Townhouses For Sale in Erin Mills, Mississauga

A 1970s new town and its condo complexes

Erin Mills was planned as a self-contained new town on more than 7,000 acres of farmland, with homes, shops and employment land laid out together. E. P. Taylor's company assembled and named the land, then sold the project to Cadillac Fairview in 1968. Erin Mills Parkway, the main north-south road, mostly follows the old Fifth Line West.

The southern, earliest part of Erin Mills is where townhouse complexes are concentrated. Many were built as condominium townhouses from the beginning, often with a few dozen to a few hundred units arranged around internal roads, parking courts and shared green space. A few complexes have outdoor pools.

How older complexes here handle roofs, windows and reserves

In a complex of this age, the fee usually covers the building exterior: roofs, windows, doors, and often fences. That is helpful, because you are not budgeting for your own roof, but it means the reserve fund has to carry those costs for every unit at once.

Before buying, ask for the most recent reserve fund study through the status certificate. It will show when the corporation expects to replace roofs, windows, asphalt and other components, and whether the fund can pay for that. If the answer is a special assessment, the cost will be spread across owners, including you.

Look at whether windows have already been replaced. Many 1970s complexes have done one full round; the ones that have not are approaching it.

Who is buying into Erin Mills complexes

The older condo towns here tend to attract three groups. First-time buyers who want more room than a newer stacked unit can offer for similar money. Downsizers from nearby detached houses who want to stay in the area but hand off the exterior work. And investors drawn by the university and the steady demand for family-sized rentals.

Each group should read the same documents differently. Owner-occupiers care most about the reserve fund and upcoming work. Investors should also check leasing rules and how many units are already rented.

GO trains, the university and the Credit River

Erindale GO on the Milton line sits on the eastern side of Erin Mills, with a weekday rush-hour service to Union. The University of Toronto Mississauga campus is close by on the Credit River side, which brings a steady rental demand from students and staff for units that the condo's rules allow to be leased.

The Credit River valley along the eastern edge has trails and parkland. If a complex backs onto a ravine or creek, ask whether any part of the property is in a Credit Valley Conservation regulated area.

Erin Mills next to its newer neighbours

Buyers often compare Erin Mills with Central Erin Mills and Churchill Meadows to the north and west. The trade-offs are fairly consistent:

• Interior space: 1970s condo towns here often have more square footage and full basements compared with newer stacked units.
• Monthly cost: the fee is usually higher than a POTL fee in a newer area, because it covers the exterior and the grounds.
• Setting: mature trees, larger shared green spaces and the Credit River valley versus the tighter lots of the 1990s and 2000s subdivisions.
• Updates: kitchens, bathrooms, electrical and plumbing in older units vary widely, and the price spread between original and renovated units can be large.

If you are weighing a renovated older condo town against an untouched newer freehold row at a similar price, add the monthly fee over several years to the comparison and set it against what you would otherwise put aside for your own roof and windows.