Your First Home

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Re: Your First Home

^ solid advice. even condos downtown are a tough sell for $400,000- you'd be looking at a 1 bed + den most likely, so the suburbs are a good option for those. for houses under $400 k, though, you are going to be looking at milton, burlington, and further west, or oshawa/whitby/ajax if you go east.

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Re: Your First Home

I would also suggest suburbs as the houses are almost new and more spacious with more amenities. Even if its a first house you are going to live in the house for atleast 5 to 10 years we bought a bunglow in the heart of the city, yes the lot size is big, yes commute is great, yes its a perfect investment but the actual square feet area is very less, and the house is old reallllyyyy old, on top of the price we had to spend alot on renovations, everything was very basic from electric lines to plumbing and after all that spending it still is a 2 bed house with small closets and a claustrophobic washroom.

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Re: Your First Home

Thanks for the advice everyone!

D6C I'm interested in the east end like north Ajax mostly, don't wanna go more east. I know I can't afford a house in like Markham at least for my first house so I really like north Ajax.

We're thinking of a semi-detached since they're a lot cheaper than detached homes. Also thinking about towns but to be honest I don't really like the new town house with the partial basements.

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Re: Your First Home

What do you guys think is a decent budget for a first home? Specially those familiar with the GTA housing market

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Re: Your First Home

Youre absolutely right. I realize that my first home won't be my forever home so I have to be smart and get something we can afford and not be house poor basically.

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Re: Your First Home

^ yep the word "house poor" is the key! We love going out and we didnt wantto change thata bit.. there is just so much you can do sitting at home so we kept that in mind! We bought the house in move in condition but it's still tad bit expensive to actually renovate it per our needs..so far, so good but I see ourselves spending more than we had intended so yep keep that in mind.. you will want to decorate it, and all that as soon as you move in!! its just a human nature!

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Re: Your First Home

Not just something you can afford, but one that won't lose value. Unfortunately, the first few years of paying off a mortgage are interest payments - so you want to make sure that you're able to build equity in the home so that when you sell it, you've got a larger downpayment towards your next home.

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Re: Your First Home

^ Yea you're right. hopefully with the way the housing market looks right now I hope property values don't come crashing down. Prices are so high right now, I can't even imagine them being any higher!

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Re: Your First Home

this is crazy but i think 450k is 'cheap' . this is because, i own an apartment in singapore with 4 bedrooms, and it costs 600k. thankfully, my father bought it 15 yrs ago at 150k. prices of homes in singapore are mad high. a normal house (bungalow) costs abv a million dollars.

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Re: Your First Home

^ it can be the same in toronto too, depending on area. midtown/downtown homes and areas like forest hill, rosedale, bloor west village, etc. usually have move-in ready homes for above a million. its kind of shocking how little house a million will buy you in some areas of toronto.

saks, i’d say $450,000-$500,000 is a good budget for a first time house in ajax. remember, having a budget doesn’t mean you can’t come under it, but its always good to have a contigency built into it in case you can’t find something you love under it. have you checked the MLS website for potential properties? REALTOR.ca -Welcome
browse through the neighborhoods you are interested in to get a better idea of your ideal pricing and what you get for it.

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Re: Your First Home

^that budget can buy you a pretty decent house in Ajax. Not massive obviously, but decent. I love the mls website! I have the app on my phone so whatever area I am in, I just look up the listings in the area to get an idea of the house prices :D

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Re: Your First Home

First home is always considered as the best home in one's life that they cannot forget. The interiors should be planned perfectly in the home as reflects the beauty of the entire home.

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Re: Your First Home

We live in the US. First house was $300,000 almost in 2003. We got it for zero down. No down payment.

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Re: Your First Home

Oh and yes, the house was 35-40 years old but in a good zip code with the best schools. All the updates were done so there were no problems.