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"Thank heaven for thin walls," I mused, tapping my toe to the sounds of Bobby Fazoom, who was just finishing up a set at the blues club next door to my neighborhood coffee shop. Sitting in my favorite corner, drinking hot apple cider, I could enjoy Bobby's guitar playing without having to choke on the club's smoky atmosphere — or its steep $20 cover.
The sound of applause vibrated through the shared wall, and in a minute Bobby appeared in the coffee shop, looking more downcast than professionally necessary.
"Bobby," I called out. "Great set. What's inspiring your blues today?"
"Don't need extra motivation," he replied. "My boy's just handed me four years of grief."
Bobby went on to tell me that his son, Eric, a promising young saxophonist, had decided to throw away all those years of perfecting his embouchure to enter optometry school at the University of Waterloo. Located in southwestern Ontario, the school is about a two-hour drive from their home in Toronto. Bobby, of course, was heartbroken.
"My dad, he was a bluesman. I'm a bluesman, and I thought I'd raised E to be a bluesman," Bobby lamented, shaking his head. "But he'd rather spend all day looking in people's eyes."
I knew how he felt. If either of my children gave up the chance to practice their dad's glamorous profession — accountancy — I don't know what I'd do.
"Worst of all," Bobby continued, "he's saved up enough money for tuition, but not enough to pay for residence. Told the boy if he was going to toss aside family tradition, he could take out a student loan to cover living expenses, thank you very much. But my wife's on his side; says she won't have our son starting his career with a huge debt on his shoulders, and anyway, it's my parental duty to pay!"
Bobby let out a deep breath. "I tell you, man, I've worked hard to get rid of my mortgage, and any extra money I got's gonna go toward some profit-making enterprise, not my kid's rent."
Chewing on a cinnamon stick, I pondered my friend's problem. All at once, it came to me — the perfect solution, not just for Bobby and his wayward son but for any parent or student facing the expense of attending a post-secondary institution that's too far away for a daily commute.
"You want an investment," I began. "But the stock market's so volatile that you might earn more by lending Eric the money to purchase a house in Waterloo."
Bobby looked at me as though I'd grown a second head.
"Just hear me out! Mortgage rates are at their lowest levels in 40 years. And although housing prices in major centres like Toronto and Vancouver can be astronomical, real estate in many university and college locales is still reasonable. Check with a local real estate broker in Waterloo. It's very likely that mortgage payments on a house for your son will be less than the cost of equivalent rental accommodation."
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