Sort of retirement plan
 

Brain storming today regarding a retirement plan.

Thought I try the ExPat lions den see what feed back we get. :@)

Plan A:

This is a 5 year plan, meaning doing this in 5 years when I will be 59.

Sell current home for silly GTA money $650,000 value now. No mortgage

Move a long way away, choice of 3 places, all in New Brunswick (because it’s cheap)

Woodstock NB (have a relative live there) buy 4 houses rent 3 live in one. Houses are 60,000each. Live on rent be a property manager.

Basically same for Fred and Moncton but houses not as cheap.

Plan B:

No plan B yet;)

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Smaller scale worked for me. :nod:

I have no idea what house rental market is like. A triplex or fourplex might be worth considering. Possibly more tenancy changes but one site might be easier to manage.

The vacancy rate here has fallen somewhat since I sold up.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Sounds like a good plan to me. Ours is wait until old person dies, sell up here and move to Ontario have a hobby business to do with cars, travel lots while we can. May need to rethink where in Ontario as our desired area seems to have increased in value.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Just looks too simple lol. We see, thanks guys

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

I'm sure we could all come up with something complicated for you.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Plan C.
1. Invent time machine.
2. Go to bank and withdraw $20
3. Go back to 2008
4. Spend $20 on 1 Bitcoin.
5. Return to present.
6. Sell bitcoin(s) for current value
7. Go back to 2008
8. Spend profits on bitcoin
9. goto 5.
.
.
.
Buy Vancouver, Live happily ever after. (If you don't like Vancouver then buy Nova Scotia)

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Plan B. Stay in Ontario. Buy two houses and rent one as holiday lets. More money. Or even get two cottages/ cabins for vacation rentals and one home to live in.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

There is a reason NB is cheap. Wages are low, rents are low. If it works for you go for it. My M-I-L was from a place north of Woodstock called Perth Andover, NB. Nice place but too quiet for me. Ajax would be a thriving seat of urbanity and depravity compared to Perth Andover. If you like curry you'll be out of luck there. Meat and two veg area. I had one of the worst meals of my life near there in Hartland, NB in a chinese restaurant in an old church. When we finished the meal (and we weren't happy with the food) the owner told us he was closing tomorrow permanently due to poor sales. Hmm, I wonder why.

Woodstock is close to Maine if you need cheap gas, groceries, consumer goods etc.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

This is a thought but maybe above our pay grade

Woodstock has a college and maybe what Bristol said about a duolex or apartments would be ok. We seen a few near the college split into units selling for 79,000

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Rent Ajax house out and go live in Greece or Bali as a digital nomad. That's what the millenials are up to these days, and they seem to be able to eek out a living from it.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

I sort of still wanna work to keep busy so looking after a few houses in a small town was my idea of getting an income and keeping busy.

I would need

Ride on mower
Many hammers and a big bag of nails
A pickup truck of course
A plow attachment
A quad
A gun
A porch to drink beer on
A BBQ
A ski doo
Ect

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Plan D.
Find rich widow. don't have to marry her, just keep her happy.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Use this website to find a couple of cottages/houses on the North Bruce Peninsula. They rent from $1000 a week and way up from June to October (reduced rates in winter). I can recommend Dunks Bay (small town, sand beach, small cove), Lions Bay and for glorious sunsets, Eagle Harbour area. There are a few reasonable waterfront properties still, plus building lots (hint, buy one now).

http://myhomesguide.ca/grey-bruce-an...eal-estate.php

:)

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Pricey up there, can’t see any sub 100,000$ places most are all my budget each. :@(

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

But you'd only need one rental place to bring in an income of $40k - $80k+ a year.

I was looking when I was up there and there were cheaper places available to buy and the rents were crazy prices in the summer $2-3k a week (June to October)!

:)

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Ahh yeh I see now

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Ah, well in that case...

If you can deal with the repairs/maintenance aspect yourself or, at least, know what things are called and what's to be done, then why not.

A house has the advantage of longer term tenants and maybe better tenants too. :unsure: But maybe more vacancy periods if smaller market?

An apartment building has the advantage of one site but possible friction with more tenants but maybe the odd vacancy isn't a problem.

Duplex or triplex is maybe a compromise, midway position.

If you might worry about such things, don't under estimate potential worry about how many properties might have roof damage when you're sitting at home hearing strong winds or how many basements might get flooded. :ohmy:

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

What's the pull to stay in Canada in retirement?

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Post #11 in this thread gives you a clue.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

It’s where we live now, so we just stay no thoughts of living in the U.K.

Woodstock NB was on our list as it is 10 mins from USA cheap gas and other stuff cheaper cross boarder, and property is for nowt. It’s on a river and has great motorcycle routes all around.

It’s not a certain for us to do just an option we are contemplating :p

We plan to do a trip there this summer see if we like it still (visited last year and would have stayed) , talk to realtors and see our cousin for a few days

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Dear God. If that's retirement planning, I think he better plan on working to pay for all that gas.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

HA ha like I said, “sort of” retirement plan not 100% retired I need something to keep us busy ;)

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Sounds like you are halfway there with the planning!

Just remember the crap weather in winter too though.. and the heating bills.. (and check out the flood areas before you buy!) :)

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

PEI is also an option, plan B maybe, buy several summer rentals ?

