Walk with a Swagger

Our experience buying a condo.

Originally written in April 2016.
Edited and refined in March 2019, with knowledge and experience over almost three years in our condo.

Our Context:

Janice and I raised our three children in a large 5 bedroom, 2 car garage home just outside of Halifax. We lived on a quiet street with great neighbours and nearby friends.

We worked hard to keep our property and home well maintained and updated. Over the past decade we had replaced the furnace, landscaping, and roof shingles. We had renovated the kitchen, master ensuite and main bathrooms. Some of these investments were necessary, while others could be considered cosmetic upgrades.

Beyond the normal amount of families moving in and out due to job transfers etc., some of the homes in our neighbourhood had started to transition from original owners to new younger families. It was nice seeing parents with strollers in our neighbourhood.

As our three children made their way through university, we began to consider our future. We loved our home and the neighbourhood, but knew that we would soon be only two people in a large suburban home. We planned on travelling more and being more mobile in general.

Maintaining and proactively updating your home is expensive. Those in the market to purchase a home have very high expectations. Higher "updated” sensitivity exists especially in the kitchen, bathrooms, flooring, windows, and roof shingles. Further, we knew that current and future homebuyers would have lots of choice. Putting ourselves in their shoes, would we buy new or older construction? Our home, while beautiful in our eyes, was over 25 years old.

Both Janice and I have experience with family members holding on to their homes well beyond their ability to maintain and proactively update them. Later in life, people are typically financially and or physically less able to properly maintain their homes. The result being, homes sell for considerably less than owners expected to sell them for.

Our Approach:

We began discussing the concept of downsizing almost two years before we purchased a condo. There was no panic, we were in our early fifties, healthy, and relatively financially stable. This, we felt, was the exact right time for us to begin planning, rather than being in a situation where were in some sort of "back to the wall" situation.

Some may argue the above logic. Many friends shared their vision of having room for grandchildren to visit, gardening, space, privacy, etc. It is a very personal situation and we respect everyone's right to chart their own path.

We envisioned preparing our home for sale and ideally timing the sale with moving into our new home. We began to research townhouses and condominiums in the Halifax area. On many Sundays we would visit open houses to get a feel for what was available.

We used viewpoint.ca to both look at potential townhouses or condominiums to buy, set alerts on specific properties to know when the sales status changed, as well as gather intelligence on the likely value of our current home.

We engaged a realtor to assess the value of our home. We used the same realtor to sell and help us purchase a condo. They went to work and recommended we have work with a home staging professional. We did, and it was worth it.

Some Lessons learned:

Selling Price | Pricing and selling our home was a lesson in supply and demand economics. In 2016, the Halifax area was a buyers’ market. Homes were being sold for less than asking price. New home construction seemed more popular than older homes. Ultimately our home was worth what someone was willing to pay for it. We accepted an offer that was less than $5,000 than an offer we entertained a few months before.

Neighbours commented that the buyers got an amazing deal. It would be natural for neighbours to be concerned that homes in the area are taking months to sell and are selling for lower than they might expect.

Rent vs. Buy | We considered rent vs. buy. Financial logic suggests, renting an apartment/condo is a better move.

In our case, we settled on buying because we found the right price value AND right location for us. We were able to buy a place we loved and which would be our home potentially for the next 25 years+. Looking back this was the right decision for us.

Financing | We worked with our bank (actually ended up working with the branch manager rather than the mortgage specialist in this case) to plan for a scenario where we had a credible offer on our home and would want to close quickly on our condo. 

We could not afford own two homes at the same time. Inappropriate to get into our personal details, but the trick for us was to; establish a large line of credit secured by our existing home, and obtain a pre-approved mortgage. We used these instruments to successfully finance the selling costs of our current and purchase of our future home.

Condo Fees | When we were considering a condominium, I was sceptical about Condo Fees. It was difficult to grasp the concept of paying $X00/month for ever.

Owning our own home, I felt, enabled us to build equity in our home not send cash to some black hole condo fee scenario. What I failed at the time to consider, is the amount of money we were spending every year to operate and maintain our home including: water, home heating fuel (4,000 sq.ft. is costly to heat) and system maintenance (replaced the furnace in 2012 for $7,500) roof maintenance (replaced the roof shingles in 2014 $14,500) landscaping maintenance (replaced front step stonework 2013 $2,700), snow removal (remember the winter of 2015), windows (estimated to cost over $25,000), home insurance, cost of running 2 vehicles, etc.

Condo fees should be less costly than maintaining the typical free hold home, primarily because the cost of maintenance is shared across all of the condo owners. Further, money from the condo fees is proactively set aside for maintenance, emergencies, and longer term repair/replacement of systems.

Age | Buying a condo is not an indication you are old or nearing retirement, it is a lifestyle choice. While there are many 55+ neighbours, there are many 30, 40 something’s also. The neighbourhood we now live in is vibrant and diverse.

Stuff | We all collect way too much stuff and a large home hides it well. 

Even though we rarely use much of the stuff, we struggled with how we could live in a condo which had less than half the space?

The classic 70's 80's Canadian family of 4 or 5, 3 bedroom suburban home was around 1250 sq.ft. How did we get to a place that “needs” 3000+ sq.ft. for 3 to 4 people?

We needed to purge. Take a hard objective look at the stuff we had but never actually used.

There seems to be an oversupply of used furniture. Exploring Kijiji one finds no end of dining room and bedroom sets, family room furniture, large screen TVs, etc. It's not uncommon for people to want to pay half of asking price and ask for you to deliver.

In our case we ensured items found homes with family, sold some, then gave other items to the furniture bank. Smaller items were delivered to Value Village. We tried our best not to let items go to the landfill.

Neighbours | Living in a condo, similar to a neighbourhood, is much more pleasant when you get along with folks. There are actually more opportunities to run in to neighbours and meet people because you are travelling through common entrances, walking the dog on similar paths, etc.

Overnight Guests | With our large suburban home we had many family and friends visit for the weekend. We wanted to make sure this was still possible when we moved to a condo.

We are fortunate to have a 3 bedroom condo so we still have space, and we have as many times used the condo’s “guest suite” which is a nicely appointed bachelor apartment in our building which is available to book for a modest fee. Our guests love it.

Man Cave | Like most guys I liked my garage, place to store things, place to work on and clean my bike.

One indoor parking spot and a nicely sized storage room came with our condo. We rent an additional indoor parking space. While I prefer to go to local Rubber Ducky car wash to clean my car (did so when we had a house), I could if I wanted to wash my car in the car wash bay within our building.

Rules | Yes condos have rules, but they are common sense and in place to ensure a pleasant environment for everyone. There are no rule police. Good neighbours give each other slack. We have never had an issue.

Outside | Having your own yard and space to get out and around is a good thing, we love being outside.

We are fortunate enough to have a large patio with a great view. Within a few blocks of our place are several paths, parks, and all kinds of interesting things to do outside.

As a cyclist, I can take my bike out of my storage room and be on the road in minutes.

Don’t miss | mowing the lawn, shovelling snow, managing ice buildup on the driveway, the guy down the street who over used his leaf blower, whipper snipper, and chainsaw.

Miss | Neighbours, that feeling you get when you finish shovelling snow and mowing your lawn.

Will edit and refine over time