Local moving companies in our city have been busy this past year with the increase in house prices.
Many homeowners who rent to students have decided to quit the landlord role and sell their inventory.
What’s interesting is that while chatting to parents at our son’s school, all but one has decided on moving.
When I asked them why they wanted to sell their 2800sq ft home, they told us they wanted a home with a pool.
Fair enough, but in my mind, I thought there was no way I’d sell just because I had no pool.
Unfortunately, you can’t fight people’s reasoning when the moving bug grabs their attention.
Over the past ten years, Mrs. CBB and I have gone back and forth about moving to a home with a more significant property.
We have in-depth conversations about moving forward during our nightly walk around the neighbourhood.
What’s interesting is that we look at houses and point out what we like and don’t like about them.
However, are we letting our wants get in the way of our needs?
We had to ask ourselves this question, and the decision was easy.
We had narrowed it down to five fundamentals of why we are staying put.
Today, I want to briefly discuss our reasons for not moving and putting our house on the market.
Moving To A New House Wants vs. Needs
In 2009 we rented a room to get ahead with our savings and ease responsibility.
Since I was in school and Mrs. CBB was working and child-free, it was an easy decision to make.
I spent most of my days researching the Canadian housing market, mainly where we live.
Nonetheless, that might sound boring, but one of the smartest financial moves we’ve made in Canada.
With the market crash in 2008-2009, we made our move as homes for sale were saturating the market.
Although our investments took a nose-dive, we felt confident that this was our opportunity to become homeowners.
Their jaw drops when we tell our new neighbours how much we bought our house for in 2009.
Their reactions were the same as ours when we found out how much the original owners paid for houses in our area.
It’s not uncommon as a first reaction, although it’s essential to consider time and market increases.
Moving House Won’t Make You Rich
No housing market is relative in pricing when moving from one house to the next, but not everyone does.
While at our son’s soccer practice, Mrs. CBB overheard two men in their 30s chatting about the one million dollar home.
The conversation revolved around how one of the men now owned a million-dollar house as if that made him rich.
Unfortunately, with the ups and downs of the housing market, what a house can sell for is only a number on paper.
Again, this is another reason a net worth number is only an estimate of financial health.
Moving Up, Moving Down or Moving On
Years ago, we included the value of our home in our net worth update and still do.
We haven’t moved the price because it doesn’t matter. After all, we need somewhere to live.
If we were to divorce the market value and what the house would sell for is another story.
Whether renting, buying a home or buying out, decisions about housing are essential.
The point is that the money will often become tied up in a place needed to live unless you tap into equity.
Taking out a home equity line of credit is a consideration, although not one either of us would take.
Although we are not getting divorced, it’s worth discussing the topic together.
One financial adviser says she’s done financial planning for separating couples who can’t afford to move out to begin with, so both parties remain in the home. Others end up in tiny condos with no room for the kids
Toronto’s hot housing market is making divorce even messier — here’s how splitting couples can cope
Keep in mind with a messy divorce, and all conversations can take a jump out the window.
My Ex-Girlfriend Moving On Earned Me Money
Luckily, I bought my ex out of our home as she was moving on, and I cashed in big by moving to Canada over two years.
I renovated to update the 600 sq ft house in the UK and sold it for top dollar, which has not moved in 13 years.
There was a time years ago when my old house was on the market but never sold.
Using this as a positive example isn’t the best; however, it’s the truth about the housing market.
What a house was worth yesterday turns overnight into a positive or a negative based on the market.
Moving to another country where my money went further helped increase our net worth but was a unique situation.
Reasons Why We Have No Plans On Moving
There are many reasons why we’ve decided to stay put in our family home and not sell.
We’ve had many discussions about the pros and cons of moving, especially during this massive spike in house prices.
Over the past year, I’ve had more conversations about buying and selling houses and affordability.
How many people bought massively overpriced homes? I don’t know the answer, but I guess quite a few.
Related: Relocating Moving To A Lower Cost Of Living
Also, landlords are evicting tenants to sell their rentals to cash in on the craziness.
For those people hunting for a rental, the pricing in our Ontario city is outrageous.
Homeowners leasing basement apartments are asking thousands of dollars for one or two-bedroom rentals.
Finding a room to rent is just as ludicrous, with some near $1000 or more each month.
Moving To Affordable Housing Is Difficult
With the pandemic closing up, most of the Canadian economy is losing jobs and businesses; it truly is a nightmare.
Unfortunately, Canadians with a spare room or finished basement may rent a room if money is tight.
Another thing to look out for is rental scams on the news costing unsuspecting Canadians big bucks.
Moving is certainly not something we plan to jump into, at least not until our son finishes high school.
Related: A wave of buyer’s remorse is washing over London’s cooling real estate market.
Staying Out Of The Real Estate Selling And Moving Game
Below are the reasons we plan to stay in our 2500 sq mortgage-free ft home.
- Assisting our autistic son until he is ready to move out and for the rest of our lives.
- House prices are astronomical, although slightly dropping to insane.
- Our housing wants do not outweigh our needs.
