Chicago Condos Mississauga

chicago condos mississauga

One of the more popular condo projects located in the Mississauga Square One area is known as Chicago. This art deco inspired, 36 storey building was completed in 2010, and has a distinctive look on the Mississauga skyline. Chicago is unique in that, in addition to the usual array of condo amenities, such as swimming pool and gym, there is also a  30 foot climbing wall for rock climbing residents to enjoy. The 6 storey podium also includes a full Rabba grocery store, as well as a yoga studio, and other businesses, and has elaborate BBQ and entertainment amenities on its roof .

Chicago was built by well known Toronto developer The Daniels Corporation, and it features both highrise condo apartments, plus a few select “urban” townhouses.

Check out the full article on my main site, for a detailed review, description, and prices of the Chicago Condos – Mississauga.

Limelight Condos Mississauga

Limelight condos in Mississauga Square One area, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Limelight condos are two towers recently completed in the Square One area of Mississauga City Centre, which have been garnering accolades from both real estate professionals, and the public. These two condominium towers were built and completed by The Daniels Corporation in 2012, as part of their master planned Mississauga City Centre community,  and are already a popular and sought after address. See my main site for a full overview, with photos, prices, and description of the Limelight condos – Mississauga.

Gordon Woods Mansions – Mississauga’s Most Expensive Luxury Homes

In the third of our series profiling the most expensive neighbourhoods in Mississauga, we present the pastoral beauty of Gordon Woods. Gordon Woods is a smallish area located next to the Trillium Hospital in Mississauga, and these homes were in fact originally built to house the doctors working there. The two most distinctive features of Gordon Woods are undoubtedly the extensive tree canopy which you will find, with many tall trees, with long, tree-lined winding driveways,  and heavily forested lots, plus the unbelievable central location minutes from downtown Mississauga. Standing in the tranquility of Gordon Woods,  it seems hard to believe that you are not somewhere vacationing in the cottage country situated north of Toronto, which is known as  ”Muskoka”.

Read the full article on on this expensive neighbourhood on our main website; for more information and pictures go to the luxury homes of Gordon Woods.

Mississauga Mansions of Doulton Drive

Doulton Drive, Doulton Place, and Blythe Road are three exclusive streets in a quiet enclave located off of Mississauga Road, just north of the QEW highway, which together comprise an area known as the Doulton Estates. These amazing luxury homes are among the most impressive (and expensive!)  in all of Mississauga. Check out our main website photo tour of the Mississauga mansions of Doulton Drive.

Mississauga Mansions Doulton Place, Doulton Drive, Blythe Road, Doulton Estates, most expensive homes in Mississauga, Ontario

Mississauga Absolute World Condos Named Best New Tall Buildings in the Americas

Mississauga Absolute World condos, photo courtesy of Bruvyman at urbantoronto.ca

Mississauga Absolute World condos received a major accolade this past week, when the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, a prestigious Chicago-based not-for-profit organization, named them the best new tall buildings in the Americas for 2012. The CTBUH awarded four global winners in total, from four separate geographical regions.

Absolute World condominiums (Marilyn Monroe buildings) in Mississauga, Ontario – winner for the Americas

1 Bligh Street, Sydney –  winner for Australia and Asia

Palazzo Lombardia, Milan – winner for Europe

Doha Tower, Doha – winner for the Middle East and Africa

Buildings were chosen for their design and technical innovations, their sustainable characteristics, the enhancement they provide to the cities where they are located,  and the enhancement they provide to the lives of the citizens in those cities.

The four winners for 2012 will be honoured, and awards will be given out, at the CTBUH 11th Annual Awards Ceremony which is scheduled to take place at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, on October 18th, 2012.  On the night of the ceremony, in addition to the four regional awards, from these, one overall winner will be selected, and will be awarded with the title of  “Best New Tall Building Worldwide” for 2012.

The ‘Best in the Americas’ award just bestowed on ‘Marilyn’, and the recognition that goes with it, only confirms what the citizens of Mississauga already know – that the Absolute World condominiums, the ‘Marilyn Monroe’  towers of Mississauga, are two of the most exhilarating real estate developments in recent memory, that provide a daily delight to the senses for anyone lucky enough to see them on an everyday basis. The Mississauga skyline will never be the same.

Congratulations to the development team at Fernbrook/Cityzen, to Dominus construction, to everyone who bought at these fabulous condos, and to the City of Mississauga! And good luck in October – winning the overall “best new tall building in the world” for 2012 would be well deserved!

Mississauga Condos: Pros and Cons

Condominiums are the fastest growing type of new construction in the Greater Toronto Area, and have been embraced by a wide segment of the buying public. Today there is a wide range of Mississauga condos, as well as huge variety in Toronto and other parts of the GTA. Condominiums offer a great lifestyle, but also come with some restrictions. Here are some of the pros and cons.

Pros:

• Maintenance Free Lifestyle: If you are not handy with house repairs, condos offer a near maintenance free lifestyle. Many of the major components of a house, such as the furnace, the roof, grounds keeping, snow removal, etc., are all taken care of for you in a condo.

