Cooling-off Period - Does it include weekends?

[DanishC]

Hi Guys

The sales office in which I purchased my condo is closed on Fridays. Does the 10 day period include the Friday's in which the sales office was closed?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Petra]

yup it usually does, unless they specify otherwise

 

[lazarus]

The 10 days usually includes weekends. The 10 days start on the day you sign the purchase agreement. You can get a slight extension if there are changes you or your lawyer wish to make to the agreement but the extension must be granted before the 10 days expires.

 

[AndreaPalladio]

That's an excellent question for the lawyer who is closing the purchase for you.

 

[J0n0001]

10 calender days, including the day you signed. So if you signed today as an example being December 1st, and you received your executed copy of the agreement of purchase and sale AND the condominium documents then your rescission period would be over on the 9th at 11:59 pm.

If you sign today but you don't receive the executed copy of the agreement and the condo docs until the 5th of December, then your 10 days starts on the 5th, not today.

Hope that helps.

 

[turdrockfromthesun]

READ THE CONTARACT CAREFULY!
Be Leary of buying off spec! Better to buy something already built so that you can lay your eyes upon it!
Don't worry, if you buy off spec, I can assure you:1, the unit will be LATE, 2, smaller, 3, not exactly what you thought, 4 different than in the advertising/promotional material, Amongst other issues...

TAKE NOTE - the first 5 or so pages of agreement of purchase and sale ARE PART OF THE SALES PITCH. The following pages start retracting the first 5 etc..

TAKE CAERFUL NOTE of all disclosure statements - Will be noisy due to road, railway tracks, etc. Disclosure statements are full blast 'buyer beware" (caveat emptor thingy) and you cannot say "I didn't know I was mislead."

TAKE NOTE OF CONNECTION CHRAGES for hydro, water and the like - can be surpisingly high- especially if condo developer sets up their own scam hook up utility thingy..

SHOULD YOU BUY? IS IT A GOOD DEAL? Your cash. Your call. No guarantees market won't tank. No guarantee building won't be crap.

THINK ABOUT BUYING A PLACE THAT IS BUILT ALEEADY - cannot stress it enough...

 

[Hydrogen]

READ THE CONTARACT CAREFULY!
Be Leary of buying off spec! Better to buy something already built so that you can lay your eyes upon it!
Don't worry, if you buy off spec, I ca assure you:1, the unit will be LATE, 2, smaller, 3, not exactly what you thought, 4 different than in the advertising/promotional material,

TAKE NOTE - teh first 5 or so pages of agreement of purchase nd sale ARE PART OF TEH SALES PITCH. The follwign pages start retatacting the first 5 ets.

TAKE CAERFUL NOTE of all disclosure statements - Will be noisy due to road, railway tracks, etc. Discksre statements are full bals 'buyer be ware' and you cannot say "I didnt know I wa mislead."

THINK ABOUT BUYING A PLACE THAT IS BUILT ALEEADY - cannot strees it enough...

And if your contract is written like this, definitely don't sign it.

 

[turdrockfromthesun]

Damn right!
Hit enter without proofreading or the like- so I edited it a bit..

Be mindful of the reputations of builders as well.. but it can be difficult to get a proper read, as many owners do not want to talk down the value of their own building, etc. if it is crap.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I've never understood the appeal of buying something sight unseen, or in the case of these condos, sight unbuilt. You wouldn't buy a pair of pants unseen, but we'll buy a condo? IMO, it's far better to buy a home that's already been built so that you can see what you're buying.

 

[investor]

I've never understood the appeal of buying something sight unseen, or in the case of these condos, sight unbuilt. You wouldn't buy a pair of pants unseen, but we'll buy a condo? IMO, it's far better to buy a home that's already been built so that you can see what you're buying.

Admiral, you are far too logical my friend! Your reasoning is loaded with something called COMMON SENSE. Unfortunately (for some) common sense is typically drowned out in the minds of many condo buyers by another emotion called GREED. When GREED is mixed with SLICK MARKETING, COMMON SENSE doesn't have a chance of surviving.

