Saturday, November 19, 2011

Dreams...

When we first got married we were broke kids in our early 20's. When we tied the knot we got some money which we then used towards our immigration costs. Once those were done we spent a long time paying back every cent we could towards Ken's American student loan. Not sure if anyone remembers back when our dollar was at 50% par level with the US dollar, but we sure do, as that is when we were paying back the loan. In one word, it SUCKED! Our big cash amounts would only work out to half and it left us very defeated.

Our friends started buying homes and we were in a tiny little one bedroom trying to save and pay as much as we could. No way to save a down payment in those conditions. Ken and I were both working full time and able to make some extra money to which we kept putting towards the loan and started contributing to RRSPs. When we moved into our place we are in now, 3 bedroom townhouse style apartment we felt good. It was room to move and we wanted a family to share it with.

I started doing work from home, now pregnant with Ariel and of course our income changed. Making those larger payments to the loan were trickier. We then were blessed with some money to finish paying off the last of the student loan from Ken's Dad, when Grandpa passed away. Of course now we were dealing with new costs of having an older car that needed repairs, kids and life on a single income as I wasn't doing as much having 2 young kids to chase after.

Our dream as always been to have our own place. We both decided early on that we wanted a down payment to do it. I know not everyone does that, but for my own personal issues (worry wart) I wanted to do the down payment. Plus my Dad has always been the voice of reason and wisdom on the subject, and advised us the same thing. Our investment lady asked us yearly if we wanted to use our RRSPs towards a down payment, but we just didn't have enough for our area.

With me working at home with my business, I started to generate a bit more income for us, which I hope grows as I can take on more once both kids are in school full time. Now 10 years later, both in our 30's, we saw the dream we had coming closer... our patience and waiting would pay off... more than we knew.

I woke up one morning to an email from my Uncle, who was handing everything estate-wise when Papa passed away. Basically, in a nutshell, we have our long awaited down-payment. It didn't sink in right away, in fact we kept looking at the email, sure we had misread something. Then the panic set it. Haha.

Talked to Dad, who started right away talking about mortgages, rates and stuff that was somewhat overwhelming. I knew some stuff, but I soon dove into learning as much as I could, watching everything on first time homebuying on HGTV and reading online. Tonight I finally posted a question on facebook putting it out there, as they say, its real once its been on facebook. Haha.

Soooooo, finally we talked at dinner with the kids, of course Xander had no clue but Ariel was old enough to understand our question of: 'what if we moved to a new home?' No joke, the girl burst out in tears. We both freaked, comforting her, answering her questions of what moving would be like. Yes we would take her toys etc. She soon got excited, talking about a new room and asked:

'Can it be pink?'
'Your room? Of course'
'No, our new house?'
'Um, no... sorry' haha.

So that week she drew me this picture, and see she got past the 'pink' idea... although the sidewalk is pink and purple, lol.


I can't wait to start looking for a townhouse, pretty much our best bet if we stay in this area, you trade size for community, something we are totally willing to live with. We love our place we are in now, if we could get something with rooms a tad bigger for the kids, and a slightly bigger kitchen for my work and a deck we can actually have a bbq on, we would be thrilled. I will keep you posted on our new adventure as things move along, but I was finally ready to share this with you all, after coming to grips with the fact it was reality.

First up, talking to mortgage brokers and banks for rates... I think this scares me the most. Once that is done I think I will be much better, I just have this fear of them laughing at us shouting NO Money for you! Eek... pray they like us.

8 comments:

Kristin said...

Wow, that is wonderful news! How exciting! I agree that it can be stressful, try not to worry too much though. :)

I will look forward to reading how your house hunt goes, especially about the color of this new place. ;)

kelly ens said...

Jay, this is SUPER exciting news!!!!! Wow - i'm so happy for you! :) I'm sure meeting with the broker will go fine, truly! glad you get to stay in your community and have a place that fits your family and work. can't wait to see what you find :)

Kim said...

This is AWESOME news - congratulations!!! I look forward to reading about your new home adventures! ;-) I'm sure with the wonders of sidewalk chalk, Ariel can have her purple and pink sidewalk in the summer! :-)

Tera said...

Wonderful news!! So excited for you, I got a little teary! It makes me think of all the times in the Bible when people waited and waited for God's timing and how He was always faithful to fulfill those dreams and desires when the person stayed in His will. Many blessings to you as you find a place that's perfect for your family!!

missmarble said...

What a lovely gift your Papa left you! Putting down roots in a home was the best thing I ever did. It was tough, but so worth the investment. Best of luck to you as you look for the perfect place.

Anne said...

Congarts! That's exciting! Your journey is a beautiful one and I think many other parent bloggers could relate.

I was wondering would you be interested in sharing your articles with other like-minded parent bloggers? If yes, please email me at info@atomicreach.com with Parents in the subject line.

Thanks,
Anne

Irene said...

oooh exciting...I soo understand your wish for bigger kids rooms and a new bigger kitchen!

When we moved we didn't want to buy because we don't know if we will stay in the area forever but when we moved into our (rented) house it was so exciting. Big kitchen, huge livingroom and dining room, each kid has got its own room and a small backyard with enough space for summer bbqs...perfect! Hope your search and move go fast and smooth...ours didn't go so smooth but everything is fine now!

titaniumgrrl said...

I was so scared buying our house. Luckily we got one of my Scouts's mum's as a real estate agent who didn't mind the 8 billion questions we had. THe house we ended up in is the 3rd house we looked at, though we kept looking at others...JUST IN CASE....either way...we knew our house when we saw it...and we actually now pay less then we did in rent on the mortgage....which is awesome...

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