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marginallymanic
Cabinet Minister
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Joined: 09 Mar 2005
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Phillippe
Sgt. at Arms
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Joined: 21 Feb 2005
Posts: 2518
Location: Westmount, Québec, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 10:52 am Post subject: |
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I would say that my father's daily commute is 45-50 minutes each way; however, a major contributing factor to the house they bought was the availability of local mass transit. My father hasn't driven to work once in a long while-- he uses the train. He can read or get work done, get off at his station, walk 1.8KM and he's there. No stress, no wasted gas.
I think about the options of buying a smaller urban dwelling house less with a cognitive psychology lense and more with cultural one. Sure the mechanism of rationalization say that we should have this space-- we perceive larger to equate with 'better.' Yet, culturally we are told to maximize what we have, even if that means losing some personal liberty or happiness (which runs contrary to psychology at points). Living in a 3 bedroom Condo in the city is also not so fun at times -- no personal space (a yard, parks, etc), no place to call one's own. Plus, a 3 bedroom condo in Montréal (in the city) will run you close to 2 million dollars. I looked it up on www.mls.ca, and condos in areas far from the city core, with no metro, no bus routes are 475,000$. At that price, that McCrap in the suburbs is less expensive, has more space, a yard and a modicum of privacy. Not to mention that driving from Nun's Island downtown during rush hour traffic is going to take just as long as it would from the suburbs. I looked for "downtown" and found the cheapest condo downtown at 849,000$ with the most expensive at $4,250,000. Spending that kind of money on a 3 bedroom place, I could afford a really nice house in the West Island and a summer place in Sutton or in Nova Scotia.
Ironic that a blogger is making those value judgements considering they couldn't afford to live downtown.
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Midwest
Cabinet Minister
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Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Posts: 2225
Location: In the darkness at the edge of town
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| Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:26 am Post subject: |
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When Himself passes all of his SEC and insurance licensing and gets his office together, his should be about fifteen minutes. He'd take mass transit if it were available--unfortunately nobody's taken light rail seriously in the past. Maybe they will now?
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Shibumi
Sgt. at Arms
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Joined: 21 Feb 2005
Posts: 579
Location: Official greeter in the Digger
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 11:43 am Post subject: |
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After my divorce, I moved downtown and bought a tiny three bedroom house which sits on an oversized lot for 155,000 grand. That was four years ago. Since then I changed jobs to one outside of the city which is a 50 click round trip and there is no public transportation that goes out there. The huge yard is great for the dogs and my latest house evaluation pegs my house's worth at 354,000. The prices in Edmonton as so crazy, I know people that have spent 275,000 on an older two bedroom apartment combined with a 40 year mortgage.
I don't know how the younger folk are going to be able to afford to buy anything in this day and age.
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Phillippe
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Joined: 21 Feb 2005
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Location: Westmount, Québec, Canada
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 2:33 pm Post subject: |
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Shib,
Lot's of people are saying that "how can the younger generation afford it?" And all I have to say is smart money management. My ex (whom shall be henceforth known as X) spent like a communist. Tens of thousands a year in eateries, clothes, entertainment. I would venture that 'entertainment' (restaurants, movies, vacations) would be her single largest expense, easily more expensive than her actual cost of living.
I manage to do well for myself, by controlling what I spend and limiting frivolous expenditures. People need to learn that lesson....
And don't move to Edmonton if you're looking for cheap real estate... or Calgary.
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I run a student organization.. You can call me El Presidente. |
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marginallymanic
Cabinet Minister
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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We have been saying "how can the younger generation afford it?" for all my adult life, because my parents said it also. But we did, and they did, and will continue to do so.
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Midwest
Cabinet Minister
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Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Posts: 2225
Location: In the darkness at the edge of town
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 12:08 pm Post subject: |
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It's good to take the larger view, MM, but I have serious doubts about #2 son, because he won't spend less than $150.00 on jeans or shop sales for anything. And trust me, he's not spending our money on these, it's money he earns. He's never seen sense about anything else, so I'm dubious that he'll see it when he finally leaves home.
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Menehune
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Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Posts: 2521
Location: The Real South
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| Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:34 pm Post subject: |
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How do you live close to your job when you don't keep the same job for 30 years?? I know people that lived within walking distance to work who, when the company no longer needed them, had to commute for an hour and a half to the next job. Not everyone that commutes does so because they bought a McMansion out in the burbs. It's a tad more complicated than that.
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