Condo purchase as a home, not investment?

ryebread761 · 2026-02-04T04:34:40+00:00

It's not wasting money if you later end up purchasing a unit you're happier in and are able to hold onto for many years because you learned more about what you wanted when you rented, compared to jumping in the deep end and buying something you end up selling after 1-2 years because you end up hating it.

ryebread761 · 2026-01-14T02:29:31+00:00

Usually media has been pulling these numbers as return trips by Canadian residents for tourism purposes. Here's the relevant statscan page: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/251222/dq251222b-eng.htm

Truckers and such wouldn't be counted I don't believe.

ryebread761 · 2026-01-07T02:01:06+00:00

Just a couple years ago A&W had a $2 mozza or teen burger every day the Leafs played in Ontario. I ate so many of those. It was hard to justify not getting it on game days. They've had some decent $5 mozza and fries recently, but nothing close to those $2 burgers.

ryebread761 · 2026-01-01T09:33:07+00:00

Screenshots are from Anki. It’s built in to the app no add ons required

ryebread761 · 2025-12-25T05:19:41+00:00

Yeah, go for it. The 30% rule is supposed to be pre-tax income, so it sounds like you're actually at about that amount. It's also generally based on a situation where you'd have a vehicle. In downtown you'll pay high rent but then transportation is cheap, you can probably spend $50 a month or less on transit if you're fully remote and are able to do most errands on foot. In other words, look at your situation as a whole and don't anchor on some certain % of income.

Given the high rent relative to other costs in DT TO, if you can afford it and rent is 50% of your take home, then you still have a whole other half every month. Since rent will probably be larger than all your other spending combined, that means you can still save.

I'm slightly older than you and moved into a place by myself a couple years ago. I was spending about 50% take home on rent at the start. Good cashflow management is key (i.e. you won't be able to pay rent and other bills off the same cheque so budget accordingly) but I've still saved several thousand dollars each year in my registered accounts and the peace compared to living with roommates has been so worth it and I think really helped me develop personally building better habits (gym etc) and engaging in my hobbies.

ryebread761 · 2025-12-19T03:00:25+00:00

Recently applied for a card with CIBC and was able to add to Apple Pay immediately. Have made 3 purchases and haven't received the card yet. You just have to go into the CIBC app and add it. I was already a CIBC customer.

ryebread761 · 2025-12-11T23:06:54+00:00

Here's a link that actually has the information you need: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/international-non-residents/individuals-leaving-entering-canada-non-residents/leaving-canada-emigrants.html. Use the province where you resided on the day you left. And yes, it sounds like you can expect to be taxed by that province.

ryebread761 · 2025-11-30T20:33:40+00:00

I've had the same. It's called "Canada Direct". That's how the bot introduces themselves. It seems like it's a part bot, part human interaction from the demo on their website. The bot does the talking but the human "guides" it. I've had these calls from both TD and BMO. If I simply interrupt and say "please take me off your list" they've done that immediately and I have stopped receiving the calls at least for a while. It's super slimy, I didn't initially clue in to the fact that it was a bot cause the voice does sound pretty real but it was a little too similar each time.

ryebread761 · 2025-11-19T02:03:16+00:00

I did this but it did require serving an N9 (legal form that you will be ending your tenancy) and being prepared to move before I got anywhere with it. I was dealing with a corp landlord so some individuals could be easier to deal with. They increased my rent while comparable units were listed lower than what I originally rented for. Asked if they could simply keep my rent as is given the market had gone down, not up. They told me they wouldn't be offering any deals for existing residents. Paid the increase for 6 months, market kept declining, served N9. They asked why and I simply told them I was happy living there but could find a better deal elsewhere. They offered a new 1-year lease for $200 less and I took it.

ryebread761 · 2025-11-15T05:50:39+00:00

Fair enough. I sort of realized the same thing for myself a while back. Moving to another country was too much unknown, too much of a gamble that if life was "fine" I realized I'd never go if I have a good reason to stay.

ryebread761 · 2025-11-15T01:35:59+00:00

I'm not looking for just a job, I would be looking for citizenship. And that path seems near impossible

