Hopefully moving out to calgary next march but in the process of deciding to get a mortgage or rent for a year. In the same situation as many others, spruced the house of, even cleaned the kitchen cupboards but still nobody buying not even looking now. What does anyone else think any advice for a novice. We have two children a medium dog and a very old cat so are we likely to find anything to rent. We could get a mortgage but it wouldnt be enough I dont think to buy a really super duper house and so we are left with a do we stay and wait for the house to sell, or do we go and face the consequences???? Fed up in Dorset

ONLY you can make the final decision BUT to my way of thinking (and I will admit to having a vested interest in my predictions coming true). Property prices in Calgary ARE going to have increased by approx 1% by the end of 2008 (year on year) and starting 2009 we should see growth of 3-5% per annum on property prices. The market in Calgary is beginning to balance out, listings are falling (admittedly that is from a combination of sales AND people withdrawing from the market), prices are starting to stabilise and the (resale) properties that remain on the market are selling in an average of 52 days.

I guess in a nutshell my advice would be IF you expect to sell within the next 3-6 months stay put, IF you expect to get a shitload of equity out of your current place stay put. IF neither of those is true and you could afford to buy in a half decent neighbourhood over here make the move NOW.

Thanks Butch, such a hard decision to make dont want to pay someone elses mortgage by paying rent. Have to see what the next few months bring!!

Butch is right , only you can make that decision. We took the bull by the horns and sold our house in May this year but are living in rented in England. This was a huge gamble as we had not apllied for PR via SW route due to waitng times nor did we have a job lined up. But we did have determination to see it through. Having just returned from a three week holiday/recce/job search, OH was offered three jobs. We are now hoping to be in Alberta by the end of this year.

Is there any way you could make it if you rented your house until the market picks up?