# Sometimes, Things Change. (All the Time)



## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

Well, I've gone through a few drastic life changes recently. Some of you may have (or may not have) noticed that I haven't been posting as frequently as before. Let me explain...

*First, *I did this yesterday:










After that, I think I had a small panic attack.

*Then,* at 3:53pm the same day, I called TD Bank and sold my entire TFSA invested in the Monthly Income Fund.

After that, I think I was going through severe *market withdrawal* (pun intended).

*Then,* I bought this:










After that, I had a huge panic attack.

*Now,* I'm here trying to convince myself a housing market correction will not happen.

With that said, I am going to miss trading very much. I will still be keeping up to date on the market and will be making a new Live Spreadsheet. This spreadsheet will be a "Fake Money" spreadsheet only. I love trading and I love the market. Since I can no longer trade with real money, I will only be trading with fake funds.

My website will still continue to be updated here and there. As well, my spreadsheet for 2012 with real money has been zero'd out except for outstanding dividends and interest. Currently, I sit at a 17.68% gain from January 1, 2012 until July 31, 2012 (when I sold it all).

The most important part of this thread is that I wanted to thank everyone on the forum thus far. I feel as though you have all helped me in some way or another, even if through disagreement, you have expanded my mind. There is a lot of information and knowledge to take away from this forum and I feel like everyone contributes a crucial and special part to this forum (other than humble's Alice in Marketland posts :rolleyes2

To the moderators/admins.... CC, Frugal, thank you both for building and housing such a great forum.

As an honourable mention, I would sincerely like to thank Toronto.gal for all of her wonderful insight and guidance.

I will still be around from time to time, though you may end up catching me more frequently in the Real Estate section. :biggrin:


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## mind_business (Sep 24, 2011)

Congratulations. Nice looking place. Now you just need to renovate the basement to change it to a rental. With the increased revenue, soon you'll be back to trading with real money :encouragement:


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## ddkay (Nov 20, 2010)

Kaejs lives! and wow, that's a big purchase. Good luck with home ownership. As long as you're not trying to flip it....

Yadayadda a correction will invariably happen, no one will time it right, and if they do the magnitude will be wrong. Whatever, as long as you have stable employment/cash flow you and can afford to keep it. And when the mortgage is paid it's yours. Don't let the repo man get you.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

Wow, glad to hear your updates.
It is a nice looking house.
Around 10 yrs. old I'd guess.
Hope you enjoy your house for many years to come.

Somehow, I don't think you will be able to resist trading for long ;o)


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

Congrats kae. Iwas staring to think you starved to death on your crazy diet, or ended p binging so much you couldn't move. Am glad to hear you bought a place. It is really nerve racking no matter what the markets are, but with that good head on your shoulders, you will be fine. It doesn't matter what happens to the market, because you ar not selling it.

Also now you have a place called home where you can bring the chicks and chocolate mlk, and not have to worry about your older female roommate aka mom. You are on your way


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

mind_business said:


> Congratulations. Nice looking place. Now you just need to renovate the basement to change it to a rental. With the increased revenue, soon you'll be back to trading with real money :encouragement:


Thank you. And I'm already two steps ahead of you.

Here is the basement:










I have actually decided that I will be living in the basement and renting the 3 rooms upstairs. $550 for the Master Bedroom with Ensuite and walk in closet, $450 each for the other rooms. Would pull in $1450 a month. My mortgage on an accelerated weekly payment schedule is going to be $225/week, including property taxes. :biggrin:



ddkay said:


> Kaejs lives! and wow, that's a big purchase. Good luck with home ownership. As long as you're not trying to flip it...


Definitely not trying to flip! Thank you! :encouragement:



HaroldCrump said:


> Wow, glad to hear your updates.
> It is a nice looking house.
> Around 10 yrs. old I'd guess.
> Hope you enjoy your house for many years to come.
> ...


Resistance to training will definitely be hard. You are close with your guesstimate on the age of the home. It was built in 2005. Good call!



Plugging Along said:


> Congrats kae. Iwas staring to think you starved to death on your crazy diet, or ended p binging so much you couldn't move.
> Also now you have a place called home where you can bring the chicks and chocolate mlk, and not have to worry about your older female roommate aka mom. You are on your way


Hahaha! This post gave me a good laugh. I think I should get a separate fridge just for the chocolate milk (and the alcoholic beverages)!


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## Jon_Snow (May 20, 2009)

I am both happy for you AND scared for you. Kidding (sort of ).

