I so totally agree with new condos. It reminds me of the sterility that futurists from 60 years ago predicted the future would look.
I moved from a 50 year old apartment to a 3 year old condo. Similar sq/ft but my apartment had way more usable space and its closets were actually indented into the wall rather than kitchen cabinets in my bedroom! Wow what a concept! Speaking of bedroom, a king size bed won't fit in it. When I toured the place, it was previously occupied by a husband, wife and toddler. I thought 'how could they breathe in a space like this being so close together?" Hell, in the bedroom, they had to block one of the retard closets just to get their bed and their daughter's crib to fit in the room.
The kitchen is a joke. |Slab of granite|
Stove |Slab of granite|
Sink |Slab of granite|. When I say slab, I literally mean a square shape maybe 1 foot wide? Useless for food prep. The owners told me they had the option to have an island installed. It would add more space to put, you know, APPLIANCES on but at the same time would serverly reduce floor space if say, you wanted to put a, hmmmmm, dinner table or, whaaaaa, a spot for your computer desk.
The fridge / freezer is one of those cabinet styles where if something goes wrong, you're glad you don't own that shit.
My building shifts all the time thanks to nearby construction. Sometimes my key can go smoothly into my front door, sometimes it can't.
Not to mention we had a major flood on a higher floor. Both elevators knocked out for almost a full week and we also had our parking garage broken into twice. Now we have 24 hour security. Am I living in Whalley now?
Funny enough, my previous landlord (at the apartment I was demovicted from) ended up buying a suite in a brand new building and wanted me to be his first tenant. I was honoured but then I noticed that his building is just the same. Sure it has an island with pull out table but other than that it was pretty much the same thing. What is this, the Jetsons? Where's the warmth? The colour? Nothing here oozes inspiration, just mediocrity. You don't choose to live here to say you made it in life. You choose to live here to say "I'm okay, not great or bad, just here and alive".
That's the whole point of these new builds:
- Cities raise taxes on old buildings so property management companies force sale
- Single Developer comes in and buys all within an area
- Developer proposes land consolidation to city who reviews it
- City inevitably says yes
- New developments are drafted and green-lit
- Begin demovictions
- Begin demolitions
- Give demovictees first rights to purchase (when it's ready in 5-10 years)
- Other people buy in on presale (to rent the majority out)
- Old city blocks that largely consisted of rental suites now consist of brand new buildings that largely consist of rental suites
***I'm not referring to houses where their owners can get paid nicely but rather older buildings where most residents fall near or below the poverty line and are displaced metaphorically as falling off the teeter totter.***
That's my rant. I moved 3 times in 3 years. Silver lining is I wasn't surrounded by shitty trash human beings even in my current building. My floor is quiet otherwise I would have moved again once the lease was up.
I will never buy a condo to live in it. The least I'll buy is a townhouse.