Mikey, but if you buy that condo, where would you park your tractor??

 

I agree completely, if affording it is a question of dollars, then I would say you can't afford it. When we were looking at $375k mortgages I was feeling that, so I looked
Nice! Kensington is a great area and I'd love to live there, but unfortunately I think I could only afford to rent there and maintain the same standard of living and quality of home.

This place we're looking at is northwest of Chinook Mall, just off of Elbow Drive which would give us great access to either of our workplaces with roughly a 15-20 minute commute. Basically 56th Avenue SW and Elbow Drive. Walking distance to shopping, and drive minutes to pretty much everything else.

 

2 parking spaces

Tandem spaces (one in front of other), but my lady doesn't drive really anyway. And if she were to get a car, we'd still rarely be in our cars without eachother as it's just easier to commute to and from work by transit.

 

freaking vancouver housing prices hit average of 1 mil a little while ago.

 

Sounds like a good area, but I hate tandem garages. When leaving for work and coming home you either have to shuffle cars around every time or do everything in the same order every day.

 

Since we have 1 parking space currently and only 1 vehicle now, I'm okay with it. When the S2000 gets retired to recreational duty only, it'll sit in the front space and I'll have no problem shifting my utility vehicle to get to my toy

If my +1 and I both drove to work daily and had a preference for one vehicle to go out in the evening or on weekends, I could see it getting annoying though. We'll work our way up to a large home and multi-car garage.

 

Are you using the term 'condo' as a description of the type of property or the legal organization of the property?

I ask because condo's have an added level of expense, and complication, over a single-ownership house - - - at least with my experience in the States.

With a condo, you need to check their reserve funds, understand how much of your association expense goes to fund current expenses, reserves and taxes. You don't want to find out the complex needs a new roof and you'll review a special assessment of a few thousand dollars. Also, they may have rules and regulations that do not fit your lifestyle (no animals, no washing car in driveway, etc, etc). Just be sure you know what your buying.

In terms of buying with your girl-friend, I bought my first house with my girl-friend (now wife). We were in similar financial situations so we 'split' expenses down the middle. We did write up an agreement regarding who contributed to the down payment and how monthly bills were going to be handled - - - we had it notarized. I suggest you do the same, even more so if you or her are bringing significantly more cash to the party.

 

I'm calling it a condo because it's a multi-unit building, but there is exterior access to each home without a shared space.

The one we're considering is a 2 storey unit, 2 bedroom, 2 balcony, 2 full bath, with a fireplace.

The "condo fees" (or maintenance fees, or HOA fees, as sometimes referred to) are $358/month. I'm waiting for word back on what exactly this covers. If that includes the gas for the fireplace, bbq, and in-floor heating, and covers us for all building maintenance (roof included - it's shingled) then I'm on-board. If we could get stuck with costs if something in the building breaks or needs replacement (plumbing, parking garage doors, lighting, roof, etc) then it's going to be a much tougher sell to get me.

This is the exterior of the building

This is the living room / dining room / kitchen:



And this is the master suite upstairs:

 

Very nice. Congrats.

 

^ Haven't bought yet

But thank you