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

You would certainly get a lot of money for summer rentals, I know when I was looking for September last year I was horrified at the prices, even that late in the season. I paid $950 for the week, for a 3 bedroom cottage on the water (which was discounted, she took pity on us) in northern Bruce Peninsula. Had it been a week earlier, it would have been $1700 - and that was one of the cheap ones! The one I really wanted to rent was $1,400 out of season - $2,300 in season. If I had sufficient money, I'd certainly be looking into buying a rental place.

I suppose the downside would be having to maintain the property and to clean them - though there are agencies who will 'book it out' for you and make the renter pay a penalty if they don't leave it clean and tidy. The requirements for proof of who we were (even down to the make, colour and number plate of the vehicle, d.o.b. and contact details for everyone staying) was quite a shock, but I can understand why. A renter also has to pay insurance for the week and pay in advance of the booking, so at least you are guaranteed that you will actually get paid.

Certainly something to consider anyway.

:)

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Something to consider if you are coming to No Funswick in your old age :p is that the health care system here is very poor. I had to wait 5 weeks for a Doctors appointment just to get a referral to an orthopedic surgeon. Then six months to get a 10 min consultation. Then another six months to get an MRI. Over a year and I am in pain every day. Surgery waiting times here are 18 -24 months :thumbdown: I read a study a while back that it ranks as the worst system in Canada by most measures. You are unlikely to be able to get a GP for the first few years here. The cost of nursing/care homes here is substantially higher than ON as the caps are much higher. Prescription drugs here are not free to over 65s which I believe they are in ON

Something to consider about property here. Its the opposite of Southern ON. In real terms here your property will likely lose value. Even over 20 years you would be lucky to break even. I would factor this into your decision. Perhaps Quinte region or peripheral cottage country would be a better bet financially?

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Might it be possible to keep your present home and just rent a place here for a couple of months in winter, so that you don't plunge in to very small, rural, NB without having experienced the winter for few weeks?

It can be pretty, and the people are generally very nice and friendly, and I can see that if one has a relative it would be a pull, but the winters can be more than a little difficult - there are all sort of practical things that you just can't do when the ground is frozen from November until May that can prove frustrating.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

For us, I can see that retirement will involve a city-centre apartment, not a big house in the country.

No garden to take care of, amenities on the doorstep, good public transport.

Question is, which city?

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

That’s what we have done...although more through circumstances than choice. I quite enjoy living in the city...although I would like a larger condo. Hubby on the other hand is struggling. He’s a DIY guy and misses pottering around in the garage and garden. Living in a condo that’s much, much smaller than the size of the house takes some getting used to.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

I'd still look at Ontario and a holiday let. One house at 350k another at 250k to rent out could bring in $200 a day. A run down hunting cabin is also an option to buy and let.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

I am in a similar boat. My missus and I are both 55. She wants to retire in a couple of years and live off her pensions, possibly with a little job on the side. I have no intention of retiring but it doesn't matter where I am, provided I have internet. We are mortgage free but our house is probably worth only about 250k.

She wants to move up to the Quebec City area, where our son lives and where her brother lives. We could get a place in the country, perhaps a fixer-upper, but I do not want to live in the country. Option B is a downtown condo but that means downsizing and I'm not keen to get rid of all my stuff. I also like having a garden.

In an ideal world, I'd just transport where we live now a few hundred km. That is not going to happen.

So I'll just keep buying lottery tickets, in the hope that I can buy a house downtown with a garden, garage etc. That is probably also not going to happen. Such properties are very rare, and bloody expensive.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Sounds pretty grim.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Do bear in mind that in NB you'll pay extra (almost double) in property tax for all non-occupied properties. For my roughly 700 sq ft house that I rent out, I pay about $3200 in taxes.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Mine and my wife's experience couldn't be more different.

There was a year wait for a doc - seems to be fairly normal and that MoneySense annual study still shows Moncton as having one of the better doctor/residents ratio. Same as Vancouver, more than Toronto for example.

I phoned our doc for my stepdaughter yesterday afternoon and the only reason she's waiting until tomorrow is because she has the day off.

My wife's last MRI was about two weeks after the referral. No orthopaedic referrals but plenty of others that didn't take long.

Ontario is certainly better in many respects - better assistance for diabetics for example but I'm not sure you'll find many provinces with a drugplan as good as the NB one that came in a couple of years ago for regular folk. $16 a month and a fiver per prescription. :thumbup:

There is a drug plan for seniors but income geared and maybe not as good as Ontario which does seem to be an exception in Canada.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Magnum might be in touch about your house renting experiences.:nod:

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Our Bubble is leaking air already !

I may look into Bats idea further, maybe a long term safer bet.

We was also looking at PEI holiday let’s. Anyone have experience in this area ?

Thanks for the lengthy message Bristol :thumbup:

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Go to northern Ontario for rental business, the place is booming with hunters and fishers from the state, property tax is nearly non existent and if you buy in unorganized you can build what you want how you want without any permits or requirements.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

No complaints from me so far about the health service I have received in Toronto. Can usually see a doctor immediately or the following day. X-rays and scan are same or next day...results within hours. Saw a specialist a week after referral. Pretty much the same service I get with US healthcare insurance.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Similar service is available in semi-rural Ontario with the caveat that you have to go the machinery; as far as I know there are no truck mounted MRI scanners or operating theatres. That typically means Brampton. Once you get to Brampton the doctors can run amok with you, there's no HMO saying which tests you don't need.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

There certainly seems to be a fair few for sale :)

https://www.point2homes.com/CA/Real-Estate-Maps/PE.html