by Chris | Feb 23, 2016 | Housing, My Financial Journey
I had a lovely weekend.
It was one of those rare weekends when you close the computer, set the smartphone aside and have wonderful quality time with the people you love.
I won’t bore you with the details, but it was capped off by a great day of diner brunch and walking through the neighbourhood with my girlfriend, and after 3 coffee stops and the discovery of a new secret perogie den we walked into our first open house.
I’m sure you’ve done it.
It was in our neighbourhood, and we were curious.
We’re not actively looking for a home, but we’ve definitely played around in the insanity of the Toronto mortgage market (if you want to read that whole sage check out THE MORTGAGE FILES, it’s in 7 parts, and it’s ridiculous).
So we walked into the house, and it was exactly what you’d expect. (more…)
by Chris | Oct 4, 2015 | Housing, My Financial Journey
** This is part 7 of a longer story. If you want to understand what’s going on I recommend starting with PART ONE (which is packed full of intensely awesome action), but if understanding isn’t a priority… by all means… read on!**
So here we are. The last chapter of the story, and I’m not going to lie to you… you won’t like the ending.
It’s not a complete cop out… I promise you it hasn’t ‘all been a dream’. It really happened.
In fact… it’s still happening.
Yup, our five day financing clause has become (after 2 extensions given by an extremely gracious seller) a 15 day financing clause. And although we’re close to having to make a final decision I won’t pretend like I know exactly how it’s all going to end.
So there won’t be a satisfying, conclusive ending today. But, let’s be honest, if you thought an ‘X files’ themed mortgage story was going to have a conclusive ending… I kind of feel like that’s on you.
Coming away a little richer
Even though it’s up in the air whether we will add to our net worth, we have definitely added to our store of knowledge. The entire process has been a series of lessons. So here are a few of the things that I’ll definitely be walking away with… (more…)
by Chris | Oct 3, 2015 | Housing, My Financial Journey
** This is part five of a longer story. If you want to understand what’s going on I recommend starting with PART ONE (which is packed full of intensely awesome action), but if understanding isn’t a priority… by all means… read on!**
“You need to prove that you have 100,000 dollars in assets”
That’s what the email that woke us up this morning said.
Now… we’ve had some strange emails come down the pipes over the last week, but this one took the cake. I still laugh whenever I open my email and see the subject line “100,000”
Like… what do you say to that?
….
Seriously? (more…)
by Chris | Oct 2, 2015 | Housing, My Financial Journey
** This is part five of a longer story. If you want to understand what’s going on I recommend starting with PART ONE (which is packed full of intensely awesome action), but if understanding isn’t a priority… by all means… read on!**
There are a lot of reasons why people want to own real estate. There are also many popular arguments out there about how it may not be the best investment, that you could earn more if you put your money in the stock market… but real estate just has a different feel.
It’s tangible. It’s a thing that you can more easily wrap your mind around. It’s literally a more solid investment.
I think that’s why it’s become such a rite of passage into adulthood. You no longer are just flitting through life, you now own a piece of this world that we live in. A concrete piece. Suddenly things like the use of land transfer tax dollars means something to you…
Those were just a few things that were floating through Mimi’s head as she picked up the bank draft that would secure the offer on her first piece of this great Canadian city (even though the rest of Canada likes to mock it).
Oh right! (more…)
by Chris | Oct 1, 2015 | Housing, My Financial Journey
** This is part four of a longer story. If you want to understand what’s going on I recommend starting with PART ONE (which is packed full of intensely awesome action), but if understanding isn’t a priority… by all means… read on!**
You can’t beat the drama of a 24 hour deadline.
It’s an immense amount of time to wait. If it were longer you could relax, if it were shorter the waiting would… well… be shorter. But when you have 24 hours it feels like the call could come at any time. However, you can’t just let yourself not do anything and spend the day staring at your phone.
So we went about our day.
To make matters a little more interesting, the seller was out of country and so there was a time difference to factor in. All of a sudden the chances of an early morning call were much higher than they’d normally be, and as the clock ticked over to noon the tension was mounting.
The call came at 2:30. (more…)
by Chris | Sep 30, 2015 | Housing, My Financial Journey
** This is part three of a longer story, if you want to understand what’s going on I recommend starting with PART ONE (which is packed full of intensely awesome action), but if understanding isn’t a priority… by all means… read on!**
Two days had passed. We had gone from normal breakfast at home over coffee and listings… to Sunday morning breakfast with our mortgage agent.
We met with her because I had a lot of questions about mortgages (as a general rule… I have a lot of questions about everything… apparently I’m an ‘over thinker’).
So over coffee with the scent of bacon in the air she laid it all out.
Mulling over Mortgages
(more…)