Whatever you do, stay well away from Garth Turner's blog for the next while!

KaeJS, I've always considered you one of the class acts on this board and I really hope this works out well for you. You've got guts man...


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

Congrats KaeJS. Nice looking place! Good luck and like Jon said stayvaway from Garth Turner's blog!


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

Mr. Snow and CC, the first thing I did after reading both of your posts was head on over to Garth Turner's blog. :tongue:

After going through the whole process of buying a home and understanding how it all works with bidding, not to mention how many people are actually still buying homes at this current point in time, I actually believe that there may not be a housing crash. Previously, I thought for sure things would need to come back down to Earth, however, my view is changing. I think the RE market will be flat for some time, but I would honestly be surprised if there were more than a 5% correction. There are still a lot of buyers, and right now it's slow season... 

Anyway... only time will tell. Here's the kitchen for another teaser :smug:


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## Spidey (May 11, 2009)

Congratulations! Extremely impressive for a fellow your age. You have a financial smarts that most of us took decades to learn (and many never learn). Your panic attack after buying your first place is very normal and something that most first-time buyers go through. Just make sure that you get good people renting as you will be living in very close proximity to them.


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## Dopplegangerr (Sep 3, 2011)

Looks awesome man. Getting other people to pay off your mortgage is a great idea.
Congratulations!


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

I had assumed you were in a hospital being fed intraveneously. 

Seriously - great looking house!

I've bought and sold several houses and it's never an easy decision. Now that you've made it - just enjoy and move on with your life. Don't worry about the housing market.


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## zylon (Oct 27, 2010)

*the Kae roast*

The best part about this news is that (hopefully) there'll be less chatter about day trading. each::encouragement::tongue-new:

Good luck!


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Congratulations on your bold move. I hope it works out for you.

Just make sure to use Rachelle's advice when acquiring tenants.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

There is never a good time to buy it seems, it is always scary no matter if the house is $100,000 or $1,000,000.

Markets go up and down and if it goes for less then you paid it will bother you, hell even though I am mortgage free it still bothers me if my house goes for less then I paid for it last year, so put that aside and pay attention to your rental income. 

I like Rusty's comments from my Would You Do it? thread in the real estate section. 


There isn't going to be any crash. I thought there was too, back in 2008 when the US hit the skids, I thought our market would follow suit. So I sold some nice rental houses. Wish I could buy them back now for what I sold them for, or even $50,000 more. The market dipped all right, for about 2 months, to the tune of 10% or so, then bounced right back.

I don't see any reason for a real estate crash. In fact we are in an inflationary period right now. I know no one is talking about it in the media, but if you keep tabs on what you are paying for groceries, insurance, heating oil etc. you know it is a much bigger factor than most people believe. An inflation rate of just 5% causes prices to double in 12 years.

The last real crash we had was in 1990. That was following 8 years of wild speculation when prices double and redoubled in a few years. Interest rates were higher, rental properties were selling with bad, bad negative cash flow, everyone was talking about real estate, and jumping into speculations even though they had no idea what they were doing. New real estate offices, and new agents, all over the place.

None of those things apply today. Prices have been rising slowly and steadily. Interest rates are low. Inflation is rising. Nobody is speculating, or talking about or encouraging speculation. 

To me this is a better time to buy than to sell, especially if you can lock in a long term mortgage at today's cheap rates and enjoy a monthly payment that is cheaper than rent.

Agree or disagree as many have but the comments by Rusty are something to note.


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

Congratulations on a big responsibility! May you find find a chocolate-milk loving gal as a tenant ... :biggrin:


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## Charlie (May 20, 2011)

Congrats on the house! 

Don't worry (too much) about the real estate market at this point as your ownership timeframe is (hopefully) 5 yrs plus. Possibly a lot more! Financially, you've dropped your housing costs to a few hundred a month which is pretty sweet cash flow wise. Garth Turner makes more money selling books then he does on stocks or real estate.


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

Congrats, it looks like a nice place. 

Even if there is a housing crash, it appears that you have things financially convered renting out the upstairs.

And we all know that you are going to be able to scrap together a few $$ to place a trade here and there.

Let us know when the CMF housewarming is. LOL. 

All the best.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

It's possible that there will be a correction in three or four years, and the value of your property never falls below what you paid for it.

Ultimately, you had a life event that led you to find new accommodations--don't sweat it. Congrats on the purchase!


