MrHyperPants ...........

my understanding from friends who do live in condos and townhouses and pay the strata fees is that these fees cover ..........

1. Current day-to-day maintenance, including security such as an entry phone system if necessary, maintaining joint areas such as hallways, regular maintenance of elevators, replacement of lights etc in joint areas, garages, parking lots, grass and shrubs etc

3. A portion to be saved in a Fund that can be used for future repairs, such as new roof, leaky windows, repairing balconies, etc. It is when this Fund is insufficient for what is needed that residents are assessed what might be 5 figure sums as their part of joint repairs

3. A portion might go into a Discretionary Fund, to be used at the discretion of the Strata Council for unexpected repairs or maintenance of Joint areas, or for eg, replacement of carpets in joint areas as and when necessary.

Each Strata Council sets its own rules within limits, as long as they are in agreement with the Strata Council of BC (I think that is what it is called) guidelines and government restrictions.


I have one friend who lives in a condo in an approximately 35 year old 3 storey building and has just been assessed $5,000 as her share of the cost of a new roof. Her assessment 3 years ago for replacement of balconies, new sheathing of all outside walls, and guttering was $40,000

Another friend who lives in another newer building has just been assessed $20,000 as her share of roof replacement ......... in her case, this can be paid at the rate of $4,000 over 5 years. EXCEPT, she has her unit on the market, and she has to pay the whole $20,000 when the place is sold .......... nothing is passed on to the new owner from this assessment. That building has actually not been as well maintained by the first one. The Strata Council seems incapable of working together, if her stories of Council meetings are to be believed!

Town houses do not only share a roof .......... they have common walls between the units.

I always have a little laugh to myself remembering back about 10 years when the first true townhouse development was proposed for a small site on Cambie Street near QE Park. The fulminations against townhouses from a couple of then-City Councillors had to be heard to be believed .......... especially if you knew about row housing in the UK, Europe, the US, etc.

There would be "war" between residents of adjacent townhouses over who the joint wall actually belong to!

I think that the little garden at the back of a townhouse unit would actually be the responsibility of the owner of the unit, especially if it is enclosed by a fence. it is part of their "private" property. That might also be the attitude to the steps up to each individual unit, as they are not "joint" property .......... ie, used by other residents of the complex.

If you don't have friends, or friends who are willing to do that, it's not an option.


I don't think we feel entitled, we just wan't a house so we can have a stable home, if we can't buy a house, it makes more financial sense to rent and have flexibility, as we don't see the benefit to owning a condo since in the markets we would be in, condos tend to stay flat or go down and never go up in value much.

There is a reason developers are not building condos in some markets now.


It worked for you, but sounds like you bought at a good time, before everything exploded into needing a 6 figure income for just about everything.


I'd love to have friends or family to buy with, its really the only feasible ways, but I have no friends, and all my wife's friend's already own a house, have kids, and well her only family member capable of helping is not willing, ditto with my family.

Biggest reason for me wanting a house, something small, not fancy, is simply for stability and so I can do my hobbies, neither of which are possible in a condo.

Age too, we don't have the time a 20 something would have, buying a condo means never having a house, what bank is going to give a mortgage to a nearly 60 year old? (assuming 10 years to save a down payment, 10 years to pay down a mortgage and sell without enough for another down payment = 57 years old.)


Buying a condo outside of metro Vancouver is likely a financial mistake. People are struggling to sell their condos here at a price higher then they even bought and sometimes even less.

My wifes mom's condo went up almost nothing in 10-15 years she had it, sold for just enough to pay the mortgage and strata loan she had to take out when they place needed major work and the strata lacked the funds, this despite a monthly maintenance fee of 600 a month, this is what scares me about condos.



I have personally given up on ever owning, the only job I can think of that would provide the income, I cannot do, and office jobs don't pay enough, if I can't own now, how will making 2 or 3hr more help? It wont.

