{"id":560136,"date":"2023-02-22T21:08:46","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T18:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/the-move-why-two-pilots-willing-to-put-down-roots-anywhere-in-canada-landed-in-calgary-2\/"},"modified":"2023-02-22T21:08:46","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T18:08:46","slug":"the-move-why-two-pilots-willing-to-put-down-roots-anywhere-in-canada-landed-in-calgary-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-move-why-two-pilots-willing-to-put-down-roots-anywhere-in-canada-landed-in-calgary-2\/","title":{"rendered":"#The Move: Why two pilots willing to put down roots anywhere in Canada landed in Calgary."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40e04c166fe\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40e04c166fe\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-move-why-two-pilots-willing-to-put-down-roots-anywhere-in-canada-landed-in-calgary-2\/#%E2%80%9CThe_Move_Why_two_pilots_willing_to_put_down_roots_anywhere_in_Canada_landed_in_Calgary%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;The Move: Why two pilots willing to put down roots anywhere in Canada landed in Calgary.&#8221;<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-move-why-two-pilots-willing-to-put-down-roots-anywhere-in-canada-landed-in-calgary-2\/#The_buyers\" >The buyers:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-move-why-two-pilots-willing-to-put-down-roots-anywhere-in-canada-landed-in-calgary-2\/#The_budget\" >The budget:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-move-why-two-pilots-willing-to-put-down-roots-anywhere-in-canada-landed-in-calgary-2\/#The_backstory\" >The backstory:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-move-why-two-pilots-willing-to-put-down-roots-anywhere-in-canada-landed-in-calgary-2\/#The_hunt\" >The hunt:<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CThe_Move_Why_two_pilots_willing_to_put_down_roots_anywhere_in_Canada_landed_in_Calgary%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;The Move: Why two pilots willing to put down roots anywhere in Canada landed in Calgary.&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n                            For first-time buyers Sylvie and Riley, their property search included a basement bachelor pad and a \u201cmurder home\u201d before eventually finding new digs\u00a0\n                        <\/div>\n<div>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_buyers\"><\/span><strong>The buyers:<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sylvie Bouffard, a 25-year-old regional-airline pilot, and Riley Dewar, a 27-year-old corporate-jet pilot.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_budget\"><\/span><b>The budget:<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$500,000<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_backstory\"><\/span><b>The backstory:<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sylvie and Riley are originally from opposite sides of the country\u2014her from Ottawa and him from Squamish, British Columbia. In 2020, they met somewhere close to the middle, while working as air-ambulance pilots in La Ronge, a remote community in northern Saskatchewan. They were used to airlifting victims of ATV and snowmobile accidents to hospitals, but during the pandemic, they serviced more and more patients afflicted with COVID. \u201cIt was nice to be in the same field at that time,\u201d Sylvie says. \u201cWhen we needed to rant after a long day, we each had someone who could understand us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>RELATED:\u00a0The Move: This Ontario family found space and affordability in Calgary<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In November of 2020, the couple moved in together, renting a three-bedroom, 1,000-square-foot house in La Ronge for $1,200 a month. It was an older property, but it had a large porch overlooking the backyard, where they often enjoyed meals when the weather permitted. Sylvie and Riley shared a love of the outdoors, which they satisfied by camping, hiking and paddleboarding in the wilds of La Ronge. Still, neither of them were too keen on staying there for long. Aside from the abundance of outdoor recreation, there wasn\u2019t a whole lot to do in town, an area known for having high crime rates. (\u201cI wouldn\u2019t walk alone at night,\u201d Sylvie says.) Plus, their MedEvac jobs often meant working 12-hour shifts, on-call and for low pay.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sylvie and Riley both hoped to find better-salaried work as commercial pilots. They were willing to live anywhere in Canada, so long as their future home was located in a safe community and was roomy enough to house the family they eventually hoped to start. Affordability was also a priority, which ruled out Toronto and Vancouver. Calgary, on the other hand, seemed reasonable. The idea of being close to the mountains scratched their adventurous itch, and Riley\u2019s dad was located in Kelowna, a six-hour drive away.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>READ:\u00a0The Move: Kelowna, B.C. to Nova Scotia for a breath of fresh air<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By March of 2021, Riley had secured a job as a corporate-jet pilot for a private charter company in Calgary and took over the basement of his friend\u2019s mom (for free) who had an apartment in Airdrie, a suburb just north of the Calgary International Airport. Sylvie found work with another local airline and moved into Riley\u2019s bachelor pad that July. A week after her arrival, the search for their dream home finally began.