grim financial advice by count
your inheritance is waiting for you, but of course none of us want our parents to die, so you aren't getting it for awhile
Buy a vacation/investment property in Mexico. You can get into a decent starter condo (with very reasonable condo fees) in Vallarta for about 150K USD, that you'll be able to pull 100 USD a night pretty steady in the high season, once you've got a few grand to spend, rip the old tile out, upgrade the kitchen and bathrooms (mexican labour is cheap) and now you're charging 130-150 USD a night during the high season (and getting sporatic business during the low season at about 70% of that rate. Hire a reputable real estate agent (I've got one if you need) in the area to manage the particulars (key pick up/drop off, property inspection after the guest leaves, etc) for a few hundred pesos per guest.
Bang all the extra coin you make (after upgrades) into paying off the mortgage and it will be paid off in ~10 years tops. So maybe you won't own a place in the GTA, but you'll be 40 (or under?) with a vacation/retirement property already paid off.
It has gotten crazy. I bought in Pickering 7 years ago and the person I bought it from cancelled a bunch of showings the next day and gladly took 15K less than the asking price. Last month my neighbor sold for 91K over the asking price with 17 bidders. It's nutty.
I have friends who own near mansions in Montreal who's homes are worth a lot less than my little place.
Now THIS is interesting. Time for some research.
I did the math and it just didn't make any sense to accept it. So I didn't. I hit a bar nearby later that night, and got to chatting with some guys. I remember one telling me that if I'm not making at least $250K a year, to not bother moving to Toronto.
This was in 1999.
This sounds about right. You met some random guy, he told you not to move to Toronto if you don't make 250k, and now you live by this.
That's how I make all my decisions.
That's how I make all my decisions.
Move to expensive Toronto right?
It's amazing that Toronto has become as expensive as Manhattan and San Francisco. From what I am reading though you may have to actually go even further out in Toronto than those cities to find stuff in the $500K range. Completely insane.
PEI is beautiful.
For 2 months of the year.