Why I bought a 4-level + rooftop million dollar house I'll only use for 6 months per year

Instead of investing in a multi-family property

[Thread]

I've always operated with this assumption. Owner-occupied residential real estate is a consumption, not investing.

For context, in Montreal the average home is 400K.

So a 1.05M home is about 3 times as much as the average person gets.

For a purely capital allocation perspective, this is not the best decision.

So let me explain why I decided to pull the trigger.

You see, ever since I left my parent's place...

I've never lived in one place for more than 2 years.

I moved 10+ times in the past 10 years.

And as much as I've enjoyed a somewhat minimalist lifestyle...

I now crave permanence.

My wife calls it building a nest: a permanent place for us. And for our future children.

A place to call home.

And an environment designed to be the ultimate work and play space.

Plus, a house that's future-proof.

One of the reasons why I pulled the trigger is that the house I bought is "rare".

Meaning, it's difficult to find a new build (mine is 2012) in the neighborhood I like.

Most houses are 100+ years old and need a lot of work.

A/C is rare, let alone central air.

Plus, fireplaces are subject to a ton of scrutiny here...

And ours has all the paperwork.

Add a rooftop with a hot tub and a private garage...

And it's basically impossible to find a house like this in Montreal, at least in the city centre.

Don't get me wrong: it wasn't cheap or a steal.

But I do think I got a great deal.

My friend and fellow @fitfounder will confirm that this 1.05M house in Montreal would have cost at least 3M in Toronto.

In Vancouver where @comedicbizman lives, it might sell for as much as 5M.

While I don't expect to sell the house anytime soon, nor do I treat it as the optimal investment...

I expect it to be worth at least 2M in the next 10-15 years.

That's because I believe work-from-home is here to stay.

Long-term, I expect residential real estate to be less correlated with career opportunities.

I believe that people in other nearby cities, like Ottawa and Toronto...

Will realize that they can get twice as much for their money in Montreal... and can work from anywhere they want

So in the coming years, I expect other Canadian real estate markets to plateau, or even go down slightly...

While historically low Montreal catches up.

Time will tell if my analysis is correct.

Either way, I'm super excited to have an office and a massive bookshelf.