- Debt-Freedom is better than having a mortgage to pay.
- The biggest reason is the decision to travel and live life before we die.
Let me explain these below so you get a bit of the picture from our perspective.
Assisting Our Autistic Son
Living in the city was a decision we had to consider since our son’s diagnosis was a few months ago.
Currently, we live six minutes walking to his school, which has been a blessing for our family.
We didn’t consider the need for a school when moving into our home until Mrs. CBB got pregnant.
It has made our life that much easier since Mrs. CBB or I can walk up to the school if needed.
Trust me; there have been times over the past 4 years that he’s needed something or had a medical appointment.
With the high school not too far up the road from the public school, it made sense for us to stay put.
Our son will be able to bike to high school and drive when he gets his Ontario driver’s licence.
Depending on where he studies after high school, living in a college and university city may have benefits.
By then, we hope he will have the confidence to be alone. However, we can’t predict the future.
Until then, we plan to be around for our son as long as he needs us or until we kick the bucket.
I’m just being honest here.
Massive Increase In Housing Prices
With the increase in house prices, it makes no sense to sell and move into a slightly bigger house.
End of story.
Related: Canada is hooked on real estate and needs a detox
Moving Wants vs Needs
Our current home has everything we need apart from an inground pool, a more oversized lot and a walk-out basement.
Other than renovating to update the inside of the house and landscaping the front and back, we are happy here.
Over the years, we have been saving our money to renovate top to bottom, including the basement.
As we are getting older, I don’t want to be moving and renovating for the rest of my life.
During conversations, we realized we didn’t need a pool; we wanted a pool and a walk-out basement with an oversized lot.
We cannot justify another mortgage for those three reasons; besides, we have friends with pools.
Haha! It’s like loving your neighbour’s pet but not wanting to own one.
That’s how we feel about debt.
Mortgage Freedom Trumps Moving
With too many homeowners struggling because they are house poor or jobless, it’s a risk we’re unwilling to take.
As the breadwinner in the family, it would put more pressure on me to have a mortgage again.
No job is ever secure, although having an area of expertise helps to gain easy employment.
For example, our friend is working towards her Personal Support Worker (PSW) certification.
Although it’s only a step toward becoming a registered nurse, the PSW is in high demand.
With health changes to Mrs. CBB since we bought this home and now our son being diagnosed with Autism, the decision was easy.
Living Our Lives By Retiring Early
If you’re in your 40s as we are, you may have noticed the obituaries more than you ever have.
People die before they retire, whether a colleague, friend, family member or neighbour.
Both Mrs. CBB and I decided that I would retire at 55 so we could enjoy retirement.
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CBB Net Worth For The Preceding 12 Months
Scroll close to the bottom if you already know how to calculate your net worth to see the breakdown of our May 2022 net worth.
Net Worth Increases And Decreases
The chart above reflects our net worth increases and decreases throughout 2021-2022.
The past 12 months of our net worth have been a roller coaster.
From May 2021, our net worth has increased and decreased monthly.
As of January 2022, our net worth was stable, but as you can see, starting in January 2022, it has been up and down.
For May 2022, we’ve recovered a bit of our April losses, but we’ve still got a long way to go.
We consider that our savings have decreased due to renovations for 2022.
Let’s hope the pattern doesn’t follow suit with a drop in June; however, there’s not much we can do.
Drop me your comments below:
Discussion: Are you worried about your investments, and have you made any changes?
How To Calculate Your Net Worth
Net worth adds up your assets (what you own) and then removes your liabilities (what you owe), giving you a net worth number.
We like calculating our monthly net worth to know if we are still on track.
Some people calculate it yearly or quarterly, but it’s up to you and how informed you want to stay.
Net Worth is only an estimate, and not everyone uses the same type of figures to tally it up.
Determining Net Worth
Net worth = Assets – Liabilities
Calculate your net worth with our Free Money saving Tool Net worth Calculator (Canadian Budget Binder.
Net Worth Losses And Gains 2022
Brief Update:
Although we had a significant drop in our net worth in April, there was a slight increase in May of $8498.73.
In May, our Pensions, RRSP’s and TFSAs dipped by $19,868.46 and increased by $19,974.14.
Something to keep in mind is that we also contributed to our investments in May to push the increase.
As mentioned, our main bathroom is under renovation, and I’ve been sourcing materials. Spending money on renovations is the main reason for our cash drop.
At this time, we are riding waves like many Canadians, although I’m hesitant to use my RRSP room.
I have around $5000 in RRSP room, but I am holding back, waiting for the world to explode.
Honestly, my gut feeling is holding me back.
Have any of you had second thoughts about increasing your investment deposits?
Mr.CBB
Canadian Budget Binder Net Worth Updates 2022
Click the links below to read our net worth updates for 2022.
- January net worth update 2022
- February net worth update 2022
- March net worth update 2022
- April net worth update 2022
The following net worth report will be in July when we look at our June 2022 net worth figures.
Feel free to comment below.
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The post Moving And Selling Our House Is Finalized: May 2022 Net Worth appeared first on Canadian Budget Binder.