Exclusive Grid Condos Investment Analysis Video
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Grid Condos Video Transcript
Hi, thanks for watching this video. Once again, it’s Andrew la Fleur here from TrueCondos.com, and let’s get started. In this video, I’m going to talk to you about a great new investment opportunity called Grid Condos, but first let me give you some background. The condo market right now is very strong, and people are very excited about investing in new condos, but there seems to be this one particular type of condo, one niche in the market that is particularly hot right now and more and more my clients are asking me about it. That niche is student rental condos.
The fact is that student rental condos are booming right now. Projects like University Suites in Kingston, Sage Condos in Waterloo, and The Academy Condos at UofT Scarborough campus have all sold out within a matter of months. Closer to home, in downtown Toronto in the past 2 years, pretty much any condo building that has been released or hit the market that is within a 5 minute walk to either UofT campus or Ryerson campus has sold out even faster than that, even some just in the matter of a few days.
Why are student-oriented rental condos so popular? Well, First – they provide an opportunity for great monthly cash flow. Second – they give you access to a steady and predictable rental pool, and Third – students are actually really great tenants to have because 90% of the time it’s actually their wealthy parents who are paying you each month, but what’s really underpinning the whole market is the fact that higher education is a booming industry in Canada. What I mean by that is that universities across Canada have seen exponential growth over the last few years, and Ryerson University is really the poster child for this trend.
Ryerson’s student population has averaged nearly a 10% annual growth for the past 5 years, and the growth has caused a housing crisis. There is just no where to put all these students on campus. Like, not even close. Ryerson has just 850 residence beds for a student population of 38,000 and growing. Let me just say that again, Ryerson has just 850 residence beds for a student population that’s 38,000 and growing every year. That’s like 45 students for every 1 bed, which looks a little something like that. If you can imagine what that might actually look like trying to fit 45 students into 1 unit, well you get the idea.
Now, this is where the Grid Condos comes in. There it is, beautiful rendering there of the Grid Condos overlooking of course the downtown Skyline here in downtown Toronto. Location of Grid Condos couldn’t be more perfect in terms of taking advantage of what Ryerson University is lacking, that is housing. There you got the Ryerson Campus map, you got Jarvis Street and Dundas on the southeast corner of the campus, and that’s exactly where Grid Condos is located. Incidentally right across the street from the site of Grid Condos, Ryerson is planning to build a large, it’s a larger piece of land that they’ve got right now to build on that hasn’t been built on. They’re planning to build a Sciences building there, and the rumor is that this might become a Ryerson’s Medical School, which they do not have right now. They don’t have medical school, but the rumor is that that might be the future location of a Ryerson’s Medical School which would be right across the street from the Grid Condos.
Grid Condos was designed from the inside out to be the perfect student-oriented condo building. It starts with the floor plans, which are designed for sharing. Shared accommodations for students means keeping cost low, and for landlords it means generating higher rents and better cash flow. Here’s a typical 1 plus 10 floor plan condo. This is actually right from the Grid Condos. This unit is available at the Grid Condos, nice and square, perfectly laid out. No wasted space. Very nice unit. This unit wherein the typical downtown Toronto condo building, you typically have a single occupant in a unit like that, and it would generate usually around 17 to 1800 dollars a month, that’s what the going rate for a very nicely laid out 1-bedroom and den in a good building, in a good location downtown.
Now, however, if you are talking about the Grid Condos and you’re talking about renting to students, again it’s all about shared accommodations and the double occupancy factor. Double occupants in a unit like this suddenly you’re getting 8 to 900 dollars a month for the den and then you’re renting out the bedroom for 1100 to 1200 dollars a month, and so your double occupancy in a unit like this is giving you 1900 to 2100 dollars a month. Single occupancy versus double occupancy, you’re adding another 2 to 300 dollars a month potentially to your income, to your cash flow if you’re going with a double occupancy versus a single. Obviously, that’s going to greatly increase your ROI as an investor, and again this is one of the main reasons why these student rental condo market is so popular right now.
You might be saying Andrew, do students really pay that kind of money for housing? Well, absolutely they do. You can check out the stats online. It’s no secret that students are paying these kinds of rates right now every day, and the rates are only going to continue to go up as the years go by. Now let’s compare, just for fun let’s compare with living. Let’s compare the Grid Condos with living in Ryerson on-campus housing. Let’s say you’re one of the luck ones who wins the lottery and you get a spot in on-campus housing. Well, what can you expect?
