The management company is just as important as the developer when considering a condo conversion. Go with those who have good track records and reputations.
Never buy Pointe of View, even if it is brand new. My mother works in the insurance business and they get more claims put in against their new buildings within the first few years after completion than any other developer she sees. They are nothing but problems.
260k is pretty pricey, but your location is great. You will always be able to rent that out to a student, or as a small executive suite. DO NOT SELL. That gets more true the closer to the core you get, even if it is a condo.
Re: The News on Broadcast Hill. I am not entirely sure of their operational history, but they were built in 1986 to house the media for the olympics. They were modularly built and have post tensioned cable in the concrete used to build the parking structure (as most concrete buildings that were put up in the 80s do).
That said, the developers look like they did a pretty decent job of renovating the units. They have sold phase one out completely as of last year (2005), and the new phase is going for roughly 30% more than what they sold for at the time (about 210 to 275 for comparable floorplans being sold today vs last year). They will be releasing more units gradually until the year end.
The view is great and there is a bit of greenspace.
BUT
There is obvious water damage in the structure which is very concerning. We were fortunate enough to get a chance to see a unit that had been bought out from the pool by one of the cotractors doing the renovations and he did what was probably the world's reno on the place. He would have been better off to pay a hobo to live in it for a month and then try to sell it as is with poo all over the house. Yikes.
But at any rate, it was on MLS before they got the chance to work on the rest of the building, and boy was it ugly. Severe water damage was present from the (broken) skylights all the way down to tbe bottom (and the buildings are 3 stories tall). There were obvious cracks in the drywall, stains and mold on the outside.
Thankfully we saw all of this or else we might have gone ahead with buying one of the units that was being sold by the developer.
When I asked if they would allow me to conduct an inspection on the building, they said that they do not as it is part of their permit process and they have already conducted all the building inspections that are required. I thought this was a load of crap so I asked to see a copy of the inspection report, and she said that they didn't have it anymore*.
So I just came out and asked her about the water damage. She admitted that there had been places where they had to strip down the walls to the framing and in some spots even had to reconstruct the framing in order to remedy the water damage issues.
I asked if they were guaranteeing or warranteeing the work done on the water damage and they were not. Since the skylights and walls are considered common property, any future work needed to deal with any sort of water damage realted issues would be dealt with via assessment. The other beauty thing is that they hadn't worked out if such assessments would be charged on a building to building basis, or if the entire development would pitch in.
So there would be a chance that if there were some privately held units in the buildings (which there are) that decided not to participate with the water damage repair work that the developers were doing, it could cause problems down the road for the people who own as part of the condo agreement.
* - Oh, and for the record, the City of Calgary keeps all of the building inspections submitted on file and will be able to produce them for you in about a week for $100. Just go to the property research division on the 2nd floor and immediately to the right. Talk to Roxanne Wales or Connie Chung (? - seriously, I think that is her name).
They have obviously sunk a lot of money into this refurbishment if you look closely enough at the documents that are provided.
We decided not to go for it as we are already in the condo market in our place downtown. We are now instead looking around for a small single family house, townhouse, duplex or fourplex in a few of the older areas (montgomery, Bowness, tuxedo, mount pleasant, cresent heights, etc). Listings so far have been anywhere from 260 - 425k for what we are looking at, and 400 is probably the highest I want to go. Needs at least 2 bed and 1+ bath.
There is a real possibility that we will be looking for a 50% partner to rent out our downtown unit when we move. Rough numbers look like 150 - 160 to buy in to half of the condo value, with rental potential of 1300 - 1500 per month, underground parking available and can be included in the rental agreement. PM me if you are interested in this opportunity or have a house for sale that might fit the description noted above.
*ahem* Photon *ahem*
