r3probate said:
Jesus fuck, Eomer. Condo fees around here aren"t even half of that. Must be a fancy place.
It"s a 100 year old masonry building, it positively leaks out heat in the winter so the natural gas bills are ridiculous (hot water fancoils). And as I said, the fees cover heat, water, sewer etc, only other utility is cable and electricity. The building requires a ton of upkeep and maintenance, and our board is meticulous about patching drywall, sprucing the hallways up with artwork, putting wood decking on the common area patio and all that sort of good stuff.
We just had a reserve fund study done, and it looks like fees may have to go up because the cost of replacement for a lot of shit in the building were adjusted upwards, throwing our old plan out the window.
By comparison, my previous condo was an 850 square foot typical wood framed place, and the fees were around $200 covering the same stuff. So on a square footage basis, it"s not that outlandish. Cost of living in Canada using "absolute" comparisons to the US will always be quite a bit higher, 20-40% typically.
TheCutlery said:
Eomer also makes upper 6 figures. Hard to feel sorry for him
Wasn"t asking for anyone to feel sorry for me, just saying if you think rent or condo fees are bad where you are, there"s a good chance someone living in Western Canada has it much, much worse. A decent two bedroom apartment in Edmonton is easily 1k plus, and that would put you in the suburbs somewhere, nowhere central or trendy.
"Starter" homes around here begin at 250-300k, and again that"s out in the boondocks. You can"t buy a house that isn"t an absolute teardown for much less than 200k.