# Would it be feasible to buy a condo in Toronto and a house up north at once?



## Earl (Apr 5, 2016)

There's an idea I've been floating around in my head and wanted to see what you smart people who live in my laptop think about it.

I currently live and work in barrie. My house is worth about 550-600k (my estimation based on what I see other houses in my hood go for) but I bought several years ago for a lot less. There is 210k remaining on the mortgage. I could make significantly more money if I worked in Toronto, especially downtown, but am unwilling to commute between barrie and toronto daily.

My idea is this: I sell my house, and buy a house in a small town up north (like bracebridge or huntsville or something) where you can buy a nice 3 bedroom house with basement and garage for 200k. I also buy a condo in downtown toronto, the smallest I can find, one of those 400 sq ft bachelor units, they seem to sell for about 350-400k downtown. I live in the condo from mon-fri while I work, and I live in my house on the weekends. Financially I don't see why I wouldn't be able to swing this, as the combined cost of the condo and house would be about equal to the house I own now. Obviously it would cost more to maintain 2 properties instead of one due to two sets of utilities, internet, insurance, etc but those extra costs would barely make a dent in the much higher salary I'd have in toronto compared to now in barrie. I'd have much more money in my pocket at the end of each year. I should also point out that my chances for promotion would be much higher in toronto than in barrie, so my future earning potential would be even greater.

What are the tax implications of doing this? I understand you can have only 1 principal residence declared, so how would this work? Also what are teh insurance implications, would it be more expensive to insure a house that was empty 4 days of the week and a condo that was empty on weekends? I'm a single guy with no wife or kids so taking care of both properties would be entirely up to me.

Am I crazy for considering this, or should I keep investigating it?


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Why not rent a small downtown apartment and bank the difference?


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## Earl (Apr 5, 2016)

I hate renting, many bad experiences. Refuse to do it even if it's cheaper.


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## Mortgage u/w (Feb 6, 2014)

Buy a bigger condo for $500k and just live downtown. Why the need for the 2 properties?


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## Earl (Apr 5, 2016)

I have hobbies that require a house with a garage and basement, eg restoring an old car and building furniture.


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## 319905 (Mar 7, 2016)

Earl said:


> I have hobbies that require a house with a garage and basement, eg restoring an old car and building furniture.


Here's your advice from a year ago ... "I was in a similar situation and what I did was moved to Barrie. Had I stayed in Toronto I would have been limited to a condo but in Barrie I could afford a house ... You could live in Barrie (or Hamilton or Kitchener or Peterborough) and commute to Toronto by Go Train ... " ... so why not do that ...


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## GreatLaker (Mar 23, 2014)

I used to have a condo in downtown Toronto and a cottage near Gravenhurst. Best case that was a 2 hour drive, and more like 3 hours in after work traffic. Bracebridge is another 20 or 30 minutes north. So Friday night you are in stop/go traffic from Toronto to at least Newmarket, and heavy traffic after that, unless you leave at 8:00 PM, in which case you don't get there until 11:00 PM. Then Sunday it's the same thing in reverse. Mega traffic unless you leave at 10:00 AM, or Monday morning at 5:00 AM. And you get to work tired and stressed. Even worse in winter.

Then at your weekend house you do chores, cut the grass, vacuum, grocery shop, and any seasonal tasks.

Plus financially it may not be a great decision. Other than GTA and GVA, real estate in Canada usually has not kept pace with stocks, so financially this will probably cost you. Additionally you have more mileage and gas for your vehicle, home and car insurance, keeping both places maintained and stocked with food and sundries.

Insurance probably not an issue. Check with your insurer, but usually vacant places need to be checked weekly or every 2 weeks. Unused for 5 days a week not usually an issue. But a place that is known to be vacant all week can become a target for break-ins and theft.

