Saving for mortgage vs leaving Canada

[lily5]

@mba6411 Sure the far north has cheap homes but it's like 9 months of winter.

Seems kind of dumb making a choice of where you want to live solely on housing costs. Jobs, quality of life and community might be just as important.

Things are so fucked up now who knows what the next 10 years will bring.

 

[mba6411]

@lily5 Actually Riviere du loup & Rimouski are well balanced, season wise. As a software engineer, remote work is available from everywhere, and both of those cities provide multi-gigabit fiber network at home, while having great quality of life and communities.

If we didn't already have our dream home, I think I'd have moved to Sainte-Anne des monts

 

[jazzhands]

@lily5 It amuses me that it's considered the "far north" when it's south of the 49th parallel, meaning it's south from all of Canada west of Ontario.

It does get cold AF in the winter though

 

[annette_m30]

@onevoiceunified Also what kind of person born and raised here who hasnt left yet talks about their nw in USD

 

[klogan]

@onevoiceunified Are there jobs in that 95% of the country that can support 400-500k house?

 

[cankosker]

@klogan That's the thing. I'm not in the oil industry. I'm in software development.

High paying remote jobs are hard to find - maybe a few more years in the industry + some time to throw darts at the dart board until I can land one would help.

Save a remote job though, I feel like I'm more or less limited to large Ontario cities.

 

[resjudicata]

@cankosker As I read you’re in tech, you should seriously just find a job in the states and get your TN visa. And find a cheaper state to live until you’ve saved up enough USD to return to Canada.

 

[cankosker]

@resjudicata Yeah. Honestly sounds at minimum marginally better then trying to rough it out here

 

[jordan221]

@cankosker If I were young starting out again, I would travel.

There is a BE-NE-LUX ( Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg ) Working Holiday visa. You work up to a year.

 

[cankosker]

@jordan221 Noted! That looks like an interesting idea. Guess I'd need to rent for a year, but maybe it would be cheaper than the rent here a bit.

 

[miku]

@cankosker Go to the US and make 2-3x what you can make here and work on projects you likely won't get exposed to here. Working in the US is a big career and $ boost. I'm assuming you're in tech, if not, not sure USA is the place for you.

If you can work remote, go live in a LCOL location: Costa Rica, Argentina, Guatemala, etc... places with low daily costs living expenses like rent, food. Luxuries like cars are not even required in most places that have 10x better public transit options compared to any city in Canada. There are a few Asian locations which also have insanely daily life COL like Indonesia, Malaysia. Easy to go most of these places and live/work for a foreign remote employer with no visa needed. Will be a hell of an experience you just won't get anywhere here saving up $1k/month at best and take you 20 years to afford a house. No need to join the rat race like everyone else used to do. Those days are long gone.

 

[cankosker]

@miku Noted! Yeah, the US might be better for software engineers. I might be leaning that direction now

 

[miku]

@cankosker I did this back in 2000 and never looked back. Now moved back to Canada but still work remote for us firm.

 

[grams]

@cankosker I think moving away is the only option. Unless you're making hundreds of thousands per year consistently you really have no future in Canada. It's mathematically impossible. You need tons of money today to live. By the time young people start making any money they'll need even more than now. You can't save and invest your way into it either since prices and inflation have risen much faster than you'll ever be able to save. Sky high rent makes it impossible to save and invest too. It's a losing game. Your only options are figure out how to earn huge money per year or leave the country. Working a regular job, saving/investing, won't earn you enough money to have a future. It will just be a life of barely getting by and never being able to own anything. Basically a slave life

 

[cankosker]

@grams Yeah it seems more and more that way. I'm on the fence, but the mathematics just doesn't seem to work out here at all.

According to other comments on this thread, the math doesn't work out anywhere, I'm just screwed. But I'm willing to keep looking until I find a path forward.

Out of curiosity, what countries would you consider moving to?

 

[grams]

@cankosker The best way to have a future is being able to make money online in a high currency country and living in a cheaper currency country. You'll make average income for that country, make extra in conversion from higher to cheaper currency exchange, and benefit greatly from living in a cheaper area. For example the average income is about $500 US a month in the Philippines. You could make $3000 US a month online working for a US company and end up living like a king in the Philippines. If you stayed in North America you'd be close to homeless. Most South Asian countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, etc have low crime, good internet, beautiful views, delicious food, and actually give you a future.

 

[bbcemt]

@cankosker If you’re in software development and can work remotely, there are still hundreds of rural communities across Canada with affordable housing - no need to leave the country, get yourself some privacy instead

 

[cankosker]

@bbcemt That's true. A lot of software jobs want hybrid, but maybe when it comes time to leave, I hunt for remote jobs as hard as possible and move somewhere rural

 

[michael17771]

@cankosker Im can't tell you what to do, I got no idea, but thought I'll share my perspective. Take what you will from it.

My family and several other families who we're friends with all bought our first homes around the same time (mid 2021), things were going up super fast but not as crazy as early 2022. We all live in southern ontario in various cities circling around the GTA. Since then in these last two years half of my friends have given up against the continual rise in costs of everything and so sold their homes and went back to renting (but now they aren't much better off for it due the massive rise in rentals too). The rest of us are clenching our teeth and struggling onward.

One half of me is glad that I got in the market when I did (still not as lucky as those from 10 years ago). But the other half of me honestly wonders what is the point of it all? We pay an exorbitant sum every month toward mortgage and after utilities, car payment and food there isn't anything left to enjoy our lives with. Now and until its all paid off I am a slave to the bank. And thats if we can stay in this same house for the next 23 years. But life inevitably happens and should we have to move somewhere else we're still gonna be back to bidding on another house that is going to be much more expensive and likely a much longer amortization schedule. I don't want to be paying mortgage even after my retiring age but I fear that's where we're headed.

Like I mentioned earlier, selling the house and going back to renting doesnt make sense now either, its all gone crazy expensive. But both options leave you with no money to do anything to enjoy life with. Granted Im not a top earner but neither is the majority of us.

And please don't count on a crash. It will not happen. If it does somehow happen, don't be so sure you'll have the ability to buy since it will likely mean a terrible economic disaster has happened.

 

[cankosker]

@michael17771 Thanks for the input, it's helpful to hear the prospective. Yeah, kinda a bummer eh?