# The road to riches through an inexpensive first home



## Duns (Jun 4, 2015)

Hey everybody, seeing as how I live in Saskatoon, SK the housing market is still crazy high here. I am talking 300-500k for an average house. Condo's being 200-400k as well. That is without seriously dropping my standards and not living in alphabet city (basically Saskatoon's ghetto). 

I was noticing the cheapest way to live while being nearby the city is to live in a nearby small town or acreage. However, an even more attractive strategy has come to mind. I notice when I search for real estate on Kijiji there are quite a few "houses to be moved" properties for sale at local towns/ranches/lakes. I realize there is obviously a lot of infrastructure and installation costs if I was to buy a house and move it onto cheap land nearby Saskatoon. But I could save a lot of money doing so. 

-Land is 25-125k
-House is 10k-75k

What do you think?


----------



## nobleea (Oct 11, 2013)

Duns said:


> Hey everybody, seeing as how I live in Saskatoon, SK the housing market is still crazy high here. I am talking 300-500k for an average house. Condo's being 200-400k as well. That is without seriously dropping my standards and not living in alphabet city (basically Saskatoon's ghetto).
> 
> I was noticing the cheapest way to live while being nearby the city is to live in a nearby small town or acreage. However, an even more attractive strategy has come to mind. I notice when I search for real estate on Kijiji there are quite a few "houses to be moved" properties for sale at local towns/ranches/lakes. I realize there is obviously a lot of infrastructure and installation costs if I was to buy a house and move it onto cheap land nearby Saskatoon. But I could save a lot of money doing so.
> 
> ...


In general you shouldn't have to actually 'pay' for the house. Most will let you take it away for free. Figure a new basement will be 30K. Moving the house probably 10-15K. Bringing all utilities to the house, septic, driveway, etc would be a min of 50K. You'd be looking at 100K plus the land, easy. That's not including a garage. 
There is a reason why the land is so cheap. Most people say location, location, location when it comes to real estate. How much does a 50yr old house sell for in the areas where you are looking at land? What if it's less than your all in cost for all this stuff?


----------



## none (Jan 15, 2013)

If possible, rent reasonably and find a place so you can go car free and invest the difference.

That is one golden road to riches.


----------



## banjopete (Feb 4, 2014)

none said:


> If possible, rent reasonably and find a place so you can go car free and invest the difference.
> 
> That is one golden road to riches.


I second this. Walk, ride a bike, carpool, take transit, and rent. Itemize real ownership costs but don't discount the value of living in a neighbourhood where you're happy, and feel comfortable as well.


----------



## none (Jan 15, 2013)

A bit OT but one thing that I'm struggling with is moving up in the rental market. 

Following the rent = 25-30% of gross salary I can theoretically afford ~1800 a month in rent compared to 1250 or so I pay now. I can't get past the math. Should I pay an additional $550 more a month? That $6600 a year or close to 10K in pre-tax salary, or about 5 weeks of salary. I think staying where I am and taking 5 weeks a year of unpaid leave sounds A LOT better to be honest......


----------



## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

It's a good way of looking at it none. Whether you can afford it is one thing. Whether it is worth it is totally another.


----------