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## Dibs (May 26, 2011)

Congrats! I'll miss your posts in the stock trading threads but I hope you still stick around in the forums.


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## Spidey (May 11, 2009)

Dibs said:


> Congrats! I'll miss your posts in the stock trading threads but I hope you still stick around in the forums.


My guess is that he'll be trading again within the year.


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## zylon (Oct 27, 2010)

*Automated Margin Provider*

Well of course; he just bought an A.M.P. didn't he? :encouragement:

"AMP" 'er up dude! :chuncky:


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

That is a beautiful house inside and out.I would live in that basement The RE Investor in me wants to know how much you paid lol


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

Beaver101 said:


> Congratulations on a big responsibility! May you find find a chocolate-milk loving gal as a tenant ... :biggrin:


Hopefully! 



Spidey said:


> My guess is that he'll be trading again within the year.


Hopefully! x2



marina628 said:


> That is a beautiful house inside and out.I would live in that basement The RE Investor in me wants to know how much you paid lol


Thank you!
I paid $235k.


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## GOB (Feb 15, 2011)

Sounds like a great deal from the pictures. What neighbourhood are you in?


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

What area is that, Kae?


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## Jon_Snow (May 20, 2009)

235K? Wow. This is why I am kinda hoping Garth Turner is right with his housing crash predictions. I can only dream of owning a house for anything close to that price point on the west coast. Its ludicrous out here.

That looks like money well spent, KaeJS.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

In this market, $235K was probably the 20% down payment :biggrin:


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

Looks like you did it on your own terms ,Mama don't have to push you out and I bet you will enjoy living on your own.Very nice house and the price is good too.Hopefully you can find some good people to share the house with you.


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

The home is located in a nice area of Cambridge, ON. Not downtown, but a more suburban area.

I am currently having lots of trouble finding an insurer who will insure the home with room mates/tenants/boarders who are not on the mortgage.


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

Did you try an insurance broker?

Cambridge is nice. So you still work in the GTA and are gonna commute? I guess you can do that if you work in the western part of the GTA. Maybe 45 min commute each way?

I don't see why this means the end of trading, surely you can come up with a measly $1000 and do at least a little trading?


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

It takes me 30 minutes to get to work in the west end of Mississauga. No big deal at all. 

You can't trade with $1000.

Also, I'm going to be selling both my car and truck and buying a new car.

Payments are going to be tight, so I want to build up a $20k safety net before I start trading again.

The reason for the new car is because:

One car is cheaper than two.
New car will be better on gas.
It's a new car so hopefully repairs won't be so imminent.
Safer in the winter (and all round in general)


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## GOB (Feb 15, 2011)

It depends how tight your finance are right now, but why don't you consider a 2-3 year old car that still has a couple of years left on the warranty? Fuel economy will still be good, maintenance will still be low, insurance will be less than a new car and you can probably save 30%+ on the price.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

KaeJS said:


> It takes me 30 minutes to get to work in the west end of Mississauga. No big deal at all.


That's not a bad commute from Cambridge, esp. if you are close to the 401.
During rush hrs., you will usually end up bailing at Hwy 25 and taking Brittania or Derry Rd. East.


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

I'm trying to get a 2010-2013 Kia Forte Koup SX in the colour Racing Red, preferably with under 40,000km.

I found a 2011 that is selling for $13,500, but it seems suspiciously low priced. I called the guy and asked him what was wrong with it, he said "nothing". I confirmed with him there are only 1600km on the car and he said "yes".

Gonna go take a look at it....

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-cars-trucks-2011-Kia-Forte-Coupe-W0QQAdIdZ397746728


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

KaeJS said:


> You can't trade with $1000.


Sure you can, you just gotta stick with stocks that are under $100 a share and buy one stock at a time. You could buy 250+ shares of bbd.b it's a steal right now.

I'd recommend against a new car, why get in debt even further when you can buy a used lower mileage one and have no payments? Would you even qualify to finance a car when you have a huge mortgage?


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

That doesn't seem right, a 1 year old car with only 1600 kms on it AND it's priced lower than other cars of the same year/model? Would be great if it were true but it's probably a mistake or scam.


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

^ I'm thinking it was in an accident and he's trying to get rid of it.

It is definitely suspicious. But I guess the business could be failing... who knows. It's worth a look. The other thing that doesn't sit well with me is the fact that there are no pictures of the rear end. Why?


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

Sometimes accidents don't show up in a carproof/carfax. Maybe ask him if you can take it to a Kia dealership for an inspection?


