So we made the decision to move, now to figure out how this was going to happen.
We were lucky enough to have equity in our home, we decided to try to be mortgage free on the island as that would open up more possibilities. By that I mean, you don’t have to have a high paying job to pay your mortgage.
We also wanted to get settled here quickly. To get a mortgage you have to have income; which would have meant us moving here, renting and finding jobs then finding our forever home. Too many steps for us. So we lowered our budget and started looking.
We knew we weren’t interested in the west end of the island. Although it is beautiful, it can be pretty isolated. We were open to travelling for work but with a doctor shortage on the island we wanted to be a reasonable distance from a hospital or clinic.
We had visited the Eastern end of the island previously and loved the town of Souris. It has everything you need ( if there is something you want, Charlottetown is an hour away). My dad and I came out here in the spring and looked at houses, although we saw plenty, nothing felt like home to us. We left for Ontario slightly dejected.
We kept searching, we saw houses that weren’t as the listing seemed, houses we liked but were out of budget and often when we saw one we liked it was gone by the time we thought it over enough to make an offer.
So do we put this dream on hold? Nope. We listed our house in Ontario. As a last resort we would have rented here but were hoping it wouldn’t come to that and now I’m so thankful it didnt come to that as finding rentals is very hard on the island.
Our house sold in 24 hours, conditional for 10 days but the pressure was on. Out of one part craziness and one part frustration I took the filters off my search on Realtor.ca and saw a fridge I liked in the pictures of a listing. I jokingly told the lady beside me at work I was buying this house because I liked the fridge.
By next break I had spoken to the agent, who did a video tour of the house and by 4 o’clock we had a conditional offer in. The next 10 days were a blur of impatience, frustration and a few tears as we waited for our house there to firm up and organize everything here. My hubs and I did a whirlwind trip to see the house before the conditions expired. We left Ontario 1am Sunday morning and were home by 7 Tuesday night.
So we now have a house, are mortgage free, a short drive from the bridge. We are 15 minutes from Summerside, 45 from Charlottetown. As luck would have it we both have jobs less than 10 minutes from home. We have a beautiful view and felt like we were home the minutes we walked in the door. All because I stopped looking with filters and kept an open mind.
Next post: Moving day
Relocating to the Red Island 