The Dream House

It's pretty clear to us, and everybody else, that our house is too small. It was probably too small when we bought it, but in the three years since we moved in we have managed to outgrow these four walls in a relatively spectacular fashion.

I remember when we were house hunting the first time. Our budget would have been decent in many cities except ours and every place we looked at required some kind of major compromise. Basically, if we wanted a nice area in a good school district the houses in our price range were basic and usually in need of a complete overhaul. The closer we looked to downtown (where both Eric and I work) the smaller and smaller the houses got, so we had to just keep moving farther in the 'burbs until we landed so far west in Mississauga we are a mere stone's throw from Oakville.

At the time, we were thinking of putting an offer on a sidesplit in our neighbourhood, but the backyard, though huge, was taken up by a pool and I was newly pregnant and looking for a safe backyard for toddler play, not a yard that would keep me awake at night wondering if Kieran, who I was just pregnant with, was jimmying the locks to get out of the house where he would accidentally drown himself. The other downfall to the house? It had a dreaded number 4 in the house number.

If you are familiar in any way with Chinese superstitions you will understand the tragedy of this occurrence. Apparently, the word for the number 4 in Chinese, sounds the same as the word "death" in Chinese and, as such, no self-respecting person of Chinese descent (even a total banana like Eric) would EVER buy a house with a 4 in the number unless they were willing to endure a lifetime of misfortune. And since we were already loaded down with some iffy karma based on a radical (to put in mildly) split from Eric's family (the story of which is too sordid for this blog and even if I were to share I doubt the internet has enough bandwidth for me to properly describe those shenanigans) we decided it would be unwise to anger the Asian Gods any further that we already had. So any and all houses with 4's were struck off the list, usually sight unseen.

So, to make a long story short, we ended up in our three bedroom, one bathroom bungalow on a quiet street in an OK neighbourhood with a huge backyard and lots of trees and the Chinese neutral number of 2355. Now, three years, two kids and one gym later we are dying for more space.

Recently, Eric had started hearing at work about a bunch of people buying and selling houses and getting unbelievable mortgage rates. He mentions it to a client of his who says he has a fantastic finance wizard who can help us figure out what we can afford. And with that the ball is rolling. In short order, we've talked to both the mortgage broker and the bank about what we need and how to get there. I even went so far as to meet with the bank to go over some details and as it turns out we can make a drastic upgrade from where we are now and ended up paying the SAME as we are now. So far, so good.

Market-wise now is the time to buy. Season-wise, spring is the time to both buy and sell. The problem? On a personal side, the timing is actually quite horrible. I'm back at work in two weeks after having been on maternity leave for an entire year, so we haven't exactly be saving up for closing costs and moving expenses. When I go back, a large chunk of the money I make will be forked over to our daycare provider.

However, since the ball is rolling, we decided to roll with a little further and since we have kept in touch with our real estate agent we gave her a call and, naturally in no time flat she was sending us listings. Don't let anyone tell you, by the by, that houses are not selling and prices are falling. Judging from the "standing room only" situations at a couple of Open Houses we stopped at, it is clear that the market is hot and, at least on paper, our own house has increased significantly in value (although we have done quite a few upgrades, so I hope so.)

I was apprehensive though about actually going out to look at houses. I didn't want to get sucked into the urge to buy before we were ready, but on the other hand, we wanted to see what was out there. Besides, we sooo aren't ready that buying right now isn't even really an option, so it seemed pretty harmless. And it was. The first three houses we saw, which were all in the different areas, had the exact same layout. I realize that when you head into the 4 bedroom home market in the suburbs, every house is depressing similar. The worst part, of course, is that this apparently so-popular-all-houses-have-it-layout is not even a layout that I remotely like nor would ever buy. I'm all about flow and feng shui and open concept not choppy rooms, sweeping staircases and ridiculously over-sized master bedrooms (although don't get me wrong, I want a bigger bedroom...I just don't need one that could sleep an entire village in Africa). So, after leaving the third house I was relieved that we hadn't found a house that I would remotely consider buying but also disappointed that these cookie-cutter houses might be our destiny. As we followed our agent to the last house I said to Eric wistfully "I just want to walk into a house and be excited."

And then we pull up in front of My Dream Home.

From the second I stood on the porch I knew I loved this house. More than loved it. If I could have designed a house to my own specifications, this would have come close. Among my first words once we stepped inside: "Oh my God, Oh my God." Pause. "I want this house." But I was also colossally disappointed, because, although within our budget, there was no way we could buy that house right now and worse, there was no way it was going to sit for a few months while we get our act together.

As we were leaving, the homeowner was coming up his perfect manicured walkway and we asked him a few questions...he was not only clearly the handiest of handymen, he was also a perfectionist with attention to detail. He answered our questions, said he was absolutely in no rush to move and would be willing to wait....except, he had to tell us, that there was an offer coming on the house at 5 pm that day. I was torn between the feeling of horror that someone else was going to buy my dream home and relief. I knew it wasn't even an option anyway, so at least this way, there was no need to go home and lose sleep over it (which I did anyway). We drove away, past the perfect little park two houses down where I could see my kids playing already.

What really made me mad about that whole thing, was up until we toured my Dream House, I was actually feeling pretty good about our little bungalow again. It's small, but in many ways the layout totally works for us. Bedrooms on the main floor are quite convenient and the main rooms are open so I can see the kids playing in the family room while I make dinner or do the dishes. There is also a side entrance with stairs that go straight downstairs so Eric's clients come in and out unseen and we have put in a new bathroom beside the gym so nobody has to come upstairs to my bathroom that may or may not have a pantsless two-year-old spraying pee on the floor. None of the houses we saw - including the Dream House - had basement access from the outside.

Anyway, I'm assuming my Dream House has been sold. Seeing my reaction, I think our agent felt quite bad for even bringing us there, but on the upside, she said that it will happen again, there will be OTHER dream homes that come up when we are ready. She was certain of it. And now we start the process of sprucing up and decluttering (ha!) in order to get this place looking roomy and sellable.

In the end, despite seeing and losing my Dream House in the space of a half-hour , we had another breakthrough. The Dream House? Which we both loved? It was house number 1401...and even with that dastardly lurking 4, Eric was willing to overlook it. At least he said he was, which, although he reserves the right to change his mind, is progress.