Give Me Back My Five Bucks

There is a lot to think about when it comes to buying a first home, and sometimes the decision can be overwhelming. But after purchasing my first home in Vancouver earlier this year, and with so much talk about a coming housing correction, is renting a better option? There is definitely a perception that, once you’ve become a homeowner, you’ve somehow ‘made it,’ which means it can sometimes be hard to think rationally about the purchase. Especially when you’ve fallen in love with a property, or convinced yourself that you can afford a home well outside of your price range. Here … Continue reading →

One of my August goals was to increase my accelerated bi-weekly mortgage payments to the 20% prepayment maximum. Well, I never got around to it, but earlier this week I was reminded of it by @RateSupermarket who tweeted about 3 easy ways to save $65,541 on your mortgage. So I finally stopped being lazy, and called to speak to someone at Vancity. My minimum mortgage payments are $1,098/month ($13,176/year). When I signed my mortgage paperwork back in May, I agreed to a 10% increase to $600/accelerated bi-weekly ($15,600/year). Now, my mortgage payments will be approximately $660/accelerated bi-weekly ($17,160/year). You can … Continue reading →

Well I’ve had a lot of requests to see my “office nook” in my bedroom. You probably remember that my bedroom is a really weird shape, with a diagonal wall on one side. At first, the diagonal wall really bothered me. In fact, it bothered me so much that I almost ruled out the townhouse altogether when I first looked at it. But the more I thought about it, the more I liked the quirk. Check out the BEFORE photo of the bedroom (taken by the previous owners): Now, here are the AFTER photos of the bedroom (not quite done … Continue reading →

Somebody recently asked me how I was able to save up for a down payment on my townhouse. I wrote this post, and then sat on it for a while (like I usually do, because blogging is scary). I realize that sometimes I can sound so ridiculously positive that it might be perceived as if I don’t know how hard it is to actually save money. My goal is never to alienate anyone, or make it sound as if I don’t understand. I’ve come a long ways since being a crazy shopaholic in debt, but I certainly haven’t forgotten what … Continue reading →

Well, decorating and furnishing my townhouse is going well, and it’s finally starting to feel like home. There are still a few things I need to buy: – Office area: chair, lamp, rug. – Bedroom: 18×24 picture frames (4) – cheap from IKEA, and other decor items from Etsy. – Kitchen: some piece of furniture to fit in my kitchen nook (where the built-in desk used to be) … my dream is something like this. – Outdoors: some sort of chair. I saw two awesome options when browsing antique stores over the weekend, but both stores were asking $150. And … Continue reading →