Hello from BC, Canada

[Shaidah K.]

Hello,

I am still going through a lot of the posts and listening to the podcasts.  I am learning a lot!

I wanted to get out and introduce myself: 

Hi!  I'm Shaidah (pronounced Shy-da).  I live in Richmond, BC where my husband and I have been living for 10 years and have almost paid off our home.  My goal was to have it paid off before we turned 40.  We have 4 years to go and know we can do it, but not sure if we should...  With rates really low, I wonder if we should be investing additional funds in new property instead of paying off our home.  In 10 years, our appraised value of our home has doubled.  Similar homes in the area are selling for more than double what we paid.  Real estate here keeps going up.

In 2010, we bought a townhouse in the neighbouring City, close to where I work.  My husbands brother is a 50% partner, who lives on the east coast.  The townhouse is tenanted and we have a positive cash flow.  We have been lucky to have a single middle aged male tenant who has been there for the full 5 years so far.  

I work for a municipality as a Civil Engineering Tech.  I work with developers and their engineers to ensure that their proposals meet the City's requirements for everything within the road allowance.  My husband works for a lab and does research on blood.  

I am always looking at real estate and am mentally ready to buy another place, but not financially ready, without dipping into the equity of our home.  

I think that is enough on me for now!  

Here is a link to a property I am really interested in but am not financially ready for... It doesn't hurt to look, right?

http://macdonaldcommercial.com/sale/2699

Thanks for reading!

Shaidah