• Security: most better condos have a concierge or security at the front door, with cameras usually providing extra security throughout the complex. When you travel, simply close and lock your unit door, and no one will know that you are away.

• Amenities: most condos contain amenities that would be very difficult and expensive to duplicate at a private, freehold residence. Indoor and outdoor swimming pools, gym, pilates rooms, squash, racquetball and tennis courts are often found, and some complexes boast home theatre rooms, and even bowling alleys, and rock climbing walls.

• Views: many condos today are 30, 40, 50 storeys and higher, and many units have incredible views which can’t be duplicated from a 2 storey residence.

• Lifestyle: there is no doubt that many of today’s condos offer a lifestyle that is truly of the ‘rich and famous’.

• Affordability: many condos are available at a price which first time buyers can afford. Today’s prices for freehold properties are out of reach for many buyers.

Cons:

• Space: most condos have a smaller square footage than the average house, so if you have a lot of belongings, this can be a consideration. Twenty years ago, the average 2 bedroom unit was about 1000 square feet, and today this is closer to 750 square feet.

• Limited Locker Storage: although the space issue is somewhat mitigated in that many condos also include a storage locker, usually these are only big enough for items such as bicycles.

• Maintenance Fees: condominiums have a monthly maintenance fee, which is typically used to pay for ongoing maintenance such as landscaping or snow removal, building insurance, plus a portion which contributes to a long term savings fund (the ‘reserve fund’), which is used for future repairs and updates to the property. Some, but not all maintenance fees include the various utilities (heat, hydro, and water).

• Restrictions on Renovations: almost every condo will allow you to make cosmetic changes to the inside of your unit, but special permission is often required for changes which can impact your neighbours, such as adding hardwood floors, and most condo corporations will not allow you to make changes to the exterior of your unit, or any work which would move the walls (load-bearing structures).

• Restrictions on pets: some condos allow pets, some allow pets under a certain weight, and some do not allow them at all.

• Gardens and Barbecues: if you like to garden, or you like to barbecue: some condos will allow you to have a small barbecue on your balcony, but many won’t. Some of the newer projects have barbecue areas which you can use – but these are located in the common areas of the building, and not in your own private backyard. As for gardening, you can have window boxes with some flowers and plants, but if gardening is your passion, then condos may not be a good fit for you.

We hope you have enjoyed this summary of the pros and cons of this very important part of the Mississauga real estate market.

House Prices – Why Most ‘Experts’ Have it Wrong

A steady stream of experts in the mainstream media have been predicting a fall in Canadian real estate prices. How can prices be so high? And how can they keep on rising? Surely we are due for a correction!

Some nationally known authors such as Garth Turner have been preaching doom and gloom for over 10 years now, Turner for so long that he has actually missed the entire bull market….and yet he still gets press attention, even after being dead wrong for so many years..

Most of these so-called experts make a fundamental mistake when examining the Canadian real estate market – they confuse Cause and Effect. The high prices in Toronto and Vancouver, you see, are not the Cause of the market – they are the Effect.

So when they decry high prices in Canada, they are missing the point..they are attacking the Effect of the market, not the Cause – a fundamental mistake.

The causes of the bull market we have enjoyed in Canada for the last 15 years or so are three fold:

1.) low interest rates

As long as interest rates remain low, the market will continue

2.) a decent economy

As long as the Canadian economy remains decent, and there are jobs being created, the market will continue

3.) continued immigration into Canada

Here I am talking about the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), my area of expertise, although the same rule applies for any Canadian cities where there are large numbers of people moving into the area.

As long as government policy facilitates continued immigration into Canada’s large cities, the market in those cities will continue.

If we look at these three Causes – the Causes of the real estate boom in Canada, there is still room for optimism. Our Federal Government is loath to increase interest rates, as it boosts the Canadian dollar too high, killing our manufacturing industry vis a vis the United States. The U.S., with its current set of problems, has indicated that it will retain low rates for at least the next two years, so the outlook for Canada’s rates remains low for the foreseeable future.

As for a decent economy, the Canadian economy actually seems to be improving; everywhere I look these days in my home town of Mississauga, or anywhere in the Greater Toronto Area, there are ‘help wanted’ or ‘now hiring’ signs….so the economy, in spite of some global macro issues, seems to be on the right track.

And finally, unless there is a change in government policy, Canada continues to welcome new immigrants from all across the globe. All these folks (reportedly 100,000 per year moving into the Toronto area) need somewhere to live, and many arrive in Canada with money to buy property. God bless ‘em..

So there is my take on the Canadian real estate market. Sure, there are issues of absolute affordability, but we in the GTA have only to look at Vancouver to see that much greater prices are indeed possible, as long as the three causes of the market remain in place. If any of these change – is rates start rising, if the economy goes in the tank, or if immigration dries up – then the market will slow. Until then, the future is bright. Whenever you read a self-proclaimed ‘expert’ in the mainstream media saying that the market will fall because prices are ‘too high’, know that they are mixing up cause and effect; they are addressing the effect of the market, not the cause.