[Fisherman30]

December Update:

Hopefully, with the travel restrictions that keep changing, and me being a pilot, I won't be demoted/laid off again. This is the first month with my 55% raise since before COVID when I was laid off, and recalled to work to a demoted position. I'm just back to my full pre-covid pay starting this month after 18 months of significantly reduced income. Fingers crossed. I haven't started putting anything in the sinking funds yet. I'm just waiting to get more debt paid off, and also to see what happens with my job. Thankfully, this month, we will make about $5000 over and above all of our expenses, so that allows me to pay back pretty much everything I took off of the line of credit to pay for the furnace. Assuming I don't get demoted/laid off before March, I should be able to make enough money to pay off all of our debt except the SUV loan and mortgages.

Assets:
House - $270k
Condo - $155k
LRRSP - $20 578
RRSP - $13 506
Non-Registered - $1102
FRESP - $3490
Wife RRSP - $6622
Chequing - $192
Work Savings Plan - $7174

Total Assets - $477 664

Liabilities:
House Mortgage - $210 512
Condo Mortgage - $120 329
Student LOC - $6208
SUV Loan - $10 155
BMO LOC - $8000
Wife Student Loan - $2680
Credit Card - $2756

Total Liabilities - $360 640

Net Worth - $117 024

 

[latebuyer]

Hopefully omicron is a temporary blip and you won't be laid off. Just keep on focusing on your goals and adjust if necessary.

 

[Fisherman30]

Hopefully omicron is a temporary blip and you won't be laid off. Just keep on focusing on your goals and adjust if necessary.

Thank you! They just announced yesterday they're calling back more laid off pilots in April, so it must not be looking too bad down the road, thankfully.

 

[Fisherman30]

January update:

Busted my butt last month and managed to earn $13 700 (before tax, and not including my Wife's income or rent from the condo). Combined, we pulled in about $20 000 gross. I won't earn anywhere close to that this month, because our daycare decided to close this entire week, and all of next week, due to having no staff. They are all isolating. This means I have no chance to be able to pick up OT on my days off. On the bright side, I get priceless time spent with my 2 year old Daughter, which to me is worth more than money. I'm making enough now, without doing OT, that we aren't hurting anyways. I did spend a solid chunk of money this month on things that we had been putting off for the last couple of years. I spent about $1000 on a new wardrobe, and a new fireplace/TV stand. For what I got, $1000 was a good deal....Still though, $1000 is $1000. I also paid off the remainder of my Wife's student loan all in one shot a few days ago. It wasn't the highest interest rate loan. It's just a thing that has been weighing on my Wife for a number of years now, and I wanted her to feel relieved of the debt. Whenever the daycare reopens, I plan to do as much OT as possible, and hopefully pay off my line of credit, and student line of credit in a matter of a few months. Then, I will tackle the SUV loan. It's only 0.9% interest, and mathematically, I would be further ahead to invest the money I would use to pay off the SUV. It's a mental thing though. I just want to be debt free ASAP. Once all of our debt is paid off, combined with the fact that my workplace is matching 15% of my gross income into savings, and the fact that I will put all of the money we were spending on debt repayment into savings, I think we should accumulate wealth very quickly. We want to move into a bigger house at some point in the near future, but it has to be done in a very calculated manor, and not in a way that will compromise our long term financial wellbeing. The housing market is so high right now, that the only way I can see us moving into a bigger house is by saving a massive down-payment. I can't stomach the prospect of having $400 000+ in mortgage debt associated with just my principle residence. At some point, I will update the value of my house for net worth calculation accuracy, but for now, I'll leave it how it is, for easier tracking on how I'm doing from a savings/debt repayment perspective. Houses in my area that are in worse shape than mine are now going for $50k more than I'm calling the value of mine. Once my debt is all paid off, I'll update this number.

Assets:
House - $270k
Condo - $155k
LRRSP - $20 940
RRSP - $13 907
Non-Registered - $1525
FRESP - $3820
Wife RRSP - $6920
Chequing/Savings/Sinking Funds - $2657
Work Savings Plan - $9100

Total Assets - $483 869

Liabilities:
House Mortgage - $209 730
Condo Mortgage - $119 862
Student LOC - $6159
SUV Loan - $9697
BMO LOC - $7900
Credit Card - $3818

Total Liabilities - $357 166

Net Worth - $126 703

 

[Fisherman30]

Just renewed the mortgage on my condo today, and got a 5-year variable closed mortgage at Prime - 1.4%. Which at my bank works out to 1.2%. Pretty happy with that. The penalty for paying off early (no matter how early) is 3 months interest, plus a $200 admin fee. Which is a lot more bearable than the penalty if I went with a fixed mortgage. It's also a big change from my fixed rate mortgage that just ended, where my interest rate was 2.94%. It's a difference of $100/month. This combined with the gradual phasing out of the education property tax in Manitoba should put me very close to cashflow positive, if not slightly in the green. If my tenants move out in the near future, I might renovate the unit myself, and try to make it more desirable for someone looking to buy. I'm relatively handy with flooring, painting, trim work etc. So I think I could make the place look great for about $5-6000.

