My parents and I are currently thinking of buying me a condo in TO for the next 2 years.
pay the 300K for it, have little to no maintenance, and as long as the market doesnt plumet, and lost 24000 dollars in value on the place, it would be cheaper than renting for the next 2 years.

Do you see this working? or is real estate in too much flux to say 'in 2 years, this place wont lose 24K in value'

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no dont do it.. thats my only advice..dont buy with ur own money

Well, if you have 300K cache to pay for it then sure. Condo in downtown TO is unlikely to drop in price anytime soon.

However if you are taking a mortgage, don't forget to consider the interest that you'll be paying over first 2 years.

The condo market will bottom out. It can only go up for so long.

Spend the $300K on a house if you can, even a semi detached or townhouse. Land will only go up in value in the city.

Obviously owning a condo is more ideal than pissing away money on rent, but there's a huge risk in buying right now. At least with renting you know exactly what you're getting out of it.

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Originally posted by Durafei Well, if you have 300K cache to pay for it then sure. Condo in downtown TO is unlikely to drop in price anytime soon.

Like I said, it's inevitable that the market will collapse. There are signs of it already - condo buildings are being rented out as apartments b/c they weren't bought up.

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Originally posted by Durafei 300K cache

you seem like you've been working with computers too long

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Originally posted by Superstar you seem like you've been working with computers too long

LOL - how did you guess

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Originally posted by Superstar Like I said, it's inevitable that the market will collapse. There are signs of it already - condo buildings are being rented out as apartments b/c they weren't bought up.

Yeah, I guess in short term the prices may come down. However, in the long run I think the prices will only increase. Especially since baby boomers are getting older and would probably want to spend their late years in a Condo instead of a big house, that they don't need.

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Originally posted by Superstar you seem like you've been working with computers too long

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if you have 300k why would you want to buy a condo. I say buy a house in T.O so you don't have to pay for the maintenance fees. Also the land will only go up in value.

Buy yourself a single or even a semi and it will be a lot easier to sell later on. I too don't like to rent and in a few years I would like to buy myself a house. Right now I'm not too sure if i want a condo downtown or save up a little more and get myself a house somewhere in markham.

Preferably I'd like to live downtown but it can get expensive.

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Originally posted by Skipper The condo market will bottom out. It can only go up for so long.

Yup...

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Spend the $300K on a house if you can, even a semi detached or townhouse. Land will only go up in value in the city.

...and if you can handle the double digit morgage rate to follow then go for it...

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Obviously owning a condo is more ideal than pissing away money on rent, but there's a huge risk in buying right now. At least with renting you know exactly what you're getting out of it.

Exactly why I'm renting right now.
The wifey and I were looking at the market for the past year and we looked at:
a) Houses outside Toronto.
For first time home buyers, unless you've got the cashflow, is waaaay out of our league.
Just being able to make the mortage payment is not enough.
Houses are money-pits plain and simple.
One has to be able to handle emergencies and not become 'house poor'.
I'm not saying buying a house isn't a good idea; I'm saying get one you can really afford based on your cashflow.
b) Condos in the Toronto area.
While the condo market looks real good right now, hold that thought.
The pot will only get sweeter as the vacancy rate is double what is was last year.
That and look around...there are tons of developments that aren't even finished!
Who are they going to sell to since a lot of people have already bought to take advantage of the low mortage rates??
And be real careful about the maintenance fees. Read the fine print about what the condo consortium intends to do to the property and the rates.

I don't claim to be an expert but through my own research and consultation with respectable businessmen I say, keep saving until you can really get a good deal and have the cash to do it.

Look for land value to drop in the next 20 years as baby boomers die off and suburbs become irrelevant. I feel sorry for property owners in 20 years or so when all thats left are less well off immigrants and children of baby boomers to buy and way too much property to sell (since we are not replacing ourselves and population is about to start dropping)

no the thing is all we're doing s replacing ourselves...guvernment is pissed off ppl are only having 2 kids instead of 3 or 4...but the cost of living keeps on going up and we're not making any more money..so how can u afford to have a family of more then 2 kids