renting vs buying Archives - The Outlier Model

Owning and refinancing a rental property in the US

rental property in the US, rentals, renting, rental properties

CF / February 27th, 2013 / 17 Comments

While working in academia in the past, I have had the chance to work with people from many different parts of the world. At my previous position as a software developer at a university, I had the opportunity to meet a young graduate student from Arizona. She was appalled at the cost and quality of rental units in Vancouver and regaled me with stories of cheap property and rental possibilities...

Posted in: Real Estate Tagged with: Arizona, Flagstaff, landlord tips, owning foreign property, Rental income, Rental propery, renting vs buying, university rentals, US rental property

5 Questions to ask when buying a condo

buying a condo, purchasing a property, questions to ask when buying a property, buying a property

CF / October 1st, 2012 / 21 Comments

As you guys might have noticed, Brian and I are in the condo buying market again. So I’ve had real estate on my mind and I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what I’m looking for in our next condo. Photo Credit: Keoni Cabral via Flickr Why do I want to live here? For me at least, it’s easy to be distracted by a beautiful, well decorated condo. I often have to remind...

Posted in: Real Estate Tagged with: condo, investment property, Rental income, Rental propery, renting vs buying

Updates: July 22 – 28

Brian / July 28th, 2012 / 6 Comments

It might not be the long weekend for everyone else, but CF and I are taking our long weekend this week as we try to spread out some of our days off in advance of our trip to the Okanagan coming up in August. It’s also CF’s birthday today, so we have lots of fun planned over the next three days. Happy Birthday CF! Tonight is the first night in the Honda Celebration of Light – a free...

Posted in: Weekly Updates Tagged with: Emergency fund, fireworks, renting vs buying

Real estate update 2011

Real estate update, real estate, rental property, condo, renting out a property, property investment

CF / January 20th, 2011 / 4 Comments

Buying the first condo We bought our first condo at the age of 25, in March 2010. Hard to believe, but even with the mortgage, strata, taxes and money set aside for maintenance, we were paying less for our condo per month than what we paid to rent in Vancouver! When we first bought the condo, it was assessed at 210k. At the time, we paid 250k for it, 10k less than the asking price. We got our...

Posted in: Home, Real Estate Tagged with: buying a condo, renting vs buying, renting your condo, Vancouver