Quote:
Originally Posted by yads
Is the "rent is throwing money down the drain" camp considering that a house or at least a decent portion of the house is a consumable? Carpets/floors, roof, appliances, etc all need to be replaced eventually.
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From my experience it seems like the 1st time buyers are severely under estimating what the costs of ownership will be.
I’m more familiar with the Vancouver and Victoria markets (vs Calgary), and I can’t figure out how blankall’s numbers make sense (no offence blankall). I’m assuming the maintenance is the strata fee. From there at the very least you have to account for :
-Maintenance-I’ve heard 1-4% of home value per year. I know it’s less for condos than houses.
-Insurance-I’m assuming it would be $50-$100/month but maybe I’m wrong.
-Property taxes-not sure on a condo, but I’m guessing $100-$200.month
-If you bought your place last year, you would have paid realtor & legal fees. Maybe transfer taxes?
And GP_Matt’s comment about being a few years away from being cash flow positive makes me smile as a renter because I look at his/her loss each month as money in my pocket (sorry). I understand that for him/her it’s a longer term investment and that’s fine, but in the short term as a renter it makes my monthly cost of living less and allows me the flexibility to spend that extra money how I choose.
I’m not advocating that you should rent forever. I just think that we’re in the middle of some pretty interesting times and that years from now we’ll look back at this similar to how our parents look back at the early 80’s.