List price only matters if you’re paying cash though. Mortgage interest rates are significantly lower in Taiwan, making the monthly payment lower in TW. Sure, rates may come down in Canada (or Australia) over the next few years but who knows.
You mean the wood structure that would go down like jenga with a minor earthquake?
Odds of finding snow in Australia on June 25th are pretty good:
Australian Alps , mountain mass, a segment of the Great Dividing Range (Eastern Uplands), occupying the southeasternmost corner of Australia, in eastern Victoria and southeastern New South Wales. In a more local sense, the term denotes the ranges on the states’ border that form the divide between the watersheds of the Murray River system, flowing west, and the Snowy and other streams flowing southeastward directly to the Pacific. The name Alps is applied there not because of special structural features but for the general characteristics of massiveness and of being snow-clad for five to six months each year.
Then, there’s always Tasmania:
Seeing as Tasmania is the most southerly state in Australia, it shouldn’t come as any great surprise to learn that it is the best place for snow-based activities come the winter. June, July and August make up the Australian winter. As you can see, it is the inverse of the northern hemisphere. So what can you expect in terms of snow conditions?
Firstly, there is a distinction between places where the snow settles and places where downhill skiing and snowboarding are realistic proposals. Tasmania has two of the latter which stand out as a cut above the rest: the resorts of Ben Lomond and Mount Mawson. When it comes to Hobart, Tasmania’s most populous town, don’t expect more than a light dusting during the coldest months. That said, a little more than an hour and a half by car will get you to Ben Lomond.
Those are outrageous prices for what you get. Plus it’s all strata. Which means quite limited freedom. Pay for many services. And have basically a rental fee, hundreds cdn in strata fees. It’s a bad situation there! Goldstream/colwood/Langford was always the shit hole of Victoria which was the redneck cheap area. It’s now changed, obviously, because 1 bwdredoom condos are 500k plus strata and all the other bullshit.
But, ya. There is always more expensive. The value is not there though. That, at least, is hard to dispute.
Find a place you own feesimple, and the land in Victoria proper…it gets stooped expensive right quick.
Although 12 million nt for a 1 or 2 bed condo you pay 10s of thousands (nt) on monthly is already bonkers. Especially without things like mrt, train, bus system is expensive and solo and so the list goes.
Granted, they are nicer looking.
Yip, although strata fees can cover a lot. My family’s place is easily over 1 million, and the strata fees are at least 500CDN a month. But it does cover heating, grounds maintenance, etc.
Strata is like home owners association? I think they look after homes better in the states and Canada so the price is justified. For example they’d do roof tile replacements, painting every few years for cracked paint, landscaping, power washing of windows, etc.
In Taiwan the management fees are low because they let the place rot and the place looks old after 5 years of no maintenance, except basic things like light bulb replacement, unless if you live in a high end place with higher management fees. My parent’s townhouse in the states still looks new after 20 years of good maintenance.
In a well run strata, it is indeed justified. It will cover roofs, building envelope issues, etc. However, if there is not enough money in the strata fund, they do have the power to issue one-off payments. For example, if there are moisture issues, and it needs expensive repairs to the building envelope, each tenant may be required to pay a one-off fee that can range in number. Doesn’t have very often, but it can happen.
Yeah they’re called HOA special assessments in the states, I went through one and I think it’s better than avoiding the issue. In Taiwan usually they’d ignore building issues like molding, moisture, window cracks, since no one wants to pay a high management fee here.
Yip, which is why some buildings look like aged bathroom interiors after only a decade. I think it is very important to have a well run and financially responsible strata. I don’t live in one anymore (parents do though–oceanfront on the Island), but have a house from the 1660s that requires TLC. I’ve pumped about 50,000 USD in renovations into it during the past two years.
Canada or Australia? Australia without a doubt. Higher salaries, better governance, and most important, better Sheilas/weather. In the Gold Coast, these babes used to save us from traffic fines back in the 1980s (I lived in Queensland for a year for school).
The freedom, not the cost, was his point. There are regularly stories in the news about strata fights over stupid shit. If you have a reaasonable strata and/or you fall in line, OK. But have a problem or make a small change with an unreasonable council, get ready for a fight!
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Wonder where these strata were with leaky condo? Everyone had to pay tens of thousands. I think a great deal of strata condo type places you are still stuck sharing the cost of major repairs unless insurance covers it. A number of friends and relatives in Victoria have been stu k with huge bills for such things. I think a lot of them only really cover maintenance and such. My mom can’t install an air conditioner because it would cost about 6000cdn for engineer report and instalation of a 1.5" hole in the wall to put the tube through. She wasn’t allowed to put it through the window and have the fan part of the ac on her balcony. Etc.
It works for some. I would just be hard pressed to call it a good value 
extremely expensive for what you get.
Leaky condos were the result of very poor building legislation in the 1980s and 1990s in Canada (very prevalent in BC) that resulted with moisture being leaked into building envelopes. I think strata owners were covered to 25,000, but as you suggest, on the hook after that. The Feds did fuck all to help the Provinces.
Some young people I knew in BC got caught in the leaky condo debacle. The repair costs exceeded what they could pay. They ended up simply walking away (with I presume the bank taking ownership of that unit). Brutal!
Guy
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What’s the alternative? No one pays into strata and the player is un-maintained?
Btw my Taiwanese friend said that Taiwan management fees are optional. You don’t have to pay if you think they are doing a bad job. I wonder how many landlords in a condo unit do this. It will put a stop to most maintenance efforts like condo window cleaning and roof retiling. I don’t think there are laws here that allow management to take action like home forfeiture if you don’t pay management fees. Worst they can do is disable your elevator fob access and you have to take the stairs, and perhaps refuse to sign for registered mail.
That explains a lot. 
Ya, that was a common thing. The ones I knew paid out of pocket. Between 35,000 and 70,000. Plus their strata fees which at that time were about half what rent would cost.
Gotta pay to play. Part of the reason when I moved here I stayed. I could save money easily.
That’s not “paying to play”—that’s gross negligence in the building of those housing units!
Agree however that is far easier to save money here in Taiwan. We may not be among the highest earners globally speaking but we can still squirrel away some coins . . . 
Guy
I meant strata, and general cost of living. Not leaky condo, sorry.
For me, leaky condo is just one example of why strata sucks. But any number of reasons, it’s just expensive to pay for others. But everyone has that right. I just can’t imagine paying essentially part rent on top of mortgage and still not owning the thing you are paying for outright.
The dominant view in Taiwan: Strata schmata who needs anything to be cleaned or fixed. lol
Guy