If only I had a time machine. The National Post recently revealed that some of the best deals in Toronto real estate belong to a few businesses who signed long term leases for city-owned land in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. Now the city is trying desperately to get out of these agreements or somehow force these businesses to start paying current market rates.

Two shocking examples of the city's conundrum are 2 Bloor Street West and 2 Bloor Street East. The land that 2 Bloor Street West is sitting on is owned by the city and is being leased out for $112,000 a year or about $9,333 a month. 2 Bloor Street East is being leased out to HBC for a paltry $167,549 a year or $2.80 per square foot. Current market rates are at least 10 times these amounts.

Blame it on downtown snobbery or suburban guilt but for a long time now the suburbs have gotten a bad rap. We've been told that big-box stores and SUVs are to blame for all the world's woes and they are the reason why we have smog days and why oil costs nearly $100 a barrel. But now there are some who are making the case that life in the suburbs is actually good for the planet.

The argument is basically that large urban centres like Toronto create a massive heat island whose effects are felt far beyond the city's political borders. And the solution to global warming and climate change is not to abolish the suburbs by forced urbanization, but to create sustainable suburbs and work on greening the ones we already have.

This year will go down as a banner year for the real estate market in Toronto. It is no exaggeration to say that nearly every month has been a record breaking month in terms of number of sales with condos driving the market momentum like never before. Toronto is now the number one city in North America for condo sales. Trying to buy a 1 bedroom condo in this city has become one of the city's greatest challenges, on par with climbing the stairs at the CN Tower or finishing a burger at Dangerous Dan's. So who are all these people lining up to buy condos?

Maybe it's David Miller's impending land transfer tax, maybe it's the prospect of living in such a great location, but something has gotten Torontonians raving mad about Bazi's International's mega tower condo project known simply as 1 Bloor.

For the past week or more, real estate agents or their surrogates have been lining up for a chance to purchase a unit in the project even though sales do not even begin until tonight, and the sales centre will not open up to the general public likely won't even open for another week or so.

For the uninitiated, here's how condo preview sales generally work: Agents show up at a specified time before the actual sales event to get a number. Numbers are handed out on a first come first served basis. The number the agents receive will determine the order in which their clients are 'served' at the actual sales event usually later that day in the evening. The better the number, the more selection to choose from and the better the price.

These events are known as Broker's Events as they are only open to real estate agents. Thus, by the time a typical condo opens their sales office to the general public, the project is usually about 40-80% sold out and prices will have gone up significantly depending on the response to that point. Prices for tonight's sales event increased by 25-50%, depending on the unit, compared to the price list that was sent to brokers about 2 weeks ago.

Months of lobbying, politicking and gamesmanship surrounding the controversial land transfer tax and vehicle registration tax came to an end last night as council narrowly voted in favour of both new taxes. The final version of the land transfer tax, however, represents a significant compromise over the plan first put forward by Miller back in July.

My opinion on the issue aside, let's take a closer look to the new taxes to see how they will affect you.

Donald Trump was in town today for the ground breaking ceremony for his Trump International Hotel and Tower, defying many critics and real estate insiders who wondered if the project would ever see the light of day. Ryan and I were at the press conference/photo-op along with about 100 other members of the media, local dignitaries, and for some reason Tie Domi. And despite what CTV is reporting, The Donald's progeny, Ivanka and Donald Jr. were not in attendance as was originally planned.