275 Broadview Ave Townhouses: 171 Riverdale Homes With Low Fees

275 Broadview Avenue is one of the few ways I know to get three bedrooms and a front door in Riverdale for well under the price of a semi. It is a 1981 complex of 171 condo townhouses at Broadview and Dundas, with a monthly fee that looks almost out of date. The catch is that you are buying a 45-year-old complex, and the price is low for reasons you need to understand before you offer. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A big, early townhouse corporation

MTCC-564 tells you a lot on its own. It is one of the earlier condominium corporations registered in the old City of Toronto, and at 171 units it is large for a townhouse complex. Most east-end townhouse condos I work with have somewhere between 10 and 60 homes. A corporation this size spreads its repair bills across many more owners, which is a big part of why the fee stays low.

The records are thin in places. Condos.ca lists no developer and shows the complex as one floor, which cannot describe the homes themselves; recent listings describe three-bedroom townhouses with a basement. Treat the one-floor figure as a data quirk, not a description, and ask for the floor plan of the specific home.

I could not find the original builder or architect, or any published history of the site. Complexes of this age and scale in the old city were sometimes built with government housing programmes in the background, but I have no source saying that happened here, so I would not assume it.

Three bedrooms in under 1,000 square feet

The two homes listed when I checked were both three-bedroom plans, one in the 800 to 899 sq ft band and the other in the 900 to 999 band. That is a compact footprint for three bedrooms, and it usually means smaller bedrooms and one main bathroom rather than an ensuite. Recent listing details also described laundry in an unfinished basement, a balcony, and forced-air heating with central air.

Those details make the homes practical for a young family or a couple who needs a home office and a nursery. They also mean the finished space is modest. If the basement in a given home is unfinished, it is useful storage and laundry space, not living space, and you should price it that way.

Ask the seller’s agent for the exact layout, the number of bathrooms and what has been renovated. In a complex this old, two homes with the same plan can be very different inside, depending on what the owners have done over 40 years.

The low fee, and what sits behind it

Both active listings showed a fee of about $403 a month, which works out to roughly $0.45 per square foot. That is low for the east end; newer townhouse condos and mid-rise buildings nearby commonly run well above that. It is the main reason buyers look at this complex.

A low fee is only good news if the reserve fund is healthy. A 1981 townhouse complex has already been through at least one cycle of roofs and is likely facing windows, doors, decks, paving and the parking garage again. If the fee has been held down for years, the risk is a large increase or a special assessment later. I have no information that either is planned here, which is exactly why the reserve fund study, the latest budget and two years of board minutes matter.

Condos.ca does not say what the fee covers. One recent listing showed building insurance as included, and in townhouse condos of this type owners often pay their own heat and hydro. Get the inclusions in writing from the status certificate and ask a seller for a year of utility bills.

Daily life at Broadview and Dundas

The location is the other half of the value. You are on the edge of South Riverdale, close to Riverdale Park East, the Don Valley trails and the Bridgepoint health campus, with Leslieville’s Queen Street East and the shops on Gerrard both within reach. Downtown is just across the Don. The automatic panel on this page shows the transit, schools and parks around the address.

Broadview is a busy street, and this is a busy corner. Homes facing the road will hear more traffic than those inside the complex, so check which way the home faces and visit at rush hour. Parking matters here too: the complex has a garage and visitor parking, but confirm which space comes with the home you are buying.

The area keeps changing. Nearby, Rivertowne replaced the old Don Mount Court with a 2010 townhouse community, and Riverside Towns added stacked townhouses north of Queen in 2013. Those newer complexes are the natural comparison: newer construction and higher fees there, older homes and a much lower fee here.

What 275 Broadview costs

Two three-bedroom homes were listed when I checked, asking from $599,000 to $689,000. On sizes between about 800 and 1,000 sq ft, that works out to roughly $600 to $860 per square foot, which is below most condo apartments in Riverdale and Leslieville on a per-foot basis and far below freehold houses nearby.

That discount reflects age, compact layouts and the unknowns in the reserve fund. I would compare a home here against recent townhouse sales at Rivertowne and Riverside Towns, then adjust for the fee, the size of the finished space and the condition of the specific home. My building sold report pulls the recent sales for the complex if you want the aggregate numbers before you offer.

With 171 homes, listings appear more often here than in a small complex, so you can afford to wait for a well-kept home rather than pay for someone else’s renovation plans.

Building specifications

Amenities at 275 Broadview Avenue Townhouses

There is no gym, pool or party room here, and that is part of why the fee is low. The amenity is the home itself: a front door, a balcony and permission to barbecue, with Riverdale’s parks a short walk away.

Jatin’s honest take on 275 Broadview Avenue Townhouses

275 Broadview Avenue Townhouses — frequently asked questions

Looking at Leslieville, Riverdale, the Beaches, Danforth and Leaside more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.