It is full on wintertime here in Toronto. And you know what, I’m still alive. Sure, I’ve been having a few not so good flashbacks from last year’s Polar Vortex, but I don’t have the same “WTF?” reaction that I did one year ago. I’m more prepared this time around.
Both physically (boots, check! parka, check! several other layers everywhere, check!) and mentally.
No matter the weather, my HB and I are starting the house hunting process and that began with talking to a mortgage broker. It was a good chat, but he definitely pointed out a few things I wasn’t aware of. For instance, did you know that even if you had a million bucks in the bank but made a fairly low-income, you’d still have a hard time getting a mortgage? I don’t know why, but I always figured that if you had enough to show for in the bank, it would be the same as proving you made a high salary. Apparently not.
Which leads me to right this post entitled reality check. Although I’m super excited to start this house hunting adventure, there’s a very good chance at the end of it we won’t buy a house. Until we find out how much we’re pre-approved for and what kind of rate we can get, we’re sort of in limbo for a bit.
It might turn out that it doesn’t in fact make financial sense to buy something right now. We are still starting out in our careers, so it might be wiser to hold off for a few years until our salaries catch up with our homeowner dreams. I guess we’ll have to see.
No matter what happens, I know all of this will be a great learning experience. If we don’t end up buying anything this year, then when we do eventually buy something, we’ll be ready to make a very informed decision.
Last thing before I get to this week’s blog love (and sorry again for not keeping up with my normal blog writing schedule! I blame the snow), if you haven’t already you NEED TO LISTEN TO SERIAL! A friend at work suggested it to me on Tuesday and I’ve literally been obsessing over it ever since.
I’ve listened to almost every episode twice and have read far too many news articles and blog posts about Adnan, Jay and the girl who can’t pronounce Mail Chimp in each episode’s ad spot. I don’t care if you don’t normally listen to podcasts, this one is totally worth it.
