What do you mean by "the market is still hot in TO"? Are you saying the house prices are high? I understand you may be a recent immigrant (correct me if I'm wrong) so you may not have studied the market trends. If you are looking to buy a house, you may want to consider NOW if you have the resources. Interest rates are low and house prices are relatively low/slow...that's for the over-inflated market as a result of the recession. If you are looking for houses in Toronto to drop, you are wasting your time. Toronto and Vancouver...those are places you'd find the most overpriced houses in Canada...similar to NY. It's all about supply and demand...and in TO, the demand is steady. If you are not looking outside Toronto, you may want to take a peak at the surburbs....good surburbs though; commuting might be an issue but it's not as bad as Lagos or a Friday evening in Atlanta. This is one issue you'd come to realise in Canada...everything is alot more expensive when you compare with our neighbours in the US. The good thing with the property market in Canada though is that the average value of your property will increase (more equity over the years) compared to some US cities. On the other hand, my sincere advice is if you do not have constant income, just keep renting. It's very easy to fall into the mortgage "trap"...inasmuch as I'd say it's a VERY good investment, the rule of thumb is to ensure that at most 25% of your income is towards your (family) mortgage. Remember, apart from paying your mortgage, you have utilities and property taxes (make sure you know how much taxes you are going to be paying as your property may be assessed every year, and the taxes will definitely go up) which must be paid. On the other hand, if you have enough disposable cash to buy a house, cash down, I'd say put about 60%-70% down and invest the rest in something else. Just my 2 cents which must be taken with a huge bag of salt.
BTW, whereabouts Toronto are you?
