Friday, August 17, 2007

An Update: Buying a Condo:

So I move in fifteen days.

I am getting a little nostalgic, like when I dropped off my library books, I had a little tear, knowing that never again would I fight off a geriatric for the newest best bet.

Or sitting on my porch first thing in the morning, sipping my tea, hearing the birds chirp, (sure it was the first time I had done it in the last ten years, but) it was sad that I would not have the opportunity to do it any more.

Or hanging with my brother, whose time is now divided between girlfriend and psp; I threw a little hissy fit, when the girlfriend intruded on our pre planned one on one time, or rather I sulked like a two years who isn’t getting her way. Very petty and very childish, but really it’s a very emotional time for me….why oh why won’t the world bend to my will???

I am also getting a little nervous. Two months ago ‘people’ were raving at how great a time it was to buy a place, how prices were going up and up and up. I personally attended a few condo release parties for new developments, where the Formosa was flowing and people were signing on the dotted line faster than you could say “Do the Fandango!” Times were good.

Now I open the papers and it seems like the financial Armageddon is here. Stock markets are crashing, the dollar is dipping, and doomsayers are going on about the housing market bubble bursting. Not great timing for withdrawing all the money I do have floating out there, or very reassuring, considering I’ve now sunk every dime I have into four immaculate rooms.

Oh yes and there is the little matter of massive change going on at work, my car needing new wiring, and my relatively new iron dying….when does an iron ever die? I swear in India they still use irons from the 20’s.

So yesterday I looked up Murphy’s Law: you know the phrase “whatever can go wrong will.”

So very apt

In the midst of this all, I am feeling very calm. Things will work themselves out Inshallah! (That’s a Dubai phrase for you, meaning, by the will of God)

So instead let me focus on all the good things I anticipate for the move:
~Converting those ugly cabinets into my dream bookcase…. Nerdy, but I do so love my books, and yesterday when I packed them all up, I am not ashamed that I hugged a few.

~Walking around butt naked, whenever I want
~Going for long walks that end in ice cream
~Having lazy Sunday afternoons that consist of having the window wide open with the sun pouring in, whilst listening to the blues pour out of my ipod
~Having my flava flav party, with thirty or so of my closets flava flav guests and scaring my neighbors in wondering which crack head has moved into the building
~Cooking my first meal, from my trust “Betty Crocker cook book for two” I found it in my book collection, and it’s a lovely book from a long time ago, that hands out cutesy advice to a newly wed, on how to make her husband perfect meals and also how to conduct herself in a manner becoming to his ‘position,’ Ill pretend that Trevor has a ‘position’

22 comments:

Dee said...

see, it's marvelous. Crackhead masquerade balls, butt naked Sundays. I am so jealous.

The housing market is always going to have hiccups. Don't pay them any mind. They are manipulating/massaging the market. What goes down will certainly come back up by the time you are ready to move.

Jay said...

Please. Canada is more than adequately sheltered from all the bad happenings in the world.

Jdid said...

Inshallah! thats one of my favorite phrases

man you are going to enjoy the new spot but you will miss the old one.i still meander through my old neighbourhood from time to time just because

SimplEnigma said...

Yes, there's the big subprime fiasco going on right now, but it really has more to do with the U.S than anywhere else. And it's really more about liquidity than anything else.

The only way you'll be in trouble is if you really couldn't afford the place to begin with (and I'm not talking paranoid CP version of not being able to afford). That is, if u used creative financing, are making payments that are higher than your monthly income, etc. Aside from that you should be fine.

Oh, didn't get around to the mail this week but it's coming. ;)

SimplEnigma said...

Y'know, I've been saying Imshallah all these years. LOL.

Dee said...

oh, about the iron
the trick is to buy a really cheap one I think

Anonymous said...

The feeling of having your own place is amazing - enjoy it!

Miz JJ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Miz JJ said...

Iron? Isn't that what dry cleaners are for? And this is why I will never be able to afford to buy a condo ;-)

Christie said...

Moving is exciting! You just have to look past the packing and unpacking! I personally can't wait to go.

George said...

I did some quick calculationns with my mental abacus .. .the women using the irons from the 20ies must be close to 90 years old!

Yay for books, yay for butt naked

Jhaldir said...

I personally can't wait to read all the "home improvement" blogs!

Mad Bull said...

Yay for butt nekkid! Take pics ;)
Congrats on the Condo purchase. Or did I tell you that already?

Anonymous said...

Man I wish I was there for the housewarming partay girl!! Wahhh! :( I am SO proud of you. Let me know which area you are in! I want to visit!

The OE said...

In the interests of National security please forward surveillance photos of items 2 and 4.

Unknown said...

I love waking around butt naked! that's why it's great having my own place...although I rent. but one day I'll walk around naked in my own place! Oh the joys of owning your own home!

Marika said...

That's so exciting! We settle on ours tomorrow and move next Friday. You're going to have a ball when you're in there.

We too are having bookcases built in...I had to lay all of my books down end to end and measure them to see how much shelf space we would need. It came out to over 12 metres of books. I'm not sure whether that's healthy or not!

Unknown said...

That walking around butt naked left a wonderful thought in my head. I like lazy Sunday afternoons (when my mom's not around because she likes to do chores). And I know about the dip in the housing sector. I owned a couple virtual stocks.

Abeni said...

You go girl.Enjoy the adventures that comes with moving into your own place.

Shimada Boyce said...

I just want to say I'm glad you've resolved to enjoying the thing you've worked so hard to get.

Sometimes it's easiest to look at the details instead of the sincere greatness of the act.

Peace

James D. Schwartz said...

I wouldn't worry much about the housing market for the following reasons:

- Toronto is still under-valued compared to other major cities in North America, we're still well below Vancouver.
- Canada has a highly regulated banking industry, so they aren't prone to giving our loans to people with bad credit. So the sub-prime mortgages don't affect us as much.
- The Stock Market dip was followed by the Bank of Canada injecting money into the banks, which basically results in lower interest rates, so the housing market will still be strong when interest rates stay low.
- If you're looking to get a place for the long-run you can't go wrong.

-_- said...

Jim is right. You know things are bad when I can buy a place in Toronto and NOT in Calgary. Calgary is even higher than Vancouver!!