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_hunt\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><b>The hunt: <\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sylvie and Riley\u2019s ideal property had to fit a few key criteria: detached, with two or three bedrooms (for overnight visitors), a decently sized yard (for Lou, Sylvie\u2019s newly adopted Labradoodle), a price tag close to $500,000 and located in a quiet neighbourhood, preferably near the airport (for obvious reasons). Riley, who describes himself as \u201cnot a city person,\u201d wasn\u2019t keen on living right downtown. Instead, the couple started looking in a friendly, known area with lots of green space: Airdrie. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Right off the bat, they viewed five houses. Among them was an older, six-bedroom house on a corner lot, which Sylvie and Riley nicknamed the \u201cmurder house\u201d for its peeling wallpaper, musty cigarette smell and creepy basement, complete with a dark, narrow hallway. There was also the \u201cmuseum house,\u201d a three-bedroom split-level bungalow that was newly renovated and listed for $415,000. \u201cIt was too sterile,\u201d Sylvie says. \u201cIt was very white and very staged. It didn\u2019t feel homey at all.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The top contender was a three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom detached property on a cul-de-sac in Airdrie\u2019s Reunion-Williamstown neighbourhood, just \u201c90 steps\u201d from their basement apartment. It had an open-concept living room and kitchen on the main floor, three bedrooms on the upper level and an unfinished basement that was ripe for renovation. The house itself sat on a large, pie-shaped lot with a narrow front yard and a fully fenced backyard\u2014ideal for Lou, and ideal for enjoying private outdoor meals in the summer months. \u201cIt was miles nicer than anything else we\u2019d seen,\u201d says Riley.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>MORE:\u00a0The Move: Why one family left Toronto for Vancouver Island\u2026and 14 goats<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The home was listed at $500,000\u2014the very top end of the couple\u2019s budget\u2014but their agent thought they could get it for $490,000. Sylvie and Riley had scheduled another batch of viewings for the next day, so they figured they\u2019d hold off on making an offer. But on the way home, their agent called to let them know another prospective buyer had put in a bid. \u201cOur stomachs were in knots,\u201d Sylvie says. \u201cI think that\u2019s when we realized how much we loved the house. We thought: <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We can\u2019t lose it<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They decided to submit an offer of $490,000, based on their realtor\u2019s advice, but soon found out the other bidder had offered the asking price\u2014with no conditions. Sylvie and Riley decided to match the $500,000, retaining their conditions (including a home inspection). They also threw in a heartstring-plucking letter for the current owner, expressing their love for the neighbourhood, where they could imagine walking their dog and sending their future children to school. That sealed the deal. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They didn\u2019t have long to celebrate. Sylvie and Riley agreed to a quick closing date of early August, and just two weeks later, Sylvie left for job training in Vancouver. Riley moved their shared belongings out of storage and into their new digs by himself. In fact, they only spent a total of six days together in their first two months of home ownership, thanks to their staggered work schedules. \u201cWe had just come off of doing long distance, so it was very bizarre,\u201d Sylvie says.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They devoted any and all shared time to making their house a home: sourcing and refurbishing second-hand furniture from Kijiji and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> Marketplace, transforming their third bedroom into a craft area for Sylvie (she crochets and sews), and enjoying meals for two in their backyard oasis\u2014three if you include Lou. At times, they miss their lakeside dwelling in La Ronge, but Sylvie and Riley are making do, suburb-style. There\u2019s a pond located a couple streets\u2019 north, which draws hockey-loving kids during the winter freeze and hosts concerts over the holidays. \u201cThere\u2019s a strong sense of community here,\u201d says Sylvie, h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ily. For all their scheduling conflicts, the couple has grown closer, too. Last Christmas Eve, Riley proposed.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async defer crossorigin=\"anonymous\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/macleans.ca\/economy\/realestateeconomy\/the-move-calgary-pilots-put-down-roots\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The Move: Why two pilots willing to put down roots anywhere in Canada landed in Calgary.&#8221; For first-time buyers Sylvie and Riley, their property search included a basement bachelor pad and a \u201cmurder home\u201d before eventually finding new digs\u00a0 The buyers: Sylvie Bouffard, a 25-year-old regional-airline pilot, and Riley Dewar, a 27-year-old corporate-jet pilot. The&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":560137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/IMG_3353-1_1-766x431.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[102949,140330,71226,129352],"class_list":["post-560136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-calgary","tag-house-hunting","tag-real-estate","tag-the-move"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}