Downsizing, moving, kid off to university. Your experiences?
 

Well, short story long. I'm looking at some big changes in the next 12-18 months. Basically the stars have all started to align as far as timing for these changes.

I've accepted a transfer to Calgary for work, starting next January. It means a nice salary increase, which in turn, and more importantly, is going to top off my best 5 years for my company pension so a nice increase in my pension once I retire in anywhere from 6-11 years (depending if I go at 30 years for a 60% pension, or keep plugging away until 35 years for 70%).

My daughter will be graduating high school next spring as well, making the timing fit really well. She'll be starting university in fall of 2019, hopefully UofA. We have always planned on downsizing out of our 3000+ sq ft house in Beaumont once she started school, and with the move down to Calgary for work my company will be taking care of relocation (real estate fees, legal, moving, etc...) next spring.

My wife works in south Edmonton, and her company has an office in Calgary as well that she can transfer to. However, as I'll be training for up to a year before full qualification (during which my position here is protected), she thinks she'd prefer to stay local while I'm training, rather than the potential of transferring and maybe having to come back should my training not go as planned or I really hate it and pull the plug myself. Also, while I'm required to sell my house pretty much right away, I'll have up to 2 years to purchase at my new posting. If I roll the dice and buy right away before I qualify, I'm on the hook to sell the new place should I be unsuccessful and have to move back.

So, we're looking at renting 2 properties for the first year, one in Calgary for myself and one in the Edmonton area for my wife (and possibly with my daughter unless she goes into residence at university). Then next year we would purchase a condo or townhouse in the Calgary area and my wife would come down.

We're just tossing around some ideas now though. Is it worth it to buy a condo in the Edmonton area, or wherever my kid ends up going to school? We'll be footing her expenses while she's in school anyways, and we would buy a 2 bedroom so my wife could live there rather than rent. The year after there would be the possibility of my daughter finding another student/friend to rent the second bedroom as a roommate. The downside is I'd be buying into the strata market...twice. Once she's out of university we would either sell or just rent it out, though selling seems the most likely scenario as I'd hate to be trying to manage a rental property from Calgary, so would have to have a company do it. While I do okay financially, I'm not independently wealthy, so buying single detached isn't really feasible seeing as though we'll be buying a more expensive place down in Calgary.

Anyways, there's my life story, lol. Not so much looking for advice, but rather want to hear your experiences, bad and good, and if this is something you may have done or considered and not done, etc...

My experience is buying a condo for the short term is not a good idea and kids who have their schooling paid for are more likely to change majors halfway through their first one.

I'm just sad I won't have anyone to talk with on the radio now :(

Kidding. Best wishes in YYC :)

Consider renting, you will keep your mobility and Calgary is great for rental now and can get great prices. Buying a condo or town home means difficulties to sell it in the future. If you are retiring in6 to 7 years, then consider where you want to live in 6 yrs. Florida maybe?

loan your kid the money. Interest free if you want to, but it should be clear that she has to pay it back at the end of her first degree/diploma, and any further education is exclusively her responsibility. Paying for it herself makes it valuable to her, and enforces the concept that there has to be a ROI/career at the end vs being a student forever because it’s easy or what she’s used to. This worked on me and most people I know. The ones who had daddy’s money, didn’t really give a crap....Some did ok but most aren’t in the profession anymore, more school because it’s easy to wake up at 11 and go to 2 classes.

Don’t leave your wife in a different city, even temporarily. That’s not how human relationships work. Only bad stuff comes from distance. Even the suggestion is a red flag. So what if she goes and comes back? Such is life as a couple. There’s the advice you didn’t want.

Rent in cowtown, together, and make a final decision here vs there at no more than 6 months. I wouldn’t suggest making a long term plan on your kids place of residence until you have a better idea of her future. Things change a lot in those years. Nothing wrong with residence or renting an apartment until you know for sure.

You’re just going to have to fly into YYC more often now, lol. There are still a few good controllers going to be left at YEG, although you may notice a slight degradation in service once I leave, ha!! The cream has to rise to the top, and I can’t afford to live in Vancouver, so YYC it is. 😂😂

Sell off as much junk as possible. Sell house here since company is paying the realtor, legal etc costs of sale. Depending on value of house, this is worth 30 -50,000 in your pocket. Most markets across Canada have come down quite a bit and many U.S. locations are still somewhat depressed. Use money to buy house where you want to retire so that you are in that market now and if it goes up lots in the next 6 years you are still good. Rent it out. Rent will easily pay for one and maybe even two Condo rents. Rent Condo in Calgary near airport. Whether you stay in Calgary or come back to Edmonton, rent till you retire and leave your capital in the market you want to move to.