 

[latebuyer]

Just renewed the mortgage on my condo today, and got a 5-year variable closed mortgage at Prime - 1.4%. Which at my bank works out to 1.2%. Pretty happy with that. The penalty for paying off early (no matter how early) is 3 months interest, plus a $200 admin fee. Which is a lot more bearable than the penalty if I went with a fixed mortgage. It's also a big change from my fixed rate mortgage that just ended, where my interest rate was 2.94%. It's a difference of $100/month. This combined with the gradual phasing out of the education property tax in Manitoba should put me very close to cashflow positive, if not slightly in the green. If my tenants move out in the near future, I might renovate the unit myself, and try to make it more desirable for someone looking to buy. I'm relatively handy with flooring, painting, trim work etc. So I think I could make the place look great for about $5-6000.

Unfortunately if analysts are right interest rates may be going up as soon as next week. Hopefully you will still save some money and the penalty is good.

 

[Fisherman30]

Well, I'm finally listing the condo for sale. The realtor figures I should get about $170k for it. I've looked at all of the comparable sales over the last year, and he is correct in his assessment. Not great, considering that's what I paid for it 8 years ago. Unfortunately for me, I bought it at the absolute peak of the market in 2013, and subsequently, condo fees increased dramatically, and the new condominium act in Manitoba made Condos less desirable to own. In any case, I will be rid of it, and I should be left with enough cash after the sale to pay off all of my remaining debt, except the house mortgage. Once the condo is sold, and my debt is paid off, I will easily be able to start doubling my mortgage payments on the house every month, while also saving money at a good rate. As lousy as the situation is with not being able to get more for the condo, I am looking forward to the future.

 

[Fisherman30]

Looking for some input on this. My Wife and I are planning to have another kid soon, and we are looking to get a slightly bigger home with more property just outside the city, and somewhere not on a busy street like we are now. I'm always worried about our toddler opening the front door, and being right on a busy street. Our house apparently has increased in value quite substantially since we bought it 6.5 years ago, with it most likely being able to sell for about $330 000 right now. We currently owe $208 000 on the mortgage. We are thinking about possibly using a bridge loan from the bank to cover a 20% down-payment on a newer, bigger house, and then using the proceeds of our sale to pay off the bridge loan. Our mortgage is currently locked in at 1.75% until Summer, 2024, and the bank said they could port the mortgage, and allow me to continue with a fairly low interest rate. $650 000 is the absolute maximum I would want to spend, and for that, I would get quite a large property, multi-level home with tonnes of space. After $130 000 down, that would leave me with a $520 000 mortgage, which is a lot. At the same time, I'm making enough now that with 2 days of overtime, I can make up the difference between my current mortgage, and a $520 000 mortgage. If I lock in a mortgage rate for the next 4 months, that gives me enough time to continue paying off all of my remaining non-mortgage debt before doing this transaction. We wanted to move to Southern Ontario to be closer to family, but housing costs are just too high for what we would be getting for the price.

Am I crazy?

 

[afulldeck]

So I've been a WFH guy for 20 years. At one point, I lived outside the city in a calm, quiet neighborhood street. However, 1 block over was a major county road. Speeds near 80Km. One day while on a conference call I look out my window down to our street (My office was on the second floor) to see a toddler running down the street towards the major county road. I yelled "holy ****" without putting the phone on mute. Then ran down stair and down the road just catching this toddler when he was about 10 feet from that county road. I then went door to door for find the parents of this child. About 10 homes down our street, a very young mom came to the front door to answer it. When she saw her child she turned white as a sheet, nearly fainted and panicked while saying thanks for returning him. Interesting time.

 

[latebuyer]

I’m wondering if overtime is something you’d want to continue doing indefinitely, particularly when you have a new baby. Something to consider if it’s integral to your plan. Also will that work continue to be available?

 

[Fisherman30]

I’m wondering if overtime is something you’d want to continue doing indefinitely, particularly when you have a new baby. Something to consider if it’s integral to your plan. Also will that work continue to be available?

Well, I wouldn't be reliant on overtime. Even without it, I would still have about $1500/month leftover, even after contributing 15% of my gross pay to my savings plan. As far as the work being available - I think it should be. The company survived covid, which is a good sign I think.

 

[latebuyer]

You also have to consider interest rates are going up and that means mortgage rates are going up, variable or fixed. You need to factor that in your plan as you won’t be paying what you have now.

 

[Fisherman30]

You also have to consider interest rates are going up and that means mortgage rates are going up, variable or fixed. You need to factor that in your plan as you won’t be paying what you have now.

Yes, that's a good point. I currently have 1.75% fixed on my current mortgage until sometime in 2024, and they said they would port this with newer rates. I'm hoping I would be able to get a fixed term for another 5 years at a relatively low rate, but that's something I'm definitely going to be watching. I'm thinking if I get pre-approved this week, then I should hopefully be able to lock in a fairly low rate for 5 years.

