Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Could you consider buying a cottage now? Do it up over the next 5 years while using it then pay off the mortgage when you sell your Ajax house and buy your retirement place too.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Will make a visit up there first ;)

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

:thumbsup:Drop by

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

We’re is you ?

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

OP don't do it just for monetary purposes

consider healthcare, safety & access

plan D

stay in Ajax

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

I like it. Good plan...however with the health care system in NB not being very good, that does throw up some red flags... (I didn't know that about NB) so I think bats's plan B holds some water.....she has made some good points, and you still have your health care in Ontario, Im sure if you bought a cottage in the right location.....ie near to snowmobile trails/ski hill you could make it a 4 season cottage and rent it all year round.

Both plans are good...I suppose you would just have to factor in the cost of a comprehensive health care plan if you chose the NB option.

By the way your planned retired life sounds chilled! :thumbup:

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Good idea, but they can be linked.

If your income in retirement drops considerably and you still want to do the things that employment income paid for, then maximising your income in retirement is a decent option.

If you have a major asset that will fund the purchase of an alternative home and what's left enables replacement of much of that lost income then you can get the best of both worlds.

Of course it needn't be in another province.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Somewhere near Peterborough and Cobourg. Look on Realtor.ca and search for properties under $2K or whatever. Try looking north and east of Kingston up to Bancroft and east to Perth and Smiths Falls.As the GTA gets closer prices are going up plus people can't afford cottages in The Kawarthas anymore so that's another reason to buy now.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Ha ha just been looking that way, east, Cornwall !! Seen two properties there with sitting tenants a duplex 134k and a house 99k both have walk in incomes

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Quite true, also insurance for unoccupied homes increases.
When my mother-in-law passed away in 2010, my wife's family
inherited an unoccupied house (and 30 acres) just outside of Dieppe, NB.
With no offers after 8 years they eventually had to demolish it as the ongoing costs (property tax, insurance) were eating up the cash portion of the inheritance.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Are those properties between the bridge to the USA and downtown (Pitt Street?). If so, not the greatest area and I gather property prices and rents match that. If possible try and be east of downtown near the hospital. Unfortunately, prices are probably higher in that area.

Is Brockville or Prescott affordable for what you want.?

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Will look, it’s a few years away yet, will go take look see first

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Nothing recent but I did idly look into buying a tourism related business when we were emigrating some 14 years ago. The challenge of course is a shortish season & a bleak winter with no income. PEI is very pretty though.

If you buy a holiday let in ON might there be opportunities for two (or more season)? i.e. Summer holidays, Fall hunting, Winter snowmobiling? In western NL, as an example, vacation properties are as busy during winter snowmobiling season as they are in the summer.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

My BIL and SIL have done something like that. He is about my age or slightly younger. He was part-owner of a company in Bromont (eastern Quebec, near the US border). He also owned a plot of land there.

He sold his share of the company and used the money to build holiday cottages on the land (ten, I think). The cottages were prefabricated but he did everything else himself.

He now lives in one full-time. SIL splits her time between there and the South Shore, where she works and where they still have a house.

Bromont is a year-round destination, so the cottages are in high demand.

Nine cottages at a couple of hundred bucks a night...........

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

I am pleased that you have had a better experience than me. I have just phoned the Surgeons office.....Recording... This phone is answered Mon - Thur 8 -11. Please note this machine does not take messages. :confused::thumbdown: Its as if they are deliberately trying to make it difficult!

I know that NB does have some programs available but what it will sadly always boil down to is that NB is broke so anything that they try to do will be limited by this. They should start by rounding up all the rural populace and herd them into the towns and Cities. This would save the province a fortune. More chance of platting fog :rofl:

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

This can also be a major drag on you if you decide that you want to move on.

My house is only 5 years old. Purchased 3 bed 1.5 bath in a nice part of town. I finished the basement. Added a huge rec room, legal bedroom and a bathroom.

I have had my house on the market for 11 months and I am priced at the advice of the (2nd realtor) $10k below what its worth to get it sold asap.
I have had 2 BS offers $20k below asking :eek: In real terms I will end up selling it for less than what I paid for it before spending a cent on renovations. :thumbdown:

I am dying to get out of here but I am being held captive and fisted by the joke of a property market. I am close to burning it down for the insurance money :rofl:

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Cornwall is now top of the list with a sketchy plan to maybe buy a couple of income properties in town, maybe with sitting tenants, a nice bungalow out of town for us and maybe pickup a cottage somewhere within an hour away.

Warning: Plans may change daily

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

I know a guy who bought some income properties in town and you have to be very careful about the sketchy level of the tenants. Cornwall tends to attract a lot of critters. A nice cottage location or a bungalow out of town would be along the river between Cornwall and the Quebec border or a nice house in the community of South Lancaster which is 2 minutes from the 401.

https://goo.gl/maps/rfGgaK94VtD2

The river is very wide there plus you get the added bonus of watching all sorts of night time illegal activity on boats or snowmobiles due to the US border nearby.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Did it work out for them ?

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Not really. The 'critter' level (i.e level of sketchiness of the tenants aka critters) got too high, he sold the building and just concentrated on Ottawa income properties.

Cornwall doesn't really have a post secondary education centre (just a branch of St Lawrence College) so there aren't really student rental places and it is a real blue collar town now trying to re-purposing itself into a warehouse hub and I think call centres. Not big income renters there.

