So much for decreasing the reliance on cars in Toronto!

A new client of mine recently gave me her criteria for her condo search, and I stopped her in her tracks when she said, “We’ll need two parking spaces.”

It was almost like telling a child that there’s no Santa Claus…

When I was a kid and I wanted to play road hockey in my driveway, I’d ask my Mom to move the cars.

It looked somewhat easy to do, and I was certain that if push came to shove, I could back the 1985 Buick Electra Estate station wagon out of the driveway and park it on the street.  But when I actually got my driver’s licence and learned how to steer the massive boat, it became painfully obvious that driving it as an eight-year-old would have proven difficult.

I should clarify here – I actually did drive this 1985 classic all through high school and into my late teens.

I had a bartending job at Shark City when I was 18-years-old, and there was nothing sexier than pulling up to the hottest club in midtown Toronto in this:

That’s right – this baby was all mine!

Except I should mention that since this American-made car was built to break down, we were always paying to fix it up with replacement parts.  When my mother smashed the front of the car, there wasn’t a single blue fender in all of North America.  So, we put on a purple one!

So picture me at 18-years-old, hair slicked back like a gino, thick silver hoop-earring, wearing a tight muscle-t and awful jeans and shoes – driving up to a hot night club in a 1985 station wagon with a mis-matched purple front bumper…

I think I’m slightly cooler now…

Living in a house makes parking cars a heckuva-lot easier.  You might have a private driveway, a mutual driveway, or maybe a parking pad out front.

Perhaps there is a laneway out back, and if you have zero access to parking, there is always the street.

Living in a condo is a different story altogether.

I’ve professed that an underground parking spot in a condominium in downtown Toronto can be valued anywhere from $22,000 – $30,000 on average.

Newer, luxury developments may charge up to $50,000 in pre-construction (can anyone say Festival Tower?) and I’m sure there are some buildings where parking is as low as $15,000 – $18,000.

For those that don’t own a parking space, you can rent one for $150/month on average.

But for those who require two parking spaces, God speed!

A new client of mine recently informed me that she and her fiancee both had cars, and they both needed a private, owned, underground parking space with their impending new condo.

She is looking in the $400,000 range, and I told her that it’s going to be almost impossible.

I am anything but an environmentalist, but even I think it’s incredibly impractical for a couple to own and maintain two cars while living in a downtown Toronto condo.

Practicality aside, it’s been made very difficult by the developers of new condominium projects over the last few years as well.

Take Rezen Condos for example where I made my latest investment.  In this 138-unit building, there are only 77 total parking spaces.

Purchasers of any 1-bedrooms or 1-bedroom-plus-dens were not permitted to purchase a parking space with their units.

I’m not sure of the reasoning behind this; I suppose it could be assumed that if somebody can “only” afford a smaller unit, perhaps that person can’t afford a parking space along with it.

Or, perhaps the builders have decided that parking is a “luxury” item and thus it will only be offered to the higher-end clients via the higher-end units.

In reality, builders have the option of digging down and constructing another level of underground parking.  So why do they choose not to?

Is it the cost?  Won’t they recoup that cost by selling these spaces?  If not, then you can see why they choose not to do it.

Or maybe there is a movement in our city towards less reliance on cars and maybe the underground parking spaces are harder to sell.

Try telling that to my new client who wants two spaces with her condo!

A quick search for condos in C01 & C08 shows that of the 262 total condos priced under $400,000 that have at least one parking space, only one of the 262 condos has two parking spaces, and this is a unit in a 25-year-old building with $867/month maintenance fees.  I’m sure 25 years ago, it wasn’t tough to nab two parking spaces with your unit.

There is a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom townhouse on East Liberty Street priced at $429,900 that has two parking spaces, but this unit isn’t selling!

The going rate for this unit is usually around $399,000, so what’s the difference?  Why not buy the unit with the two spaces, and maybe sell one or rent it out?

It’s a rhetorical question, in my mind, because the unit is fantastic and the price is right, but the second parking space is actually driving away buyers!  Most people don’t want the second parking space.

Again, tell that to my new client.

In the $400,000 – $900,000 price range, only eight of the 238 condos have two parking spaces.

And finally, in the $900,000-and-up price range, 36 of the 57 condos for sale have two parking spaces.

So you can can clearly see what criteria must be met in order to have two parking spaces – you have to purchase an expensive, luxury condo!

Or, you can purchase a crummy 25-year-old condo for under $400,000 that happens to have two parking spaces.

Don’t forget that there’s more to the cost of a parking space than just what’s paid up front.  Your monthly maintenance fees take into account whether or not you own a parking space.

I pay $336.43 per month for my unit, and my neighbor with the exact same unit but no parking space pays only $303.43.  That means I’m paying every month for my space, and an owner with two spaces in a more expensive building will likely be paying $100+ per month to effectively “rent” the space that he owns!

Some buildings like Merchandise Lofts on Dalhousie charge a further fee (this one is $51.62 per month) for “maintenance” on the parking space.  You’re effectively being charged three times – once to buy the space, once in the maintenance fees, and once to pay for “maintenance,” whatever that may be.

I personally believe that a condo with a parking space is a better investment than a condo without one.

The same unit at $300,000 with a parking space is far more saleable than the same unit at $275,000 without one.

Anybody needing a space will pass your condo by, whereas somebody not needing a space can always rent it out, or just keep it vacant and waste money every month (people do it!).

Maybe the new Jarvis Bike Lanes will help to spark a serious movement on car-free downtown Toronto, but I’m not holding my breath.  Many people need to drive for work (I’m sure my clients wouldn’t like me to double them on the handlebars of my bicycle as I show them condos) and there will always be people who just refuse to take public transit.

But if you’re looking for TWO parking spaces in your downtown Toronto condo, you’d better be ready to shell out the dough!

And you’d better be ready to take the hundreds and hundreds of possible condos and whittle that number down to four or five since that is about how many mid-range condos have two spaces.

As for my new client, who am I to tell them they can’t have TWO cars?

But I will tell them that buying a condo with one space and renting a second one will open up about 268 doors in their price range…