is much cheaper than you going out and contracting someone yourself. (IE $50 per unit includes filter or $285 per visit to book your own HVAC technician) There are savings in mass purchasing power.

What factors will effect the Maintenence Costs in a building?

Vertical Height ( How many floors are occupied)

Number of Units per floor

Services Offered

Number of Elevators

Staffing on Hand for both Security Concierge and Cleaning,

Staff monitoring the Rec Center as Social Recreation Guides.

Two Towers Sharing a Recreation Center

How much technology is in place for Cameras and Security.

Avoidable Additional Costs

We could scrimp on Window Washing, Landscaping, and Garage Sweeping. We could wait till 9 - 5 for the elevator technician ( They charge a premium for after hours to release you. Toronto Fire also charges if it is not an Emergency.) We could turn down the thermostat in the winter to 65 like my Dad did to save money. Turn down the Hot water temp and take shorter showers. These are all municipal services that are billed directly from the City to the building. Has Hydro Electric raised their fees in the last 5 years? By what percentage? Will they continue to do so? Have water rates increased.. Absolutely.

Can we save on garbage removal; Yes, actually most building pay a separate garbage pick up fee both for recycle and garbage. (Tipping Rates) If we dispose of less we would pay less. SO do we want magazines and Yellow Pages delivered to the building? What about Canada Post and Bulk mail advertisers? Is everything online now? Can you opt out?

It may sound great to have a 70,000 square foot indoor gym and social club, A full time Social Co ordinator, Outside Running Track, A Disco on the Top Floor and the Sky deck. All these marvelous upgrades need maintenance that will add to your fees in future years. If your gym is part of two or three individual condo (towers) buildings that are tied by a common Recreation Center It can be very challenging to set rules or make changes unless you have a mandate from all three towers.

Average... Whats Average?

We have been doing an Annual Common Charge Survey of the properties we manage. As you would expect, there is quite a variation in fees. The 2011 survey was done on 248 hi-rise condominiums comprising 52,406 units. The average common charge per unit per month was $606.47, the average suite size in the survey was 1,057 square feet and the average cost per square foot per month was 57.4 cents.
John Oakes President Brookfield

Conclusions

So in reality the tallest most crowded monolithe structure that is stand alone will be the most cost efficient. The buildings with 30 + floors and 18 suites per floor will always surpass the lower (high rize) building that have 6 to 12 floors. The more residents that share your rec center also make this more efficient. Having 12 people in the elevator every time is more efficient.

Lets Examine individual Line Items/ as a percentage of Gross Revenues.

Assuming you are a high rise with a 300 unit population with modern glass and concrete slab construction. (vs Brick Exteriors) and underground parking.

Hydro 9.6 %

Gas 12.5 %

Water 4.8 %

Security 18.7%

Cleaning Main/ 7.5%

Assessment Repairs 21.2%*

Condo Mgmt Fee 6.3%

Total as % Income 80.6%

Contribution to reserve is now recommended at a minimum 15%*

NB* Toronto has in the last few years had the mildest winters in recent history. All of these assumptions (savings) change if the weather turns colder. There was no snow removal expense as there was no snow.

How is life in your building? Tell me about it....

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ecoENERGY Retrofits Program - Cancelled.

01-31-12

DONNA SINGH

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Office: (416) 461-0925 xPAGER

Mobile: (416) 575-4663

The ecoENERGY Retrofits Program has been cancelled by the Canadian Federal Government, so much for assisting homeowners in getting their homes retrofitted. If you were fortunate to have registered your property before January 28th, 2012 your are still in luck to have the work completeted by the deadline of June 3oth, 2012. This deadline has been extended from March 31st. 2012.

This program allowed homeowners to receive grants of up to $5000.00 to make their homes energy efficient.

Prior to have any renovations done homeowners must have completed an energy audit of their home by a licensed service provider. The report will give the homeowner recommendations for renovations to improve the efficiency of their home. Once work has been completed a 2nd audit will be done to determine the improvement in the home's energy efficiency.

I am one of the lucky ones as I registered my home last fall. So in the spring I will be getting a new roof and hopefully a rebate from the federal government. I live in a 108 year old home in Toronto and I have a lot to do to bring our home up to a more energy efficient standard.

For more information on the ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes program, please visit: http://www.ecoaction.gc.ca/ecoenergy-ecoenergie/retrofithomes-renovationmaisons-eng.cfm

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Who is getting the leads from your listings? Trulia and Zillow

01-28-12

David Pylyp

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Office: (905) 272-3434

Mobile: (647) 218-2414
Secondary: (905) 361-3387

How are you handling your MLS Data? Are you sharing your listings to Zillow and Trulia?

Do they run ads beside your listings with another agents contact details?

Welcome to the new world of aggregators on the internet.

What will you do?

What will you ask your Broker of Record to do?

Is this what will happen for us in Toronto Real Estate as more people IDX and VOW?

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Georgina, Ontario - The Ultimate Slap In The Face

01-28-12

Barrie Clulow

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The Ultimate Slap In The Face

After a closed door meeting council voted to stick Georgina Taxpayers with the bill for a defamation lawsuit by Mayor Grossi against the former Georgina Leisure services Director John McLean. You can read more about this decision and Help stop your tax dollars from paying for the lawsuit. There is also an online petition to stop the funding for Mayor Grossi's lawsuit.

An article in the Georgina Advocate indicated Mayor Grossi would donate any funds he receives as a result of his lawsuit to a charity yet to be named.

The irony is he will likely get a charitable tax receipt that he can then use to reduce his personal taxable income.

The Ultimate Slap In The Face

Should this happen it would be the ultimate slap in the face to taxpayers who would have footed the bill for the resources used to obtain the funds used to fund his tax deductions.

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Do You Trust Politicians To do The Right Thing?

01-27-12

Kathy Clulow ASP® SRES® Uxbridge Ontario Real Estate

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Office: (905) 852-6143

Secondary: (877) 855-6143

Do You Trust Politicians To do The Right Thing?

Over the years we have all heard or read stories about politicians who have betrayed the trust of those who elected them. We have even come to expect some of it from politicians at the federal level.

The most accountable form of Government has traditionally been at the local level but recently even that is questionable as some of them have ignored the trust placed in them by the electorate and done some questionable things.

Those of you living in the Greater Toronto Area have seen it first hand with the much loved Hazel McCallion of Mississauga.

"McCallion has been Mississauga's mayor for 33 years, holding office since 1978. She is affectionately called "Hurricane Hazel" by supporters as well as the media at large for her vibrant outspoken style of no-nonsense politics"

"Now aged 90, she was easily re-elected in October 2010 for her 12th consecutive term, holding a 76% majority of the votes, and has often been reelected without even needing to conduct an actual campaign. Source Wikipedia"

Did she abuse the electorates trust?

Judge Douglas Cunningham found McCallion in a “real and apparent conflict of interest” while pushing hard for a real estate deal that could have put millions of dollars in her son’s pocket.

Now Closer to Home

After a closed door meeting council voted to stick Georgina Taxpayers with the bill for a defamation lawsuit by Mayor Grossi against the former Georgina Leisure services Director John McLean. You can read more about this decision and Help stop your tax dollars from paying for the lawsuit. There is also an online petition to stop the funding for Mayor Grossi's lawsuit.

Have they abused the the electorates trust? Should the taxpayers be on the hook for Grossi's legal bill + potential other costs if the courts do not agree with him?

Do You Trust Politicians To do The Right Thing?

This post is also being submitted to the ActiveRain / Adobe EchoSign Trust Contest. I could possibly win a prize.

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