Buying right now can be cheaper. One of my kids is paying 35% less for a mortgage than they would pay for rent similar accommodation. The catch 22 for many renters is coming up with the deposit.

You wait until you have to replace a septic system and re drill a well, that'll make you wish you were paying the city sewer!

would you mind describing for us (if not its OK also) the type of place it is that you are renting for $605/mth

Mmmm it's a home for a couple of yrs...hopefully we'll be outta here by then. It's lovely but with baby number 3 on way we're now a spare bedroom down.

2 bedroom/1 bath apartment. 650sq feet approx.

We don't pay market rent as we are rent geared to income, market rent for this size unit would be about 900-1,000 a month.


A single family home around these parts will run you 400,000+ to buy, so obviously out of our reach.

A condo similar in size to what we rent would be 200,000+ but on the low end, I wouldn't buy in those buildings as they have a poor strata and well known to stiff owners with bills for repairs.

Your looking at 250,000+ to buy a unit in a good building.

I'd rather rent then own a condo in a run down building built in the 70's.


Its plausible based on market rents, it would be cheaper to own a condo, but banks won't work with lower income folks and well no way we could ever come up with a down payment either, so renting is the only viable option even it it does eventually end up costing more once we move next year and will be in market rent place.

jsmith321 @ post #34

thanks

Who is that guy in your new avatar?

For us the difference of the all in running costs to living in an adult only building that has only four apartments per floor in the north central Toronto (all utilities included), is about $300/mth more compared to those of the house we own running costs - utilities, taxes, including the fix, repair, replace, maintain, garden, shovel snow, broken aching backs.

Or, as you pointed out we could rent a detached house for ~$2100/mth, add to that utilities & insurance, we'd be at close to $2500/mth.

We could also relocate to rural or somewhere such as the interior BC at 100 mile house (friends of ours live there) to cut the running costs by at least half. Not for us though.

Our daughter in Whitby Ontario bought a detached 2 years ago - happy she has her own place. That the mortgage is less than the rent she was paying, but when she adds in insurance utilities, upkeep & maintenance - she has a 25% more outlay over when she was renting. One day she will likely have it paid off.

Family of 4, with two teenage boys, grocery bills probably close to $1000 per month, cell phones $120 for three (hubby's is paid by work), gas, electric, water $220 combined. Property tax $1000pm. Car and house insurance (3 cars, 3 drivers one of whom is 19) $760pm. We don't have cable, internet is something like $80 pm. Disabled lady who comes by my sales centre regularly, and never seems to have quite enough for a Mcdonalds coffee, $20 pm.

Property tax $1000 per month!!!! Bloody Hell!

Family of four:

Elec $80
Oil $250 a month (ish) averaged across the year.
Property tax: $300
Car & House insurance (2 cars) $300
Lease payments on two vehicles $980
FibreOP internet/cable/phone $200
1 cell phone $65
Grocery bills probably somewhere around $1000 a month
Critical Illness/Life insurance for two $200
Childcare $1800 a month
Eating out maybe $200 a month.

Plus mortgage of course but this is reasonably modest. The childcare is the biggest expense & thats employing someone to come to our home. It'll be another 3 years before that expense disappears when my youngest starts school.

Count me in the "Canada isn't any cheaper than the UK" camp. It does however, appear to be cheaper than Australia based on my 4 days in Sydney so far.

I know, ours is the cheapest on the street so I daren't risk challenging it

That's huge! We pay about $2000 a year (that's after rural allowances though)

I thought that too....

Ax...hefty childcare bills even if you're mortgage is modest. This thread is reassuring

Either Ontario has really high tax rates, or the house is worth a small fortune. Not sure I would ever buy something if I had to pay 12k a year just in taxes...lol

Its in Oakville, thats one of the spendier GTA locations.