Hey Kenny,

the condo will be in Centropolis Laval (downtown of laval). About 20 restaurants, 20 stores, gym, supermarket, bakery, outdoor chilling areas with fountains, etc... all within walking distance, and 10 seconds from the highway 15

I have an acre of land and a 4 bedroom house ...Also after a divorce a single man at 38 and I can say ... a house ROCKS.

1. I'm planning an Old School Keg party on my grounds for this summer. ( yards out front and back for camping + general hell raising. Cant do that in a condo ... try putting a tent up.

2. Chillin at the firepit on the patio at night with babes more often than not. They LOVE to see you have a house ... screams you have a tight game. Condo screams you renter.

3. Fireplace in the living room ... Ballin' and the site of a few really nice times with the ladies.

4. Equity. Yes, I have a lot of upkeep ...but, I have over $200k in equity on $400k house. apporx 50% paid off ... been here 2 years in this house. Resale vaule now is $380k which I have lost a little ...but, owning the land as well knowing things will go up in time i'll make out.

5. This is my home. I can add / remove / trip out whatever I want without permission of a board. Done the condo thing and getting approvals ( or told no ) sucks balls.

Bought my 1st house at 24 and this is my 5th. Each time I made a move to where now I call a very nice area home with $2m+ homes nearby, historic homes, Farms and alot of protected lands.

I'd go house every time. :thumbsup

So that should pretty much settle it - get a condo.

Unless you want to be a divorced 38 year old single man living alone on an acre of land.

(sorry I just had to)

When i was 25 i had a penthouse condo in downtown Vancouver. Was awesome!!! Great location, almost no upkeep or maintenance and had people over non-stop for drinks and entertaining.

It sounds like you are now where i was then :-)

Go have fun and buy a house with a chick (or guy depending on your sexual orientation) when you get a bit older and ready to settle down. :)

Don't forget ongoing maintenence costs, condos have property taxes and condo fees. Houses you have to maintain yourself or pay someone to. Should factor those costs into your priorities too. Personally, I'd go for the house if you're looking for a 5 year term. Better potential for profit...
WG

thats a tough one, especially being close to bars and shops and walking to things.

I can tell you I made the same decision about a year ago. I could of bought a townhouse close to a spot I go often to eat and booze, however I thought about it and figured Id probably regret not having a house without neighbors and being able to do what I wanted to it.

A year later im still very happy with my decision. im adding a bigger back porch on and an outside kitchen.

You have to think what you want. do you plan on getting married and having kids? house would probably be a better decision :2 cents:

I do plan on getting married and having kids, but not anytime in the near future

two words to think about, home invasion

Are the new houses all out in the suburbs and you now life in the city?

I cant see you being happy at your age living out in the burbs..

What I did:

I'm 30 years old. The last couple years, I've been in a Penthouse. It's a decent size of 2200 sq feet. It's a beautiful place and has lots of perks. For 1-3 years, you'll love everything about it but as time goes by, little things will irk you: elevator to the car, the distance from your car to the garage, bringing groceries up, walking to grab the mail, having to go down to the ground floor to let people in, etc. My suggestion: Rent the Penthouse if possible and enjoy it's perks until you decide you need more to yourself.

2 years later, I'm moving into a much larger home. I'm looking forward to having a yard, my own garage, etc. But also realize I now have a little girl, I am married and I've lived the penthouse life for a couple years. Overall, the home purchase may be the best from an investment standpoint, as a penthouse is a really niched dwelling.

Summary: Get into that penthouse and enjoy the shit out of it! You have plenty of time to want to move to the burbs. Who knows: Maybe the penthouse living is what you want for good, but you'll never know to you take the plunge.

Similar story.. When I was single I lived in a penthouse condo in midtown Toronto. I enjoyed stumbling home a few blocks for a night cap with a cute girl... Loved being able to just lock up and go on extended trips without having to worry about it.

I also noticed that because it was located near all the action my condo became the meeting spot on weekends for all my friends that lived further out of the city and on quite a few occasions I had great impromptu afterhour parties with people that my friends and I met at the bars... I had the time of my life in that condo and its appreciated almost 50% of my purchase price. I rent it out now and plan to hold on to it for a long time.

I guess it all depends on your personality - are you a homebody that likes to curl up with a good book on a Saturday night or are you a frolicking womanizer that loves to have a few drinks on a Saturday night and chase some tail?

I'd definitely go for the penthouse condo lifestyle especially living in Montreal. I just think at 25, there are just too many hot Montreal chicks for you to be banging and going on trips with instead of spending time dealing with a house. BANG THEM ALL. You have lots of time down the road to live in a house. :2 cents:

Just purchased my house a little over two years ago when I was 22 or so. 3br, 3ba, 2k sq ft and about an acre. I've lived in plenty of apartments/condos before and will never go back. I enjoy my peace and quite wayyy too much.

Bonfires, parties, private driveway, my own pool, grilling, screened in porch or deck for working outside on nice days...and the list goes on.

I'd say move away from the city and buy a single family home. :2 cents:

600k for a condo in laval?! Resale is going to be a bitch because its Laval IMO. For sure if the condo market hits a snag, ppl with $$ arent going to be looking to buy in Laval, theyll want the city. other phases on the way? Your view might get blocked by the other construction. For that price why dont u get a condo downtown and avoid all that traffic?! You can get 1500 sq ft or so in the city for that price.

how is that a good thing? I would hate to be the meeting spot

Apt rentals hold strong.

I would go for the house, but as you said you're single - then you shall need to get to the dates more faster. Girls come and go more fast in a condo. Living for 5 years from now on in a dynamic area sounds better for the single guy.

On the other hand, the money you can spend when have the house - you can get a better car and to ride the chicks there with same success to the BBQ.
So my guess is for the Condo - single, biz guy, going on biz meetings faster from you HQ no need to travel much, closer to the social life and the new eventual money.

I have both, and choose to live in the penthouse and rent the house out, i'm a bit older at 35, but i still love the low maintenance living, the house is alot of work so now the estate agents manage it and i take a rental.

I'm 25 and have hated living in a condo since I was 23 (I've been here since I was 22 fwiw).

I just bought a house. I have ZERO reason to have 3 bedrooms, a 2 car garage and even two bathrooms RIGHT NOW, but in a year that may change. Plus the mortgage on the house is about 400 dollars less than rent + hoa for the condo, and the house is almost double the size.

Sure there will be more shit to deal with if you get a house, but occasionally paying for a repair is well worth not sharing walls with people. There's been a lot of traffic coming in and out of this place (these condos were 250k+ when new, now down to about 90-120k) and I have hated about every second neighbor I've had. Some of them you never hear, some of them it has sounded like girls are straight up getting chainsawed apart at 3am.

Will never deal with that again, and if you have the money to buy a detached home, do it. My condo is MUCH more conveniently located than the house, but fuck it. If I want to go somewhere I have a car and if people don't want to drive out to my place then I really don't want them around lol.

house with a garden!

Well again, it all depends on your personality. Considering I worked from home alone during the week, I enjoyed being the host on the weekends and I actually liked my friends lol.:1orglaugh