[Alfisti]

I would definitely do a small house in a leafy suburb. Make it your last place, retire there. Neighbours against your walls blows, nothing but issues if you're unlucky. Small yard, nothing huge. May I ask a price point?

[Alfisti]

FMD just took a look at prices, jesus H there's NOTHING under $1.5M. Funny at about $2M to $2.5 there's a TON of choice but below 1.5 ....... absolute shite.

[TheWatchGuy]

i prefer the house route for the yard/garage/extra space and im not sharing walls/ceilings/floors. Hire someone else to take care of the snow/lawn.

if i was single, loft all the way in a downtown area.

[MightyMouseTech]

Wife and I are also DINKS. Made the decision 10 years ago to sell our house in the burbs and move into a condo in a great, walkable neighborhood. (Hintonburg in Ottawa) Within a 5 min walk there are about 20 restaurants, banks, grocery stores, dry cleaner, drug stores, hardware store, pet shops (and now about 6 pot shops) etc etc etc etc.

Best decision I have ever made.

Most important part to make it livable is having enough private outdoor space. Our condo is set up different than most, in that the long part of the shape of our unit is along the outer wall (so it is around double the width as deep) so we have incredible amounts of light coming in, and lots of windows for fresh air. We also have a terrace, and not a balcony, and it runs the entire length of our unit, so 40' long. This is very important. I also made sure our unit faces east, so it gets morning sun, but in the heat of the day, we are in the shade. The units on the west side absolutely cook in the afternoon sun. Buy in a good, concrete construction building. I have never heard any noise from any of our neighbors. Wood construction buildings you hear everything.

Being able to just lock the front door and fuck off anywhere for a week is amazing, although, not much of that happening right now.

[Alfisti]

Maybe look at the complexes going up around lakeshore and park lawn? Tons of condos, excellent walking and bike trails, lake right there, can bike into Toronto easily, restaurants, bars etc. We sometimes go there on a weekend just to grab a bite and get in a good walk with the kids.

[Kolyan2k]

Lived in 1360sqft condo, 2 people and it was enough. Not sure i would want less. Now have kid and moved to 2500 sqft house and its a night and day difference for our kid.

If same area I would pick a house, if condo is close to city, night life etc, I would pick condo without kids. Also nice to plan ahead for kids unless you shootin blanks no kids is fun in 20s and maybe 30s, than in 40s-50s it might be too late for 1st kid and I can't image a life without children

[MightyMouseTech]

Originally Posted by Kolyan2k

Lived in 1360sqft condo, 2 people and it was enough. Not sure i would want less. Now have kid and moved to 2500 sqft house and its a night and day difference for our kid.

If same area I would pick a house, if condo is close to city, night life etc, I would pick condo without kids. Also nice to plan ahead for kids unless you shootin blanks no kids is fun in 20s and maybe 30s, than in 40s-50s it might be too late for 1st kid and I can't image a live without children

We have 800 sqft, and find it plenty. 1360 sq ft here would be about 2 mil, and $1000/month condo fees, $2000/month property taxes.

[W///]

Originally Posted by rebekahb

We have a decent size home and I'm torn when I look at the pros and cons.

Home: (Pre-Covid) we could never get projects completed because we traveled a lot and were rarely home. During Covid we're still gone a lot but it's on the river more. We say oh we're booked the next 2 weekends but the following we will stay home. Someone calls and then boom that third weekend that was to do house work is gone. I love having a pool in my backyard and we have 2 guest bedrooms and have friends come stay with us quite a bit. I don't love the upkeep of a house as my husband works a lot so I end up doing the random shit like cleaning the exterior windows, etc. I do a good inside cleaning every week but there are times where I feel like it's pointless because I'm cleaning clean areas.

Loft (if we lived in one): could walk to a lot of restaurants and bars (at least where ours are located). I love the look of exposed bricks, high ceilings, exposed air ducts, and tall windows. I wouldn't want a shared wall unless I could soundproof. I would miss having a pool in my backyard but having a community one would be a plus. It would be nice to come home and not worry about the list of things I need to do that's in the back of my head making me feel guilty while I try to relax.

