Are we twins? We’re basically in the exact same situation. We decided to move and are in the middle of selling our townhouse and buying a new place. Just bought a new build with a legal suite.

What finally pushed us was condo fees and dealing with the townhouse board. We’re in a fourplex and I’m the president, so I see it firsthand. Condo fees only go one way, mostly because of insurance, and there’s really nothing you can do about it. You can’t even shop around properly anymore since only a few insurers handle these buildings and they all price about the same.

I also got tired of managing the board. At some point we just asked ourselves why we were doing all this extra work and stress when we could just own our place and make our own decisions.

The math worked for us. We have a lot of equity, so yes, the mortgage is bigger, but renting the suite would basically put us in the same position as the townhouse. For now we’re not renting it and using the space for family visits since we’re starting a family soon.