At current rates a 300,000.00 mortgage costs about 10,000.00 per year to service . Not that hard and not much more than rent .
It takes 23 years to save for a down payment in Metro Vancouver!
- Thread starter JLM
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Interest is the biggest factor in any mortgage , and those are at the lowest point in my life .
It's a balancing act Gerry, somewhere in the calculations - gas + auto insurance + vehicle maintenances costs + parking costs + bus/train fares + dead time etc. etc. equates to X amount of mortgage payments. 2-3 hours of travel time each day might be worth a lot of money or perhaps a cost to your health. It's different for everyone.
Get a set of plans on some cabinets for a new home. Then get three estimates on them. Whichever proposal you choose I'll guaranfukkintee the final cost of those cabinets will be at least doubled after all the mark ups. that applies to every other trade as well. . .We don't want to make a living anymore we want to be rich.
It's a hard call to make and depends a lot on who you are. Our living costs 60 years ago were pretty minimal- there was shelter, groceries, basic transportation, some clothing, electrical costs for a few light bulbs and a radio, some of us had a phone, some didn't & a few luxuries like tooth paste (we often used salt to clean teeth) I was in a family of 6 and my Dad earned $2000 - $3000 a year, we never went hungry but we didn't attend very many operas either! So the cost of living between then and now are two entirely different things. The cost of living keeps increasing as new gadgets are invented and pay raises just feed inflation. If you get a $100 raise, the rent goes up $50, the groceries go up $40 and everyone & his dog are after the other $10. And then there's the tax man!
You probably realize this Ludlow, but the cost of cabinets for a house today are more expensive than the cost of a house when I was a kid. In 1950 - $5000 would buy you a palace and $3000 would buy you a limosine.
The problem with the real estate market is that housing isn't used as homes for people, but as investments for the wealthy. Occupancy is not required, but people still need places to live. That pushes people with moderate incomes looking for a place to live into cooler markets, putting pressure and competition on those markets driving up prices and attracting investors.
What is the underlying benefit of owning real estate that entices investors? They'll want to cash in eventually. Right now they can rely on other investors but at some point it's the desirability of living space that underpins it all. Who's going to be willing to buy when a huge return isn't guaranteed?
The city of Vancouver is hollowing out. The provincial government is cutting funding to schools in Vancouver because there aren't enough children. Meanwhile they can't build schools fast enough in Surrey. To put an optimistic spin on it, Vancouver is simply losing it's economic and demographic centrality. Suburbs that were once distance and quiet bedroom communities and growing fast and those other municipalities are becoming their own city centres. While Vancouver faces a demographic collapse, Surrey, Coquitlam, Langley and soon once small towns out in the valley cash in.
What is the underlying benefit of owning real estate that entices investors? They'll want to cash in eventually. Right now they can rely on other investors but at some point it's the desirability of living space that underpins it all. Who's going to be willing to buy when a huge return isn't guaranteed?
The city of Vancouver is hollowing out. The provincial government is cutting funding to schools in Vancouver because there aren't enough children. Meanwhile they can't build schools fast enough in Surrey. To put an optimistic spin on it, Vancouver is simply losing it's economic and demographic centrality. Suburbs that were once distance and quiet bedroom communities and growing fast and those other municipalities are becoming their own city centres. While Vancouver faces a demographic collapse, Surrey, Coquitlam, Langley and soon once small towns out in the valley cash in.
I heard the same could be said for Niagara Falls in southern Ontario, where potential home owners from Toronto, Oakville, Burlington and Hamilton are going
To put an optimistic spin on it, if you aren't living east/north of Hope, move there!
