JustErin said:

SkyDome was purchased by Rogers Cable a year or two ago and they renamed the stadium. But anyone who actually refers to it as "The Rogers Centre" can slurp my nuts.

Ace said:

Fuck Rogers!

They harass the hell out of you for errors that THEY make and forget about trying to get some customer service when you've got a problem.

I got rid of everything I had that was Rogers related a year or so ago.

The same thing happened with The Corel Centre here. Now it's Scotiabank Place.

Lame!

the difference between a CONDO and a townhouse can be confusing ... even for me and i am in the industry ... it has to do with more LEGAL things (rights of the owners)than ... well .... you know ... drive by and look ... and say ... "oh that is a townhouse " ... with a condo you own a PART of the association .... with a townhouse you own a deed (much like a house )...

This is so very true, being a first time buyer I suggest purchasing a Condo or Town home because with these you only have expenses of the home it's self to deal with as opposed to a house where you have to deal with the up keep of the yard as well and some places have "Homeowners Associations" the evil bastards you DO NOT want those kinds of problems, believe me.

When you are single which is better?

An apartment, a house, a condo or buying a townhouse???

Okay here's my opinion on this topic:

As others have said, renting an apartment is throwing money away and you don't want to do that if you don't have to.

I have lived in a condo for the last 17 years, and let me tell you, it's not all it's cracked up to be. You have to pay a maintenance fee every month that can be pricey (I pay $170.00 per month, and I feel it's a big ripoff, quite honestly). Plus, you can be assessed at any time to pay extra money when the condo association decides that they don't have enough money in the reserve to do some renovations or whatnot. The place I live at is notorious for trying to pull that shit all the time. One time, they tried to get people who lived in a one-bedroom condo (such as myself) to pay a higher monthly maintenance fee from those people who owned two and three-bedroom condos. Their reasoning was, "It will raise the value of everyone's condo" blah, blah, blah. What a bunch of bullshit! Luckily, we got to vote on it, and of course I voted no. I wrote on the ballot form something to the effect of, "Are you people crazy? What are you smoking? To ask people who own a one bedroom condo to pay more money than people who own a two and three bedroom condo is ridiculous, and I am not paying it. Decisions like this make me wonder just what kind of "board" we have around here." Luckily, this idea got voted down, but the board of the condo association where I live is notorious for coming up with harebrained ideas like this all the time, and it drives me insane. When you live in a condo, you have no control over how your money is spent for repairs and whatnot, you have people on a board deciding it for you, and that can really suck at times.

Another drawback to owning a condo is paying for property taxes on land that is not soley yours. I just got my property tax bill for the last six months, to the tune of $748.00. I wouldn't mind paying this if the little yard in the back of my house was mine and mine only, but it's a backyard that is shared with everybody else with who lives in the building. Again, another ripoff all the way around.

Also, several people mentioned condos that used to be apartments. If you do decide to move into such a building, I suggest making sure that the soundproofing is good. Some former apartment buildings have lousy soundproofing, and the sound can really carry. The place I live at has thin walls, and every sound seems to be magnified. When a person slams a door, talks in the hallway, runs the water, etc., you can hear it, sometimes at hours that you would not like to. I can't tell you the number of times that I have been woken up from a sound sleep because the bitch downstairs has slammed her closet doors.

Of course, if you buy a free standing condo or townhouse, the above mentioned issues that I've mentioned might not be as much of an issue.

My recommendation is to buy a house. If I had it to do all over again, I would have stayed at home a little longer to save more money so that I could buy a house. But I moved in here when I was 26 years old because I was ready to move out and be on my own. Right now, I am saving to buy a house so that I can get the hell out of here. It won't be until a few more years, but I'm stashing away as much money as I can so that I can make this dream come true. I'm determined to make it happen, come hell or high water, no matter what.

missfee said:

It depends.

A common rule of thumb is that you shouldn't buy unless you're reasonably certain that you'll live there for at least five years. This is usually enough time to recover your closing costs and ride out any downturn in the housing market.

The latter is a big issue in some areas right now. They're building a major condo development two blocks down the street from my place. It's a great location, and one would think it'd be a good investment. I'd love to live there. Problem is, they're having trouble selling the units. I'm told that 2/3 of them are still unsold, even after they supposedly dropped the price of each unit by $20,000.

Okay here's my opinion on this topic:

As others have said, renting an apartment is throwing money away and you don't want to do that if you don't have to.

I have lived in a condo for the last 17 years, and let me tell you, it's not all it's cracked up to be. You have to pay a maintenance fee every month that can be pricey (I pay $170.00 per month, and I feel it's a big ripoff, quite honestly). Plus, you can be assessed at any time to pay extra money when the condo association decides that they don't have enough money in the reserve to do some renovations or whatnot. The place I live at is notorious for trying to pull that shit all the time. One time, they tried to get people who lived in a one-bedroom condo (such as myself) to pay a higher monthly maintenance fee from those people who owned two and three-bedroom condos. Their reasoning was, "It will raise the value of everyone's condo" blah, blah, blah. What a bunch of bullshit! Luckily, we got to vote on it, and of course I voted no. I wrote on the ballot form something to the effect of, "Are you people crazy? What are you smoking? To ask people who own a one bedroom condo to pay more money than people who own a two and three bedroom condo is ridiculous, and I am not paying it. Decisions like this make me wonder just what kind of "board" we have around here." Luckily, this idea got voted down, but the board of the condo association where I live is notorious for coming up with harebrained ideas like this all the time, and it drives me insane. When you live in a condo, you have no control over how your money is spent for repairs and whatnot, you have people on a board deciding it for you, and that can really suck at times.

Another drawback to owning a condo is paying for property taxes on land that is not soley yours. I just got my property tax bill for the last six months, to the tune of $748.00. I wouldn't mind paying this if the little yard in the back of my house was mine and mine only, but it's a backyard that is shared with everybody else with who lives in the building. Again, another ripoff all the way around.

Also, several people mentioned condos that used to be apartments. If you do decide to move into such a building, I suggest making sure that the soundproofing is good. Some former apartment buildings have lousy soundproofing, and the sound can really carry. The place I live at has thin walls, and every sound seems to be magnified. When a person slams a door, talks in the hallway, runs the water, etc., you can hear it, sometimes at hours that you would not like to. I can't tell you the number of times that I have been woken up from a sound sleep because the bitch downstairs has slammed her closet doors.

Of course, if you buy a free standing condo or townhouse, the above mentioned issues that I've mentioned might not be as much of an issue.

My recommendation is to buy a house. If I had it to do all over again, I would have stayed at home a little longer to save more money so that I could buy a house. But I moved in here when I was 26 years old because I was ready to move out and be on my own. Right now, I am saving to buy a house so that I can get the hell out of here. It won't be until a few more years, but I'm stashing away as much money as I can so that I can make this dream come true. I'm determined to make it happen, come hell or high water, no matter what.

I'ld like to get a loft, if I could.
[Edited 12/20/06 5:44am]

sataninas said:

I was once dead set on a loft (renting) but I need closet space... I guess I could fix that if I bought one

I think you're confusing a condo with a co-op.