Foo - Going to look at a place.

So, I'm going to look at a condo that's up for rent later today. The rent seems suspiciously low, and I forgot to ask if there are condo fees as well. I haven't encountered a condo for rent where fees are additional, though. What do you guys think?

Think?

I share my brain cell with three other people. You'll need to wait until I can secure it.

I thought the landlord as owner of the place usually took care of association fees and charged the rent accordingly to cover it. That's the way it worked in the last condo I rented.

I thought the landlord as owner of the place usually took care of association fees and charged the rent accordingly to cover it. That's the way it worked in the last condo I rented.

That's what I thought, too, but this place is way nicer than the current place I'm in, and only $100 more, hence the suspicion. Friends of friends recently moved out (I'm assuming this is their old place we're looking at) and they were paying three hundred dollars more than the listed rent. I do not know if that included utilities, though - information was kind of vague.

Definitely Pie.

Seek the wise counsel of pc2.

Depends on what the lease says. Most include the condo association fees with the rent. You'll just have to ask the landlord.

I know, but I won't see it for another HOUR. Apparently I'm mentally about 5 years old and can't wait that long. That's why I'm asking you guys...because I need instant gratification. :D (there's a grin smiley here but my browser is glitching on me)

phantomcow2 seems like a nice dude, but I wouldn't take his advice on renting stuff. I need a bit more space than a living room...

Coffeecake: This is your future landlord speaking. There are extra fees with the monthly condo rent. These can be waived if you perform some "services" for me.

it's probably illegal for the owner to rent - low rent will keep tenants from complaining?

Lower than market rents may indicate impending foreclosure, serious non-obvious conditions, or even fraud ("rental" by non-owner, or multiple simultaneous rentals of the same unit). Better if you can verify with a management company.

I'm assuming you're living in Saskatoon??? If so, and you're under 30yrs old, you have to spend at least one year in Green Gables. It's kind of a right-of-passage thing. This was the first apartment my wife and I lived in. It's a complete dive, but we had a blast. Here's a google street view map link:

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=8th+street+saskatoon,+sk&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=31.311745,92.724609&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=8+St+E,+Saskatoon,+Division+No.+11,+Saskatchewan&ll=52.117064,-106.629122&spn=0,0.005659&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=52.116119,-106.629296&panoid=Y8UAFQIsDqlJbzqmdqBvhg&cbp=12,183.81,,0,5

I'm assuming you're living in Saskatoon??? If so, and you're under 30yrs old, you have to spend at least one year in Green Gables. It's kind of a right-of-passage thing. This was the first apartment my wife and I lived in. It's a complete dive, but we had a blast. Here's a google street view map link:

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=8th+street+saskatoon,+sk&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=31.311745,92.724609&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=8+St+E,+Saskatoon,+Division+No.+11,+Saskatchewan&ll=52.117064,-106.629122&spn=0,0.005659&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=52.116119,-106.629296&panoid=Y8UAFQIsDqlJbzqmdqBvhg&cbp=12,183.81,,0,5

Is there a shortcut around the rite of passage? The building makes me have a bad feeling in my tummy.

Is there a shortcut around the rite of passage? The building makes me have a bad feeling in my tummy.

There are no shortcuts in life. Don't worry, that bad feeling in your tummy can quickly be cured by the copious amounts of beer that are consumed in that building. Did you see the pool out front? It's quite nice if you can get past the lack of regular cleaning.

Sooooo......We went and looked at it. And it's even MORE of a screaming deal - the $1100 quoted rent includes utilities. No condo fees. As soon as he said it, the SO was all "Heyooo" but I was like "Slow your roll....there's something else." As indeed there was - the owners of the condo are renting it out until their darling 16-year-old is ready for higher learning. Two years, max.

Now, it's a pretty sweet loft. Less than four years old, 20' ceilings, polished concrete floors. And absolutely no storage. We'd have to spend most of the money we would save by moving there on wardrobes/shelving to store all our stuff. I do like loft living. But I do not like outfitting a space and then having to move in 24 months. It's just not worth it. *sigh* Guess I gotta stare at this awful green carpet for a while longer.

I would retain the services of PhantomCow2 to negotiate your lease, so that you can sleep on an ironing board in the crawl space, pay the rent in Euros, have to ladel your stool out of the loo and take it to a public restroom to flush and only communicate via walkie talkie with your guests, you must only call on odd numbered days of even numbered weeks.

Small houses are going so cheap nowadays. Buy your own!!

Since I moved out of my parents house I haven't lived at any one place for any longer than two years...

Ask phantomcow2 how that low rent works out,hoohaa!

Small houses are going so cheap nowadays. Buy your own!!

