We live in a housing co-op in downtown Vancouver which is great in many ways, but due to some operating agreement complexities that I won't get into here, has a potential for a large rent increase every five years. Well, it's Year Five, we see a large increase on the horizon, and we're trying to decide whether we should stay or go.
Our current apartment is a 5 minute walk to work for me, 20 minute walk for him(but his office is moving next to mine next summer). It's a 600 sqf one bedroom apartment and we pay $732/month total, including utilities. The rent will be going up to $805, which is pretty high in my opinion. After that increase, it would go up by about the CPI for the next four years, and who knows how much next Year Five, and so on and so forth.
I'm pretty confident I could find an acceptable suite or apartment for less money, but it would probably be a bit farther from work(still walking/biking distance).
Pros for moving:
-Cheaper rent(yay!)
-Less volatility around rent increases
-None of the crap that comes from living in a large complex - crazy neighbours, etc(I would probably move to a basement suite or heritage house divided into a few suites, not another large building)
-Probably move somewhere with more green space - we're right in the downtown core "concrete central" of the city now
Cons for moving:
-Moving expenses
-Have to give at least two months notice at my place, so wouldn't be able to find a new place before giving notice
-Having to move - packing, uprooting, etc(boyfriend cares more about this than I do, I've moved a lot of times in my life)
-Likely further from work, our usual grocery stores, etc
I'm happy to provide any other information - I'm an open book about pretty much anything financial, personal, whatever. Should we stay or should we go?