Best of luck in the new job.

We obviously view things differently. That’s okay, to each their own.

Personally, I think if you don’t trust your spouse enough, or don’t trust yourself enough, to be apart for a while then THAT is the red flag. I’ve been back east for schooling before, as well as out here in EG starting this current posting 9 years ago while my wife stayed in Abbotsford as my daughter finished off her current school year, and we are still just fine. This won’t be as bad, as I’m close enough to drive home for my days off. Basically away 6 days, then home for 4, as I won’t be able to work any overtime while training.

For schooling, I agree there is the risk my daughter won’t appreciate the education, a lot of kids don’t. However, if I’m in the position to help her financially then I will do so. It’s up to me to teach her the value of the education and not to take it for granted, but I’m a graduate of the school of hard knocks myself and it was a struggle. I won’t force my kid to struggle for the sake of learning a life lesson as long as I feel she is still a good person and is learning as she goes, she is my only child and as long as I’m in a position to do so, I’ll continue to help her out and try and make her life easier. If I find she isn’t taking it seriously, or I think she isn’t learning how to cope, then I can make adjustments on the fly, but for now I know my daughter and am comfortable with her progression as a young adult.

You are correct though in your assessment of not making a decision just yet. For now we are just floating some different ideas around, and residence in the first year is an option on the table.

I am leery about jumping into the condo market, especially in the short term. That being said, I’m going to work the numbers and make a determination based on how much I’d be paying in rent or residence (thrown away money), vs. buying and potentially taking a loss, both on the possibility of the value decreasing during time of ownership as well as real estate fees if sold and other factors. Rent pricing seems absurdly high when compared to mortgage payments, even factoring in maintenance/strata fees, taxes and costs of owning. The great unknown is the potential for a special levy due to large ticket building repairs, but even that can be mitigated by doing your due diligence on past repairs, identified issues not yet repaired, and the strength of the strata’s reserves. A coworker has a couple rentals in the city, and she has used a researcher in the past, for a couple hundred bucks they delve into strata financials and all past meeting minutes rooting for any and all things pertinent to potential buyers. Seems like money well spent.

Thanks for the input. That’s actually one scenario we have discussed, and are likely to again in the next year. The only issue is I’m still currently at least 7 1/2 years until retirement, possibly more, and we really haven’t decided quite yet how that scenario will look for us. If we really don’t mind Calgary too much, we may end up staying there for half the year and just being snow birds for the balance. Other options include returning home to BC, although not returning to the Lower Mainland, so possibly either over to the Island, or into the interior somewhere. My wife’s extended family live in the interior, and she’s not sure how she feels about living too close to them, lol. Personally, I abhor renting and paying someone else’s mortgage. I know in some cases it does make sense, especially in the short term, but I will have to make that determination once our timelines are more firmly established.

As far as condo buying one big thing to consider is special assessments. If you are the owner of record when a special assessment comes along that may make that "rent paying someone else's mortgage" argument fly out the window. In your situation I wouldn't look at buying a condo with a ten foot pole. The RE market has little chance of running up at this point with rising interest rates and increasing lending rules and jobs and wages aren't likely to get out of control any time soon. Rent and bide your time until you decide on where you really want to be. Then buy a place while in a strong bargaining position with your hoarded cash and no liabilities.

I own a place so not against RE ownership in any way shape or form but that "paying someone else's mortgage" line does bug me. Its is very misleading. I will say there are plenty of owners losing money renting in places like Calgary when you consider all the costs of owning a rental. Including mortgage financing, insurance, taxes, maintenance and upgrades, special assessments. Much like gamblers, you simply don't hear about the money losing stories when looking at RE. When a person sells that rental and calculates their "gains" how many factor in ALL the money they sunk into that place while they owned it that otherwise would have been in their pocket or available for investing. Buying and selling price hardly tells the whole story.

Most assume nobody on earth would rent for less than their total costs so you can't lose. In a strong rental market that may be the way...but rental prices are set by supply and demand and market conditions (IE job market) and not what an owners expenses are. An owners loss can be a renters gain.

Same here Big Racks,
As soon as my youngest left, wife and I moved to Aus, good company assignment, good benefits, overall, couldn’t turn it down.
Just haven’t thought far enough ahead re selling our home or other residences etc.

TBark