In a co-op condo? My parents were supers in one. Free rent and a salary.
Hell I considered it a few years back but wife said no. Not sure what supers are paid or how they’re compensated now a days. They’re more property managers that sign off on work than anything.
Co-OP and condo are similar but different. In a co-op you own 0.x% of the building and are granted exclusive use of your unit. In a condo you own your unit and I think 0.x percent of common areas. Converting a co-op building to a condo causes a huge price bump as mortgages are easier to get for buyers coming in and people understand condos better.
As for your parents, co-op probably sold n-1 units. Build 100, sell 99, every buyer owns 1.01%. That leaves a suite for the super owned by the collective.
Supers in my moms building get a condo unit , which includes cable/phone/heat ac / water. Interweb is extra, and a monthly paycheck . Its not glamorous , but you don't leave home . Vaccumm hallways and clean the pool , but that's about it. Need a bulb changed? call an electrician.
Supers in my moms building get a condo unit , which includes cable/phone/heat ac / water. Interweb is extra, and a monthly paycheck . Its not glamorous , but you don't leave home . Vaccumm hallways and clean the pool , but that's about it. Need a bulb changed? call an electrician.
This is the setup my parents had. But they dealt with a lot of the work themselves. I vacuumed, cleaned the pool, kept the yard cleaned etc etc and got paid for it.
Got kicked out because how could 'stupid immigrants' afford to buy a house, cottage, and 2 cars on a measly salary! Meanwhile my dad was a super during the day, and worked TTC at nights for years to be able to afford those things and a life for us.
Building has gone into massive disrepair and they had a massive assessment come due. The entire garage ceiling was falling apart and leaking, so cars couldn't park on top of the garage on the asphalt lot. Then all the balconies needed to be repaired.
It was my first taste of condo boards...bunch of d-bags.
This is the setup my parents had. But they dealt with a lot of the work themselves. I vacuumed, cleaned the pool, kept the yard cleaned etc etc and got paid for it.
Got kicked out because how could 'stupid immigrants' afford to buy a house, cottage, and 2 cars on a measly salary! Meanwhile my dad was a super during the day, and worked TTC at nights for years to be able to afford those things and a life for us.
Building has gone into massive disrepair and they had a massive assessment come due. The entire garage ceiling was falling apart and leaking, so cars couldn't park on top of the garage on the asphalt lot. Then all the balconies needed to be repaired.
It was my first taste of condo boards...bunch of d-bags.
There’s a poor chap who parks across from me, has a pipe leaking on his car since I moved in 6 years ago. VW GTI that he covers with a cardboard box so it doesn’t hit his paint. Someone on the board told me it’s been ‘repaired 3x’. Also told me that guy has never complained to the board about it.
Man, he’s a better person then me. I’d be making all their lives miserable until it was fixed.
There’s a poor chap who parks across from me, has a pipe leaking on his car since I moved in 6 years ago. VW GTI that he covers with a cardboard box so it doesn’t hit his paint. Someone on the board told me it’s been ‘repaired 3x’. Also told me that guy has never complained to the board about it.
Man, he’s a better person then me. I’d be making all their lives miserable until it was fixed.
I looked at a bike at our old building a few years ago, and the garage looked horrible inside. Water leaking everywhere. Glad we're no longer there, but that building helped my parents set themselves up. Bought a house and rented it out. Bought a cottage and paid it off. So in the end it worked out pretty good.
I have mentioned it before here but as a reminder....
When looking in the condo market make sure you have a good real estate agent with experience that works in that market, in the area and really knows the market. When I bought mine way back my guy knew which buildings were well run, which newer buildings were built by hacks, had a good idea of the maintenance level and even the reserve fund. How, well experience, they sell lots so they see the outcomes, they are connected in the market. He had a list of buildings he flat out said I will not let you buy there, and he was very right. Your cousin's friend or whatever is not the right answer, BTW I had freinds mad at me as I did not select them or their friend... if I am paying I am paying the best pro I can find.
Now things can change over time, but it helps to start out right.
Supers in my moms building are really nice folks and work as hard as required. They are also pretty smart , when ever old doll XXX decides to give up driving, they are often right there to buy the vehicle. Usually reasonable pricing, they drive it about 3 months and declare "nope we are going back to one car to save money" . Flip it and wait for next old lady car . They often drive them home ( east coasters) and fly back.
