Comment by brailsafe | Hacker News Reader

Comment by brailsafe | Hacker News Reader

In some sense, I'd love to be able to hang onto my dad's record collection, and bike collection, not so much his magazine collection, when he goes, but even though it's comparatively small, I know I'll have to pick a subset of favorites and find a way to get rid of the rest, and thankfully he's still got a few decades.

Collecting stuff feels like a remnant of gen x, but in my family probably comes from my dad's greatest gen parents, and the idea of having even a modest amount of extra storage space for my own crap (like an extra coat) is becoming more and more distant, at least in my city where it seems the current cost of living space is $1k/sq ft (CAD). I'd choose the location over the stuff any day, but it seems a bit silly how dramatically cost escalates, as in a hundred thousand more just to have some space for full-size sofa and a bedroom in some cases. Won't even get any land for that price, just imaginary land in the sky; for a townhouse or something I'd need to increase my hypothetical budget by $500k, which are some expensive records!

Friend of mine commented that he could afford a grand piano now, but not the extra floor area of house which would be considerably more.

And this is having a real corrosive effect! When so much of the economy goes to rent, there's nothing left for buying consumer goods. Or starting businesses. People talk about not making things in the West due to high wages, but high property prices may be an even bigger effect.

Ya, both of those points have been crossing my mind a lot lately. To spme extent I'm sure a lot of people are spending that money on random trips or consumables since there's such a gulf between buying even a very high end sports car or live-in van and a basic home.

I also don't think there's much of a concept of buying a starter condo that's significantly discounted but could be fixed up. Sure, you can redo the walls maybe and the finishes, but if the building had serious structural problems you're screwed, asbestos you're screwed, bad roof, no plumbing accomodation for in-suite laundry etc etc

> at least in my city where it seems the current cost of living space is $1k/sq ft (CAD).

Even in Canada I don't think rent is this high :) ... Curious what you meant, or was this just hyperbole?

Likey buying - 800k for a 800sqft - sounds about right for major Canadian metros like Toronto/Vancouver

Yep, that's right. Translates to rent one way or another.

Ya I was just kind of ruminating on future prospects and should have specified to buy, but no part was hyperbole. Translated to rent (which is apparently decreasing slightly as of late) it works out to about $3-5/sq ft per month, or like $1700-2200 for a studio and $2.7k-3500 for a 2 bed, probably looking at upwards of $4k for anything with land, all depending on factors much like buying. In smaller isolated cities, and far flung suburbs, it's less but not by as much as you'd think, they're all catching up.

It feels insane that in our next place, we'll likely be spending around $24k a year for a space with no bedroom, probably in someone's basement again, which is around what my dad currently earns after taxes, but it's a bit up to luck. I almost don't want to think about it, so much anxiety.

Sad state of things really, along with the economy. Unless you already make great money, inherented it, locked something in ages ago, or just prefer to live in the deep boonies, you're kind of screwed.

Ah I see, I was only thinking of rent, not purchase price.

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