Numeracy in Real Estate Advertising

I found an ad in a real estate magazine that read : “ Own from 699/mo. It Only Looks Like Rent” Wow! I thought my mortgage was good!

I am always looking at Real Estate, as I always think I could be convinced to sell and move house if the price was right. This ad is for a new condo development in Queensborough, New Westminster.

I wonder what interest rate they are basing this on? In fact, what price are they basing this on? It's not mentioned in the ad. I'll have a look at the small print to see if it becomes any clearer.
(man, the small print was really small)

Here's what it says about the financials :
based on 15% down payment
35 yr mortgage term
mortgage payment subsidy to secure1.79% financing for first 3 years

I still don't know the actual price of the place! I'll check out the website [http://www.viahomes.ca/ ]
ON the website it states that pricing starts from $242,800

Does this jive with their claims of $699 per month? I can't find my financial calculator to do a mortgage calculation, so I will have to find one of those online mortgage calculators. I'll use the one at [http://www.fcac-acfc.gc.ca/iTools-iOutils/MortgageCalculator-eng.aspx]

I'll base the calculation on a price of $242,800 with a 15% down payment (242800 x .15 = 36,420) with an interest rate of 1.79% based on 35 yr term.

That means the mortgaged amount would be 206,380 (including only the basic price of the condo, not gst and related costs). According to the calculator the monthly payments would be $660.94, less than what they have advertised. I will assume that that the difference is due to the associated costs that I did not take into account.

This seems all good, but what stills seems odd is their use of the term 'mortgage payment subsidy'.

If I were in the market to buy one of these condos, there are questions I would ask such as:
What does 'mortgage payment subsidy' mean? How do I qualify for this subsidy? If I don't qualify for this subsidy, what rate would I qualify for? How much would my monthly payments be then?

In my reality, I actually have a portable mortgage on the place I own with a really good rate. If I decided to sell my place and port the mortgage, how much much would my payments be? Currently I have a 20 year term at 1.6%. Also, if I sold my place and bought at Via, I would have more than 20% for the down payment, Estimating proceeds from a sale of my condo, I would probably have around 35%.

If I use those figures, what kind of payments would result? I'll try it. Payments would be about $768/month.

That is (980-786) 194 per month less than I pay right now for my condo in Vancouver, should I be looking at this development more seriously?

At first glance, perhaps, but there is always the utility function to consider and the positive UF of slightly lower mortgage payments at this Queensborough condo does not outweigh the UF of aspects of my Vancouver condo. Some of the things that increase the UF of living in Vancouver are:
-living close to transit and being able to maintain only one car for the family,
-living close to my work ( no long commutes!),
-the convenience of having schools, a grocery store, my son's daycare, and a music school within a block of where I live

Looking at all those factors, I realize that I might have a few more dollars in my pocket (or maybe not if we have to get another car to get to work) if we moved to Queensborough, but I probably would not be happy there.

That said, this place might be a good opportunity for someone with different Utility Functions than me, it's not too bad a deal...