When eight units come onto the market at the same time in a very small 88-unit building, you have to ask yourself “Why?”

I’ve never been interested in this building for a few different reasons, but I’d still like to investigate just what is going on.

Hardy Boys….Hercule Poroit….Perry Mason….David Fleming….

Location, Location, Location!

Who doesn’t love Yonge & Eglinton; the area better known by it’s nickname, “Young & Eligible.”

If you’re like me, you absolutely loathe the new “Minto Towers” on Yonge Street that rise 50+ stories and give you vertigo from just looking at the buildings.  But the area itself is still fantastic whether you’re looking at retail section of Yonge Street itself just north of Eglinton or the strip of Eglinton Ave east running towards Mount Pleasant.

When my brother and his fiancee (now wife) were looking at condos a little more than a year ago, we looked at Yonge/Eglinton as a prime candidate for relocation.  It was halfway in between his workplace at Finch and her workplace at King, and it offered them everything they needed as a mid-20’s couple living in Toronto.

We looked at 188 Eglinton Ave or “The Soho,” but there were two glaring drawbacks:

1) No Outdoor Space.  This was impossible for them to live with, especially for Lindsay since she still has nightmares about living in a small, cramped condo as a teenager when they were waiting for the renovation on their house to be completed.

2) No Owned Parking.  There is ample parking in the building, but you can’t actually own your own space; you must rent the parking spaces in the underground parking for $150/month.  Sure, the prices of the units might be discounted, but nobody likes throwing money away every month.

I have shown units in this building many times, but I have never actually completed a sale to a client of mine.  Some people don’t need parking, and some people only need windows and have no need for outdoor space.  But no buyers I’ve worked with have ever fit into this category…

A whopping ten-percent of the units in this building are now for sale.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, chances are excellent that it could very well be a duck.

There IS a reason why everybody in this building wants to get out ASAP, and it all comes back to the developer and his ingenious idea to rent the condo-owners their parking spaces.

188 Eglinton Avenue was a former office building that was converted into “hard lofts” in early 1998.  At the time, the developer had the brilliant idea to separate the underground parking from the actual condominium itself, and hold on to the spaces as an investment.

GENIUS!

So the condos were all sold with no parking spaces, and the condominium corporation was registered on the building but not what lies underneath.  The developer began to rent these spaces to the condo-owners at a cost of $150/month, and has been doing so ever since.

So where did all the problems begin?

Well, the condominium corporation is responsible for maintenance on the underground parking garage, even though the spaces are owned by the original developer.  This means that if the lights go out, the door won’t go up, or the pavement needs be cleaned, the condominium corporation must foot the bill.

Earlier this year, there was a huge problem with the garage door and it needed to be replaced.  The condominium corporation paid the tab, and it was a big one!  This caused them to audit their reserve fund and conclude that it was too low, and thus the maintenance fees needed to be raised.

Nobody likes it when their fees are raised……nobody!

But the problems don’t stop there.  The condominium corporation is responsible for paying the heating and cooling for the entire building even though condominium units only comprise the first seven floors.  The eighth floor is where all the mechanical rooms are housed, comprised of heating, cooling, plumbing, electrical, elevator maintenance, etc.

It’s amazing that it took TEN YEARS for the condominium corporation to finally scratch their heads and ask, “Why the heck are we paying to heat and cool eight floors when we only have units on seven?”

Is “lawsuit”‘ one word, or two?

Well, it doesn’t matter, because the condominium corporation filed a lawsuit and this building is a gigantic mess.  I’ve heard that they are going to “arbitration” over who is going to pay for the garage door repair, and I’ve heard that they are in “mediation” in attempts to settle the dispute regarding the developers supposed responsibility to pay for maintenance on the 8th floor as well as the underground parking.

But any way you slice it, people aren’t exactly lined up at the door right now to buy units at The Soho, evidenced by the eight units that continue to sit on the market.

The bottom line is that a prudent, rational buyer shouldn’t have any incentive to get involved in such a messy situation.  Unless you could get a $100,000 discount, who would want to voluntarily enter a situation like this?

I’m astounded when I hear people say things like, “Well, when all the dust settles, you’ll still be living in one of the most gorgeous buildings uptown.”  I don’t understand; why would anybody want to step into that dust-storm and wait for it to settle?

Here’s an idea: let’s go into the parking lot, and you can lay down on the ground.  I will proceed to run you over with my car 7-8 times.  No?  You don’t want to voluntarily do that?  I agree, and I understand.  So why would somebody voluntarily enter such a messy situation by purchasing a condo in a building involved in ongoing litigation?

The already-sky-high maintenance fees have increased once again, and the condominium corporation is involved in lawsuits.

Add that to the fact that you can’t own your parking space, and you live in a cube with many windows but not a square inch of room outside, and I’d say that this building is permanently crossed off my list of “available condos” in Toronto.

I’m definitely treading a fine line here since several agents in my office have listings in this building, but I speak the truth, and I look after my own clients first.

After all, isn’t this what I’m paid to do?

Putting your clients into this building would be selling them down the river, and most agents don’t get in the boat with them.  I’ve actually heard agents say, “Don’t get in the boat with your client.”

Forget that.  I’m the one watching out the starbord side!

I’m of the opinion that anybody buying into this building is asking for trouble, and any agent showing these units to their buyers are doing them a serious dis-service, and should be held accountable if the situation explodes…

….much like the massive pipe that burst outside 188 Eglinton Ave a month ago, that was repaired with money from the ever-depleting reserve fund at “The Soho”…