They get all the electronics and furniture when somebody need to move out and go to retirement living, goes in whatever minivan they just bought and goes home on holiday to the east coast. Everybody tips cash at Christmas, they make sure everyone knows when they are having a birthday, and I think they have had time off for dads funeral 6times, seems mom remarried a lot.
Everybody knows the deal, but nobody cares because A. why not? B. they are not scammers at all , just very enterprising folks, and help when you ask.
I have mentioned it before here but as a reminder....
When looking in the condo market make sure you have a good real estate agent with experience that works in that market, in the area and really knows the market. When I bought mine way back my guy knew which buildings were well run, which newer buildings were built by hacks, had a good idea of the maintenance level and even the reserve fund. How, well experience, they sell lots so they see the outcomes, they are connected in the market. He had a list of buildings he flat out said I will not let you buy there, and he was very right. Your cousin's friend or whatever is not the right answer, BTW I had freinds mad at me as I did not select them or their friend... if I am paying I am paying the best pro I can find.
Now things can change over time, but it helps to start out right.
I would only add , and a decent real estate lawyer that can do arithmetic and knows what he is looking at with a condo prospectus. The "any house closed for $499.00 " is not what you want here. And unless your buying in Spain and know no one, never use the lawyer the agent can recommend> he may be a tad biased.
I would only add , and a decent real estate lawyer that can do arithmetic and knows what he is looking at with a condo prospectus. The "any house closed for $499.00 " is not what you want here. And unless your buying in Spain and know no one, never use the lawyer the agent can recommend> he may be a tad biased.
I'm trying to tell my parents to sell their townhouse as the current board members are a bunch of complete morons. Literal idiots.
I left that Board because they were useless for anything except shouting. All the rational board members quit because you can't argue with idiots. Maybe we were the idiots. But now there's claims of wrongful approval of invoices, stealing of funds, and missing signatures.
I'm trying to tell my parents to sell their townhouse as the current board members are a bunch of complete morons. Literal idiots.
I left that Board because they were useless for anything except shouting. All the rational board members quit because you can't argue with idiots. Maybe we were the idiots. But now there's claims of wrongful approval of invoices, stealing of funds, and missing signatures.
Bond rate is low , and everything is tied to the bond rate , and inflation is running 5-6pts , and the government mandate is hold to 2pts . Only way to do that is a raise in interest rates . BOC has no choice , not sure when but soon and it’s coming
Looks like it might be those damn boomers creating the housing crisis! Royal LePage says <20 percent of Canada’s population are boomers, many still working, healthier and wealthier than previous generations, and not yet ready to move into retirement or nursing homes.
Because boomers have accumulated wealth, they renovate or hire help so they can stay in their homes as long as possible. This is leaving the poor realtors short of inventory -- inventory they need because Millennials starting families want those family homes. Looks like 75% of Boomers own a home, 17% more than one.
Can you blame them for avoiding retirement homes? Better stay off their lawns.
I'm sure that's part of it...not the only part, but there's also, you know, the whole economy being shocked into a nosedive.
They gave warning now (officially), so we wait until March. In all honesty...0.25-0.5% raise in the rates isn't going to do much. Might tighten up some of the free spending in the market, but it won't do much in terms of reducing pricing.
Bond rate is low , and everything is tied to the bond rate , and inflation is running 5-6pts , and the government mandate is hold to 2pts . Only way to do that is a raise in interest rates . BOC has no choice , not sure when but soon and it’s coming
That's conventional advice, the problem is the pandemic has introduced variables that are tough to calculate for economists. Inflation that we base experience on increased prices and wages together - there was very little supply chain dynamics at play.
I think economists are thinking the injection of printed money coupled with non-service spending (vacations, restaurants, etc) has juiced demand for goods, COVID has interrupted production and shipping, and speculators have used the opportunity to horde and gouge creating artificial shortages.
When things smooth out, lets hope that's soon, people go back to spending patterns, back to work, and hoards need to be liquidated.
Now, things that could cause this to be a long-term problem: if the US and Canada keep printing money, wages rise as fast as the cost of goods, or COVID keeps on giving.
Doesn't mean a hill of beans to Boomers, they own most of their stuff. Boomers aren't leveraged to the level where a point or two is a lifestyle killer.
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