Precarious property
Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009 | 08:00 AM PT
This week's story made me think about how vulnerable many Vancouverites are - those of us with condos.
Ten years ago, everyone was scared of leaky condos. Now it's leaky condos, PLUS overleveraged condos, 'taxpayer on the hook' condos (athlete's village), empty downtown condos (economy tanking), 'half-built then construction stops' condos (blight) and - the most widely feared - 'we paid too much' condos.
Craig Fraser's 'lost over a repair fight' condo gives us a whole new scenerio to fear.
Several people at CBC stopped me - when they heard about the story - to ask if it is really true that a judge can allow your (paid for) condo sold - without your consent.
I suspect they all have condos.
Their second question was - what can anyone do to avoid this??
Craig Fraser believes the only thing he could have done was get out - sell for whatever he could get - much earlier - and walk away instead of fighting.
The other owners he was fighting with paint a different picture. Maurice Duteau says Fraser just took the whole thing way too far - and tried to make the others pay more than their fair share.
No doubt there are two sides to the story - but one thing they all agree on is - there are no winners here.
So, buyer, don't just be scared - beware. Fraser - and undoubtedly the other owners too - are thinking of many things they might have done differently - but it's all hindsight.
As I write this, I'm sitting in my condo - which we bought over a year ago - before everything tanked. I remember being wracked with anxiety over simply landing a place in Vancouver - because any decently priced ones were selling in a flash.
Were we in the frame of mind to think of every eventuality - like reserve funds for repairs - as we tried to find ANYTHING decent we could afford?
Nope - I must admit.
Now I'm scared.
