I had a realistic budget to match my low expectations, but the longer I looked, the more I needed: more savings, more debt, more distance between me and the city I loved.
Standing in a pock-marked cement basement, the floor wet to the touch as a dehumidifier hummed in the background, our realtor said what we’ve come to hear many times over the last year: This house will likely sell for over your budget.
We did have some lingering student debt and a car lease. With a one-year-old at home, we also knew lofty daycare bills were in our future — something the bank didn’t take into consideration when determining the mortgage we could take on. We knew it was a long shot, but we were hopeful. And so, with pre-approval in hand, we started looking.
Another house needed a full rewiring, and another had a floor that sloped at least 30 degrees. Both with renovated bathrooms.Then there was a listing for an east-end bungalow bought in the spring, renovated and put back on the market a month later for hundreds of thousands of dollars more along with plans for tearing it down and building a two-storey home.Bungalows, we were warned, would attract infill builders; semi-detached and rowhouses in our budget brought out flippers.
With each new listing, we started doing math in our heads to try to push up our budget. Could we go into debt during the daycare years to get us to $850,000 with no rental? How far were we willing to live from our friends and family?when B.C. did last summer, instead of last month, or if we had at least known for sure one was coming, we might have been able to jump when prices were lower. Instead, we tried to stick to our budget — but the longer we looked, the higher prices climbed.
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