Toronto’s condo market is one of the biggest — if not, the biggest — drivers of the city’s residential real estate economy, perhaps just for the single reason that there are so many of them in the city!
Clearly, Toronto condos work for a lot of different types of homeowners and their unique lifestyles. However, there are also a lot of reasons why they don’t work for some, even if they had done before.
Here are five of the most common reasons why the Toronto condo life might not be working as well as it did in the past for you, all of which can be resolved by upsizing to a new place. If any or all of these points sound like you, it could be time to start searching for a larger home.
1) You’re Moving In Together
Starting off with what’s easily the most romantic reason to upsize on the list — yet still one of the most common among young condo owners — is that you’re moving in with your partner.
While chances are if you’re taking your relationship to the next level and moving in together, that alone won’t immediately spur you on to buying a larger home right away. However, what will immediately happen is that you’ll both start to notice how much smaller your place feels.
A new occupant in your condo also means an entirely new set of clothes in your closet, another bathroom’s worth of grooming accessories, and a collection of treasured possessions and furniture to account for, among many other things.
In this scenario, it can be very beneficial for both parties’ sanity to upsize. Plus, if you and your significant other are both already homeowners, that opens the possibility of investing in a large new place together — though that thought might be a little too heavy to think about so soon.
Love the condo life, but just want to find something bigger? Make sure you know What To Ask When You’re Hiring An Agent To Help You Buy A Condo.
2) Your Family Is Expanding
The natural progression of our previous sign, another obvious clue it’s time to upsize from your condo is if your family is expanding. Whether you’re having your first child, you’re adding to the pack, or the children you’ve already got are physically growing out of your condo, you’re going to find that your current condo is getting a little busy.
Again, this is more about preserving your domestic sanity than anything else. That being said, kitchens with too many cooks don’t tend to function as well as they could in a larger setting. If you often find yourself bumping shoulders, waiting in line for the bathroom, dealing with messes, or any other telltale signs of a cramped condo space, you need to upsize.
Traditionally speaking, most of Toronto’s are designed for singles, couples, or small families. If your life is starting to feel more like a neverending scene out of Cheaper By The Dozen, then it’s time to rethink the whole Toronto condo thing.
Motivated to sell your current condo to fund the purchase of your next place? Let these selling-related links help:
3) You’re A New WFH’er
Since the start of 2020, one of the biggest by-products of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the Working From Home (WFH, for short) movement. Many full-time workers across a plethora of industries were forced to adapt to the WFH lifestyle — some of which were happy too, others not as much.
One of the main reasons many professionals disliked this new WFH format was because of their home situation — especially if their spouse, roommates, or other household members were also setting up home offices around their homes. Previously functional homes were now serving as makeshift offices for at least eight hours per day, and things started to feel a lot more cramped.
Needless to say, one of the first things on the daily planner for almost all of these new WFH’ers was to upsize their live-work situations. With most Toronto condos just not fitting the bill space-wise, these were among the first properties to be listed on the market.
So, if you’re a new WFH’er and are scratching your head as to why the walls of your Toronto condo feel a lot smaller than before, it’s probably because you’re spending a lot more time there — not to mention the new work desk or two you’ve had to find space for. The solution? Start looking at listings with more square footage.
Need some new home inspiration? See what’s currently available for sale in the Toronto market by flicking through my Featured Listings here.
4) Your Furniture Collection Keeps Increasing
If you find yourself constantly adding to your collection of furniture, decor, design items, or even things like clothes, and don’t see yourself wanting to part with anything any time soon, it could be time to start looking for a bigger space.
There’s only so much you can fit into a condo in Toronto, and excess furniture is one of the biggest culprits for creating clutter. If you constantly find yourself acquiring new things, it might be time to start thinking about making your next purchase that of a bigger place.
While we all love some retail therapy every now and then, if you’ve got the financial means to keep feeding your buying habits then you should also be putting aside some savings to eventually upsize your home.
If you’ve got the willpower, consistently set aside some of that extra dough and until it’s enough to cover a large portion of your next down payment. Plus, selling your current condo will help with most of that, so saving ends up not really being all that bad in the end.
Is your Toronto condo on the small side? Learn which staging tricks can help you sell it for its maximum value. Read about Staging Your Small Condo: My Top 5 Tips here.
5) You’re Sick Of Your Current Spot
The last sign that it’s time for you to upsize is quite plain and simple — your current space just isn’t doing it for you anymore. As an experienced professional Realtor® in Toronto, trust me when I say that this is a common and perfectly legitimate reason to jump ship and look for something new. Or, as is often the case, bigger.
For essentially every first-time homeowner, they’re quite eager to jump at the opportunity to buy a place as soon as they can afford one — and most often in Toronto, that means buying a small condo. While it’s all very new and exciting to start off with, after a couple of years it’s only natural that many of those first-timers start thinking about upsizing.
If that sounds like you, don’t feel guilty that you want to flee for a bigger or better home. After all, there’ll be an excited new ‘you’ that’ll be thrilled to come along and give your current place all the love and adoration you did when you first moved in.
Not sure if you’ve got what it takes to buy a bigger place yet? These will help you find out if you’re on the right track:
- The Stress Test: What To Know If You’re A Home Buyer
- Living And Buying In Downtown Toronto
- Start Buying
