My father gave me lots of good advice over the years. I wish he was still around to give me more.
The advice he never gave me that I wish he had, though, was to buy real estate. Any real estate.
I moved out of the family home for good at 27 (kind of embarrassing back then, but not a big deal now) and spent the next nine years renting a small apartment after I moved to another city to work. It was a nice, comfortable place that I remember cost $500 a month. I'm not going to multiple 500 by 108 months but that was a lot of money spent on rent.
At the time, where I was living I could have gotten a small detached home for well under 100,000. I could have rented out a room and proceeded to go to town on the principle of my mortgage.
Oh well.
Calgary, of course is a much different situation. The price of even an apartment condo can be scary for a first-time buyer here and with the new mortgage rules that begin Oct. 17, it's even scarier. We are all just trying to keep the wolves from the door right now, so who can spare anything to save for a purchase so big?
If you are living at home and not paying rent or are paying very little, give yourself a rent increase and hide it somewhere that pays you interest. Or you could ask your parents for a loan and to also co-sign for you on the mortgage and get out on your own right now. If they really want the house to themselves and are able to help financially, I'm guessing they will.
If you are already on your own, you may have the same problem I had back in my small apartment days in that I was making so little saving was difficult. Knowing what I now know, one less night out a month could have have given me some easy extra cash. One more night watching the Blue Jays game at home instead of at the bar.
Is real estate a priority for you? Start by saving anything you can and buy as soon as you can so nine years doesn't pass and you've nothing to show for it.
That's my advice to you.
PS - I just did the math. I spent $54,000 on rent those nine years. That can't be right.
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