`EVERYTHING HERE IS PERFECT FOR US'
They weren't planning on buying a new southeast Edmonton home.
Actually, they weren't planning on buying at all. Being recent university graduates, they thought they would be renters.
Taking this back a step further, Edmonton wasn't even on their radar. But that's when everything changed for Séverine Lee-Fun and Chaitya Rao, two Montrealers who now find themselves as first-time Edmonton homeowners.
“We're very happy as we never thought we'd own a house almost right after graduating from university,” said Lee-Fun. “We assumed our plan would be similar to most of our friends who are renting right now and saving up to have their own place. We feel very lucky that things fell into the right place at the right time for us.”
Among those things that fell into place was a cheaper cost of living here, and that what they were paying in rent in Montreal is comparable to their mortgage payment here.
So just how did they end up in a brand new three-storey Cantiro townhome in the Hills at Charlesworth, a popular newer community that is nearing completion?
As the couple puts it, it was unexpected as they weren't really thinking about leaving Montreal.
“We both thought we may move to Ontario at the furthest upon graduation if we don't find jobs in Montreal,” said Lee-Fun.
“It was actually me who found Chaitya's (Edmonton area) internship opportunity online and asked him to apply for it. Like the house, things fell right into place for us and we are very happy to where it got us.”
HEADING WEST
The dominoes started falling when Rao was accepted into that mechanical engineering internship a few years back.
Then renting in Fort Saskatchewan, they found themselves spending practically every weekend in the southern part of Edmonton at Ikea in South Edmonton Common or at the outlet mall on the airport's doorstep. “We were pretty big on shopping,” said Lee-Fun.