Thanks for the advice I guess I should give a bit more information
I would actually have roughly 40,000 cash after purchasing the home - 10,000 I would expect to put towards unexpected fees, the other 30,000 is my emergency fund I don't want to dip into, but could if needed.
Here comes a face punch... Our retirement funds are not 100% topped off... between my wife and I we have roughly 175,000 put away (we are in our upper 20's) there is probably room for another 10 - 15 K of contributions, I will find those final numbers out today.
a 450,000 dollar house here definitely does NOT get you a pool or anything fancy at all, 450,000 is a very plane jane house most likely does not even come with a garage.
MY wife and I are expecting our first child in about 10 days now. There is room to have 1 child in this condo, but if we plan on having a second (which we do) there is no way to get a toddler and an infant in here. The neighbourhood we live in we love! and we want to stay in it, there is about 50 lots left, and we somewhat feel a push to get the ball rolling.
Yes I understand we can buy a house used like 90% of the population and I have no problem buying a used house. The issue is 90% of the people buy these house, finish the basements, landscape the yard and then ask 550 - 600 for the starter home... Thats out of my budget...
So let me pose a new question,
I have about 60,000 cash rotting in my bank account...
I am holding a much larger amount of cash then normal because we are about to start mat leave in a few days, and we want some additional cash to see how the budget goes after a few months.
I have debated what to do with the money... I could yes top up our retirement accounts, or I could put 27,000 down on my current mortgage (max allowed)
My mortgage is 2.6% interest (low I know) but If I put the money down on my mortgage then in 3-4 years when I definitely need to move atleast I can use that money towards a new house.
The area of town I live in, sees housing prices gaining year after year, where as my condo is worth about 10 K less then I paid.
In 2-3 years they will have completed 150 new suites in a very similar building to mine 2 blocks away, Im going to take a wild guess that all of these new suites on the market is not going to help the value of my condo.
So sounds like almost everyone is against buying a new house...
Should I start heavily working towards paying off my mortgage, so in 3-4 years I have a lot more equity which will allow me to purchase a home (maybe even with a garage!) PS we live in canada where its -40 in the winter and your car won't start... so a garage would be nice!
Or do I top up my retirement accounts then worry about the mortgage?