Real Estate... House/Condo?

[liquid]

Re: Real Estate... House/Condo?

There's alot of great info here guys; so thank you. Like I said, I wouldn't be getting anything until around 7-8 months from now... but I want to know well ahead of time my limits, constraints, and have as much info as possible.

[Tuna]

Re: Real Estate... House/Condo?

Well I think probably everything has been said. NeonGTI is right about the CMHC thing, you can't get a variable rate mortgage if you are under the 25% downpayment UNLESS (I'm turning red while I type this) you give CMHC ANOTHER 3/4% (don't quote me on that number, it's somthing like that). The good thing is, the way we got around that was to get a 6 month fixed, then after that we can get a variable rate.

Also, it's nice to be able to put 25% down but it's hard but we found that 10% was where the CMHC fee dropped substantially. At 5% it's 3.25, but at 10% it drops down to (i think) 1.75, but at 15% it only drops to about 1.5%. The other thing that we initially didn't take into acount was that CMHC has some % they pulled out of their but that you have to be able to show that you have available (Cash on hand) to pay for "hidden costs", I think it was around 1.5% of the house you're buying.

One last thing, the Condo owners will like this......according to a real estate paper I read a while ago, in the first half of 2004, Condo's appreciated slightly faster than houses.

[R_Ethug]

Re: Real Estate... House/Condo?

i put about 30% down on my place last year and my mortage rules.. its only 60 bucks more than my car payment!

[NeonGTI]

Re: Real Estate... House/Condo?

The good thing is, the way we got around that was to get a 6 month fixed, then after that we can get a variable rate.

That is an AWESOME trick. I have a couple friends that could use that advice.

Back to condo fees for a moment...

One way to ensure lower general condo fees is to find a place with low common area, no elevators, and no underground parking. Those three things tend to add the most $ to the fees overall. Most of them are irrelevant if you are looking to pick up a townhouse condo.

New houses do take a brutal hit to the wallet in the first 5 years. The trend also shows that the premium for building a house is going up Blah. I also shot myself in the foot in terms of resale by choosing generally 'undesirable' options, for example - my entire house is floored with ceramic tile (1800 sq ft) with the exception of the stairs. I put it in to resist dog claw damage and it has done an awesome job of it, but it the eye of the purchaser it is worth LESS that carpet/lino, and I sure as hell didn't pay less that carpet/lino for it. So if you do build, and you aren't looking to make it long term build the house neutral spec. Spec houses sell faster and for more money than any custom modifications you may have done.

If you are looking to buy brand new there is a LOT more I could warn you about.

[liquid]

Re: Real Estate... House/Condo?

As far as I know, you can get a variable mortgage while still being under the 25% downpayment range that the CMHC demands. I believe you have to have a minimum of 15% down. But then again, I'm not 100% certain of that either.

I wouldn't be buying new. I have friends who have done that... and as nice as it is... there are many "extra" costs involved.

[Khyron]

Re: Real Estate... House/Condo?

I bought my house new and loved the experience. Though I admit I'm not the average case. I went stone tile for the entrance/bathroom then hardwood for kitchen. I only wish I hadn't carpeted the stairs. Is your kitchen smooth squares or the rougher bigger stones?

Khyron

[NeonGTI]

Re: Real Estate... House/Condo?

I bought my house new and loved the experience. Though I admit I'm not the average case. I went stone tile for the entrance/bathroom then hardwood for kitchen. I only wish I hadn't carpeted the stairs. Is your kitchen smooth squares or the rougher bigger stones?

Khyron

I built my house new. What an F'n nightmare. I was on top of mine and visited at random times daily. My neighbours weren't so lucky.

My 1 month inspection list had over 300 items ranging from little crap like bad hose hanging right up to A MISSING WINDOW.

Yay Jayman.

My entire house is a pattern of a 12 inch tile with a 6 inch tile on the edge of one side. It's all textured, which makes it a super ***** to clean. I have a hoover hardfloor cleaner, but a few times a year I have to break out the scrub mop and really give 'er.

OMG, I am on a car site and talking about washing the floor. That is so gay.

[Khyron]

Re: Real Estate... House/Condo?

Ha, that's funny. I built with Jayman too and I didn't even bother with the 6 month inspection because nothing was wrong. Some paint, nail pops and stuff at 1 year - that's about it. Just depends on your crew I guess.

Khyron

[gaffer]

Re: Real Estate... House/Condo?

