After four decades of home ownership, 70-year-old David Ross never imagined he’d be renting his next home. But it’s proving to be one of the smartest things he’s done.

The retired appliance sales associate, who began his career at the old Woodward’s in Chinook Centre, is leasing a one-bedroom plus den apartment in Shawnessy Station Apartments, a new 169-unit mixed-use building by Trico Communities in southwest Calgary. Initially, he had hoped to downsize by selling his two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo in Bonavista Estates and purchasing a one-bedroom unit in the same complex, but it was proving difficult.

When he investigated Shawnessy Station, a project he’d watched being built, he’d hoped the building would have a small unit he could purchase.

“When I saw the sign on the fence that said ‘rent,’ I thought, oh darn,” he says. “Then in a flash, I thought why not look into renting. Why not free up my money? Suddenly, it made so much sense.”

Read more at the Calgary Herald online.