[Saanich] Herons Landing & The Ardea rentals | 5 & 6 storeys | Built - completed in 2014

Sure, if your time horizon is three years, and you don't have 20% down payment, I agree with you that renting is better.

14 West brings up an interesting point. Just how long do most people in their 20's-40's live in a purchased condo?

Just how long do most people in their 20's-40's live in a purchased condo?

8 years in my current condo.

Hmm, this had made me think of a VV poll.

You'd better go back and check your math. $275 k purchase minus 5% down, add in the CMHC fees and closing costs and @ 3.5% (avg best 5 year fixed rate over the last 6 months) you get a payment around $1330 a month on a 25 year am.

You might also want to consider other real costs such as property taxes, strata fees, maintenance, etc.  Also I believe some apartments come with free heat and hot water.  Now granted I live in a house, but those items listed cost me around $700 a month and I obviously don't pay strata

8 years in my current condo.

 

Keep in mind the type of condo we are talking here, comparable to the Ardea - pleasant enough, but entry level finishes, super basic, small sq-ft, not the most ideal neighborhood. An entry level condo is probably most likely bought by someone in their mid 20's to 40's, without kids at that point in time. I'd say a 3 year window is pretty realistic for this type of buyer - unless they're able to hold on to it and cover the cost with a renter.

Sure, if your time horizon is three years, and you don't have 20% down payment, I agree with you that renting is better.

 

Which begs a question - How many people buy an entry level condo with 20% down? I think most people who were able to put that kind of cash together would opt to put that down payment into a larger, nicer condo or house with 5% down. I see people who are buying entry level as bare bones buyers, it's all they can afford either because of their down payment or monthly payment or both but they are hung up on buying. Of course there are exceptions.

I remember reading some stats on exactly this a while ago.  Average length of stay for a first time condo buyer was something really tiny like only 2-4 years.

 

There's a lot of calculations that need to be done to find out if it's worth to buy vs rent,  people never take into account ALL the numbers.  For the last few years I've been saving up a big downpayment for a condo, but after looking into it seriously and getting info from people outside of the realestate/banking industries I realized it made absolutely no sense for me to buy right now and I'd have to live in the same spot for about 15 years to even break even, and that's if prices don't go down. 

 

The downpayment is now invested and making way better returns than gambling on our condo market.

The owner was on radio today, saying they have 24 of 104 units still vacant.

Lovely neighbourhood these buildings are in.

Earlier this evening I stopped over at the Tillicum Safeway where I was accosted by a group of drunken teenagers standing at the entrance of the store who decided I was walking where I shouldn't have been walking. Luckily the females of the group held the aggressors back from getting up in my face but for a second there I thought these punks would be stupid enough to attempt an assault and in the process learn what it feels like to get an elbow in the teeth.

I had heard from residents in the area that the Tillicum and Burnside neighbourhood is a cesspool of miscreants that love to harass innocent people but up until this evening I thought people were overreacting. After tonight I'll come to share their outlook.

I cannot believe bands of kids would be stationed outside of a busy store harassing people. As the night goes on they'll eventually find the right target to surround and beat up. Wonderful neighbourhood.

Lovely neighbourhood these buildings are in.

Earlier this evening I stopped over at the Tillicum Safeway where I was accosted by a group of drunken teenagers standing at the entrance of the store who decided I was walking where I shouldn't have been walking. Luckily the females of the group held the aggressors back from getting up in my face but for a second there I thought these punks would be stupid enough to attempt an assault and in the process learn what it feels like to get an elbow in the teeth.

I had heard from residents in the area that the Tillicum and Burnside neighbourhood is a cesspool of miscreants that love to harass innocent people but up until this evening I thought people were overreacting. After tonight I'll come to share their outlook.

I cannot believe bands of kids would be stationed outside of a busy store harassing people. As the night goes on they'll eventually find the right target to surround and beat up. Wonderful neighbourhood.

 

No security around to shoo them off private property?

Oh come on the Safeway on foul bay is way worse, the security guy there never did much good.

Matt

There's an article in the TC about this building. It says there's a man in his 80s who has moved into the building and absolutely loves his apartment and the location. I guess an old guy like him has no problem dealing with the young punks at the mall!

He's got a cane and roams the hood by daylight. What's he got to worry about?

I have never had a problem at Tillicum Mall... and I am there several time a week.

The owner was on radio today, saying they have 24 of 104 units still vacant.

Empty maybe because of the anti-parking stance they took?

Tillicum Mall by night is another matter. You should see the roving groups of hoodlums that congregate at the edge of the park behind the mall and Silver City. To walk through that park by night is asking for trouble, believe me.

Back in my high school days in the late 90's we knew so much as to avoid Tillicum/Burnside unless we were in a large group. And even then you'd hear of all sorts of stories of groups of kids getting jumped by "Tilli homies" as they were known as back then.

Fast forwarding 15 years it looks like things haven't changed.

Empty maybe because of the anti-parking stance they took?

 

Oh ya, for sure it can't help.

What's with the parking situation, exactly?

They got a parking variance, allowibg them to reduce the number of parking stalls by aaying that the would show preference to renters that did not require a patking space and penalize those that did.