Buying a house (and renting for the proles)

Told my dad that my offer for a house got accepted, he said congratulations, then I mentioned it was a town house and he flipped out saying how it's an awful idea and I should wait until I can afford a house, and how buying a townhouse now is not a good thing to do because it's too expensive for me and instead I should just rent.

Talking to him about anything he disagrees with is impossible, he just jumps from one view point to the next, but he did make me worry about my job security. I am buying this house on the promise of a job from a friend, no paper contract, no hard written assurances. When I think about it like that it seems crazy. But I would still need to move here for the job either way, so it will either be renting an apartment for like 7-8 months and throwing close to $10,000 down the drain or buying this town house.

Rightey wrote:Told my dad that my offer for a house got accepted, he said congratulations, then I mentioned it was a town house and he flipped out saying how it's an awful idea and I should wait until I can afford a house, and how buying a townhouse now is not a good thing to do because it's too expensive for me and instead I should just rent.

Talking to him about anything he disagrees with is impossible, he just jumps from one view point to the next, but he did make me worry about my job security. I am buying this house on the promise of a job from a friend, no paper contract, no hard written assurances. When I think about it like that it seems crazy. But I would still need to move here for the job either way, so it will either be renting an apartment for like 7-8 months and throwing close to $10,000 down the drain or buying this town house.

Parents like to worry, but you have to do your own thing. Listen to your dads advice, but make your own decisions on what is right for you.

How are you getting a mortgage though if you don’t have a job yet? I’m not sure how it works in Canada but you would have no chance of doing that here.

I would go for it if you can, and if there are spare rooms (which sound likely) then you could always rent them if times got hard.

Moggy wrote:

Rightey wrote:Told my dad that my offer for a house got accepted, he said congratulations, then I mentioned it was a town house and he flipped out saying how it's an awful idea and I should wait until I can afford a house, and how buying a townhouse now is not a good thing to do because it's too expensive for me and instead I should just rent.

Talking to him about anything he disagrees with is impossible, he just jumps from one view point to the next, but he did make me worry about my job security. I am buying this house on the promise of a job from a friend, no paper contract, no hard written assurances. When I think about it like that it seems crazy. But I would still need to move here for the job either way, so it will either be renting an apartment for like 7-8 months and throwing close to $10,000 down the drain or buying this town house.

Parents like to worry, but you have to do your own thing. Listen to your dads advice, but make your own decisions on what is right for you.

How are you getting a mortgage though if you don’t have a job yet? I’m not sure how it works in Canada but you would have no chance of doing that here.

Yeah what moggy says, how on earth are you getting a mortgage without a concrete offer of a job.

Glowy69 wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Rightey wrote:Told my dad that my offer for a house got accepted, he said congratulations, then I mentioned it was a town house and he flipped out saying how it's an awful idea and I should wait until I can afford a house, and how buying a townhouse now is not a good thing to do because it's too expensive for me and instead I should just rent.

Talking to him about anything he disagrees with is impossible, he just jumps from one view point to the next, but he did make me worry about my job security. I am buying this house on the promise of a job from a friend, no paper contract, no hard written assurances. When I think about it like that it seems crazy. But I would still need to move here for the job either way, so it will either be renting an apartment for like 7-8 months and throwing close to $10,000 down the drain or buying this town house.

Parents like to worry, but you have to do your own thing. Listen to your dads advice, but make your own decisions on what is right for you.

How are you getting a mortgage though if you don’t have a job yet? I’m not sure how it works in Canada but you would have no chance of doing that here.

Yeah what moggy says, how on earth are you getting a mortgage without a concrete offer of a job.

In the UK, Halifax and Nationwide will accept an application where someone's job is going to start within the next 90 days. They'll ask for the signed contract of employment, as you'd expect.

The only way I could see Rightey getting a mortgage based on what he said is if there is still self-cert mortgages in Canada.

I have a job now, but I would be starting this new job with my friend, and I don't have any paper contract for that. The bank wasn't so concerned about that because they have the evidence that I am working now, and my contract will go on for a while still, but just my dad is worried because there is no real guarantee about this job, other than my friends word.


I went to see the townhouse today with a home inspector, the major things he found were that:

1) The house has aluminum wiring, which makes it harder to insure and is a safety issue if this guy did some sort of weird DIY projects.

2) This guy installed his own gas stove, and he did it incorrectly. He didn't bother to put in a gas shut off valve, and he was using the wrong kind of fuses he had 40amp when it should have been 15 amp.

My realtor mentioned previously this guy is selling his house because he is building his own home, which makes me think I should be worried about the wiring. Two of the outlets were wired wrong

I'm starting to think maybe this house is not a good idea.

