Minto Skyy Condo Move in Date

So as an anxious, proud Minto owner when are you going to actually move in and how is it determined?

First off you should know that the builder has every incentive to move us into the building ASAP. As was explained in the last Skyy magazine Spring 2009 TD bank is financing Minto for the building project with a construction loan. So just like any other mortgage, Minto has to pay their monthly mortgage to the TD bank.

As each resident moves in Minto charges you an occupancy fee. Think of the occupancy fee as rent or its sometimes referred to as a ghost mortgage. The sooner each resident moves in, the sooner Minto can charge occupancy fees to help cover their financing expenses. (I won't tackle the questions around occupancy fees vs. mortgage in this post... but when you move in there is no need to have mortgage financing in place)

Minto will kindly ask you to move in as soon as your unit is finished. Now, that doesn't mean that you actually have to move in and occupy, it just means that from that date forth you will be paying the monthly occupancy fees. That means, if you are selling your current home and trying to figure out the timing beware because you may be on the hook to pay the equivalent of two mortgage payments.

Builders typically finish units methodically starting from the bottom up. So if you are on the 4th or 5th Floor you are likely to be the first to move... maybe even before the townhouses are finished. And don't be surprised if when you move into your floor the hallways and floors are still unfinished. From there it all depends on how efficient and quickly the builders are at finishing each unit. Of course the bad news is if you are on the lower floors you will have to pay lots of money in occupancy fees before the building is finally finished, the condo corporation is registered and you can finally register your own mortgage.

By Christopher Molder, Danforth Mortgage Broker 416.461.0204ext2.