I think Alex's question was from the renter's POV.

With so many good rentals in nice areas with shops and other things around and for attractive rents, why rent somewhere less attractive with less around and maybe higher bills too?

You may get a bigger profit margin on the low cost building but not if people choose somewhere else. The present high vacancy rate allows tenants more choice.

agree on all of the above.

As an investor, not as a renter, that is why I used high value buildings, with leveraged investment, worse case occupancy for the maximum ROE or ROI, even if you as an investor was a owner occupier renting out the other unit(s).

Bristol are you an owner occupier as well as the landlord of any of the places that you own?

Owner/Occupier of our home and owner of one duplex.

Exactly this.

This is quite interesting as I was going through the same thought process about a year ago prior to buying my house. I was looking at buying a duplex - the one I was living in at the time. By the time I had done all the numbers and the cost of maintenance, upgrades etc it was a fine line between getting a slight return and it turning into a money pit. Moncton is a bit of a strange market. There is a glut of property for sale and rent. Wages here are low compared to other parts hence the property market moves very slowly.
There is no doubt money to be made but it is a question of how quickly you want that return and on what scale you are looking to invest. IMHO (take that for what it is) it is not worth the hassle of buying the cheaper end duplex type properties in the less desirable areas of town as there are too many potential pitfalls.
The Moncton area has over built new build property massivley over the last 5 years or so. The North end neighbourhood has sprung up like daisies. This is again great for a buyer as you can be choosy and it keeps prices steady.

If I was in a position to buy a property purely as an investment it would be a toss up between buying the newish build entry level semis in the North end or Dieppe with a view to renting to a family or young professionals.

The other option is something of a gamble but one that has a good chance of paying off. It would be if you could find an newish build apartment downtown. Moncton is in the process of trying to build a new arena downtown and it will the catalyst to regeneration. At present downtown is shameful for a city of this size. This project will hopefully inject some much needed life and investment into the downtown core and would likey lead to the surrounding areas becoming much more desieable for business and residential projects alike.

Alex @ post #290, thanks for your input & opinion...

Are the desirable areas only the North end & Dieppe?

No Frills in Trail made a mistake nearly 2 weeks ago and priced family-pack sausages at $4.35, $4.60, etc instead of $14.35, $14.60. The cooler and freezer pacs allowed me to get them to Oliver still frozen the other day. I didn't want to take unfair advantage of what was obviously an error so only bought 2 packs. They charge too much for them anyway (the usual price is around $8) and I'll have enough to last until I go back to Regina next week.

Of those three properties:

That end of High St is a bit out of things, but otherwise a perfectly respectable area. Quite a few apartment buildings there but that doesn't seem to come with the near guarantee of rowdiness and other issues that many expect. It just seems a cheap way of living.

The other two - Noel and Essex - those areas are perfectly fine too, but the buildings themselves are not appealing to look at.

As I said before there are a few streets with a few shabby looking houses. But then walk 100 yards on the same street and you can think you're on millionaires row.
Here's the not nice end of High - full of vacant, overgrown and scruffy lots, industrial units and ugly but small apartment buildings - followed by the middle and very nice looking part with nice manicured lawns and characterful properties and then nice quiet Essex St (served by buses too ).

The barcodes didn't override it?

The were priced at $3/kg.

Made a purchase from our specialist cheese shop yesterday.
Guinness Cheddar, Whisky Cheddar and some Stilton that looks a bit superior to that sold in the main supermarkets.

I bought 100g x2 and 200g of the stilton.

$24

Before I went for those I asked if they had Cambozola. They didn't. At that point I almost went for the cheese shop sketch.

When I got back to Oliver I went to Super Valu and bought 3 packages of the Okanagan's Choice cheese that I like from Lumby, aged white cheddar, feta, and jalapeno jack, (skipped the nippy cheddar this time), roughly 200g each for $3.99 each. Individual label prices run to $5.45 but Super Value here sells them all for $3.99.

Three manky leeks for $3.99

$2.35 worth of wonderfull at the Oliver Super Market fruit stand south of town.
previously posted where it had no business

That does look rather good!