Hurdling our way to San Francisco

Now that the “big stuff” has been taken care of, I am taking a moment to update my blog.

Move: Our move is scheduled on April 27^th. More packing for us. Our one way flight will be on April 30^th.

Immigration: Not much on that front. We have an appointment with our lawyer next week to discuss the interview process.

Apartment in SF: We rented a one bedroom apartment in Russian Hill, a dreamy location downtown San Francisco (picture).It’s not stainless steal fancy, but it’s very charming and has lots of character (think Carrie’s apartment in Sex in the City).

Condo: As most people know, we just moved into our brand new condo. Our contract with the builder stipulates that we are not allowed to “advertise”, “offer to sale”, or “sale” our unit until they have sold all of their units up to a maximum of year after our closing. We were aware of that when we purchased our place. But between July 2005 and now, some called "life" happened. As of now, they have three units left for sale. We attempted, unsuccessfully, to negotiate our way out of this clause. The builder did not grant us permission but we did get something. Instead of allowing us to sell in February 2008 only, we can sell as of October 2007.

We were faced with the dilemma of leaving the condo empty for five months (and pay for it) or rent it out. We were concerned about renting it out for a couple of reasons. First, there are several tax implications (especially as non-residents). After studying the Canadian Tax Act thoroughly (oh the pain), it appears that renting it makes sense financially. We were also worried about the material damage a tenant could potentially cause.

After much consideration, we decided to rent. We advertised and signed a 5-month lease within 24 hrs. We believe that we have found the perfect tenant: 40ish, divorced, lobbyist. I still can't think of myself as a "landlord".

We’re still planning to sell privately as soon as we are legally allowed. Flying twenty times (round trips) between Ottawa and San Francisco is still cheaper than giving 5% away to a realtor. It’s going to be exhausting, but worth it in the end.

Car: Note to self, selling an Audi is not an easy thing. We had two very interested buyers. The first deal fell through because the idiot didn’t know that he had to pay PST, duh. He basically wanted the car with the PST included in the price we agreed on. Right. The second buyer had much more realistic expectations. We closed the deal this morning. Whee.

Job: Since I can’t work until my work permit is processed, I found a great place to volunteer at. I am starting as soon as we arrived. Keeping busy is the key otherwise I am gonna go to the dark side.

I think we’re all set!