Era Condos in Calgary

If you are interested in securing a unit, the next step is to fill out a worksheet at truecondos.com/worksheet with all your information and your top-3 suite choices. 

Demand is very high and there are only 100 units available with the 2-year rental guarantee program – get your worksheet filled out right away.

Every unit comes with 1 locker included.

Parking is $29,900 – available for all 2 bedrooms. Available with the more expensive 1 bedrooms. 

Yes you can assign your unit (sell before it is finished). The assignment fee is reduced from $5000 to $1000 for the first 100 units.

The regular deposit is 10%. 

In order to buy with only 5% deposit, you have to apply to Travellers Insurance for their deposit bond program. 

Essentially they do a credit check on you, and they evaluate you based on your income and your assets. 

How will I know if I will qualify for the 5%?

From what Travellers has told me, if you own a property with at least $100k of equity in it, and you earn income of at least $80-100k, you should have no problem qualifying.

Yes, the fee is $100 plus a small percentage of the amount of the actual 5% bond. 

So the fee will be approximately $300-600.

Well worth paying this fee rather than shelling out 5% and having the developer sit on it for 4 years!

You can buy 1 unit per name. 

So if you want 3 units you have to have 3 names. And each person has to apply to Travellers and each person has to qualify.

If you put down 10% deposit you can buy as many units as you want in the building.

The rental guarantee is limited to 100 units only.  

The amount is a simple calculation of 6.5% of the price paid (including locker price and GST) multiplied by 6.5% to get the annual amount, and then divide by 12 to get the monthly. 

For example $350k purchase price *6.5% = $22770/12 = $1895/month.

Yes most of these units are projected to be positive cash flow of $100-200/month depending on the floor plan and the floor level purchased.

This is based on 20% total down payment at closing, 30 year amortization, and today’s mortgage rates of around 2.7-2.9%.

Anyone who has bought a condo in Toronto recently knows that this kind of cash flow is impossible to find here.

The rental guarantee starts as soon as the condo is ready for occupancy. So you start earning right away, no negative cash flow time when you are bleeding money each month with your condo sitting empty.

There is an occupancy period before final closing in Alberta with condos just like in Ontario.

Yes, after the 2 years of free property management is finished, you can hire the property management company (currently expected to be “Asset West Management”), you can hire them to keep it going. Estimated costs will be $500 for placing a new tenant and $75/m for ongoing property management. 

By the way, if you are a non-resident of Canada, Asset West Management will do all the necessary CRA filings on your behalf too.

The closing costs in Alberta are VERY different from Ontario. There are no development charges, educational levies, section 37 charges, or other various municipal charges. 

In Toronto the average closing costs are around $30,000 in a new condo today in 2019.With Era in Calgary your closing costs are basically only going to be your lawyer fees plus your home warranty fees. So all in you are looking at $2000 or less based on 2019 estimates for closing in 2023.

The property tax rate in Alberta is very low! For 2019 is 0.665% of assessed values. So that means that on a $300k unit you are looking at approximately $2000/year or $166/month in property taxes. Of course in Alberta just like in Ontario the assessed values usually come in significantly lower than the market values so taxes will likely be even less than this estimate.

Same as in Ontario, you will need a lawyer at closing to close the property, and the lawyer has to be licensed in Alberta. 

When the time comes we can put you in touch with a few lawyers in Calgary who can handle the transaction for you.

The cost will be approximately $1000-1500 for a lawyer.

Yes, you will have a 10 calendar day cooling period after signing just like in Ontario. If you wish to cancel your offer during the 10 days you can with no penalty.

In Alberta the HST/GST is handled differently than Ontario.

In Ontario, as an investor, you pay approx 8% of the price on final closing and you apply for a rebate to get the HST back, and in most cases you get most of it back. 

The HST in Ontario is money you have to pay on closing out of your own pocket. You cannot use a mortgage to pay for it.

In Alberta, you pay 5% of the price which is the GST portion on final closing. 

As an investor, there is a program where you can apply to get a portion of the GST you paid rebated back to you. The maximum you get back is 36%. 

If the price is up to $350k, you get back 36% of the GST you paid. 

If the price is between $350k-$450k, it’s a sliding scale where the 36% rebate shrinks down to zero by the time you hit $450k.

The GREAT news about GST in Alberta is you can roll it into your mortgage, you DO NOT have to pay this money on closing out of your own pocket!

So for example (all figures approximates):

Purchase price $300k – you pay $15k in GST. you get a rebate back for $5400. Actual total GST paid = $9600

Purchase price $350k – you pay $17,500 in GST. you get a rebate back for $6300. Actual total GST paid = $11200

Purchase price $400k – you pay $20k in GST. you get rebate back for $3100. Actual total GST paid = $16,900

Purchase price of $450k – you pay $22,500 in GST. you get zero back.

Thankfully getting a mortgage in Alberta is easy, we have national banks in Canada and it’s all the same whether you are in Ontario or anywhere. Canada is the best country in the world and we have the best banking system in the world!

If you have more questions please email me at andrew@truecondos.com or reach me at 416-371-2333

Andrew la Fleur

Sales Representative, Remax Condos Plus