Canadian professor flies to work because it's cheaper than living in Vancouver

Nima Nassirian is an MBA professor with a passion for motorcycling who commutes to work in Vancouver from his home in Edmonton. (Submitted | Ross Howey Photo/Shutterstock)

A professor at a Vancouver university chooses to fly to work every week from Edmonton because he can afford a better life for his family in Alberta than he could in the Lower Mainland.

Nima Nassirian teaches Masters of Business Administration (MBA) students at University Canada West in downtown Vancouver. He loves the enthusiasm of his marketing students and the supportive environment and collaboration opportunities with other faculty members. But he didn’t love the idea of moving his family to Vancouver.

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“It’s a beautiful life — I’d have to give that up”

He bought a house in Edmonton with his wife two years ago, bidding farewell to inflated housing prices in the Greater Toronto Area. For less than $600,000, they bought a multi-bedroom detached home in a quiet residential area close to the city and his wife’s family. They have enough money left over for their son to play ice hockey, for their daughter to attend daycare, and for annual family vacations. In the summer, kids play with neighbours on the street like Nassirian remembers doing as a child.

“It’s a beautiful life,” he said. “I’d have to give that up for me and my kids — hence why I don’t want to live in Vancouver.”

Nima Nassirian/Submitted

This semester, Nassirian spends three days a week in Edmonton and four in Vancouver.

He typically flies with Flair, spending approximately $800 per month on roundtrip flights. The one-bedroom apartment he rents in Vancouver for weeknights costs $2,450 per month, and the family’s mortgage payments on their Edmonton home are $2,600 monthly. All that is still cheaper than finding a house in Metro Vancouver, he says.

He estimates an equivalent home in the Vancouver area would cost about $2.5 million. And it wouldn’t be close either — he’d likely be commuting from Surrey or further every day.

Mortgage snapshot on a $2.5 million Vancouver home from REW. (Rew.ca)

Daily Hive used a mortgage calculator to check the cost of owning a $2.5 million home in Vancouver. Even if Nassirian used the entire value of his Edmonton house as a downpayment, the monthly mortgage cost would be almost $12,000. That’s nearly double what he’s currently spending on housing and commuting costs.

For Nassirian, uprooting his family and squeezing two adults, two kids, and two dogs into a Vancouver condo was also out of the question.

It’s hard being away from his wife and kids, but his job was a professional opportunity he couldn’t pass up. He knows this is the best solution for both his career and his family. Plus, he’s working on his Doctor of Business Administration and doing consulting, so the Vancouver apartment lets him focus on work to be present with his family at home.

“Are there times when I’m on the plane, and I see some guy playing with his kids, and I say, ‘I wish my kids were here’? Of course. But it takes me a second to remember all the reasons I love Edmonton.”

Nassirian isn’t the only one who commutes by plane between Vancouver and Alberta, either. Earlier this month, University of British Columbia student and self-proclaimed “super commuter” Tim Chen made headlines for his strategy of living with his parents in Calgary and flying to Vancouver twice a week. Chen said it was cheaper than renting in Vancouver.

Nassirian has also met others who commute by plane and wonders if it might be a more normalized lifestyle in Edmonton because of how prevalent oil jobs are that take workers away from home for weeks at a time.

At the end of the day, he’s happy to work a job he loves in Vancouver while his family enjoys their home in Edmonton with plenty of space that’s close to relatives.

Would you commute by plane to a job in another city? Tell us why or why not in the comments.

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