Nesting

[mousme]

My landlords are selling my building. No exact date, since the place just went on the market, but my lease is up August 31st.

I found out about ten days ago, and after my initial reaction of oh my God holy shit I don't wanna! I stopped freaking out and started considering my options. Prompted by a couple of people, and reassured that the Régie du Logement rules state that I can't be kicked out of my apartment with no notice, I decided to go poke at my bank and see if I'm still the credit-score equivalent of the Black Plague.

As it turns out, I'm not anymore. So I got pre-approved for a mortgage, and I am now in the market for a house. Those of you unfortunate enough to be following me on Twitter already know about this, but I figured I haven't been around on this LJ in a really long time and so it behooved me to give a little news.

So I spent this afternoon looking at houses, and telling myself that it's ridiculous to fall in love with the very first house you see. That's what happened, of course, but I'm trying to be objective about it. The other places ranged from "okay" to "Sure, I'd buy that if I wanted to become a serial killer and needed a nice wooded area in which to bury the bodies of my victims." In short, I'm kind of starry-eyed about that first place, in spite of the fact that it has a couple of obvious drawbacks.

There will be more house visiting this week, and I'm hoping that if no other, even more awesome houses turn up in my price range, that that first house won't get snapped right up.


So how's everyone else doing? What have I missed? I know that scads of babies have been born and that we're still waiting on a couple more, but is there anything else going on? :)

Comments

[langolier2408.livejournal.com]

If I may give you some advice in regards to mortgage shopping... Find a mortgage broker one that is not affiliated with any particular financial institution, he/she will provide a competitive rate amongst all the offerings that are out there. Your mortgage does not have to be at the financial institution you are currently dealing with. Most have the ability to debit an account anywhere in Canada. Get the rate from the broker and the term and the amortization, then approach your financial insitution and see if they can match it or even beat it...don't feel shy, it's your money and every 1/8 of a perent you can shave off is money you will save. As for paying it off try and choose a weekly accelerated payment, the actual difference from a monthly payment is minor but will shave years off your amortization and again is money in your pocket. As for rates historically persons that choose a variable have saved money in the long term, that being said rates are low and are projected to move up .25-.50% over the next year...hardly a skyrocketing effect but nevertheless higher. In choosing fix over variable I would ask yourself how will you sleep at night if rates move up and it forces your payment to increase...if your answer is that your not comfortable then fixed term is the way to go. I don't want to sound like a know it all, however, I think fearsclave will attest I have over 20 years experience in banking so I have some knowledge in the field. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Good luck...oh and I saw the listing...it looks very nice!

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! I am currently working with the regional director of mortgage management (I forget the exact title) of the Montérégie area, who's the father of a friend of mine. So far, having shopped around a little bit, he's the one who appears to be the most up-front and reliable. Once I make my offer, I'll see who out there is going to give me the best price/rate for the least amount of headache, and go with them. I'm definitely going for a fixed rate: my stress leves will not tolerate watching things fluctuate overly much.