entirely depends on rent to own cost differential.
right now in vancouver, rent is so much cheaper than owning that the only sane choice is to rent and invest the differential.

again, my point is about the one sided stupidity of our media... but i'm happy the idiots are buying with mortgages, i just hope CMHC doesn't have to bail them out.

buy when there's blood on the street.

That makes a lot more sense, I mistook that as $5000/child which seemed pretty steep if you're supposedly just scraping by. $200/month/child is still a lot of money but more feasible. Stupid question though, what happens with the money if some/all of it goes unused?

I'm sure they do, but technically that's still a luxury to have. I'd put it very high if not at the top of the list, but saving for future student loans is still an optional thing.

Most maintenance you'll be paying for whether your vehicle is new or used, using the earlier example a new bare bones Rav4 is >$300/month over 84 months to finance. Assuming each person needs a vehicle that's $600+/month just on the luxury of driving new vehicles.

Pretty sure the top up money gets taken back. When you withdraw that tax sheltered money out, you'll also pay taxes on it.

Can't please everyone. People always complain about government programs being non-existent. Well, here's a pretty straight forward one, so use it. It's free money however you look at it!

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/real-estat...090000545.html

Should have built the house with a rental suite. Would have solved a lot of problems.

The sane choice is not to live in Vancouver.

Have you ever tried to feed a family of more than just yourself. By feed I mean feed the needs not just food.
Car payment, insurance (quite often more than one car), home owners insurance (a must when you have a mortgage), house maintenance (no landlord to fix shit thats your money now), fuel, transit , food, utilities (cable, phone, internet, gas, electricity), entertainment (who wants to sit at home for 20 years). clothing both seasonal and daily and footwear too, daycare, msp.
Man I could go on but then Ive been supporting a family in vancouver since I was 19. I know how much it costs.

I might not be looking hard enough, but most rental suites I've found in my limited time searching hover around the $1000 range for a 1br. A bit less for smaller units, and/or older buildings obviously, and more for newer and/or bigger.

On the flip side, 20% down on a 250k apartment is something like $900 a month not including strata fees of $250-300 in some of the 1br's I've found with 700sqft+ of livable space. I've seen a few ~400sqft 1br's with $120 strata fees in Vancouver. Obviously that 50k can be easily, and safely invested in index funds but for someone who's buying a place as their nest egg and not an investment property, I can see how it might be justified, even if at a greater cost.

Mobility is an obvious issue, but buying a place grants the homeowner with privacy which might not otherwise be respected in a tenancy agreement, no matter how much assurance you're given, not that I would have anything worth looking at by the landlord anyways.

The article states groceries and housing bills are taking up the rest, last I checked none of the things I bolded fall under those two categories. I know full well those expenses exist for most people but that's not what the article is saying.

$1000 a month gets you a shithole. Let's not beat around the bush.


I spent the day exercising, riding my bike in the sun, and hanging out with my friends at the beach while my employee worked :)

Only 10th place
We can do better!

Having a beer and smoking a joint sitting on the beach in May enjoying the mountains and the sunset tonight? Keep complaining and move somewhere else If that's your case.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...ps0oryjw1y.jpg

I couldn't move with all of this free entertainment!!!

For less than a mill that could be your back yard in Nanaimo.

http://cdn.realtor.ca/listing/reb1/h...2/391492_1.jpg

http://cdn.realtor.ca/listing/reb1/h.../391492_13.jpg

3520 CHINOOK ROAD, NANAIMO, British Columbia $ V9T5T7 - 391492 | Realtor.ca

Conclusion I got from this thread:

Homeowners laugh at renters for not able to afford a home and think if they don't buy soon, they'd be priced out forever.

Multicartual, AKA the de-facto RS renters representative laugh at homeowners as they have so much financial freedom tied up to the house, they cannot do anything while he, as a renter can do whatever his dick feels like.

:fuckthatshit:

I don't make a lot (In fact I think I am in the lower end around 50k lish). I know I won't get a house or anything but I should be able to get an apartment at the very least(which I did luckily for 300k). I was lucky enough to be able to live with my parents to reduce my expense and put a 100k aside for downpayment.

I do feel bad for people who I work with and make more than me but can't afford to buy even an apartment coz of rent, expense etc etc...... Just seems like unless you have help with your parents this gen of middle class won't be able to afford even a tiny shoe box.

at least you have the self control to save that large sum. lots of people these days would buy fancy cars/clothes/restaurants...or hookers 'n blow :toot:

Well if you make 50k and can't afford to get int the condo market, maybe you need a second job or a better paying one? Or at the very least need to reevaluate your priorities and savings.

Two couples I know busted their ass and worked two jobs, also went to school during this time etc. they'd either to go work or school come home, change, then go to second job.

Both the couples in question bought 600k houses in good areas in Langley this year. And up until the last year or so neither had exceptionally good paying jobs.

No one ever got ahead by working less.

Wow , alot of fucking hearsay in this thread. No one should post an experience except if they themselves have experienced it. It makes your arguments less credible.

Numbers aside. Unless they're treating this purely as an investment, what's the point of owning so much space when your schedule doesn't allow them to enjoy it? It just becomes more work in the form of maintaining the property. Might as well own/rent a smaller place that's more central (unless they work near Langley).

I know people that commute from the Island because property there is so cheap.

I find it hard to believe that savings isn't negated by their 5 hours per work day wasted commuting never mind being raped by B.C. ferries.

3 or 4 day work week's, walk on passenger.

for 3 day work weeks, sure, but anymore that time added up is just painful. Although what works for me isn't necessarily what works for someone else.

This. Even if they are being paid quite well relative to their property cost INCLUDING their cost of taking the ferry... I think these people are failing to consider the price of their time; namely as westopher put it, spending 5 hours per workday on the commute alone.

Well, future plans for a family being one. And both work within Langley/coquitlam, so makes sense financially for a home.

Also, in your budget and in buying an older home who wants less space?