Durchlassigkeitsbeiwert
New Member
Long-time lurker, first-time poster here.I wonder if it's a generational shift thing? 20 years ago, the mantra told to young people in Calgary was that it was always better to buy than rent. Home prices were reasonable enough that young people could always buy as long as they had reasonable steady income. In the early parts of the millennium, house prices saw good appreciation and it help push that idea of buying. Over the past few years, younger people seem more geared to renting for different reasons, but who knows, it's possible we may see a boom in buying in 10 years when the millennials are in their mid 30's etc, and settling more.
I am currently renting at Hat 7th Av - so I am somehow representative of the discussed demographic.
I do have savings in excess of 20% downpayment for a comparable property, however, several factors have been preventing me from buying to date:
- relative lack of job stability: in the recent years I moved across the country and back. Owning place would mean taking a financial hit on each move. Not that I share view that job security was dramatically better in the days of yore, but finding a job from thousands of km away is definitely easier now
- two body problem: both me and my spouse are quite specialised professionals. This aggravates the problem above and means that we may have to move to ensure that both of us have jobs. This consideration clearly affects more people now (i.e. there are less families with sole/dominant breadwinner).
- I have seen several people being burned by the Calgary's market. I.e. property anchored them to local job market during downturn preventing them from moving elsewhere.
Cheapest condo fees may indicate lack of reserve fund contributions and/or poor maintenance => probability of being hit by large special assessments.My plan right now is basically to buy a small condo under 150k with the cheapest condo fees I can find. Hoping to put down 20% and probably get a 25 year mortgage. At this rate, between my payments, insurance, fees, utilities, etc., I'd be paying somewhere in the ballpark of 1000$/m. This is well below average rents, albeit it probably wouldn't be the nicest condo.
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Are the any obvious flaws to this plan? I'm no expert and have little knowledge of real estate beyond the basics, so I won't be surprised to learn I'm missing something obvious. But it seems like a pretty good plan to me![]()