To own we need to double our income, and that is not feasible option so rent we shall. I don't t think that makes us feel entitled, we just want freedom, and ability to have a nice life, which cannot happen in a small 600sq foot box with no access to grass and garden.


If someone can't afford 500,000+ house, buying a condo in the same market first, likely isn't going to make that person any more likely to afford a house in the future as housing prices go even higher.


Unfortunately doubling or tripling one's income is pretty much not possible for most people.


In BC you have to go so far out to get affordable housing, the question then becomes, where does one work in these small towns with low prices? The local jobs don't pay enough to afford the house prices, and most of the home owners tend to be self employed.

Money may not buy happiness,but it certainly gives you access to the things that bring happiness.

I feel bad for the born and raised in Squamish folks who are being pushed out of town by housing prices, same for those who born and raised in Vancouver and now have to move for no other reason but housing.

The issue here is lack of rentals and no plans to build any, so those who rent condos and houses and being ousted as new arrivals buy them all up and the owner occupy, but with no rentals, these folks can't find anything once kicked out by the new owner.

One lady on FB has been renting the same house for 13 years and now in 6 weeks out she goes, feel bad as she has been posting for months trying to find a rental and nothing.

Such sad times we live in when housing is a luxury.

It's kind of ironic that all you want is a house with garden and in some parts of the world people don't know what to do with their garden. I've also seen some older type houses for sale not far from where we live and they are so cheap. Your mortgage would be € 400-500 a month, so even the minimum wage would get you that. I said it before, but I think you really need to move, otherwise you'll never be happy.

Have you been spying on my garden ? Bloody nuisance it is, would far prefer a roof terrace.

I have a mini flower garden in pots by our front door, I did what I could with the space I have.


I am trying to figure out a way so the dog can have fun outside in grass, she can't be off leash but I am thinking of a really long rope I can hold and sit and she can spend 30-40 mins playing in the grass. She loves the outdoors, and I know if we had a fenced yard, she'd be outside all day most likely..

Some people hate gardening
It took me nearly 3 hours to cut the grass the other day. Ok, I did have a beer in-between.

Yes, despite loving gardens, maintaining one is definitely not my thing. I would quite like a desert garden where there is not so much greenery.

Don't some basement suites allow access to fenced yards? That may be an option. Otherwise long leash is ok. I don't think the dog cares that much.

They do, basement suites are well out of our price range though. Unfortunately where we live is the cheapest place you will find in Squamish since it's rent is below market.

Market rate for basement suites are over 1,000 a month and the trend in town is new owners kicking out the renters, so I wouldn't want the stress of potentially being kicked out if the house was sold.

Our place is dedicated rentals so no chance of the unit being bought like elsewhere.

This is a typical basement suite price wise on the low end, its nice and I'd rent something like that if it were not 1,150 per month, and most don't allow pets either.

1 bedroom suite

Basement suites are in reality not much if any cheaper then any other rental unit.


We are basically at 0% vacancy now in Squamish for rentals, and with no dedicated rentals planned for development, its only going to get worse.

So we stay put for housing security, otherwise good chance we would end up homeless if we had to move because the house the suite was in was sold.

The new buyers coming up from Vancouver, don't seem interested in renting out their suites, so further reduces supply.

If the town morons errr council had a brain, they would require the developers to build some dedicated rentals before permitting the new developments, we don't need more single family homes, we are in desperate need of rentals, but the money is in single family homes, and the city council has no guts.


If we were allowed to have a room mate, I'd rent our spare room out to give someone the chance to have housing at a reasonable price but our lease doesn't permit room mates.

What's your price range?

What about garden allotments, does that exist in Canada?

850 or less.

We are currently at 850 and its a hardship, but gotta have a place to live.

You can get a planter box in the community gardens some city's now have,

I use a small patch in my wifes moms hard for my pumpkins and corn...


When I say garden, I mean something like this where you can relax and listen to the water.

How about asking your MIL if you can build a shed on her land to tend your pumpkins etc. Make it into a summer house.