If you’ve worked with me at any point, you’ve heard me say buying is about “Price, location and quality. Â Pick 2.” Â This RBC article supports what I’ve been saying. Â People should be considering their quality of life and a big part of that formula is how much time you spend travelling to and from work and to do all of your errands or the time it takes to get your kids to their activities and school. Â There is value in being able to cut that travel time down and at the same time reduce the actual cost of the mode of travel.
I once had a client couple that opted to get rid of their car in lieu of taking public transportation to go where they needed to go and, in addition, elected to take taxis almost (not going too crazy) whenever they needed or wanted to outside of major rush hours. Â They did so and kept careful tabs on the costs. Â As time went on, they found it less and less inconvenient not to have a car. Â They took taxis home from the grocery stores, nights out and during inclement weather. Â Then, at the end of one year, they tallied up the results and found that without any real pain, they saved a serious amount of money when compared to the cost of a car, maintenance, insurance, parking and gas.
Buy within the GTA, not necessarily prime downtown, and think about giving up at least one car. According to this article, doing so translates to a savings of  $200,000 over a 25-year period or the length of a traditional mortgage. When provided with this information, 60 per cent of respondents said they would choose to live in an area with easy access to rapid transit — even if they can only afford a smaller home there.
“Most homebuyers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) want to live in neighbourhoods where they are less dependent on a car, even if that means opting for a smaller home, according to a new survey from RBC and the Pembina Institute done this May (2014).” (direct quote)
Here’s a link to the article.