Ha, that's funny. I built with Jayman too and I didn't even bother with the 6 month inspection because nothing was wrong. Some paint, nail pops and stuff at 1 year - that's about it. Just depends on your crew I guess.

Khyron

I also built with Jayman and had some real headaches, but in the grand scheme of things they just annoying people realted problems. Sometimes they fail to listen, and they seem to think that they were doing me a favor by letting them build me a house. Our salesman was a real prick, and things really went downhill after I told him he was full of sh*t.

Did you guys build with the Innovations program or the master builder program? It seems that they try to pull more BS with the people in the Innovations program since they think we are all naive first time home owners. Generally I also think that the trades in the master buider programs are better, not the trained apes we got to build our house.

Sadly, I think Jayman is one of the better of a poor lot of home builders in Calgary.

One peice of advice too if you are looking at building in a new community is to look into the developer. Some developers are really bad about certain things.

Also like someone mentioned earlier visit your home as often as possible during construction it will save you real headaches down the road. In my case the drywallers were putting up the sheet rock, but Showcase had not shown up yet to run the phone/cable/cat5 & alarm wires and there was large areas where the vapor barrier was missing.

Andrew

[James]

Re: Real Estate... House/Condo?

I used to know jayman's daughter...quite a looker, typical spoiled rich girl though.

[Canadian Turbo]

Re: Real Estate... House/Condo?

My new place is a highrise building so makes it hard to check on the progress as you are not allowed on the site ever, but looking forward to only having to clean concrete floors

[RobG]

Re: Real Estate... House/Condo?

I'm building with Morrison Homes, does anyone have any experiences with their quality?

[thorin33]

Re: Real Estate... House/Condo?

There has been a lot of advice on mortgages and such so I though I would comment on actually living in an apartment style condo (Colin, this doesn't apply if you are looking at a townhouse style). This will be the first and last apartment style condo I ever live in. There are owners in the building that couldn't give a rat's ass about making sure the doors close behind them, leaving garbage out, etc. Our parkade has been broken into about 20 times this year because some yahoo didn't check that the front gate was closed. Other things that annoy me are the lack of storage space, shared walls (so you can't play your music/movies all that loud but your annoying neighbor isn't so courteous), no yard (cause I want a dog). Breathe....breathe Mike. Sorry I'll stop ranting. I don't want to scare you off from buying because I think it is worth it, just know what you are getting into.

PS - still love the Mizuno irons I bought from you. Got any old clubs you want to get rid of? (PM me if you do)

[James]

Re: Real Estate... House/Condo?

There has been a lot of advice on mortgages and such so I though I would comment on actually living in an apartment style condo (Colin, this doesn't apply if you are looking at a townhouse style). This will be the first and last apartment style condo I ever live in. There are owners in the building that couldn't give a rat's ass about making sure the doors close behind them, leaving garbage out, etc. Our parkade has been broken into about 20 times this year because some yahoo didn't check that the front gate was closed. Other things that annoy me are the lack of storage space, shared walls (so you can't play your music/movies all that loud but your annoying neighbor isn't so courteous), no yard (cause I want a dog). Breathe....breathe Mike. Sorry I'll stop ranting. I don't want to scare you off from buying because I think it is worth it, just know what you are getting into.

PS - still love the Mizuno irons I bought from you. Got any old clubs you want to get rid of? (PM me if you do)

Ive got a set of taylor made irons and ping drivers for sell..about 2 years old, maybe 15 games played on em

[liquid]

Re: Real Estate... House/Condo?

There has been a lot of advice on mortgages and such so I though I would comment on actually living in an apartment style condo (Colin, this doesn't apply if you are looking at a townhouse style). This will be the first and last apartment style condo I ever live in. There are owners in the building that couldn't give a rat's ass about making sure the doors close behind them, leaving garbage out, etc. Our parkade has been broken into about 20 times this year because some yahoo didn't check that the front gate was closed. Other things that annoy me are the lack of storage space, shared walls (so you can't play your music/movies all that loud but your annoying neighbor isn't so courteous), no yard (cause I want a dog). Breathe....breathe Mike. Sorry I'll stop ranting. I don't want to scare you off from buying because I think it is worth it, just know what you are getting into.

PS - still love the Mizuno irons I bought from you. Got any old clubs you want to get rid of? (PM me if you do)

Thanks for the advice. Always good to hear all aspects of different accomodations. Glad to hear the irons are still working out for you. I got myself some new woods, so if your interested in either some titanium yonex irons, or a Titleist driver.... let me know (PM). I'm still sticking with my old reshafted Big Bertha..... an oldie but a goodie.