Well I did some reading on the subject of aluminum wiring and yeah, I'm not buying this house. Aluminum wiring is 50 times more likely to result in fires than copper wiring...

https://www.cpsc.gov/PageFiles/118856/516.pdf

The only solution would normally be to re-wire the whole house, however since it's a town house I would just be surrounded by a bunch of other people with this wiring. Everything I read about it basically goes like "it CAN be safe BUT...", "it is just as good AS LONG AS..."

If I had bought the house already I guess it would be something I would just have to live with but there's no need for me to put myself in a bad position. The house wasn't even being sold for cheap!

Is 'town house' a North American word for a terraced house?

Yes. I'm not sure how it is over there, but here they are almost like condo's in that they are generally run by a corporation and there is a constant maintenance fee associated with ownership

You can however find some older ones that are freehold, but these come with their own problems (if your neighbours foundation starts to sink you will have problems too etc)

Put in an offer today for a place and was swiftly refused

Squinty wrote:Put in an offer today for a place and was swiftly refused

Did you try to negotiate?

Florentine Gingerbubbles wrote:

Squinty wrote:Put in an offer today for a place and was swiftly refused

Did you try to negotiate?

No, I got the impression the estate agent hadn't even bothered to let the seller know I offered. Bid was like 2 grand below the asking.

I have no idea what I'm doing

Squinty wrote:

Florentine Gingerbubbles wrote:

Squinty wrote:Put in an offer today for a place and was swiftly refused

Did you try to negotiate?

No, I got the impression the estate agent hadn't even bothered to let the seller know I offered. Bid was like 2 grand below the asking.

I have no idea what I'm doing

To be honest most people offer up to 10% lower depending on price so 2k doesn't sound that bad.

Squinty wrote:

Florentine Gingerbubbles wrote:

Squinty wrote:Put in an offer today for a place and was swiftly refused

Did you try to negotiate?

No, I got the impression the estate agent hadn't even bothered to let the seller know I offered. Bid was like 2 grand below the asking.

I have no idea what I'm doing

Legally, all offers must be made to the vendor. Sure it wasn't just an attempt to get you to offer higher?

Grumpy David wrote:

Squinty wrote:

Florentine Gingerbubbles wrote:

Squinty wrote:Put in an offer today for a place and was swiftly refused

Did you try to negotiate?

No, I got the impression the estate agent hadn't even bothered to let the seller know I offered. Bid was like 2 grand below the asking.

I have no idea what I'm doing

Legally, all offers must be made to the vendor. Sure it wasn't just an attempt to get you to offer higher?

Our place was on the market for 119.5k and we got it for 117.5k so there usually is wiggle room. If they aren't willing to budge on price then strawberry float 'em. Loads more houses out there dude.

Got the keys on Monday and currently in the process of painting etc. Love it. Will move in proper next week.

Mine was up for £155k and I eventually got it for £140k, although this was three and a half years ago, when I think the market was at a different point and buyers had slightly more power.

Minto wrote:

Grumpy David wrote:

Squinty wrote:

Florentine Gingerbubbles wrote:

Squinty wrote:Put in an offer today for a place and was swiftly refused

Did you try to negotiate?

No, I got the impression the estate agent hadn't even bothered to let the seller know I offered. Bid was like 2 grand below the asking.

I have no idea what I'm doing

Legally, all offers must be made to the vendor. Sure it wasn't just an attempt to get you to offer higher?

Our place was on the market for 119.5k and we got it for 117.5k so there usually is wiggle room. If they aren't willing to budge on price then strawberry float 'em. Loads more houses out there dude.

Got the keys on Monday and currently in the process of painting etc. Love it. Will move in proper next week.

118k. You jammy prick. strawberry floating south and it's gooseberry fool prices. Ours was 222k

Florentine Gingerbubbles wrote:118k. You jammy prick. strawberry floating south and it's gooseberry fool prices. Ours was 222k

I know that pain all too well. If we want to buy where we are currently renting it's minimum 350k for a 2 bed that's not a total shitebox. We're never going to be able to afford it

Florentine Gingerbubbles wrote:

Minto wrote:

Grumpy David wrote:

Squinty wrote:

Florentine Gingerbubbles wrote:

Squinty wrote:Put in an offer today for a place and was swiftly refused

Did you try to negotiate?

No, I got the impression the estate agent hadn't even bothered to let the seller know I offered. Bid was like 2 grand below the asking.

I have no idea what I'm doing

Legally, all offers must be made to the vendor. Sure it wasn't just an attempt to get you to offer higher?

Our place was on the market for 119.5k and we got it for 117.5k so there usually is wiggle room. If they aren't willing to budge on price then strawberry float 'em. Loads more houses out there dude.

Got the keys on Monday and currently in the process of painting etc. Love it. Will move in proper next week.

118k. You jammy prick. strawberry floating south and it's gooseberry fool prices. Ours was 222k

222k. You're a jammy prick and all!

Three bed semi 125k in south coast