Jaeri, April 6, 2021
(Life) Will I be able to have my own house in Montreal?
Housing
My fiancé and I have been looking for a house since last July. It was not because pandemic changed our life or whatever, but because it was his dream. We are currently living in Rosemont area in Montreal where a lot of quebecois people live compared to other popular areas. I still need to learn French to fully communicate with people around here but I really like the vibe. My fiancé has been living here his entire life and his dream house was just around the corner. It was his dream to make a family in that particular house and spend the rest of his life. However, this house was sold at almost one million last year and he felt devastated. Not only we could afford it but it meant that the value of this area got so much higher.
We both were in panic for a long time and we felt anxious every single day. Who are those people buying houses at millions? The minimum wage in Quebec is still lower and the tax rate is higher than major cities in Canada. I even heard that some doctors are having trouble finding one too. Yes, I have to admit that it's not just the price. I have visited so far at least 20 house and most of them were not really taken care of. They were literally rotten houses with water damage or just fallen apart. It was very rare to find one that didn't need an urgent renovation and even then, it was just way above our budget.
We both were first stunned like, "How can people NOT take care of their own properties this much? You want me to pay THIS MUCH price at this house condition?", and we became kind of generous(?) like, "Oh this is not that bad. We can just move in right away and fix this slowly." But in the end, we concluded that this was not right. His parents still don't really believe the current market state. When we talk about an affordable or possible property, they go, "It's crazy to pay this much. It wasn't like this before." Well. I guess we are very late..... :(