Disheartened home-seeker

My husband is not a fan of second-hand, be it on cars at lalo na sa bahay. We are not on the same page nga when it comes to house preference. Ok lang sa akin ang hindi bago basta maganda ang loob (renovated as much as possible) at ok ang location. I've been trying to convince him na kumausap na ng realtor pero talagang gusto niya ng bagong gawa. Kahit maliit, basta bago.

There's this new townhomes development in Cloverdale (Surrey) na namataan niya. He was positive na within our budget ang price doon so we signed up. It took a few weeks bago nila na-email back sa akin ang presyo (nag-finalize pa raw kasi sila). To Ford's dismay, ang pasok lang sa budget niya ay yung 2-bedroom - 1 bathroom 990-sq ft unit (the cheapest unit). Expected ko na yun kaya hindi ako nagulat. Binigyan ko na lang ang asawa ko ng "I told you so" look.

To give you an idea kung gaano ka-crazy ang housing market situation dito sa Metro Vancouver, take a look at this brand new 3,990 sq ft house in Las Vegas. Yan ang kaya naming bilhin  sa budget namin. Seriously.

So disheartening noh?

Ok na sana ang buhay namin dito sa Metro Vancouver eh. Bahay na lang talaga. Pero hindi "lang" yun, di ba? Napaka-basic sa buhay ng tao yun kaya no wonder many people are relocating to places na affordable ang bahay.

Bakit naging ganito kataas ang presyo ng bahay dito? Kasalanan ng mga foreign buyers (mostly chekwa) yan. Yung pera nila from their country, dinala nila dito at namili sila ng namili ng properties. Tapos fini-flip nila, pinapataas ang presyo. Hanggang sa dumating na sa point na hindi na ma-afford ng ordinaryong Vancouverites ang magkaroon ng sariling bahay. It is now nearly impossible for ordinary workers to own a laned/detached home, lumang townhomes at condos na lang ang mabibili nila. Luma, as in 20 to 40+ year old units. Objectively, hindi malaki ang sweldo ng mga tao rito ha. Marami lang Asians na may mga baong pera from their respective places of origin kaya may disposable money sila.

Nakakalungkot talaga. Paminsan-minsan sumasagi pa rin sa isip namin na bumalik sa Edmonton kasi nga doon pwede kaming magkaroon ng malaking bahay. Or we could just buy another townhouse (tulad ng bahay namin dati) and have more extra money for travel and other leisure things. Kaso nandito na kami eh, mahirap na uling bumalik doon.

Ayoko na. Sabi ko sa asawa ko mag-condo na lang kami. Mahal din pero I want a slightly bigger space than 990 sq ft. And we need at least 2 bedrooms + 1den just in case may bisita. Pumayag na rin siya, basta bago. The other day, he informed me na may project sila na itatayong condo malapit sa office nila sa Langley, abangan daw namin. He already checked the site plan at malalaki ang units. We already signed up kaso by spring pa raw sila magrerelease ng presyo at magsisimulang magbenta. Ford heard from their office na March daw to be exact. Oh well, let's see. Baka mamaya ma-disapppoint na naman kami. But just in case magustuhan namin at bumili kami, ang drawback is that we would have to wait for another year bago ma-turn over. Hay, parang ang tagal pa. Kaya ko pa bang mag-antay??? =(