Despite opening all hailing frequencies, still no responses on the job front. Discouraging intensifies. However.

It is possible that we could, if we wanted to play a fairly risky game, get a mortgage on a place to live, despite having no verifiable income, if we put down enough money. Basically enough money to make a bank say they literally give no fucks whether we make any payments at all, because if we default, they'll have the property AND a huge pile of cash. 

We are leaning towards doing this, if the numbers work out. The problem we want to solve is this big pile of liquid cash we have from the sale of the house in Kitchener last year. If it just sits there, it will just decrease in value due to inflation and being eaten up by rent and living expenses. That's dumb. So.

Our lease on the apt is up in three months; which is money we have to pay. If we can get keys for property before then, we can transition to a new domicile at our own pace, renovating as needed, and pay maybe one additional month-to-month rent payment.

The concern is what would the monthly carrying cost look like for the apartment we have vs a condo we buy: condos have taxes, fees, and then there's the mortgage payment. If we can get the monthly carrying cost of a place we OWN down to the vague neighbourhood of what we're paying now to RENT, then not only is it a good investment, it doesn't really change our financial equation that much.

Back of notebook calculations suggest that it might work -- not getting an outrageous place that's more than we need or want -- but one that has good location, community and amenities. I mean for example right now we're paying $2K in rent. If we can arrange it so we're paying $2.5K in mtg/taxes/fees for a place we own, that seems like a good thing. 

It's got our liquid funds working, in the form of a solid base of equity that will only appreciate, it solves the problem we have now of being on the fringe of the city rather than being downtown where we want to be (where we need to be), and it gives us the confidence and comfort of being able to change things to suit our needs, rather than just living in a white box. (Also one of the condos we're looking at has a wood shop, how cool is that.)

The RISK is that now much of our nest egg would be tied up in real estate (albeit appreciating). What if a good job is not forthcoming? As long as we don't touch the retirement savings (RRSP) in order to buy, then we'd still have the RRSP available to help carry for at least a handful of years, if necessary. During which time we both would obviously be looking for alternate work. I expect we could make enough money to make ends meet even if both of us decided the best thing would be to pull shots of expresso. Also in the distant future there's a pension, and another pension, which would more than cover carrying costs if things dragged out that far. So I don't think, worst case, we'd be homeless. If ultimately we came close to running out of cash, we could put the condo on the market and very likely get all the initial investment back, plus appreciation. 

So it seems like it's a good idea.

But it's also a COMMITMENT. It's committing to staying in TO, not bailing out to some small town or city somewhere, buying a small place, and retiring. It's a commitment to trying to stay in the workforce, one way or another, until the condo is paid off. It's intentionally setting down roots, even though there's nothing holding us here. It's saying "you know what, this is the place we want to be, that we have always wanted to be, and even though there's a small chance we're fucking ourselves, it's worth the risk."

I'll be talking to a mortgage broker on Monday, I guess, to see what our buying power is. And I've been haunting the real estate sites. I don't know what employment will be like in 3-6 months, but, banks permitting, it seems like maybe our housing situation will be resolved by then.

At least that's the current thought process.