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October 5, 2022
I've had one of the busiest years I've ever had in my life in 2022. I wasn't sure
if I was going to have an opportunity to post at all in 2022 but I've decided to do so to go through a bit about what I've been going
through since the beginning of the year.
At the end of 2021, I made a decision that I was going to buy a home in 2022. I
had planned to do this since the beginning of 2021 and realized it was never going to be able to happen in the GTA or anywhere up Highway
400 north of Barrie, where I am from so I decided to look elsewhere in Canada, not just Ontario. I looked in Calgary, AB, Halifax, NS,
Summerside, PE, Fredericton, NB and Ottawa, ON to find the best place, within my price range, that I wanted. I didn't even use an agent
from any of these local places, my friend Tara is from Toronto and I wanted her to help me purchase my home. I have to say she went out
of her way (especially as an inexperienced agent who has only been in the industry for less than a year) to help me in any way she could
and exceeded any expectations I had. Ultimately, I found a place in Vanier that I really liked and decided to put in a bid on a condo in
a building I liked and I was outbid (the final price was $10,000 more than I bid). The day I was notified that I didn't get this place,
a new place came on the market that was taking multiple bids but they wouldn't put any pictures of the place online. The place was so
messy and needed a serious cleaning that they put in the ad with a price of $220,000 and it just happened to be in the same building that
had properties sell for as low as $285,000, the one I lost for $325,000, and the high amount of $350,000. I put in the highest bid for
$300,000 and got it. The best part was that I didn't want to move in until late spring if possible and I was able to move in during April
even with my purchase being accepted January 21.
So I spent a significant amount of time packing for my move that I finally completed
at the end of April and then suddenly took a trip to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in the middle of my move for lobster. I love to travel
east and anytime I can do it, I try to. I also took another trip at the end of August to PEI and Cape Breton to cover the areas that I
missed on the first trip and we brought back more lobster once again. The most interesting thing was that the PEI lobster was massive. I've
never eaten a 2 lb lobster in my life until now. I was very impressed with the size of them for sure.
Anyway, it is October and I'm still unpacking my stuff. I've rearranged my stuff
around, especially in my living room where it isn't as perfect as I want it to be and I've spent at least 20 - 30 hours now building
shelving units for my books, movies and clothing. There is so much I want to do with my place but need a significant amount of money to
do everything and I know I can it at some point but it won't be anytime soon so this goes onto my last subject: money!
I made a decision a month ago to lock in my mortgage on a fixed rate for 5 years. I
should have done this when I purchased my place but I was advised by 20 people who all know finances, to go with a variable rate. What I
was offered at the time was 1.35% variable or 2.65% fixed rate back in January. Everyone who advised me to take a variable said the chances
of the rate exceeding 2.65% within the next 5 years was slim. No one expected what the Bank of Canada decided to do and raise interest rates,
but not just raise them, raise them significantly. In July I really started looking into what is expected to happen in the future with the
rates and knew that they would go up on September 7, I also expect with relative certainly that there will be another 0.5 interest rate hike
on October 26 and again on December 6 so stay tuned. The Bank of Canada is trying to cause a strategic recession by getting people to stop
spending so inflation will drop by 5% (7% down to 2%) where it last hit in March 2021 and has been rising since. They decided in order to do
this that they would stack the interest rate hikes throughout all of 2022 so they could have no increases in 2023 and trigger a recession. I
fully expect all of this to happen and it was the reason I decided to lock in my fixed mortgage at 4.49% even though I didn't want to. Sadly
I was forced to do it but it was a decision I had to make because I could see the rate go up to 7 or 8% by the end of December and I could
not afford anymore money for my mortgage at all. Right now I can just afford all of my costs but need something to change in the near
future to ensure that I will be fine for many years to come. Ultimately, I am waiting and hoping for a promotion at work that will really
help me succeed financially and I hope it happens in short order. I expect it to happen though and look forward to the opportunity when it
does happen.
Until next time, Ward out!
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