If your new year resolution was to stop splurging a fortune on sky-high rents and buy a Toronto condo in 2020, we suggest you start your search as soon as possible. Condos prices in Toronto are expected to go up at an unprecedented rate this year. Not to mention, when you factor in high demand for condos, stable mortgage rates, and a scarce condo inventory, the market has never been more competitive. Before you take a leap of faith into homeownership, we suggest you keep a few things in mind to navigate the Toronto real estate market effectively in 2020.
1. Redo Your Finances
If you are a first-time buyer in Toronto, you must be harboring dreams of what you want from your new condo, but its important to make sure that your wish-list complies with your budget as well. Toronto Downtown prices have already experienced a 10% increase in prices since August 2019. So, if you were going by the listings you saw last year, you need to recalculate your budget. The same condo unit that went for $500,000 in the summer of 2019, might now be listed for $550,000 today. Pair the ever-soaring price growth of Toronto condos with equally steep interest rates, and you can expect your carrying costs to be higher than what they would have been in 2019. Before you commence your condo search in 2020, we recommend that you start off on the right financial foot.
2. Purchase Your Toronto Condo In Winter
Spring and fall are the peak seasons for real estate and the inevitable price surge that comes with these seasons is why sellers rush to list their properties. While this means a higher availability for you as a buyer, it also translates into a higher competition. This gives sellers an upper hand and you don’t have much room to negotiate.
This is why the best time to buy a condo in Toronto is winters when buyers have less competition to deal with. You can get a pretty decent deal during December through February, so plan your move during this period. Sellers who couldn’t cut a deal during the peak season are willing to sell now, so are sellers who don’t want to wait until spring to list. During these months, the Toronto condo market is slower, and units stay in the market longer than they do during spring or fall. With lesser competition during the winters, sellers are open to negotiation and prove to be more flexible.
3. Consider Buying A Toronto Condo Assignment
The reason we never would never advice our investors to buy a pre-construction condo and sell it on assignment, is exactly why you as a seller should purchase a Toronto condo on assignment. An assignment is when someone buys a pre-construction condo and then sell their Agreement of Purchase and Sale with the builder even before taking possession of the condo to another buyer.
So, if a brand new, never-been-lived-in condo is what you were looking for, look up pre-construction condos in Toronto that are occupying soon and may have available assignments for sale. This gives you plenty of room for negotiation since the work on the building’s common spaces and amenities is still underway. This translates into the fact that you can get a new Toronto condo far below the fair market value. Talk to representative at Toronto Condo Team to source good assignment deals for you.
4. Timing Is Critical
When it comes to buying real estate in a market that has been experiencing incredible price growth, timing is extremely critical. With day to day spikes in prices, the sooner you buy, the most you can make of your money. What your money can buy today is always better than what it will be worth tomorrow. So, if you keep waiting for the right deal, the perfect house, the prices will continue to climb. You need to jump into the condo market at the first opportunity so that you can leverage the equity gains Toronto condos have been earning. The sooner you start, the higher your chances of finding a dream home within your budget.
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