The Villas of Morningside, 110-140 Ling Rd: Townhomes With a Pool

The Villas of Morningside is the kind of complex Scarborough built a lot of in the mid-1970s and almost nobody builds now: low-rise, family-sized homes around shared grounds and an outdoor pool. It sits on Ling Road in West Hill, a few minutes from the Kingston, Lawrence and Morningside triangle. What you are really buying is a three-bedroom home for condo money, and a share of a 50-year-old complex. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A 1975 complex of family-sized homes

Condos.ca lists 104 homes across four street addresses, 110, 120, 130 and 140 Ling Road, in a two-storey low-rise format. The developer on record is Consolidated Building Corporation, and the complex registered in September 1975 as YCC-221. Some listing sites label it simply as 130 Ling Road, so search all four numbers when you look for comparables.

The current listings I reviewed were three-bedroom layouts. That is the core of this complex: family-sized homes on two levels, with their own entrances, at a price well below a freehold house in West Hill.

Layouts vary in complexes of this age, so confirm what you are looking at. Ask whether the home has a basement, whether it shares walls on one side or two, and whether any part of it sits above or below a neighbour. Those details change noise, heating costs and what the declaration makes you responsible for.

Condition varies widely in a complex this age. One home may have a new kitchen, bathroom and windows, while the next still has original finishes. Price gaps between otherwise similar homes usually come down to that, so ask what the seller has updated and when, and ask for receipts on the big items.

The pool and the shared grounds

The outdoor pool is the feature that sets this complex apart from most townhouse condos nearby, which usually offer visitor parking and little else. Add a recreation room and permission to barbecue and you have a summer setup that works well for families with children.

It is also a cost. An outdoor pool needs staffing or monitoring, maintenance, insurance and, eventually, a rebuild of the tank, the deck and the equipment. In a 104-home corporation that cost is shared by relatively few owners.

Read the reserve fund study for the pool line in particular: when it was last refurbished, what the next major work is and whether it is funded. Board minutes will also tell you whether owners have debated keeping it, which happens in older complexes.

What a 50-year-old corporation has to fund

Beyond the pool, the big items in a 1975 low-rise complex are roofs, windows and doors, the private roadways and parking areas, exterior walls and fencing, and the underground services. Each comes due on its own cycle, and a well-run corporation spreads them out so fees rise steadily rather than in jumps.

The fee includes common elements, building insurance, parking and water. Heat and hydro are not on the list, so each home pays its own. Ask for a year of utility bills and the age of the furnace, air conditioner and water heater, and whether any of them are rented.

Ask, too, how the declaration divides responsibility for windows, doors, decks and roofs. In many older townhouse-style corporations, some of those are the owner’s job, and that changes how you read a fee that looks low.

Check the insurance deductible as well. Many Ontario condominium corporations have by-laws that let them charge an owner up to the deductible when water damage starts in their home, so the figure matters. Make sure your own policy covers that amount before you close.

Daily life near the Morningside triangle

Ling Road is in West Hill, close to where Kingston Road, Lawrence Avenue and Morningside Avenue meet. That triangle has been the commercial heart of the neighbourhood since the 1950s and 1960s, and most daily shopping is still there.

The biggest change in recent decades was the loss of Morningside Mall, which opened in the late 1970s, lost its anchor stores and was demolished by 2007. It was replaced by Morningside Crossing, an open-air plaza. Kingston Road’s old motels have also been giving way to new housing.

Ling Road itself has a few other condominiums, including Morningside Estates at 90 Ling Road, an apartment building, so you can compare a townhouse-style home here with an apartment a short walk away. Transit, schools and Walk Score figures are in the data panel on this page.

What homes here are asking

Current listings with published prices were asking about $525,000 to $539,900, with fees of roughly $717 to $746 a month. For a three-bedroom home with parking included, that is a low entry point in West Hill.

The fee looks moderate, but remember it does not include heat or hydro. Compare it with other townhouse complexes on the same basis, and check whether the declaration puts any exterior repairs on owners, because that is part of your real monthly cost.

With only a few listings at a time, comparables are limited. Use the sold-data panel on this page, and look at the other condo townhouse complexes nearby in West Hill and Morningside for a wider read on value.

Building specifications

Amenities at The Villas of Morningside

An outdoor pool and a recreation room are a real step up from the visitor-parking-only package at most townhouse condos in Scarborough. It makes the complex easy to enjoy in summer, and it is worth checking how well the pool is funded.

Jatin’s honest take on The Villas of Morningside

The Villas of Morningside — frequently asked questions

Looking at Scarborough Bluffs, West Hill, Guildwood, Woburn, Malvern and Rouge more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.