I don't mind housework but it's the last thing I really want to do on my weekends off. Houses aren't constant maintenance but with how busy we are it's a nuisance. I think it boils down to your lifestyle and what fits best for y'all.

I can relate to the travel part of your post all too well. My ex works for Delta, so I was flying every where, even on just 3 day weekends. So I made very little progress on the house the past 2 years.

Personally, I only really go out for dinner and drinks with friends maybe once a week pre-COVID, so having stuff to do that is walkable distance was not a priority. While it's a lot of work, I like the idea that I can really grow into this house that I'm in now since it's more than big enough.

Also another thing to consider, if you have pets or plan on having pets, then a loft would be a pain IMO.

[Alfisti]

Pets ..... otherwise known as a ball and chain.

[Kolyan2k]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

We have 800 sqft, and find it plenty. 1360 sq ft here would be about 2 mil, and $1000/month condo fees, $2000/month property taxes.

Well price is obviously an important factor. Everyone finds it plenty where they live.... usually. Buddy of mine lived in 600sqft condo and said its enough, then moved to 1200sqft house and said its plenty, now lives in 3500sqft house and constantly brags how perfect the size of his home is.

I guess the most important factor when buying a condo is 2 bathrooms.

[Alfisti]

I'm in 3200 square feet with another 1200 in the basement and it is too big. We wanted about 2500 but could not find that size to save our lives when shopping. There's 4 of us and the formal dining room is really wasted space.

[baege]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

FMD just took a look at prices, jesus H there's NOTHING under $1.5M. Funny at about $2M to $2.5 there's a TON of choice but below 1.5 ....... absolute shite.

yeah i mean we are ok with outside toronto so we can find a decent house within our budget for me its more about the lifestyle than the economics

[Alfisti]

yeah but loft has to be urban so to speak or just get a small house on niagara escarpment and be done with it.

[baege]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Wife and I are also DINKS. Made the decision 10 years ago to sell our house in the burbs and move into a condo in a great, walkable neighborhood. (Hintonburg in Ottawa) Within a 5 min walk there are about 20 restaurants, banks, grocery stores, dry cleaner, drug stores, hardware store, pet shops (and now about 6 pot shops) etc etc etc etc.

Best decision I have ever made.

Most important part to make it livable is having enough private outdoor space. Our condo is set up different than most, in that the long part of the shape of our unit is along the outer wall (so it is around double the width as deep) so we have incredible amounts of light coming in, and lots of windows for fresh air. We also have a terrace, and not a balcony, and it runs the entire length of our unit, so 40' long. This is very important. I also made sure our unit faces east, so it gets morning sun, but in the heat of the day, we are in the shade. The units on the west side absolutely cook in the afternoon sun. Buy in a good, concrete construction building. I have never heard any noise from any of our neighbors. Wood construction buildings you hear everything.

Being able to just lock the front door and fuck off anywhere for a week is amazing, although, not much of that happening right now.

yeah lots of natural and a nice outdoor space are key, nice tip on the concrete construction

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Being able to just lock the front door and fuck off anywhere for a week is amazing, although, not much of that happening right now.

I think it's a pretty personal decision as far as wanting to be IN it or wanting to be OUT of it. I like having my space and actually looking to buy a second home on a few acres so I can have more space. For me it's about the privacy, not so much the living space. Our house is like 2300 sqft and its more than enough. We have rooms we never use. However I do like not being near my neighbor and if I could never even see my neighbors even better!

However I've seen a couple of people mention the above about being able to just fuck off and leave the condo. Ummmm... why can't you do that with a house? I mean... I dunno how long you all fuck off for, but last year we fucked off for 6 months and had no issues with the house. I have cameras and what not so I can monitor things remotely and we do live in a gated community so no real issues with theft etc, however I see no reason why you can't just leave a house whenever you want as you would a condo.