Toronto and the GTA has been experiencing for the past 20 years a condominium building boom. The skyline has drastically changed as towers of glass, steel and concrete have risen along with the population and it continues to change and adapt. Despite the fact that the city is considerably lacking the required supply of property needed to satisfied current demand new buildings are being built and sold at a tremendous pace. Typically most developments are relatively safe investments, but there have been horror stories where purchasers move in with hundreds of problems or situations where clients lose deposits due to unscrupulous builders. Your job as a realtor is to help guide (again) through all the developers and help your clients make the right choice.
Here are a few ways to do that research for your clients:
1. Ask fellow agents about the developer, if they had experiences with them before and how it went.
2. Speak to the development sales site. Ask how long they’ve been in the area, test their skills on the neighbourhood and previous projects that the developer has built.
3. Visit fully constructed buildings by the developer. Get a feel of what the end product is.
4. Find out the construction company responsible for building the project from the developer, and look into other projects that they have built.
5. Google both the developer and the construction company, see what the internet has to say about them.
6. Check out the TARION website (https://www.tarion.com/ontariobuilderdirectory) and search the developer. Here you can find out a LOT of information that can be incredibly helpful:
As an Agent you have the responsibility to provide the right guidance for your client, which means going beyond the advertising and website. You need to go out there and ask the right questions, do the research and make sure that your clients know what they are getting into!
(originally posted in 2019)