Podcast Feature
What can I learn from military moves?
Ottawa is a city that sees many government and military moves in and out every year. What can a homeowner or homebuyer learn from our experience working with dozens of military and government clients?
Realtor in Your Pocket
Nick Fundytus is the host of “Realtor in Your Pocket,” a podcast for homeowners, homebuyers and tenants that provides valuable information and insights so that you can make your best move.
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Relocating with Confidence
Relocating for work is always a challenge, but for government employees and military families, it’s an expected part of life. Frequent moves bring unique hurdles—from finding a new home on short notice to ensuring your family settles in smoothly.
Drawing from past relocations, here are key lessons to help make your next move seamless.
1. Planning is Everything
Whether you’re moving across the country or just a few cities away, planning ahead is crucial. Military and government relocations often come with structured programs such as the Integrated Relocation Program (IRP), but even with support, proactive planning reduces stress.
- Start early: As soon as you receive relocation orders, begin researching housing, schools, and community services.
- Create a checklist: A relocation checklist helps you stay organized and ensures nothing falls through the cracks.
- Leverage available resources: Programs like the Employee Relocation Resource Center (ERRC) offer guidance and financial support.
2. House-Hunting Trips are Invaluable
Government and military employees often have the opportunity to take a House Hunting Trip (HHT) before their official move. This short trip helps you secure housing, explore neighborhoods, and get familiar with the new area.
- Make appointments in advance: Schedule home viewings with a trusted real estate agent to maximize your time.
- Explore beyond the home: Check out local amenities, schools, and commute routes.
- Consider resale value: Since frequent moves are common, choose a home with strong resale potential.
3. Budgeting for the Unexpected
Even with financial assistance, relocation costs can add up. Understanding what’s covered under your employer’s relocation package helps you plan accordingly.
- Know your entitlements: Military and government employees may qualify for moving allowances, travel reimbursements, and temporary housing support.
- Set aside an emergency fund: Unexpected expenses like additional moving fees or last-minute travel changes can arise.
- Save receipts: Some relocation expenses are tax-deductible, so keeping detailed records is beneficial.
4. Lean on Support Networks
Moving to a new city can be isolating, especially for families. Connecting with local networks can ease the transition.
- Join relocation support groups: Many government and military organizations have online communities and local meetups for new arrivals.
- Engage with your new workplace: Your employer or base will often have resources to help you adjust.
- Get involved in the community: Finding clubs, sports teams, or volunteer opportunities helps you feel at home faster.
5. Embrace the Challenges and Opportunities
Relocation brings stress, but it also offers growth opportunities. Embracing the change with a positive mindset can make all the difference.
- Keep a flexible attitude: Things might not always go as planned, but staying adaptable makes the process smoother.
- Use it as a fresh start: A new city is a chance to explore, meet new people, and experience new opportunities.
- Focus on family well-being: Frequent moves can be tough on children—open communication and involving them in the process helps ease transitions.
Top Tips: Buyers
Government relocations to Ottawa often begin remotely, months ahead of the move, and may have to be timed with the sale of their home elsewhere. In S2E3 of the podcast, our colleagues share some of their top tips from hundreds of moves:
- Assemble the team – Choosing a great mortgage broker, Realtor (that’s us!), lawyer and home inspector at the beginning makes everything go more smoothly. You’ll have the advice and knowledge base you need to reduce risk and stress.
- Get realistic – Government relocation clients are often on a House Hunting Trip that gives them a week to secure a home. In addition to pre-screening the market and narrowing down the search to the most suitable homes, buyers have to be realistic about what they really need, what they want and what they can realistically afford. Contrast this with some homebuyers who might be “dreamers;” if your target is defined, you have a much better chance of hitting it.
- Have a contingency plan – With our relocation clients we’ll often pre-book home inspections to occur in the middle of a house-hunting trip, meaning that we’ll have to find a home to inspect by then. This is all part of having a contingency plan: if the inspection goes poorly, there’s still time to pivot to plan B. On a more typical home search, the lesson to learn is not to fall in love with a home until you’ve got a firm offer in place, because the unexpected can (and often does) happen.
Top Tips: Sellers
Annalee, Manfred and Sarah share their top tips for sellers. Each is highly experienced with military and government clients and are well reviewed.
- Dress to Impress – Staging, cleaning and touch-ups sell homes faster and for more money. Our team includes these (and much more) for all of our Seller clients. If you’re outside of Ottawa, ask your Realtor to include these things if they’re a full-service realtor, or consider paying for them if you’re listing by owner. They’re worth it.
- Get Out – Unless you’re selling without a Realtor (and sometimes even then), vacate the home for showings and open houses. It’s much more comfortable for the prospective Buyer and their Realtor to speak openly, and therefore much more likely they’ll bring you an offer.
- Inspect and Disclose – It’s true that no one likes flaws in a home. Most of us want our homes to be move-in ready. You know what’s worse to a homebuyer, though? Surprises or worse, the feeling that the Seller is hiding something. Few things will kill the good will and chance of an offer like those. My team includes a professional home inspection with every listing we do. It helps homeowners avoid surprises and have a chance to fix problems before the home is listed, or at least disclose them.
3 Ways to make any house-hunting trip go smoothly
1
Put on your “Buyer Glasses” – Glasses wearers know what I’m talking about: you’re in the optometrists’ chair and he asks “which is better: lense one or two? Okay, how about one or three?” Treat your home search like this. You’re only going to buy one property, so always match the two “best” ones you’ve seen so far up against each other so that you can come up with a winner. It needs to check off all of your needs, as many of your wants as possible, and still be within budget.
2
Batch your showings – Sometimes we have to go see a home the same night. Mostly, though, we can plan ahead as buyers. Work with your Realtor to schedule showings in blocks of 3-5 to tackle in an evening or on a Saturday afternoon. Ask your Realtor to drive; it lets you focus on the homes and neighbourhoods and lets your Realtor hear the chatter that helps them get on your wavelength quickly. Best of all, it uses your time efficiently and reduces the stress of the search.
3
Comfortable Shoes – Sure, this seems like a small tip, but unless you like tying and untying your shoes twenty times in an afternoon as you go in and out of homes (sorry, not sorry to the Americans who wear their shoes indoors, but that’s disgusting) it’s a great idea to wear something comfortable and easy to slip on and off.
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