Buy a C$270,000 Montreal apartment or keep renting with high building fees?

[small_quill]

After adding likely ownership and eventual selling costs, I’m questioning whether the equity argument is enough to justify buying. The Montreal apartment is around C$270,000, while a comparable rental still costs noticeably less each month once mortgage interest, property tax, maintenance and association dues are considered.

I may relocate in five to seven years. For me, the decision now seems to turn on the building rather than on a general rent-versus-buy calculation: strong reserves and well-documented planned work could make buying reasonable, while weak reserves or rising fees would favour keeping the rental.

What single item in the association records would carry the most weight for you? I’m also concerned about resale liquidity if the apartment has high dues or needs more owner involvement than expected.

 

[amber_chalk]

With a five-to-seven-year horizon, I’d lean toward renting unless ownership offers something important that the rental does not. Don’t compare rent with the full mortgage payment, because principal becomes equity, but do count interest, tax, dues, maintenance, insurance, transaction costs at both ends and the return forgone on your down payment. High dues become especially concerning if the building’s reserves are still weak.

 

[kai_march]

What do the dues actually include, and have you seen information about the building’s reserves and planned work? A high fee covering heating and substantial maintenance is different from a high fee that still leaves owners exposed to major projects. I’d also want to know your likely down payment and how disruptive a move would be if the apartment took longer than expected to resell.

 

[amber_chalk]

I agree those details matter, but I wouldn’t assume a well-funded building automatically makes this purchase sensible. Buyers also react to the monthly fee, so high dues can narrow the resale pool even when they are justified. Insurance costs and energy use can also change the carrying-cost comparison. For a short ownership period, resale liquidity may matter more than projected equity on paper.

 

[kai_march]

A simple way to test it is to model three cases over five and seven years: flat apartment value, a modest rise, and a modest fall. Add buying and selling expenses, possible fee increases, maintenance inside the unit and the down payment’s opportunity cost. Then compare your ending position with renting and saving the monthly difference. If buying only wins in the optimistic case, that tells you a lot.

 

[yuki.river]

Be careful with the fallback idea of keeping it as a rental after moving. Tenant demand does not remove vacancy risk, association restrictions, repairs or the management workload from another city. Run that scenario using realistic rent for a comparable unit, then subtract every ownership cost rather than assuming the tenant will cover the mortgage.

 

[yuki.river]

One more practical step: visit the building with maintenance intensity in mind. Look beyond the apartment itself at shared mechanical systems, exterior condition and any work already being discussed. Ask for the available financial and meeting records, then have the purchase terms and local implications reviewed by appropriate Montreal professionals. If the records are unclear, I’d treat that uncertainty as a cost rather than filling the gap with optimistic assumptions.