Quote:
Originally Posted by Sylvanfan
I mean it comes down to what you need and what you want. You need a place to live, but if you're a single person you don't need to live in a house. You can get by renting a room off someone, thats really all you need. But doesn't mean it's a dumb idea to buy a 2 bedroom condo rent out half of it and pay a bit more, especially if the rental prices are good. If you have a family with two kids than you probably need something with 2-3 bedrooms and a bit more space, but it doesn't mean you need a house, maybe a townhouse or duplex will do.
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Exactly, young people often get scared by the media's propaganda that ANYTHING in Calgary will cost $420K and that is the MINIMUM price of entry for them when the fact is this could not be anymore further from the truth. Just because the AVERAGE price is $420K doesn't mean you have to buy something in that range.
There are plenty of affordable housing products in the sub-$300K range with 1 or 2 bedrooms as long as you're not that picky. A lot of first time buyers today often have unrealistic expectations that are not in-line with reality. For $250K-300K you can still get a 2 or 3 bedroom townhouse but it won't be downtown and it probably won't be 2 and a half bath. On the flip side it doesn't have to be Forest Lawn either if you know where to look, or know someone who does.
Adjust your expectations accordingly to your needs and budget instead of your fantasies and you will do just fine. Once you have something in hand you can move around in the market every year or two and eventually you'll move up to the average single family home. What Sylvan described above is the modus operandi of virtually every smart first time buyer I've known and they've all done quite well. On the other hand, having the bitter "Nova Scotian 'Calgaria' attitude" will only get you nowhere when either the market here leave you in the dust or you're stuck in Halifax with no job and an oceanfront property perfect for retiring in. Take your pick.