Moving to Canada(BC). Home buying and general financial planning advice needed
Hi,
Sorry in advance for long post, but I definitely don't want to mark start of my Canadian life with financial screw up, hence will try to give as much details as possible.
I'm moving (back) to Vancouver BC after several years spent in US.
I'm trying to figure what's the best financial strategy to achieve my goals.
Current savings are
1) approx 60k CAD worth of RRSP investments (which is useless as investment at moment, as they show no growth at all)
2) approx 250k USD in stock (mostly) options (some) and cash. These are in US.
Goals
1) I want buy a house in Vancouver within next year and ready to pay anywhere between $600k-$800k
2) Build wealth
Household annual income is around $200k-$250k, of which around 5-8k a month I'll have to spare. It's not distributed evenly throughout the year though.
My initial plan was
1) convert all saving into (Canadian) cash
2) take additional 50k (me and my wife) from RRSP for HBP
3) use all that for down payment
4) get open mortgage (which has pretty high interest rate btw)
5) spend 100% of free money paying it back
6) Pay what's in order back to RRSP
That would get me mortgage-free house in uner 5 yrs.
Now, seeing low mortgage interest rate (2.99% 5yrs fixed I hear?) it occurred to me that my first thought probably is not the best one.
So corrected one would be
1) Get _minimal_ downpayment for selected house (20% that is), that will include 50k from RRSP
2) Get mortgage for some 10-15 yrs
3) Take my time paying back mortgage and RRSP debt
4) Top RRSP
5) Top TFSA
6) Invest rest of money _somewhere_
I'm first time home buyer, and first time personal financial planner in Canada hence in bad need for advice.
So questions I have are
1) Should I buy the house now or wait (where's BC real estate market heading?)
2) What should be strategy for downpayment and mortgage?
3) How to allocate whatever will be left from current savings (should I move it to Canada or leave in US?)
4) How to allocate whatever remains from earnings after mortgage and RRSP payments?
Any advice or educational pointers will be appreciated.
Thanks!
Sorry in advance for long post, but I definitely don't want to mark start of my Canadian life with financial screw up, hence will try to give as much details as possible.
I'm moving (back) to Vancouver BC after several years spent in US.
I'm trying to figure what's the best financial strategy to achieve my goals.
Current savings are
1) approx 60k CAD worth of RRSP investments (which is useless as investment at moment, as they show no growth at all)
2) approx 250k USD in stock (mostly) options (some) and cash. These are in US.
Goals
1) I want buy a house in Vancouver within next year and ready to pay anywhere between $600k-$800k
2) Build wealth
Household annual income is around $200k-$250k, of which around 5-8k a month I'll have to spare. It's not distributed evenly throughout the year though.
My initial plan was
1) convert all saving into (Canadian) cash
2) take additional 50k (me and my wife) from RRSP for HBP
3) use all that for down payment
4) get open mortgage (which has pretty high interest rate btw)
5) spend 100% of free money paying it back
6) Pay what's in order back to RRSP
That would get me mortgage-free house in uner 5 yrs.
Now, seeing low mortgage interest rate (2.99% 5yrs fixed I hear?) it occurred to me that my first thought probably is not the best one.
So corrected one would be
1) Get _minimal_ downpayment for selected house (20% that is), that will include 50k from RRSP
2) Get mortgage for some 10-15 yrs
3) Take my time paying back mortgage and RRSP debt
4) Top RRSP
5) Top TFSA
6) Invest rest of money _somewhere_
I'm first time home buyer, and first time personal financial planner in Canada hence in bad need for advice.
So questions I have are
1) Should I buy the house now or wait (where's BC real estate market heading?)
2) What should be strategy for downpayment and mortgage?
3) How to allocate whatever will be left from current savings (should I move it to Canada or leave in US?)
4) How to allocate whatever remains from earnings after mortgage and RRSP payments?
Any advice or educational pointers will be appreciated.
Thanks!