Let us common sensers wait in eager anticipation as all these greedy bast*rds who irrevocably committed themselves to their intangible purchases get slaughtered at the feet of the invisible hand of the market. There will come a time when prices in Toronto return to their economic norm and it won't be a pretty picture for the seemingly endless trail of ignorants who succumb so easily to the embarrassingly bad marketing ploys of the development industry. Click your mouse if you've heard of someone you know buying a unbuilt condo unit in the past year because it is 'such a good investment'.

The tide is already turning though- today I heard a commercial for a Monarch development where they are offering a 10% discount in honour of the 90th year in business. More like a 10% discount in honour of a bulging inventory of unsold units!

 

[Observer Walt]

Everyone is of course entitled to their own preferences. But if no one ever bought new product, "sight unseen", how would any new product ever get built? And just as some appreciate older structures, others appreciate being the first ones in a new building, whether condo or low-rise.

As for Monarch, do your homework. It's 1% off, not 10%. Their inventories may be "bulging", not that I have heard any such thing (and I think I would), but it's a fact that they have managed to sell, and actually build, quite a few projects over the last few years, in several parts of the city.

 

[investor]

Everyone is of course entitled to their own preferences. But if no one ever bought new product, "sight unseen", how would any new product ever get built?

The same way apartment buildings get built- on spec. Developers would be more cautious and only build in areas where real demand exists. Prices would probably be slightly higher on average, but buyers would feel confident knowing that they are buying into buildings that have good shovel protection.

Contrast that with the veritable speculative frenzy that we are witnessing today. And just because the market hasn't crashed yet in this cycle does not mean that it will not crash SOON. Look at Miami as a perfect example of what rampant speculation can do to a market. Even mighty Calgary is undergoing a re-pricing and they are experiencing a legitimate economic job boom that supports higher prices.

I hate to say it, but 2008 is going to be a very difficult year for the Toronto condominium market.

 

[investor]

As for Monarch, do your homework. It's 1% off, not 10%. Their inventories may be "bulging", not that I have heard any such thing (and I think I would), but it's a fact that they have managed to sell, and actually build, quite a few projects over the last few years, in several parts of the city.

Whatever the discount is, they wouldn't be offering it and taking out expensive radio and print spots if product was selling.

And if you aren't aware of the inventory bulge then you clearly aren't paying enough attention to the market.

 

[Observer Walt]

investor, there are one or two logical inconsistencies in your posts. You say that if people didn't buy "sight unseen", buildings would get built "on spec", and you seem to think that this would be a good thing, for some reason which you do not specify.

There is a very good reason that buillding on spec doesn't happen any longer in Toronto. We've seen what happened back in 1988 and 89, when "spec" ruled the day, and the market ran into a wall. I don't know if you're old enough to remember that. It took six years to dig out of that hole.

You seem to acknowledge this yourself, in a backdoor way, a few sentences later in your post

Look at Miami as a perfect example of what rampant speculation can do

Miami, and a few other American cities, exemplify what happens when prjects are built on spec, combined with some very loosey-goosey mortgage lending practices. I'm confused as to whether you think speculative building is a good thing or not, as you seem to be arguing both sides of that question.

As for Calgary, I don't follow their market closely, but I think it's evident that what has happened out there in recent years is the exact opposite of building on spec. In Calgary, demand has strongly led supply, ie., there has been a serious shortage of supply. It's not the least bit speculative to build a new project in such circumstances.

In Toronto and most of Canada, real estate markets are actually fairly conservative. Speculative building is almost unheard of. Memories are long and people remember the blood on the floor in the early 90s. Neither developers nor banks will go there again. Demand is demonstrated by the simple mechanism of selling first (for condos) or pre-leasing (for office space), then building. Banks won't finance construction unless a building is at least 60% sold, and I am hearing increasingly that the threshold is being moved to 65% or 70%, particularly for those projects which may carry higher risk for some reason (location, short track record on the part of the builder, etc.)

When the market cools, and I don't deny that it will at some point, new sales numbers will drop off, and some projects which otherwise would have been built, won't be. But in the meantime, literally thousands of people remain willing to buy "sight unseen". As I said before, it's not just one way, it's about the only way that new product will come to market. Many of us have actually seen the alternative, and it ain't pretty.

 

[turdrockfromthesun]

And they better be prepared to wait for the delayed completion of a unit that will not be as expected and certainly not as advertised... Whereas if you buy something that's built, it's pretty damn obvious what it is you are getting.