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Originally Posted by PNF

even based on the above calculationg at ~$2500/month, you're probably spending too much on home.

Do you really need a $500-600K house?

$80K is your gross? how much of that is after tax? (what is tax rate in vancouver?)

General rule of thumb is, if you spend more than 35% of your monthly gross income on house, you're over spending.

If you make 80K, and that makes your monthly gross $6666, and $2500 is at 37.5%. While that is not out of line, but a bit high IMO.

Also, what about of property tax? school tax? (dont think this was included in the $2500 calculated? Or is it included?) Also, there are misc items that you will definitely encounter when you're owning a place.

You are ahead of 95% of other people buying a house at 23 and making $80K +, I would say

1) Buy a smaller place at $400-500K, unless you are getting a great deal on a place at a GREAT location.. then stretch and get that..

2) buy a smaller property as an "Investment" property, because this way, you would be continuing to SAVE more money toward future purchase (a bigger house, investment, etc.), and while your investment property sits and grow value (hopefully). But keep in mind, at least in the US, if you buy a property and declare it as an Investment property, you will be paying additional premium on whatever rates your getting.

So, my advise is.. DONT say it is for investment and you're renting it out, since this IS your first property and you can still live at home, so people will just assume this will be your primary residence. (ok, I'm not supposed to tell you to do this).

i completely agree. 80k is quite good, but 5-600k is a lot! i think 4-500k would be more comfortable, and since you're going for a condo in richmond anyway, you could still get something quite nice at that price point.