Comment by user3359 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by user3359 | Hacker News Reader

I live in Toronto. It's relatively expensive, but the rent prices don't factor in tons of things:

1. You don't need a car, carshares like Zipcar work great, which saves $1000/month ($200/month parking, $200/month insurance, $300/month gas, $300/month lease/maintenance)

2. Stress level and commutes - walking is a pleasure (especially with the PATH in the winter), while driving is stressful and harmful to your health. The 1-2 he you save daily with commutes/driving is life that you get back.

3. Opportunity cost - you can do 2-3 free meetups/events per week to meet new people and network. The interchange of ideas and connections is priceless

4. You don't need a house. A house is a luxury and so is having kids.

You can still find 1br units for $1500-$2000/month. Condos are for sale in the city for $400,000.

It's not that living in Toronto is expensive. It's people's misconception that owning a house and having children are basics, when they're actually luxuries. My response to not being able to afford living in the city while spending on other luxuries is usually too bad. Figure out your priorities and make sacrifices.

All of what you said makes sense in the context of being a relatively, financially mobile, single person.

Having a children and home that isn't the size of a shoebox is the norm in most regions of Canada, and should not be considered a luxury. So yeah, it is that Toronto is expensive, if you want these things out of life.

To your point re 400k condos, I would very much question the quality, size, and location for these. 400 seems very low and below market for the city.

You can get an OK-quality condo for $400k, but it's definitely not going to be located in downtown or midtown. The condo fees I've seen however are unfortunately pretty high across the board, anywhere from from $500 to $900/month.

Usually $0.60-$0.70/sqft. Some terribly built and managed buildings are higher. If you're at 600 square feet I wouldnt expect to pay more than $450/month.

This is however much less than the repairs and maintenance on a house. Replacing a roof? Furnace? Lawn work? Have fun.

Plus having concierge to receive packages for you is fantastic.

The condo fees explode in most new developments between year 2 and 5, often tripling in the city.

Additionally, the baseline fee burden is amplified by the practice of developers counting guest suites as sold by pre-selling the suite to the condo corporation, who then place the financing costs of the guest suites onto the unit owners.

I did not know about this. I'm pretty inexperienced in this area, so I appreciate the heads up about that.

They're small, to be sure. You get 400-500 square feet. Enough to eat, sleep, work a little from home and watch movies with company. Perfectly livable. There's both modern and older buildings at that price range.

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