Quote:
Originally Posted by ptmOttawa
Ok I'm going to de-lurk myself here and post some photos from this afternoon at the Central sales center. This sales board showing which units have been sold (red dots)
and the price list from Sunday April 6. They've upped the price of the London unit from 234,000 to 259,000 in just one week!
|
I visited the sales center on Saturday afternoon, which seemed to be as busy as ever. My girlfriend and I are new to the the 'buying a condo' world, but we were quite surprised and confused about what we saw. I was hoping someone here may have some advice/knowledge about condo shopping.
We originally looked at Mondrian, which we were excited about, but we weren't prepared to act now in buying. However, the unit that we like that is available (1bedroom + den on 19th floor), has risen from about 230K to now 266K in only a couple of weeks (of which I am sure that 230K is much higher than the original prices) - frustrating!.
Now, in regards to Central, we liked the building, not a huge fan of the location (for these prices), however quite liked the unites and the finishes. What we can't understand, is after only a week and a half on the market, is this degree of price fluctuation typical? The Citizen article talks about some of the prices rising 25K following the opening night, and some going from 134K to 195K in one day. Even from Saturday to Sundays (posted above) pricelist the London has risen 5K (it is posted as $254,900 on my price list from Saturday). What we don't understand is why is there such a change in prices in such a short period of time? I assume that price changes are due to supply/demand, but having never witnessed another building release in Ottawa, is this frenzy typical or are people just very excited about project? I personally was more excited about the Mondrian location, however was hoping as the Central will not be open for another 3 years that we would be able to take our time before buying a unit. We liked the Stockholm unit, but at almost 280K +parking+storage (at today's prices, don't know how long will stay for) to wait three years to live a significant distance down Bank Street where it becomes a hassle to get to the Market or even a bit of a walk to the Transitway, I personally don't see the value.
I hope this hasn't become a rant, but this weekend was frustruating as these projects have lost us as potential buyer's. I guess this was an experience for us, and now when we have cash in hand and ready to sign, I will know that I need to act on opening day to get a good price and be prepared to wait for the building to be built.