We have a fair amount student loans, pay a massive amount to daycare, live in a tiny 1-bedroom apartment, drive a 9 year old civic and work low-level healthcare administrative jobs.

Mid-500s and you have a tiny bit of breathing room, but with any cost overruns it could easily be purchasing at market value.One important thing, if you see other homes in the area with bars on the windows, it's a sign that you're in a war zone unless it's a gentrified area where only a few houses have kept it.

They live in a tiny place that may need some TLC but they have more free time (shorter commute = more free time). 

This could be a tiny added bit of value added to a sale or rental since they know exactly what primers and paints were used with order numbers, paint colors, primer names, store locations etc... to get more paint.  

When I look on loopnet.com, my thoughts are "wow, what's happening in these tiny towns?!" 

- plus more if "wetland testing" is required (apparently the back of the lot borders a tiny strip labelled wetland on the GIS map) .

Room rental prices SKYROCKETED this summer (we're talking 600-700/month for a room in tiny Belleville) as there is just simply not enough housing for them.

There are a lot of moving parts to corporations and LLC's, and you only need to miss one teeny tiny detail and YER SCREWED.

The money is not doing anything for us (interest rate is so tiny).

On one hand the population keeps growing, limited land (at least that being released by the government to build on), tiny country land-size-wise, a well educated population, and significant foreign money also purchasing homes as well.