This view is old as the bridge is down now I believe but this area is one to avoid as the houses are cheap and for a reason. Poor quality builds and low income rents I believe. As well, roads like that are not well ploughed in the winter.

https://goo.gl/maps/xdkmtmu57Qw

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Vacation rentals don't have to be houses, a trailer is a good option. Depending on the site you might not get winter access for ice fishing etc but the initial investment would be lower.

https://m.realtor.ca/Residential/Sin...Ontario-K0L2G0

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Thanks, we now thinking of mixing it up, maybe good not to have all apples in one basket, vacay rental and a couple long term tenants

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

FWIW

unless you have the knowledge, experience or the gut to do this especially in your 50's,then DONT

Bristol has experience at being a landlord, so have I.

Even with all the time on your hands & when its distance from where you live to the 'sitting tenants' - it really isn't worth the agro

or, would you want to have a duplex where you live in one half & rent the other out- or possibly a property that has a basement that you could rent out?

When you have tenants you are always on call - its like having a dog or an elderly relative.... you never get to go on holiday or have time to yourself

Should you stay in Ajax, consider downsizing + a cottage for summer retreats & maybe rent the cottage out for a few bucks in season so it pays the running costs, property tax & maintenance

I stick with the 'if you are going to move to have free cash from sale & what you buy, then keep in mind the healthcare situation that its available & you have all other amenities close.

No use being in a $250k property in the middle of nowhere, should you get snowed in, no power or a health scare

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Middle of nowhere is off the list now N2O

We would live near to our rental. We would move east to Cornwall. We have run rental properties in the U.K., Blackpool, had not so savoury tenants at one time and was also self employed for 15+ years.

I suppose really it’s not retiring it’s more going part time. I could also put in a few days a month surveillance work as we get jobs out east. I have worked Picton area and Brantford just last December

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

:lol: There's something about Fridays here. My doc used to not 'do' Fridays and their answering machine was similar.

My stepdaughter just got referred for a bone scan today. Previous X-ray didn't pick up a break in her wrist and it's still a problem. It'll be interesting how long that is.

Yes...and every time something is suggested it's resisted. :(
That proposal to charge seniors with more than $100k tucked away a bit more for care (while those with nothing would pay less) was a start but the Seniors Coalition knocked that on the head. Bloody overly pampered seniors.

It's been happening voluntarily to some extent. Maybe the last ice storm would persuade them. :lol:

I think cheaper places are shifting quicker.
Are you throwing in your fancy coffee machine?
Are you satisfied with your realtors? (Phil Albert did well for me, although I sold the duplex at a loss price-wise. Fortunately the rental income more than made that up)

Lots of suspicious fires happening but yours might look less dodgy.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Scaphoid fracture. It often, most often, doesn't show on the first xrays done at the time of injury so it's treated on clinical evidence and re xrayed two weeks later. If still no fracture seen then an isotope bone scan is ordered.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

so its Cornwall eh!

1. experience as a slumlord is a +1

other ...

2. Picton could be a good choice if you were to do either B&B or AirBnb

3. what about a look at Kingston or Trenton?

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Looked that up and it's a perfect description. Thanks Dr Bats. :lol:

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Trenton is a dump and Queens students don't have the best rep. But I think those general areas for vacation rentals

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

I do quite a lot of work in Trenton. Always stay over I even used a dentist there on an emergency last year. I could live there I like the small town vibe there.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

funny as it is when folks mention dumps, population & density

Ajax Ontario 109,000 peeps

Cornwall Ontario ~60,000

Trenton Ontario 22,000

Blackpool UK 142,000

Life is too short to worry about the small stuff

Home is where you are & what you make of it- if you don't like it for whatever reason, then move ... emigrate

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Really? It has that unloved military town feel. Now Brighton next door is very nice and has a good small town vibe. You can still get houses/cottages at reasonable prices around there too. It's a good area but Trenton itself? Not for me. The hospital is ok though!

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

How many of you BE-ers in your 50s/60s do not plan on staying in Canada for the retirement years?

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

USA (the warm and stormy bits) would be a idea, getting a visa tho ?

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

there is a guy I met in Uxbridge that does the 6/6 mths Ontario - florida - ontario

Trailer park in both places

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

You don't need a visa. Probably half of the houses on this street are empty for the winter.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

For a permanent move a visa is needed yeh?

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

OH yes, but why retire to the USA? Healthcare and all that.

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

Ah yeh good point

Re: Sort of retirement plan
 

That’s a whole other thread!

Still not sure. I’m on a 6 yr count down. So many things to consider. I like and dislike the UK for such a variety of reasons 😁. It is expensive, property wise, and to be affordable would be to pick somewhere other than the southeast (what we know and where everyone we care about is based) which would mean starting over from scratch. My comfort zone is not up for that on most days. But moving away from Calgary would create the exact same scenario. And I would miss the skies!

I would like to be closer to the variety that Europe offers. We will likely “do” chunks of Canada and the US for a few years with some travelling, but after that...

Calgary is very liveable but not at all pretty. So when I add up what I like - small town, views, walking paths, local shopping and restaurants, not far from an airport, hospitals, etc, I come up with somewhere like Cochrane! Or Sussex. I’d would like access to better quality theatre, but in reality, how often would I go?

My girls could end up anywhere, I think we’ll all split up in the next 2 years, which is fine, I want them to find their own feet and place in the world.

So, to answer the question, no idea really! If finances allow, then perhaps just a smaller place here and spend time and dollars exploring.