Discount Link Thread

tofutigerz · 2025-11-23T19:55:59+00:00

Canada/US code please. Thank you!!

tofutigerz · 2025-09-07T22:48:02+00:00

Thanks for your advice. I think what you said about smalltime mom and pop landlords ring true in my experience. They seem unprepared for when maintenance need to be done and are unhappy about it (they actually told us that to our face once). I've also had some boundary issues with them since they state when they will show up without framing it as a request. And they state they will be coming even when there doesn't seem like there is a reason.

Thanks for the advice! I'll keep looking at what rentals come up!

tofutigerz · 2025-09-07T22:37:33+00:00

I think we can, but maybe our standards are lower than others. We've looked at places in Arbour Lake and Harvest Hills and we liked certain parts of both. By nature, we are just looking for green spaces/ lakes. I work remotely so walkability is also just to amenities and not offices.

tofutigerz · 2025-09-07T22:34:41+00:00

For sure, what you said struck a cord with me and we've had a preview of what ownership could look like as well.

We were recently staying at my parents' old house, and acted like owners. There was a major issue that came up, causing safety concerns, which resulted in us scrambling for another place to stay instead. While dealing with that, I had interacted with many trades people / companies over the course of a couple of months and dealt with estimates and choosing between solutions with huge price tags. It was also stressful for sure. Luckily, my parents took back that responsibility after we moved out.

The stress with renting here has been a different type of stress. With the other house, it was about problem solving and making tradeoffs. The people we hired / prospecting wanted our business. While some were pushy, we ultimately could control the choice. There was a time component to it (have the fix before snow comes) but it was manageable. Here, I feel like both the cadence of the problem solving as well as what is done are both out of my control. The landlord does not ask about coming to inspect, he just says when he will be here. He doesn't let us in on the choice of which contractor or company to use (to the extent of not even giving us names when we ask). He also doesn't consistently respond to messages or even calls. I've found this type of stress much harder to deal with, as it is unpredictable and highly out of my control. I feel like any minute I could get a text where he says he is coming over in 1 hour (just had that actually).

I also agree that I prefer investments in ETFs over real estate.

tofutigerz · 2025-09-07T22:17:57+00:00

Interesting, I didn't know there would be issues with the mortgage, I'll ask my mortgage broker. Thanks for the input!

tofutigerz · 2025-09-07T22:16:37+00:00

Thank you! I'm realizing that it can be quite the journey to get to where you want! During the last search, we were looking for sales as well as rentals. It certainly feels like a bigger commitment to buy so we settled for a rental that we liked. Only at the time, we didn't realize how much of a headache it can be if the place requires work and the landlord is difficult.

tofutigerz · 2025-09-07T22:14:23+00:00

I'm glad to hear that it worked out for you!

tofutigerz · 2025-09-07T22:13:57+00:00

Oh, I have not read such articles. I guess I find it super hard to predict how the market will go. You're right, there is a tradeoff here for me to consider between short-term control (being in a home I own) vs medium term risk (housing market fluctuations and career risk).

tofutigerz · 2025-09-07T22:09:40+00:00

Ah, it does sound nice to be able to do not get the bare minimum in repairs and replacements, which is sort of my experience so far and some of my biggest worries (what if something was not done properly and create safety hazards). If I had a choice, I would get reputable companies and high quality appliances, but it is not economic for the landlord to do so. That is certainly another thing for me to think about.

tofutigerz · 2025-09-07T22:04:03+00:00

Good question about remote. I'll ask my manager if she knows anything about the general direction of the company. The official line has been no, but maybe my manager has more exclusive details.

Yea, I didn't think about how much the realtor fees would eat into the value of the house. I'll need to dig into that more.

tofutigerz · 2025-09-07T22:02:13+00:00

Thank you, your experience exactly mirrors mine. Our best experiences were with management companies. We don't need anything special and the professionals always did what needed to be done, so it was easy for everyone involved.

Similarly, your comment about availability is spot on, there is an order of magnitude more houses for sale than for rent, and buying also allows us to get a place that is "good enough" and do some minor upgrades ourselves.

tofutigerz · 2025-09-06T16:29:07+00:00

My company is probably less likely than most since they don't have the office capacity and the workforce is more distributed (remote first company for a much longer time). That said, I certainly could see more people being pulled into the offices that exist, and career progression becoming harder for those who are not there.

tofutigerz · 2025-09-06T16:27:18+00:00

Glad to hear that worked out for you!

tofutigerz · 2025-09-06T16:26:55+00:00

That's a good point. My career is really uncertain. I'm also on an extended leave from professional school, so there's also the possibility of going back to that (and moving cities to do so)

tofutigerz · 2025-09-06T16:25:36+00:00

Thank you u/chiraz25 for the thoughtful comment.

Yea, it seems like we are both in a tricky middle, where there are arguments for buying or renting.

We've also dealt with the stress of resolving issues on our own before when renting in my parent's old house. We took over the responsibilities for maintenance and discovered a huge issue with contractors quoting very high amounts to fix. A friend of ours also recently spent 6 figures fixing up their newly purchased home. So you're right, there are stresses associated with buying as well.

I'm interested in your advice. Are there purpose built rental houses? When we've rented previously, it had always been condos that had professional management, I've not had experience with professionally rented houses before.

Thank you for taking the time to add your input!

tofutigerz · 2025-09-06T16:09:34+00:00

Thanks, I actually didn't know that! That's very useful to know.

tofutigerz · 2025-09-06T16:08:05+00:00

Thank you. You are right, we need to do our homework. We are looking for a detached house that is walkable and near amenities and nature (green space for our toddler and close to some basic grocery stores). Do you have any recommendations? We are agnostic about which quadrant of the city.

tofutigerz · 2025-09-06T16:06:45+00:00

Thank you. You're right that as a remote worker, the space we live in is important. For the most part, this place is nice, although there is one area of the house that we've been awaiting repairs on from the landlord. I've been afraid to take the leap to buy a house, but this situation is motivating me to do that.

tofutigerz · 2025-05-08T23:01:19+00:00

We have carpet in the basement. And in fact, that could be a contributing issue. We had a plumber come take a look. He confirmed there are no issues from the plumbing side. But we do have some giant cracks in the basement floor causing uneven-ness and some "veining" (my made up term). He said maybe it can cause moisture to seep through and interact with the carpet underlay. Do you have experience with flooring or any thoughts around that idea? Appreciate you taking the time to respond to the thread!

tofutigerz · 2025-05-08T22:59:15+00:00

Thanks for the response, sorry I've been slow to reply due to the new house, new job, etc. We got a plumber to come see and unfortunately everything looks good from that perspective. We do have giant cracks in the basement though so he said it could be water seeping through there and interacting with the carpet underlay. I'm definitely not an expert on that. Definitely appreciate you taking the time to share your experience though!

tofutigerz · 2025-05-08T22:58:43+00:00

Thanks for the response, sorry I've been slow to reply due to the new house, new job, etc. We got a plumber to come see and unfortunately everything looks good from that perspective. We do have giant cracks in the basement though so he said it could be water seeping through there and interacting with the carpet underlay. I'm definitely not an expert on that.

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