ROBYN'S HOOD
It's all about the money
June 5, 2008
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Robyn Doolittle
STAFF REPORTER
Once you buy property, everything becomes about money. Saving it. Spending it. Spending it.
You find yourself making absurd decisions, such as giving up your daily Tim Hortons, to save $15 a week, only to drop $250 on paint and supplies – for the third time – during the weekend.
For me, the most ridiculous example of this was on the day, or should I say days, I moved into my new condo. My old place is only three blocks away from the new one, which made it hard for me to justify spending $50 on a U-Haul. I planned on chucking most of my dorm-room chic furniture. I really only needed to move one or two big items, namely, my queen-size bed.
"Remember the time we wheeled your old bed (10 blocks) over to my house? It can be done," my friend Vanessa Milne reminded me. But, that was during university, when we had no shame. And it had been a twin. I'm not sure I could wheel my Queen down Carlton St.
So, I convinced my mom to drive down from Forest, near Sarnia. (Yes, I'm aware she probably spent $100 on gas. This is why this plan was so stupid.) Oh wait. Did I mention mom broke her wrist a few days before? So yeah, she couldn't really do anything besides drive and laugh at my boyfriend and me bickering with each other.
In all, I'd guesstimate we made 15 trips between the houses over the course of two days. Packing, loading, unloading, unpacking, repeat. We ended up tying the bed to the car's bike rack – that move alone took two hours door-to-door. By the time mom was getting ready to leave, there were still tons of odds and ends left at my old place. My boyfriend and his friend rolled the rest over the next day, using two of the City of Toronto's new mammoth recycling bins. If time is money, we'd just spent about $500 on moving, trying to save $50.
This was the third Saturday in April. I got my keys in mid-March, but had spent the last month or so repairing minor dents in the wall, painting, and scraping off stucco. The timing of this is significant, because I hadn't actually lived in the unit when I filled out my Tarion forms.
Yeah, I didn't know what they were either.
Tarion enforces the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act. You fill out warranty forms, recording flaws that need fixing in the unit. The builder fixes them in an allotted time frame, or Tarion gets involved. Basically, these guys are your big brother if a kid in the playground steals your basketball. They can hand out fines to builders and prevent them from starting a new project. They're the ones that issue licences to new home builders.
I bought my place at The Star of Downtown from an investor. He took possession of the unit at the end of February. So he was the one who did the initial Tarion form, and the pre-delivery inspection. He noted about a dozen problems, and then faxed it off to Tarion. The bathroom door didn't close. The bathroom mirror wasn't up. Some of the moulding along the floor wasn't done. Two weeks later, I got the keys. The seller gave me the PDI form and told me if I saw anything else, I should put it on my 30-day form – obviously, to be submitted 30 days after possession.
Seemed easy enough. I went around at the end of April and noted 14 other issues (including that the dishwasher wasn't connected and the front door was slightly uneven) and faxed it off. I was told the builder has 120 days to fix it or Tarion gets involved. If I noticed something after submitting the form, I'd have to wait for the next one, the year-end form.
The problem was that I hadn't lived there yet.
After I finally did move in, I noticed scores of other problems. Like the tub's water wouldn't get hot, just warm. My bedroom door wouldn't close. My living room window leaked. The balcony door was sticky. I started asking around and realized most of my neighbours had 40 or 50 items on their 30-day form. Luckily, when the workers came by a week later to tackle my list, they were nice enough to fix some of the problems, including the above-mentioned issues. But for the rest I'll have to wait.
By the end of my first month in my new home I had learned two valuable lessons: 1) Pinch pennies on the big stuff, or not at all. And 2) Live in the condo before you decide what's wrong with it.
Next Week: Now that it's mine, what do
I do with it? My unit has already appreciated by $10,000. How soon is too soon to sell – or do I even want to?
Toronto Star