Expert Panel Dan Flomen - Empire Communities

We went to the experts – executives at some of the top builders and developers in the GTA – to help answer what we think are some important insights that buyers would want to know. From his point of view.

Dan Flomen, EVP of Sales
Empire Communities

My key advice to homebuyers searching for a new community and home is:

Don’t be afraid to take that leap into homeownership outside of Toronto or the GTA. We build in excellent communities across Southwestern Ontario that are flourishing with employment opportunities and a comfortable living environment, and are perfect for young professionals and families. Our communities are also in close proximity to highways and transit, so residents can enjoy easy access to get to work, school or nearby attractions, while coming home to the quiet of small-town living. It’s also crucial for homebuyers to do their research ahead of time. Tarion is a good place to start to look at a builder’s reputation in the area you’re interest in, as well as how many homes they have built. At Empire, we’re proud of our longstanding reputation for home building excellence, and are celebrating our recent wins for Low Rise Builder of Choice and Best Customer Experience for High Rise in Ontario at the H.O.M.E. Awards.

The major benefit of purchasing a pre-construction home or condo over a resale dwelling is:

Getting the home you want, not the home you settled for. With resale, you’ll often need to renovate to get the upgrades or finishes on your wish list, or live with the decisions the previous owners made. When you purchase a pre-construction home or condo, you have the luxury of choosing the features and finishes that matter to you and the peace of mind of moving into a completely finished home once you close on the property.

Our top priorities when designing a new community are:

Empire’s philosophy has always centered around creating communities that fulfill both the housing needs as well as the lifestyle needs of our homeowners. Our condos and lowrise communities often feature amenities that are strategically planned to enrich the lives of our residents. We truly work with the concept of creating complete communities, and take a lot of pride in watching our homeowners enjoy life in their new neighbourhood.

As a builder of new communities in the GTA, we are most proud of:

Our commitment to innovation by piloting energy-saving and building experiments for the future of homebuilding. The Discovery Home pilot project at Empire’s Riverland community in Breslau is a great example of that. We’ve been working with key industry partners to build a test home with some of the most energy-saving and environmentally conscious innovations of today.

We give back to the community by:

One of the best parts about developing new communities is being able to give back to the town or city where we are building. We’re continuously sponsoring amenities in our communities so that our homeowners can enjoy great things like Music in the Square in downtown Brantford, local hockey and soccer teams, school fairs and other great events. It is important for us to be a part of the greater community that has welcomed us, and do our part to make it better.

We can help alleviate the housing crisis in the GTA by:

Participating in an open dialogue between different levels of government, homeowners and other builders and developers so that real solutions can be discussed. It’s no question that the government’s role is a key consideration, particularly in the Ontario housing market where government policy dictates the speed and volume of the housing construction process. As land prices, interest, government fees and timelines, labour shortages and tariffs make development more expensive, builders and developers need to rethink their development models and investments to be able to deliver an affordable, well-built product to the market that meets the current demands.