When we last left them in part 1, Kate and Don weren’t ready to move yet, but they were ready to start exploring their options. Should they buy a condo or rent an apartment or a condo?

Right off the bat, we told them that they shouldn’t rent a condo. Why? Because the owners of a condo could decide to sell at any time and if the new owners wanted the condo for themselves, Kate and Don would have to look for another place, which was pretty much the last thing they wanted to do. Buying a condo or renting an apartment would give them more control over their destiny.

Researching the Condo and Apartment Markets

We asked Kate and Don about their budget and about what they wanted in their new place – neighbourhoods, bedrooms, bathrooms, pool, balcony, parking – that kind of stuff. We then did some online research for them and sent them a bunch of listings for sold condos that seemed to fit the bill on paper and that were in their price range. They could look at the photos, check out the room measurements and floor plans, drive by the buildings if they wanted and get a general idea of what they’d get for their money. We also set them up to receive new listings that met their criteria as soon as they hit the market.

Researching apartments was a little more difficult because most apartments aren’t listed on MLS, but we sent them similar information for the apartments that were rented on MLS.

For both condos and apartments, we asked them if they had seen any places their friends were living in that made them think “Hey, I can definitely see us living in a place like this.” Apartments are often rented by word of mouth so we suggested that they tell all their friends to keep their eyes and ears open and to spread the word. We also told them to speak to the supers in any of their friends’ buildings to let the supers know that they were interested because supers are often the first to find out when an apartment is about to go up for rent.

We showed them some condos that came on the market so they could get a better feel for size and price. They found the condos to be on the small side and were definitely leaning towards renting an apartment because the apartments offered more space. And all the while, they kept mulling things over: “Are we really ready to move? We don’t really have to move so who needs the hassle? When we’re ready to move, where should we move to? Should we buy a condo or rent an apartment?”

As they were mulling over the possibility of moving, the other question that came up, and it always comes up when someone is downsizing, was “What are we going to do with all our stuff?” A very good question.

What to Do with All Their Stuff?

We all knew that Kate and Don weren’t moving tomorrow, but why not start to get ready for the move well in advance so they wouldn’t feel that last minute pressure? We walked through their house with them and gave them suggestions about some of the things they should contemplate getting rid of and some repairs they should do before they listed their home. Not everyone has to go through an extensive staging process. Having the time to think about how much space they really needed and what things they really wanted to take with them was very helpful and definitely reduced the stress of moving for them. When you have a book collection like they had, you want to find a good home for it. After all, as my wife Katherine says: “Books are our friends.”

The wheels were in motion. Kate and Don were looking at condos and apartments and were starting to get rid of stuff and prepare their home for market, not knowing when it would actually go on the market. Every six months or so we’d sit down and go through things to see where we were at. We knew we were making progress, but we weren’t sure how much. Corinne and I are very patient so that didn’t really matter. We didn’t want Kate and Don to move before they were ready to do so and we were prepared to wait as long as necessary.

Then one day, Kate and Don’s daughter said to me: “My parents are moving.” I replied, with a bit of surprise: “Oh? Have they found an apartment?” “No”, she said, “my brother’s coming to town in a few weeks and he makes things happen.” I chuckled, but she sounded so positive that something was going to happen that I couldn’t wait for his visit to see if she was right. And that’s where we’ll pick up in the next instalment.

In the meantime, do you know anyone that can use some real estate help? The kind of help that involves honest answers, straightforward advice, no pressure and being treated like family? If you do, please let me know the best way for me to connect with them because I’d like to offer them this kind of help. And as always, don’t be shy if you have any questions or comments about this post! Thanks for reading.