have you wondered?

I've made mention of our BIG project we have muddled in with all our other regular activities and projects. I thought I may as well go ahead and do some explaining.

Let me take you way back to mid October. Our landlord sent in an Appraiser, which in our many years of renting, has only meant one thing .. he's listing the place. After five and a half years of staying firmly planted in one home, despite all the problems that have arisen, then later rectified themselves .. we've loved our neighbourhood and were looking against the upcoming news we were about to hear from our landlord. We went the next couple weeks, on pins and needles, discussing here and there where we'd go should he indeed list the place.

Our waiting ended when a large manila envelope arrived in the mail. It was from our landlord, enclosed were the appraisal and a letter from him, offering us first dibs on purchasing for the appraised $ amount. Not only were we NOT prepared to buy at this time, but we had come to the very content conclusion that we'd rather not enter the real estate rat race for a great many years. The prices have soared in the past ten + years we've lived on the Island, more so in the past five years and for us, it didn't seem worth the hassles, to own.

So with the decision of buying this place, or being forced to go out and scour the city for a reasonable place to rent (rentals have increases significantly too) that would be comparable to this place, size wise .. we soon discovered that paying a mortgage would be pretty equal in dollar amount to renting. So why wash our money down the rental drain, if it evens out in the end?

After meeting with a mortgage broker and having a few back and forth information sessions .. things looked good for us. Since we now had that power of knowledge, we decided to look around in the price range our landlord (also a realtor, I should add) offered us this place for. I can confidently say that there is pretty much ZERO out there that is comparable in square footage, unless of course we'd like to move ourselves onto a very run down area of town.
We concluded that there were many positives to staying here .. like our children remaining in the same school, no moving costs or change of addresses and utility changes, there's a strata in place that really has more positives for the $ amount then I first realized, and so much more.

We of course are insistent of a few very imperative renovations that we never could talk our landlord into doing for us .. like double pane windows (so I won't have to put up plastic each and every winter) and flooring (so I don't have to try and make a stripped lino look half decent, or a nasty carpet look lustrous for bare feet).

We ordered up a building inspection (tho we do know this place pretty well), and meet with the other important people in the next week or two, and if all goes well .. by January 28th (our landlords in no hurry to close since we're already in here, tho paperwork needs to be done by the end of November), we will be proud owners of our duplex.

Had this offer not been presented to us on a plate, with fork and knife available for instant consumption, we would not be ready for the buying game. I haven't felt so many emotions all at once, in so long .. and it's such a scary process, but now that we've decided on a few of the smaller things .. I'm so excited to be making this place more livable and to rearrange and redecorate and that little bit of change will do us good!