Tax can be straightforward. You can declare one place a principal residence, and the other would be taxed on capital gains when you sell. When selling you can choose the one that appreciated the most and declare it your PR. Any upgrades are considered a capital improvement, but maintenance is not. For example new shingles is maintenance and not deductible, but upgrades like a new sunroom or replacing asphalt shingles with metal is a capital improvement.

Are you crazy? IME yeah. For a cottage it was worth it because weekends were filled with boating, canoeing, kayaking, cycling, BBQing and general R&R. Maybe not so in a house in town. Continue investigating, but with a jaded eye and considering both $ and your time.

Could you rent a garage somewhere to work on your hobbies? Or commute via Go train from Barrie or some other nearby community, assuming your j*b has the flexibility to leave on the train's schedule?


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

At one time decades ago, I lived in Burlington and commuted daily to TO on the GO... and then another time, lived in Oakville and commuted daily to TO on the GO. It was actually quite highly productive to catch up on sleep or catch up on news, etc. I don't see Barrie as being any different.


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## Big Kahuna (Apr 30, 2018)

AltaRed said:


> At one time decades ago, I lived in Burlington and commuted daily to TO on the GO... and then another time, lived in Oakville and commuted daily to TO on the GO. It was actually quite highly productive to catch up on sleep or catch up on news, etc. I don't see Barrie as being any different.


It is even more enjoyable now because people live on their phones-if you are going to waste 3 hours a day on your phone it might as well be on the GO train IMO.


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

What about something like Oshawa instead? Go train to Toronto Union takes about an hour. 

I agree with GreatLaker that you will hate your life if you try to commute up to cottage country every weekend.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

GreatLaker said:


> ... Insurance probably not an issue. Check with your insurer, but usually vacant places need to be checked weekly or every 2 weeks. Unused for 5 days a week not usually an issue ...


Apparently another thing to check is what "vacant" is defined as. It seems some policies say that where the home unoccupied for 30 days or more, the insurer is no longer obliged to pay for any insured losses. That's even if someone is checking the house every second day. https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/vacant-property-alert-1.639126




GreatLaker said:


> ... Tax can be straightforward. You can declare one place a principal residence, and the other would be taxed on capital gains when you sell. When selling you can choose the one that appreciated the most and declare it your PR ...


Where one plans to make a decision at the time of sale, I would assume one would want property assessments for when the second property was bought. Otherwise, one leaves oneself open to CRA disagreeing for the taxable property.


Cheers


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## can_84 (Jul 2, 2011)

Hers is advice from a guy that has lived in Toronto for many years.

Life here is very expensive, to live an average life you would need to make about $100K in toronto. You should consider and factor in the cost of living in toronto vs. barrie to see what your actual salary gain is?

If it turns out that Toronto would pay you significantly more I would take the advice of others above. Buy a house in Pickering, Ajax.. The commute to Union station ins 25 minutes on the go train which runs every 15 minutes 7 days a week. The houses in these to areas are very reasonable. 

One final thought, no one in Toronto has time because they are travelling or trying to survive lol.. so just be ready to lower your quality of life.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Big Kahuna said:


> It is even more enjoyable now because people live on their phones-if you are going to waste 3 hours a day on your phone it might as well be on the GO train IMO.


And for going home when your brain is tired, just read a book on your Kindle or Kobo app.


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## lonewolf :) (Sep 13, 2016)

Earl said:


> .
> 
> What are the tax implications of doing this? I understand you can have only 1 principal residence declared, so how would this work? Also what are teh insurance implications, would it be more expensive to insure a house that was empty 4 days of the week and a condo that was empty on weekends? I'm a single guy with no wife or kids so taking care of both properties would be entirely up to me.
> 
> Am I crazy for considering this, or should I keep investigating it?


 I would be concerned with a possible empty house tax


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## lonewolf :) (Sep 13, 2016)

Earl said:


> I have hobbies that require a house with a garage and basement, eg restoring an old car and building furniture.


 I would consider new hobby, rent micro apartment, sell all autos use public transportation. Make some big money with out spending a lot then move to a less expensive place to live off investments


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