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

I used to work for Kia so I will just do my own inspection and take it for a test run.

There's only two possible scenarios - It was either in an accident, or his business is failing. A car like that is worth at least 17,000. At least.


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

So you look at the car? What was wrong with it?


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

KaeJS said:


> Well, I've gone through a few drastic life changes recently.


Wow, a brave homeowner at 22! Congratulations; mom should be proud of you!

Life is indeed full of adjustments and some changes [drastic or simple], come when we least expect/want them, but c'est la vie.

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. ~Victor Frankl

Some housewarming gifts for you: :encouragement:

















I would also suggest you watch the movie and/or read Pacific Heights [if you haven't already] and pick your tenants very, very carefully!
http://www.amazon.ca/Pacific-Heights-Melanie-Griffith/dp/0790741423

Hope you have resolved the insurance issues & good luck with everything!


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

Sherlock said:


> So you look at the car? What was wrong with it?


I did not have a chance to go look at the car. I am second guessing the purchase of another car, so I won't be making any decisions yet. Though, I have put my car up for sale.



Toronto.gal said:


> Some housewarming gifts for you: :encouragement:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you, TG.

Everything was finally worked out with insurance!


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## Homerhomer (Oct 18, 2010)

So have you sold the house yet?

Just kidding, congratulations and good luck with the new adventure.


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

KaeJS said:


> I did not have a chance to go look at the car. I am second guessing the purchase of another car, so I won't be making any decisions yet. Though, I have put my car up for sale.


So you will update your pic when you get the new car. :tongue-new:


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

LOL Cal.

I would offer my F for sale to you [less than 80K km], gently driven by only moi,  but, 1) I know u don't like F, and 2) I'm not ready to part with it yet, not the car and not the shares either [last purchased @ $8.95 earlier this month].

I think it's a good idea to replace the 2 vehicles for 1, though I'm not sure I would be spending more on a car right now after your home purchase.


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

Homerhomer said:


> So have you sold the house yet?
> 
> Just kidding, congratulations and good luck with the new adventure.


ROFL. This made me howl. That was a good one, HH.

Here's a video of the place, excuse the poor quality:

Kae's New Pad


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

Looks very nice KaeJS!


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## Spidey (May 11, 2009)

:encouragement:


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## Causalien (Apr 4, 2009)

Does Cambridge ON have a lot of people looking for renting? Does it have a large student body? Interested in this because of the upcoming potential Quebec referendum


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

There are 2 universities and a college there (well, nearby in Waterloo), so I would think there's a decent student population.

Kae, the place looks great! When do you close?


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

The School of Architecture is in Cambridge. Don't expect UWaterloo or Laurier students to live in Cambridge.


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

Causalien said:


> Does Cambridge ON have a lot of people looking for renting? Does it have a large student body? Interested in this because of the upcoming potential Quebec referendum


I posted an ad on Kijiji before I bought the house saying that I had rooms for rent. I had 9 hits within less than 48 hours. I don't think it will be all that hard to find tenants. Finding good ones will be a different story.



Spudd said:


> There are 2 universities and a college there (well, nearby in Waterloo), so I would think there's a decent student population.
> 
> Kae, the place looks great! When do you close?


Student population is fairly decent. However, Students are a last resort and are not what I'm looking for in a tenant. 

Thank you for your compliment on the house! The close is October 31 (still a bit out into the future)


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## Causalien (Apr 4, 2009)

KaeJS said:


> I posted an ad on Kijiji before I bought the house saying that I had rooms for rent. I had 9 hits within less than 48 hours. I don't think it will be all that hard to find tenants. Finding good ones will be a different story.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Meanwhile, my neighbor finally kicked his son (26) and daugher in law out after one huge fight when the son insulted his mom because she threw away some important stuff while cleaning their dump of a room. 
Today the son tried to sneak back to do some laundry (aided by his sister) and was promptly discovered by the dad and escorted out. When confronted about it, the dad just said: "It is what it is. Life is unfair."

Some people just don't appreciate how good they have it until they pissed off one too many people and economic reality hits them in the face. KaeJS will eventually become the "made ones" where he can piss off as many people as he want and spit in the face of economic reality. Not too sure if my neighbor's son can do it. I just feel bad for the daugher in law. Such a hard working first generation russian immigrant. I guess, opposites attract.


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## mrPPincer (Nov 21, 2011)

Very impressive KaeJS. That's a beautiful home you have there, especially for someone as young as yourself. Congratulations!


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