Comments on: Condo amenities that aren’t worth the money

By: glou

glou — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 18:15:34 +0000

with condo units getting smaller and smaller, having a wide array of amenities where one can choose what to do is a blessing in these vertical communities.

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By: Omer Quenneville

Omer Quenneville — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 14:53:16 +0000

As a fellow realtor and working in the downtown condo market, I couldn’t disagree more. Amenities are becoming more sought and used in buildings then ever before. As boomers down size for retirement they are looking for an “all in one” and busy executive are looking to save time and pop into the building gym for some quick cardio or workout and personal trainers and yoga instructors in the condo gym is becoming a very real trend.
Boomers don’t want to run out is sub zero temperature to swim a few laps at the community centre pool and movie nights are becoming very popular in the video rooms of buildings, a great way to meet and make friends with your neighbours, and a library to read or work on the internet is becoming very popular trend. Board rooms are book well in advanced for those that work from home
Thinking of buying for an investment? Tenants look for amenities as a way to offset high rents with the savings of gym and yoga memberships.
While you do pay for these in your maintenance fees, the shared cost over all is lower than a gym membership and includes so much more and convenient.
How about some roof top lawn bowling?

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By: Joe X Joe

Joe X Joe — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 10:57:09 +0000

Even we are not seeing bidding wars like one year before, condos still sell quite well for an exaggerated prices. This leads to a development of “new” ideas how to put more stuff into one place and make it more attractive. It can help developers in locations which are not as shiny as they wanted them to be.

The 2011 Census Results: Population Growth and New Housing Trends = Canadian households are no longer financially strong enough to continue with this trend of ever-increasing housing prices. Condos will be the first victim of this development.

The question is: what will happen after ten, twenty or thirty years? I´m scared that the majority of the condos are low quality buildings hidden under a nice facade.

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By: A.R.

A.R. — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 07:42:30 +0000

Why wouldn’t they meet their neighbours at a community pool? Community centres bring people together as well from around the community. You may meet your neighbours from the adjacent buildings and houses in the neighbourhood at the community centre as opposed to just people who live in your building.

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By: Al x

Al x — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 21:09:16 +0000

I could care less if my condo had a pool or fancy lobby or brushed stainless steel elevator doors, but when it comes time to sell it makes a huge difference.

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By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 17:10:11 +0000

If the amenities are underused they can always be rented out to community groups to bring in cash and pay for their upkeep.

A pool though seems like a huge expense over time, and really not needed in a city with rec centres. Our apartment has 29 floors and the pool is rarely used. If I shop for a condo I’ll be looking for one without a pool.

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By: Liz

Liz — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:10:18 +0000

A building with an indoor pool is a wonderful resource for families with kids – the one in our building is shared between 2 sister buildings, almost 800 suites altogether, so the cost is absolutely minimal, and parents when they are home from work, can bring their kids to play there with other neighbours at no cost – sure beats dressing them up and taking them out in the cold to a Community pool where they won’t meet their neighbours.
Our “card room” is well-used as a quiet study room by our residents. We put wi-fi in there. We turned it into a Library by buying a few bookcases from Grand and Toy and asking the residents to donate books they were finished with. Voila – library at no cost.
Many of our residents are newcomers to Canada. Our amenities allow them to meet people, both from their home country who they did not know also lived in the building, and others from all over the world. This encourages tolerance, and multicultural harmony. All of which makes people treasure where they live, and take good care of the building because it is their home.
A building without amenity spaces where residents can meet is one in which I would not choose to live.

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By: Will

Will — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:55:05 +0000

Don’t understand the inclusion of basketball courts in this article. On the one hand, you say they are unnecessary (anything other than a gym, terrace and party room is unnecessary according to you), then you write:

“I haven’t played basketball since I sprained my ankle in 2001 and wouldn’t go for a nightly dribble, but residents of 155 Dalhousie St. and 323 Richmond St. E. always seem to be on their respective courts.”

Okay. Great logic. Maybe give us a reason basketball courts are unnecessary other than the fact that you injured yourself and don’t play anymore? You’re not helping your case by saying that you know of two buildings where the courts are always in use, either.

Using your logic, I could say: “A gym in a condo is unnecessary because I’m too lazy to work out. By the way, the gym in my condo always seems to be full.”

You may as well just say “basketball courts are a waste because I said so.” Or, “I needed some filler to pad this article.”

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By: Serge

Serge — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:34:03 +0000

PS: is the picture above an actual condo library, or it is the picture of a public library? In a condo “library” the focus should be more on having a quiet place to sit and read, not so much on the book collection. The photo looks more like a bunch of books with library tags on them, which seems like a city library. If so, I assume it will be properly labelled to avoid misleading readers.

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By: Serge

Serge — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:32:07 +0000

Some of these are great ideas, actually. The point about amenities is that they need not cost very much. I can see how they don’t make sense for singletons But if you’re a family or even a couple, a library is a place to go and sit and read while being away from the noise in your condo, without having to leave the building, and its construction cost is minimal — it is likely tucked into a left-over area they couldn’t figure out what to do with. Ditto for the music room, whose only real cost is the soundproofing and then a bit of not-very-expensive equipment. It’s the amenities with ongoing maintenance costs, like pools and bowling and so on, that are the real problem.

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