[USER]

M35F35, We have 1.1M in equity in our home in the lower mainland Vancouver Canada. We have a very high cost of living in Canada, we live paycheck to paycheck.

Have 40k in savings. No investments.

Do we sell the house and move out of province or just accept our home equity can give us comfort towards retirement.

m35 makes 120k a year. f35 stay at home mom with 3 kids
3/5/7 year olds.

Mortgage 380k left on it / home value 1.45m

Mortgage $2100/m
Credit card -$0
Line of credit -$0
Both cars paid off

[John]

What are the Canadian tax consequences if you were to sell the house?

[Amanda]

you sell the house and enjoy life now. 1.1M is life changing money.

[Frank]

If you do not have an economic reason for living there, I would move. Somewhere that is more conducive to raising three children.

[Jenny]

We moved from YVR to Calgary…we built a custom brand new house & was mortgage free in 6 yrs (could’ve been way cheaper but I wanted a lot in the house).

By moving our standard of living went up…instead of spending $2500/mo on mortgage, we spend that on kids’ extracurriculars
I’m a SAHM and we have significant investments, RESPs and savings…we go abroad whenever kids aren’t competing (extracurriculars).

We buy a brand new car ever few years (paid for in cash).

I don’t regret moving at all…life is way better here than in YVR

[Rick]

Competition for 51st state against Greenland?

There are a handful of Canadian fire voices out there. Find them.

[Yuliya]

May be an unpopular opinion, but I’d stay put and dig in and stay the course. You have over 1m to your name on a single salary in your 30s in a very high cost of living place.

I’d say you won the lottery. Stay the course, then as you get closer to retirement sell the house and move somewhere with much lower cost of living.

I think you’re doing great.

You have very cheap mortgage also, so definitely stay.

[Jess]

My Vancouver friends moved to Calgary. They recently bought a beautiful, brand new freehold townhouse for $500K in a nice area.

They have 2 young kids and have more quality of life now.

They continue to work in Calgary (and I think earn more or the same as in Vancouver).

[Aura]

For me, the question would be the schools. Are the schools in your area good? Where would you move that you would have that?

Would whatever house and area you moved into have the same amenities and opportunities as you have now?

As long as your house will not decrease in value, staying put may be a better option.

You can always sell later.

[Jenn]

You didn’t mention your expenses, but sounds like you have a pretty low mortgage rate and mthly payment is not that high.

I would keep it.

[Amy]

If you live in Vancouver, Burnaby or Richmond, you don’t need a car. My relatives (3 adults and 1 child) only had one car.

My 31 year old nephew never bothered getting a driver’s license.

That’s money that you can save for RSSP. Granted both your cars are paid off, but plan on not buying another car.

Or maybe sell one of them.

[Rise]

My first reaction was $2000 for a mortgage is great! But being able to save little is not great. The problem with the HCOL areas is that if you raise your kids there, they will want to stay.

Then, you never recoup the 2 million or more your house will be worth then.

I know you can find a lovely house for $600k in lots of areas.
My suggestion: travel and see where you could possibly live on vacations the next five years.

Then, make a plan and transition there.

[Melissa]

If you like where you live, then maybe staying is best. If your home will only hold value or increase, you should be fine to afford the mortgage, right?

Or is the cost of living too high to be comfortable?

If it’s not comfortable, why not sell and buy something outright?

[Metta]

Expect you move out west to alberta or Saskatchewan; everywhere else is still a bit expensive but obviously not as expensive as Vancouver!

But we have to admit that Vancouver is nice and the schools are highly competitive

[Sebastien]

What field is the work that’s providing the income? Depending on the field it could be hard to replace outside of Vancouver.

I’d say if your life, family, and friends are all there, to stay.

[Katie]

We moved from Vancouver to the West island of Montreal for this reason. So glad we made the move, we get so much more for our money here

[Michelle]

Do you need to stay in YVR for any reason? Family, friends, work all count.

That mortgage rate is great. You’d have a hard time finding anything with that cost in a big CDN city with room for 5.

I agree with Jenn, not knowing your expenses, it’s hard to tell much.

Are you contributing to RESPs? Is there an employer pension or RRSP contribution? Anything in a TFSA?

[Author]

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