Not because the Canadian Tire Corporation are masters of sentimentality or anything, but because they are advertising for things like lawn furniture and house paint. These are things I can not buy. Well, I can buy them, but I wouldn't have any use for them. I am not a homeowner. I will probably never be a homeowner. And that makes me sad.
As a kid, I assumed that, like my parents and every other adult I knew, I would one day own a house. I would spend Saturday afternoons picking out bedding plants for my flower garden, and I'd constantly be nagging my husband to finish remodelling the downstairs bathroom. I'd bake cookies in my own kitchen--and that kitchen would feature those hot red-patent cabinets from Ikea. I'd complain about property taxes and the gas bill. I'd yell at the kids not to slam the screen door on their way out. I'd transform my front yard into a Christmas wonderland every December.
But I am not a kid anymore, and I have to accept the fact that I will never own my own house. At least not in British Columbia now that houses in Vancouver start at 680,000 dollars for a crappy East Van "Vancouver Special." I remember the first house my parents bought in Winnipeg. It was a two-story brick house on a big corner lot in a good neigbourhood, less than a block from the river. It had cute green awnings, hardwood floors, a private formal dining room, a huge living room, finished basement with fireplace, two bathrooms, and four bedrooms. It cost 125,000 dollars. We thought it was sooo expensive at the time, too. For 125,000 in Vancouver you couldn't even buy half of a studio apartment now.
Both of my younger brothers own houses. One of them has a big fancy house by the lake in Penticton, and one has a beautiful old bungalow in Regina. Bastards. If I could find a job in Halifax, I might have a hope of realizing my homeowner dream. Houses are still available for under 200,000 dollars there. But my battered credit and unresolved debt doesn't make me a very attractive mortgage candidate.
Oh well, throwing away $1200 a month for a one-bedroom rental is satisfying too. It's nice to know we are contributing to the comfortable retirement for the people who own our condo. And, while it may suck that I am not living the childhood vision I had for my life, it is good that I am not living the vision the 20-year-old me had for my life. You know, the one where I die, bitter and alone, in a basement bachelor apartment and no one even notices until two months later when the smell starts to waft up through the heating vents.
6 comments:
You'd be relegated to the burbs under 200,000 just about anywhere worthwhile in the US too. But hey, once you sell your first novel you'll have no trouble buying a place! :)
Cool, I've got a whole bunch of novels on my bookshelf at home, I'm going to start selling them!
I found out yesterday that a girl I know just bought an adorable house in Halifax for 179,000. She's stealing my dream city and my dream of homeownership.
With the housing market the way it is, I know more than one person who has bought a house, fixed it up, and now can't sell it. I can give you names, but you'd have to move to the United States, which might not be worth it.
"Never give up. And never, under any circumstances, face the facts." - Ruth Gordon
If Halifax is the place, go for it! It's not that hard to get your credit cleaned up, especially if your hubby's credit is better than yours. And I bet you could get a job.
A buddy of mine purchased a house in Oro Mocto, NB, for $105,000 on a 3/4 acre lot with a creek.
You need not live in Vancouver.
However I think, too, that once the housing market collapses as the economy stagnates for at least the next two years, prices will come down. And if not, just wait till the baby-boomers move into care homes or die off.
It would be lovely if the housing market crashed in Vancouver and we could get a bungalow for 200,000 rather than the new average of 850,000. I could pretend to feel sorry for all the chumps who were heavily invested in real estate, but we both know I'd be lying.
The new plan is to try the co-op route or perhaps move out of our fabulous neighbourhood into an area where we could at least rent a bigger place.
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