Hey, we got new tenants!

I am super happy to announce that Brian and I were able to find new tenants for the rental condo.  They just officially signed the rental agreement and handed over their deposit yesterday morning.  I was a bit concerned when our previous tenants gave notice but looks like everything is going to work out...

Our tenants gave notice – Now what?

This month, Brian and I received the news that our tenants (of almost three years!) were giving notice to move out at the end of April.  We kind of thought that this might happen.  We knew they eventually wanted a bigger place and they both make more than enough money to do so.  But it still sucks to get...

Weighing our mortgage options

It’ll probably be a while before Brian and I start looking into buying our next place, but I can’t help but start thinking about what we might do next.  In our area, there are quite a few cute city townhomes that are 2-3 stories high with 2 bedrooms.  They’re quite spacious compared to...

How do I get a down payment? (…in Vancouver?!)

Housing costs in Vancouver are infamously high.  I hear a lot of whining and moaning, especially from certain groups of people (*ahem*) who are used to living in big houses and driving fancy cars.  One girl I used to work with was studying to become a lawyer.  Her family arrived in Canada, with lots of...

Owning and refinancing a rental property in the US

While working in academia in the past, I have had the chance to work with  people from many different parts of the world.  At my previous position  as a software developer at a university, I had the opportunity to meet a young graduate student from Arizona.  She was appalled at the cost and quality of...

Hey, we bought another condo!

Regular readers might recall that Brian and I were in the condo buying market.  We had been saving up money for a while and with current interest rates and prices, we wanted to add a second condo to our burgeoning collection.  We did announce it on one of our weekly updates, but I never wrote a blog about...