Idk if I really made the moves so much as they fell into my lap but I really made out well off of covid.

In 2020 I had 2 goals, start seriously saving for a house, and have a wedding.

I moved into a much smaller apartment that was closer to work in Jan of 2020, we planned to spend the year mostly outside the house anyway.

But with the excess savings from not doing anything, combined with the weddding money, combined with the absolute floor for mortgage rates and a panic dip in the market, and a seller who was in a big hurry to get out of the house that was clearly too small for their large family we could just barely afford a house. Cost us 800k.

For the next 3 years we put all our money into paying down the mortgage. Then this year we sold for 1.2mil and bought a bugger much more suited to our need house for 600k, far away from both our works.

Now when our mortgage renews* in 2 years and we go to a much higher interest rate we will probably keep the same monthly payment, we have big cash for reno, paid off our ev and had the pocket change for a reception.

* in canada the longest you can lock in a rate is 5yrs