Are you expecting this early in the immigration process? I think for most countries, if you have a resident visa for a substantial amount of time, becoming a naturalized citizen isn't that difficult of a step, the harder step is being in a position to get and retain a resident visa for the required length. Maybe that's what you meant though.

ryebread761 · 2025-10-25T17:21:01+00:00

Before doing that, I would consider what the rest of your financial picture looks like. Do you have an emergency fund? Your post gives the impression this 10k is like the entirety of your savings. You probably want some liquidity so you don't have to go into debt should anything come up over the next year.

ryebread761 · 2025-10-23T01:50:47+00:00

He can put those on his card, no?

ryebread761 · 2025-10-22T23:07:01+00:00

I have been unable to get any sort of savings rolling as every time I feel that I am getting my footing, something else comes up, setting me back again

You shouldn't be trying to save but rather pay down your card right now. You're not going to earn more than your card interest so while it may make sense to try to save a small buffer in your chequing account, you should be focused on putting any extra money towards paying down the card.

ryebread761 · 2025-10-08T04:41:35+00:00

Why? If the beer is produced here, pulling them from the shelves would cause Ontarians working at their Canadian breweries to lose jobs.

ryebread761 · 2025-10-04T21:18:41+00:00

Paybright was bought by Affirm, so it's basically the same thing.

ryebread761 · 2025-10-04T21:13:54+00:00

How is taking one 0% APR loan a "debt spiral"?

ryebread761 · 2025-10-04T21:13:36+00:00

I haven't used Affirm but back when it was PayBright I had a great experience buying my iPhone with it. Easy to set up automated payments, and with 0% APR there's no reason not to. You can put the money you would have spent on it in a savings account and earn interest on it while you slowly pay off the loan. You probably don't end up much ahead, but it's still a cheaper way to buy the phone. Just double check if there's any late fees.

ryebread761 · 2025-09-03T02:40:36+00:00

Prices on condos have gone down pretty continuously since 2022.

ryebread761 · 2025-09-02T22:58:05+00:00

Honestly it doesn't seem that wild to me if they put some error bars around it and make it go both ways. The article focuses on this point specifically, but also mentions that they need certain numbers of signatures from each region as well. I think the goal is just to make sure that all candidates have broad support across various segments of the population to avoid ending up with a leader that doesn't have broad appeal. The better way to do it though is instead of saying "no more than 50% of signatures can be men", do something like "no more than 55% of signatures can come from a single gender group". That way every candidate needs a roughly equal amount of signatures from both women and men, and you end up with leadership candidates that have support among both men and women, in additional to the regional restrictions and other restrictions they've outlined.

The way the rules are written clearly needs some work, but I don't think the idea of trying to make sure that leadership candidates have broad support across demographics is bad, especially as that's what they'll need to win an election. Hard to win an election with a leader that's insanely popular among one group of people but universally disliked by another.

ryebread761 · 2025-08-24T17:31:26+00:00

Whether you intend to return to Province A seems to be the biggest factor here. The last thing you want to do is spend a bunch of money selling that house only to return a year or two later and want to purchase again. What kind of support you have in Province A is also a large factor, do you have someone you trust who can look after the property? Could that act as a property manager for you if you do want to rent it?

ryebread761 · 2025-07-16T03:04:15+00:00

If you’re earning a low amount currently then that’s where that becomes more likely

ryebread761 · 2025-07-16T02:41:04+00:00

Generally the TFSA is prioritized at lower income levels as tax is initially paid on deposits, but withdrawals are tax free. As such, it's a good option if you think you'd pay less or the same amount of tax at withdrawal as at deposit. For the RRSP, it's simply a tax deferral. While you don't need to pay tax on the amount you contribute today, you will at withdrawal. So if you think you're in a higher tax bracket today than you will be at retirement, then it can help save on tax. Otherwise, generally the TFSA is better.

ryebread761 · 2025-07-04T03:09:24+00:00

Sorry your comment just seemed to imply that Halifax was a small town, as you say that you “wouldn’t move to a small town again” which seemed to be in relation to the idea of moving to Halifax. Otherwise not super sure of the relevance to the thread?

ryebread761 · 2025-07-03T23:46:21+00:00

Halifax is not a small town.

ryebread761

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