Well, currently there is 3 residence buildings for Ryerson University. Imagine that 38,000 students at 3 buildings. The newest building that they have, believe it or not, is built in 1991. You can see there, Pitman Residence, 565 beds. By the time the Grid Condos is completed, this residence will be coming up on 30 years old, and that’s the newest building that they have. They do have another building that they are in the works of constructing, but again that’s only going to add a few hundred beds. It’s really just not even going to make a dent in the demand for housing that they have.
You also have another building there. ILLC, International Living-Learning Center, built in 1987, and then they have a small old converted mansion which is built in 1875. It’s got 32 beds in there. Looking inside, what does this residence look like for the typical student? Well, it looks as though something like this. Notice anything about this picture? You’re using single beds, you’re seeing obviously 2 students in one small room. It’s probably about 150 square feet. You’ve got 2 students living there; there is no privacy, there’s no demising wall or anything between them. Everything is just open for everyone to see. Single beds, desks underneath. Very small simple spaces. Again, very dated buildings. There’s no floor to ceiling windows. There’s no stainless steel. There’s no laminate flooring. It’s ugly carpeting and the like.
Here’s a typical bathroom again. Shared bathrooms. One bathroom per floor. One bathroom per several students. This is normal. This is what students are used to in residence. Do you notice anything strange about this picture? Obviously, it’s a female student there in the washroom and there’s a urinal right beside her there, so that is life in the dorm. Here’s typical floor plan of a typical residence at Ryerson. Again, you’re talking about a room. It’s may be 150 square feet, and you’ve got 2 students in there, 2 beds, 2 desks. They’re inches apart. No privacy whatsoever. One little shared bathroom there, or may be you might be lucky, get into an apartment style unit. It might look something like this, but again your room is even smaller. It’s may be 8 x 10, single beds. All 4 students sharing a single bathroom and sharing a single kitchen. No outdoor space. Again, building is 30-40 years old, and that’s what you’re dealing with.
Students are paying between 900 and 1400 dollars a month for residence. Now, it depends on what type of unit they’re in and if they have a meal plan or not, but that is what they’re paying now. Obviously, the market is there for students to live in a brand new building with state-of-the-art amenities, amazing views, balcony spaces, and so on and so on and so on. State-of-the-art modern condominium paying 800 to 1200 dollars a month is very, very reasonable.
Keeping in mind that residences are typically massively subsidized by the University, and then chances of getting a room in residence at Ryerson are just about as good as, well, the Leafs winning the cup. Now, the other big thing about this project that I like is that the amenities were thoughtfully designed, once again with the needs of Ryerson’s students in mind. Just like how there’s a massive shortage of on-campus housing at Ryerson, there’s also a massive shortage of on-campus study and meeting space for students.
Now, this is the Grid Condos, the Grid Learning Centre, which is a 6000 square foot space, which is going to be inside the building itself, perfect for individual group study. It’s all designed for students to have meeting spaces in closed rooms as well as open concept spaces, tables, chairs, couches, many different types of seating, and places to meet as well as all the technology, printers, scanners, copiers, obviously you’re going to have WiFi connection. That’s right in your building. I really believe this type of amenity is going to make the building, the building to be in for students.
People are going to want to live there. People are going to pay little bit extra to live in a building like this that has an amenity like this where they can meet and invite their classmates when people are doing collaborative projects with, “Hey, come to my building,” or “Hey, let’s live in the same building together. We’re going to be working together all year or for the next few years.” This is a great place to live and to study, and you don’t have to worry about fighting for space off-campus or in a coffee shop or finding corners here and there. It’s right in your building and it’s all free.
On top of this, in the building there also will be a 3000 square foot gym, which is massive and very important for students to have that great, great amenity plus it’s going to be 5000 square feet of outdoor space, landscape terraces and patio space, and a beautiful 2-story lobby with a 24-hour coffee shop right in the building. Once again, everything designed with the needs of Ryerson students in mind.
Okay, that’s a little bit more about the Grid Condos. I hope you found my video useful, and I hope you’re intrigued by this investment opportunity, so please don’t miss out. Sign up to get the full investor package right now at TrueCondos.com. This building is expected to sell very quickly and so definitely don’t delay, and I hope to get that information to you very soon. You can also fill up the form on the screen at the end of this video for this package to be sent immediately to you. Until next time, I hope you enjoyed this video, hope you found it useful, and for TrueCondos.com, once again this is Andrew la Fleur signing off.
