Our House

I am going to be posting now and then about work around our house, but I wanted to write a bit of an introduction first...

We moved back to North America a few years ago after living overseas for an extended period.  Initially we were renters as we were not sure where exactly we wanted to live, but within a year we purchased a house.  We are very blessed in that we were able to buy a home, but it was also a stressful time.  Our house is in one of the most expensive regions of North America.  We looked.  And looked.  And looked.  It seemed that it was almost impossible to find a detached house that would meet our future needs for under a million dollars.  (Yes, you read that right.)  We decided to shift (slightly) the area we were looking in.  Our new goal: buy a house for under $500,000.00.  (Yes, you read that right.)  This was also a challenge.  We literally spent every weekend for several months driving all over the Greater Toronto Area, scouring MLS, looking at houses.  Eventually this paid off and we found a house significantly below our 500K limit.  We ended up buying a 2 bedroom bungalow (with a finished basement).  It is small.  It is not our dreamhouse but we love it and we have not regretted, not even once, our decision to buy it.  Buying a house that we can actually afford instead of stretching our credit to the absolute max is one of the best decisions we've made.  The house is not without its challenges - like any house - we are always trying to improve things, create more space, get rid of stuff, or just be more efficient.  I cannot deny that sometimes I drive around our area (where most detached homes are selling for over $1M) and wonder what we are doing wrong (ie. who are all these other people and how on earth can they afford these houses?), but this feeling never lasts.  I love our house which we have made our own.

I wish I could come up with something splashy or unique to say about the home related things I might post - but at the end of the day we are just normal people, living in a normal house, with a normal amount of mess, trying to make it all work.  Maybe you will get an idea from something I write - or maybe you will just think "hey, they should have spent the money and bought a bigger house."  Ha.

We love our house.  Buy less than you can afford.