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WEEKEND ACTIVITIES IN THINGS-TO-DO GUIDE [pg. 23] FRIDAY, june 22, 2018 Your community. Your stories.
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Windups put condo owners in flux along transit line Questions arise for strata councils near SkyTrain Diane StranDberg Tri-CiTy News
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Yoga enthusiasts in the Tri-Cities were able to take their oms outside Thursday at a special open yoga session held at Percy Perry Stadium in Coquitlam to celebrate International Yoga Day. The worldwide observation of yoga day began in 2015 after Indian prime minister Narendra Modi proposed it during an address to the General Assembly of the United Nations the year before. The theme for this year’s event was peace. See photos, page 16.
LeARnInG TO FLY
Paul Dries, past president of the west Coast radio Control Aircraft Flyers, said the organization is looking for new members and will hold an open house this Sunday: story, page 20.
A new layer of complexity has been added to the already heated real estate market on the west wide of Coquitlam as owners of older condos in neighbourhoods along the Evergreen Extension decide whether to stay or sell. Some condo owners in older buildings in the highdensity transit corridor are trying to get ahead of the market — and potential strata dissolution — as they list their suites individually for top dollar, while others are hiring lawyers and brokers, and going through the windup process, as a complex on Austin Avenue did last year when they sold for $32 million to Anthem Properties. Whatever the decision, condo owners should do their homework, especially in this uncertain real estate market, said Tony Gioventu, the executive director of the Condominium Home Owners’ Association (CHOA),
whose agency provides condo owners with education and support. “We’ve been doing a number of public forums over the last year for condo owners to understand what the windup process is, if it’s feasible for them,” he said. “It all has to do with location. If you have a piece of property in a premium zone or high density area, the value of your property as a collective piece of property is probably worth substantially more than the individual units in an older building that is probably facing long-term repairs over the next 10 years. We’ve seen that.” However he cautions that selling to a developer isn’t a “magic bullet” because property values vary widely from block to block and city to city and there is also the timeconsuming process of going to court, if only 80% of your neighbours are willing to sell. If it takes nine to 10 months to complete the windup, he said, condo prices could quickly outpace settlements, making it difficult to find an affordable place to move in the area. see SELLERS, page 9
contact the tri-city news: newsroom@tricitynews.com / sales@tricitynews.com / circulation@tricitynews.com / 604-472-3040
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WILLS, ESTATES AND TRUSTS TEAM Lewis Nguyen
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