[WeArEtHeFuTuRe]

Any maritimers here besides me ???

I'm from Nova Scotia Amherst to be spacific

[_maranatha]

I used to live in Wolfville, NS but I am currently in Charlottetown, PE.

[WeArEtHeFuTuRe]

hey i lived there when i was little

[_maranatha]

Originally Posted by WeArEtHeFuTuRe

hey i lived there when i was little

Wolfville or Charlottetown?

[WeArEtHeFuTuRe]

Wolfville my dad worked at Acadia University when i was younger

[OneHope]

I don't live there but I have always had a desire too. I've always loved travelling out East.

[Grasshopper359]

I did a few courses in Gagetown. The only cities that I saw while I was there were Fredericton and Moncton, though.

[Aquaman]

My home towns Yarmouth, I'm living in Truro getting a B.Sc.

[WeArEtHeFuTuRe]

Amherst is on the border of NB and NS so its like 45 min from moncton and 45min-hour from truro

[Aquaman]

Hey, did anyone in Amherst get the norwalk virus?

[segoviamuse]

; ) nb ...born in halifax ns though

[Symbiotic]

born in Sydney, raised in Fredericton...hoping to move back sometime....

[Grasshopper359]

Originally Posted by Symbiotic

born in Sydney, raised in Fredericton...hoping to move back sometime....

Okay, China, this is what you do: buy a house in Alberta. Live in that house for a couple years. The way Alberta's economy is going, your house value is only going to go up for the next few years. Build up a slush fund while you're at it. Then, sell your house, and move back East. Not only will you be able to buy a near-mansion, but you'll have a decent amount of money left over to add to your slush fund. There was a guy who was on my QL3 course who was posted to Wainwright just about a year-and-a-half ago from Gagetown, and he's already bought himself a nice house back in Cape Breton. He lived in his house in Wainwright for a year, then flipped it, and made enough money on it to buy a place back in NS. Now, if you really want to play it smart, you buy a house back East, then rent it out while you're still working in Alberta. So the tenants are paying the mortgage on the house, and you're building up more of a slush fund to, say, buy another house in Alberta, which you can also rent out. Again, the tenants are paying the mortgage, and now when you move, you have two houses in Alberta to sell, of which, one is a rental property, so you know you'll make a decent profit. Or, you could just move back East, and rent both Alberta houses out, so after, say, five years, both mortgages are paid off, and you're making money on your property holdings. Your two rental properties in Alberta would easily pay your bills back East, so you could basically be financially independent at 30.

[Symbiotic]

i'm sorry kyle, but it ain't like that at all here.....the rest of Canada seems to think everyone in Alberta is loaded.....we may be making decent money, but the cost of living is outrageous....the average cost of a house here is about $400,000.....i pay over $1000/month for a tiny, crappy 700sq. ft. apartment.....on top of that there is gas, insurance, utilities, food, and the list goes on.....i don't make oodles of money, and neither does my wife.....my wife will be going to school this fall, so we will have only one income....you mind showing me how to pay for a house?....my brother-in-law bought a $180,000 house(now worth $380,000) for which he pays about $1200/month, plus utilities....that's gas, water, electric, sewage, internet.....so by the time that's done you're up at around $1500+.....then you have to buy groceries, and buy gas, and insurance.....there is no way in hell we can afford a house here....we will barely be able to afford renting for the next two years

the economy is not growing anymore...in fact, houses have been losing value and will continue to do so(but not at a rate fast enough for us to be able to buy anytime soon)....so to buy a house now(even if we could afford one) would only result in us losing money....

so, i've got a great idea for everyone in canada who thinks Alberta is the land of fluffy bunnies; WAKE UP!....there is a price for living here, and it is indeed very steep...


*and yes, you did hit a sore spot.

[Grasshopper359]

Originally Posted by Symbiotic

we may be making decent money, but the cost of living is outrageous....

I know. On my QL5 course, half the guys on the course were from Edmonton. And we don't make great money either. You can make the high cost of living work for you, but you have to be smart about it. You buy a house that you can afford (do the math for yourself, because you don't want some greedy bank approving you for a sub-prime mortgage), then rent out the basement, which will pay a chunk of your mortgage. The money you have left over at the end of each month is put aside for another place where real estate is cheaper. Cape Breton, for example, where a $2500 down payment will get you a really decent 3 bedroom home. Then, you move into the place back East and rent out the place in Alberta. If the value goes down, so what? As long as you have tenants, they're paying the mortgage, and once it's paid off, the rent is profit. That's exactly what my buddy did. A lot of guys in the Army do that, especially out West, because we don't make a lot of money compared to our civilian counterparts (which is why 1 Service Battalion is having horrible retention problems, but that's another story). You can definitely make money out there (or anywhere else - I have a friend at 5 Field Ambulance who did the same thing here), but you have to be smart about it and keep your nose to the ground. It's just a thought.