Calgary Bound

It is official: We are Calgary-bound.

Yesterday we inked a deal to buy a house in NW Calgary for August. It's a cute little bungalow with a walk-out basement in the community of Ranchlands, just 7 or 8 kilometers from the University.

It is official: I am going to the University of Calgary.

After a long process of testing and applications, I was accepted into their business school to do a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA). I had also applied to the University of Alberta (in Edmonton), the University of British Columbia (in Vancouver) and to Brigham Young University (in Provo). I thought I should apply several places, just to make sure I got accepted somewhere. Fortunately, I got accepted at each school, so we had our choice. Unfortunately, the choice wasn't easy.

As each acceptance letter came in, we started to envision ourselves at that school, living in that city. Then another letter would come in and we'd have to shift gears. In the end, we decided it would be best to go to Calgary, because most of R's family lives there, and it would be nice for R to be close to them while I am so busy with coursework. The program suited my needs and there are plenty of good job prospects in Calgary, so we probably wouldn't have to move again after graduation if we didn't want to.

With those long-term prospects, and given the mind-boggling increases in house values these last few years, we decided it would make good sense to buy a home, instead of renting. It is no small matter to purchase a home in such an expensive market when you are about to leave your job. It is also difficult to do when you live thousands of miles away. Luckily, we have Luke on our side -- Luke and his team of professionals.

My brother-in-law Luke has been involved in a few real estate purchases lately with his dad, so he was primed and ready when we mentioned that we would probably like to buy a house in Calgary. He agreed to be our "man on the ground" when we needed someone to look at properties and work with realtors. Speed was essential, because the houses we were interested in did not last very long on the market. Luckily, Luke is a speedy guy.

After several weeks of watching the listings, and even driving by or visiting a few properties, Luke sent me an email late Monday night about a new listing in Ranchlands. We hadn't really been looking in Ranchlands because we wanted a place nearer the university that had potential to rent out the basement. However, this place in Ranchlands was too good to pass up. It was way cheaper than the ones we'd looked at and it was bigger, nicer and newer. It's pretty tough to argue with that.

I saw Luke's email in the middle of the night when I went to change Scott's diaper, and told him we were interested. By lunchtime, R's sister J had already gone by with her mom to look/take pictures, and by 8pm we'd written an offer. The house had MAYBE been on the market for 24 hours by then. The following morning (yesterday), the offer was accepted and the deal was done. It's pretty thrilling. It's especially nice to have that uncertainty out of the way. We are also thrilled about the ceilings. J took plenty of good pictures of all the ceilings.

Although we are excited, it seems a little bit like we are just going in a circle. Each time we have previously moved, we've gone somewhere new. There's something exciting about going somewhere new and unknown. Ranchlands is not that foreign to us. R lived in Ranchlands when she was a little kid, back when the community was brand new (our newly-purchased house was built the same year we were both born). I used to live in the community just to the NE of Ranchlands (Edgemont). Still, we'll be starting over in a new house and it will be a huge adventure to have Scott along for our second crack at student life.

So, thanks Luke for all the help. The check's in the mail.