Ozincan

Hi,

My husband will be working downtown or Burnaby. A realtor recommended a place in College Park and says its close to the new train station being built. However asking is near 900k which is a lot for us.

My question is is the area family friendly, near good schools, is it a decent commute downtown? Any tips would be helpful as it's such a big decision for us.

Tootlepootle

Port Moody is a nice enough area, quite quiet but a lovely location. Very family friendly, the schools are fine, not brilliant but nothing to worry about.
The Evergreen line will be finished in the Autumn of 2016 which will certainly help with the commute. We live in Coquitlam and currently use the West Coast Express to get downtown for work. The Barnet Highway is a nice ride into town, much quieter than highway 1!
What is the size of the house? 900K doesn't seem that expensive for Port Moody!

Ozincan

College park looks closer to downtown so we were first attracted to that. The house is around 2500 sq ft but older, so looks quite expensive to us! I wonder if it will be noisy with the new train line nearby? From the station it's still about 5km...

el_richo

Rent, then take your time to understand where you'd like to live rather than potentially risk a lot of $'s.

Aviator

Without doubt the best option, rent for 6-12 months. If you don't like it and you bought it, selling is a costly mistake to make. Give or take, a $900k home will cost around $30,000 in fees to sell it, plus any penalty on closing the mortgage off early if it is a fixed term mortgage. The current asking price may be inflated in anticipation of the new station coming too? Is it the sellers Realtor giving you the info or do you have a buyers agent?

Ozincan

Thanks, Aviator and el Richo. We bought another place in the area for 820 hopefully it will turn out to be a good choice

Can that 30K be reduced with those 1% realtors?

Ozincan

Ps we felt pretty daft, it happened quickly, the agent whispered crap in our ear like 'the sky is the limit for prices' and tried to get us to overbid, telling us there were other buyers. This is a BUYERS AGENT, feel so stupid but done is done

JonboyE

How do you know there were not?

Ozincan

Long story, but the phantom offers are not a fantasy