Wait until the market catches up with the rest of canada.
The 350,000$- 450,000$ home in montreal seems expensive until you compare it to similar city proximity homes in t.o or vancouver going for 700,000$+ ..
some will say its in relation to the salarys etc.. but unless you are in a high paying job, things are pretty much the same (except taxes are a bit less anywhere outside of quebec..not property taxes however, just sales tax and salary tax)
Condos also might seem sweet, but chances are you will barely break even upon resale..not to mention the condo fees which after 10 years could add up to 30-50 thousand dollars thrown away into thin air never to be recouped.
Plus someone recently told me that the additon of taxes (property, water, school etc) are relatively the same in a condo vs. A house.. thats why the city promotes condo developments so much.. they get taxes x the amount of units (6, 8, 10, 14, 20 etc) on the same square footage that can host only a few houses, its a no brainer.
So smart money is a duplex, triplex, home near the city., you can pretty much only gain.
And with all the new condos popping up left and right, older condos will just become harder and harder to sell.. and there is no shortage of new condo projects in sight.