CONDO CRASH COMING?

Mur-MUR. For months now, people with eyes wondered where all of the future condo buyers will come from to fill those fancy, high-dollar units downtown, Uptown, and elsewhere. Few were surprised to hear at least one project changed course as Maple Terrace went apartments. But the DBJ has this story that is no doubt indicative of a larger one: HOA lawsuits. The specific story is about the Vendome, but I can speak from personal experience that HOA groups tend to be justifiably bitter toward penny-pinching developers. The former gets hosed as the latter makes huge promises of amenities they fail to deliver and choose to cut bait. As a result, insurance rates for future projects goes way up, financing options go down, and maybe just maybe the condo market slows down to a halt.