My significant other and I have recently purchased a new home. For sake of posterity, I have decided to keep an online account of the ups and downs of the process. And I’m sure most home owners would agree that purchasing a new home is indeed quite the process.
The first domino that fell to start our journey was our decision that one day we wanted to start a family together. This led us to assess our current living situation. We have been living in our small two bedroom house for a few years now, and we have already reached a point where we feel cramped. Adding another human to the equation was just not going to happen. We already have two cats that have been waging a civil war against each other for territory and resources. But since we introduced a lab mix puppy into the household, they have formed an alliance and have dug in their heels (literally). So there was only one solution. We buy a bigger house.
Our first hurdle was to sell our current house. As “cute” and “quaint” as it is, there is not a large demographic seeking a house that size. One advantage is that we live in a beautiful farming area with lots of land and great neighbors.
The next step was to determine how much we could afford to spend on the new place. While my lovely girlfriend scoured realtor sites to assess the marketplace, I turned to banking sites to shop for mortgage rates. I used an online mortgage calculator tool that one of my coworkers recommended. It really helped to put things in perspective and also allowed us to calculate what we could afford by estimating the monthly payments.
Once our budgets were in order, and we had looked at several houses in our area, we had a much better idea of what we would need and what we could afford. We finally decided on a place closer to the downtown area. This house turned out to be perfect for our needs.
It is a two storey home with four bedrooms and two bathrooms. All rooms, including the two living rooms and the dining area have plenty of space and natural sunlight. The attic finished and well insulated and would provide a perfect play area for kids or a great jam space for a musician like me. The yard is not huge, but is relatively big for the residential area it is in. It is also very well landscaped with beautiful flower beds and apple trees and it is even fenced in with cast iron so our puppy can’t escape!
Our only concern is how much it will cost to heat the place. There is an oil furnace in the basement as well as a wood stove in the first floor living room. The house is approximately 65 years old, and despite being very well built and cared for, can become rather drafty on cold Canadian winter nights.
In my next post, I will describe how our move and first few weeks in the new house go.
Stay tuned!
buyingyourfirsthomeincanada 