Annie asked me the other day to look through Realtor’s website and pick out a nice house in the price range we’d be able to afford. She also told me that I could look anywhere in Canada. It was really just an exercise in showing her the disparity of prices between Halton Hills and other areas in Canada.

I kept my search to areas in the Eastern side of Canada, including Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, and Newfoundland.

Our budget maxes out, in my mind, at $250,000. We don’t have any downpayment yet, but that’s a price where I think my salary could allow us to afford our mortgage payments, as long as Annie was working to afford most of the rest of the amenities of life.

Some other restrictions I put on the search was that I wanted the house to be younger than us, and so that meant nothing older than 30 years. I wanted a house with at least four bedrooms, or three on the main level and a plus one in the basement. This would leave room for kids and a home office for me. I also added a pool to the options to see what was possible.

In the end, I found listing: 2120609. A sixteen year old, 3000 square foot, three plus one bedroom home, with pool in Dieppe, New Brunswick for $239,900.

It includes the following description:

Cet unique bungalow à 3+1 chambres avec garage attaché est en excellent condition et idéale pour une famille. Kitchen has a nice center island with beautiful view of the private backyard including a 26×16 semi-inground heated pool, 12×12 cedar gazebo, 8×18 baby barn, huge upper and lower deck surrounding all that by a cedar fence. Main level has new hardwood floor (3 years) and ceramic flooring. Nice master bedroom with vaulted ceiling. Main bathroom with Jacuzzi and corner shower. The shower had 2 of the best shower heads working in tandem. Large garage (22×24). Basement is completely finished with new laminate floor (2 years). Large family room, half bath including laundry room and a very big storage room with closet organizer. Beautifully decorated! All measurements are approx. THIS ONE IS FOR YOU!

Yes, a large portion of New Brunswick is french speaking, but that doesn’t have to be an issue as I’d love for my children to be better at both official languages than I am. The real problem is that it is too far from any of Annie’s family, but let’s see what freehold houses are available in Halton Hills for under $250k.

Anything else under $250k is a condo, with $200 per month as the average condo fees.

We recently went to look at a nearby house and found it to nearly be $400,000 for an attached row house with three bedrooms, and 1500 square feet on three stories. The first storey being the entrance, kitchen and dining room, and the third being the living room and office space. The real estate agent showing the open house said that there are lots of great options around the $400k mark in the area. I don’t know about you, but I can’t see myself ever affording a house that is closer to half a million dollars than a quarter million dollars.

The housing market is pretty messed up Halton Hills. I don’t know what we are going to do, but who knows how things will shake out once we have the money for a down payment.