Don't make me burst into tears. We can get approved for a mortgage of $200,000. That will get me a tiny one bedroom condo here or two trailers. Average price of a sub-1000 sq foot bungalow here is $290,000...and that's in the neighbourhoods where you have a slightly smaller chance of being stabbed. I have resigned myself to the fact that wherever I am able to purchase a house in this godforsaken town will also necessitate the purchase of a) bear spray and/or b) a taser. Even the ****ty duplexes down the street are going for over 600 K each.

I voted for pie. Mmmmm cherry. Or lemon meringue. Maybe pumpkin.

I sounds like a good deal on the condo even if it's only 2 years. You could save up some extra money in that time and maybe in 2 years the housing market will implode on itself and prices will be better. And by better I mean not $650,000 for a bungalow that isn't cozy (it's cramped), not a fixer upper (code for: the roof is gone and you need a bucket to flush), and includes mold (cuz no one really has green shag walls), and the quaint artistic neighbourhood is actually the middle ground for a turf war between several rival gangs. Yeah, I'm talking to you Scarborough.

I would still take the condo. Who knows if the plans for the 16-year-old will fall through or not.

My father-in-law rents his buildings cheap. Just now we were showing a great house in a gorgeous $350,000+ 'hood and the rent is a whopping $800 a month.

Average price of a sub-1000 sq foot bungalow here is $290,000...and that's in the neighbourhoods where you have a slightly smaller chance of being stabbed.

Oh yeah, in that case, rent. And I wont rub it in by mentioning the selling price of 2200sqft new construction is going for around here these days. Even if I don't, I know someone will pull out the "but then you'd live in that hell hole known as Texas" line. Guess I've all but set them up for it now...

Small houses are going so cheap nowadays. Buy your own!!
This. I bought a small house without a garage for $67,500 and a smaller condo for $79,000. The deals can be found so you will not need to qualify for much anymore.

My 2100 sq. foot 3 br/2bath/3 living areas/office/wetbar/2 car garage, corner lot, Texas Hell Hole was bought for well under $200K. I live in an older, established neighborhood with rolling hills, 100 year old oaks and pecans, creeks, waterfall, park, country club, fitness center, community theater, grocercy store and restaurants and churches all within walking distance. Proabably have around 90K in equity in 10 years of ownership.

I sounds like a good deal on the condo even if it's only 2 years. You could save up some extra money in that time and maybe in 2 years the housing market will implode on itself and prices will be better.

I hear what you're saying, and if I was in university or fresh out, I would move in no problem. I had a lot less stuff and could do it in two carloads, plus a truck.

As it is, moving is a weeklong process for us and our lease isn't up till August. (Also, if you hadn't gathered, I can be a head case under stress.) Worst case scenario is we pay for two places for two months, but we'd still save 3,000 (before moving costs) in the long run. Unfortunately most of that $3k would be spent on storage solutions. As it is, I'm getting older, and the SO is 7 years older than me, and we wouldn't be comfortable with the 24 month deadline hanging over our heads. It was a pretty hard decision, guys.

Sure, the kid could not go to school, but I imagine if your parents bought you a $350,000 condo you're going to university whether you want to or not.

We're banking on the housing market dropping a bit more. Affordability is terrible here - though nowhere near as bad as Vancouver. A bungalow here takes up around 41% of your pre-tax household income (and we're definitely below average income here.) It's a great province to live in if you're in the oil or mining industries but for those of us who aren't, we just stand on the sidelines and watch the housing market go insane. Rental vacancy is around 1% here - so many ****ty apartment buildings were converted into condos and sold for $250K. Basically if you owned a house before 2006, the "value" of it has doubled in the last four years. They say there's no bubble here, but I have my doubts.

Oh, I should also add, we're pretty cautious with our finances and want to put at least 20% down on a house.

OK, hold up, it gets weirder.

Just talked to the agent again after I sent him a polite email turning him down. He informed me that he had spoken to the owners, and they actually own two lofts in the building. The larger, renovated one - which we didn't see, and the agent didn't know about - is going to the daughter. The loft we looked at doesn't have a time limit. They've bought it on speculation and are just renting it to make money.

Call me paranoid, but something is rotten in the state of Denmark - at that price, they're not making very much money, and they could easily be asking several hundred more. Also, it's odd that the agent didn't have all the information up front from the owners.

Call me paranoid, but something is rotten in the state of Denmark - at that price, they're not making very much money, and they could easily be asking several hundred more. Also, it's odd that the agent didn't have all the information up front from the owners.
Nah, don't be paranoid--just miscommunication among very busy people. My father-in-law is a full-time landlord and this stuff is so normal for so many various reasons that it would make your head spin off and roll for miles. For what it's worth, my FIL never has vacancies and all his tenants are very long term because they like him so much.

ETA, my FIL in law could probably easily double the rent on everything he owns, but for some reason he just simply doesn't.