Here we go again. After the well documented insanity that was the broker's sales event for 1 Bloor, I should not have been surprised when the line up for sales at downtown's newest entry into the Tallest Tower in Toronto Contest started a full 2 weeks before the actual sales event.

Aura is a proposed 75 storey condo tower that will rise at Yonge and Gerrard. Representing the third phase of the College Park Residences development, it has had many people in the industry buzzing for months.

For those with a short memory, the line up for units at 1 Bloor in November 2007 also started about 2 weeks or so before the broker's sales event. The apparently endless supply of potential buyers combined with a national media storm covering the event resulted in the developer in that case announcing that they were raising the prices by 25-50% on each unit just moments before the sales event started.

The whole experience left buyers and agents alike with such a foul taste that many vowed never again to take part in such a ludicrous charade, but less than four months later, it's deja vu all over again.

(Note: when the photo above was taken, the members of the line up were on their daily break. They must check in every 3 hours and do a role call to keep their spot in line.)

Andrew la Fleur is a registered real estate agent and regular contributor of blogTO.