 

[Fisherman30]

February Update:

Things are going fairly well at the moment. We're hoping to sell the condo and the house at approximately the same time. We might sell the house first, and move into a new house before selling the condo. My logic being that the real estate market will probably heat up even more later in the Spring/early Summer, and buying a bigger house now could allow us to get a better deal than in the Summer. Hopefully around June, I can get top dollar for the condo. My house seems to be worth probably $50k more than what I'm valuing it at here, but that's just speculation. I'll update the values once it actually sells.

Assets:
House - $270k
Condo - $155k
LRRSP - $21 035
RRSP - 14 224
Non-Registered - $1930
FRESP - $4095
Wife RRSP - $7200
Chequing/Savings/Sinking Funds - $3231
Work Savings Plan - $11 252

Total Assets - $487 967

Liabilities:
House Mortgage - $208 947
Condo Mortgage - $119 394
Student LOC - $6109
SUV Loan - $9237
BMO LOC - $7800
Credit Card - $5368

Total Liabilities - $356 855

Net Worth - $131 112

 

[Fisherman30]

Interested to hear others' thoughts on this. I'm having an internal debate about buying a bigger house. We don't live in the absolute best of areas, no driveway, back lane access. A teenager was randomly thrown onto the busy street into a transport going 50 km/h(he survived thankfully, but was obviously seriously injured) walking home from school. I'm not extremely comfortable raising my kids at this particular location. That's the non-tangible value of moving. Being in a nicer, safer neighbourhood with lots of room for kids to play etc. is appealing to me. On the financial side of it: I bought my house for $265 000. I owe $208 000 on it. I could have it paid off in about 7 years once my other debt is paid down (which should be in a few months), and I would be debt/mortgage free at 39 years old. If I spend $650 000 on a house now, and have a $520 000 mortgage (assuming I can get enough from the sale of the condo and house to make a 20% downpayment), at 2.5% interest (I don't currently have that, just assuming what my interest rate would be approximately), my payments would be $2329/month, not including property tax. And that's taking 25 years to pay it off. Also, if I just made those minimum payments, I would pay $698 826, in addition to the $130 000 downpayment. So the house would really cost me about $829 000. With that said, in 25 years, that house would probably be worth a heck of a lot more than $829 000. If I were to stay in my current house, pay off the mortgage in 7 more years, and invest the $2329/month I would have been paying for the bigger house for the remaining 18 years at even a 5% average return, I would have $813 000 saved, in addition to the value of the house I already have. Another thought is that if I pay off my house in 7 years, and max out my TFSA with my work savings plan, I could use the funds from my TFSA, and fully paid off house to make a $400-$500k downpayment on a nicer house in about 7 years, and then I could get away with a much smaller mortgage. In another thread, I was talking about moving to Calgary. We were even considering closer to Toronto. My options for bases to work out of are either Toronto or Calgary. In either of those cases, my Wife would have to quit working for a period of time, while she finds a new teaching job. She likes where she works in Winnipeg, has steady income, so we're thinking now, we will just stay in Winnipeg, and I will continue commuting to Calgary for work.

 

[latebuyer]

Isn’t there a middle ground where you could buy a house in a safer area but not spend so much?

 

[Fisherman30]

Isn’t there a middle ground where you could buy a house in a safer area but not spend so much?

We might make an offer on a place in a town just outside the city. It's listed for $525k. Houses in this particular town on average are selling for about 5% over asking. Within Winnipeg is a totally different story. I saw one house in Winnipeg listed for $600k that sold for $732k. This town outside the city would allow me to have a nice big property, 3 car garage, lots of trees, lower property taxes, while still having municipal water and sewage. Also very close to good schools, and all kinds of other amenities. Close to some provincial parks I enjoy spending time at as well. 10 minutes to the place I enjoy cross country skiing.

 

[banjopete]

It's very subjective of course but feeling safe and secure in your own house especially when considering kids and the surrounding community is worth the costs. I'd assume you'd have lots of house and location options as you move up in price and staying within communities you'd like to be in sounds important to you. Personally I'd work hard to find places where you can reduce the amount of driving needed, it gives kids more freedom if they can get themselves around, and that early sense of autonomy plus frees you and your wife up a bit. Being as careful as you are with finances (like most on here really) means you'll likely achieve whatever the targets are in the end and you still have time on your side. Good luck.

 

[Fisherman30]

Well, housing prices keep going up by the week, so getting a bigger house seems out of reach. We're not going to go through the whole ordeal of buying, selling and moving just to have the same size house in a better area. If we're going to move, it's going to have to be to a much bigger house in a nice area. So I think what we will do is sell our rental property in June as planned, pay off all of our debt, and then see where things are at.

 

[Fisherman30]

So instead of spending a whole bunch of money buying a bigger house, we're considering finishing our basement really nice for $40k or so, using a HELOC. Thoughts?