Editor:
I was tired of renting in Vancouver and so I decided to buy a place with my spouse and with help from my parents.
These days, that’s about the only way anyone can afford to buy a home in Burnaby and the rest of Metro Vancouver – with two incomes and the bank of mom and dad.
I get tired of hearing people say young people just need to sacrifice to save. Well, I’ve sacrificed and sacrificed but needed the housing equity my parents have acquired over decades just to be able to do this.
My parents benefited from low housing prices when I was born but today’s generation is not so fortunate.
I went into the home-buying process with my eyes wide open about how competitive it would be, but it went beyond what I was expecting. It turned into what I’ve seen referred to as “multiple offer madness” and that was indeed true last year. We had to be really aggressive and ready to go beyond what was our original budget in order to get it done. We made choices we didn't think we would make - all because we needed to do that to get it done.
With the good help of our agent, we finally secured a place and will not start building our own equity. I’m so glad to be out of the rental housing racket and into ownership. It feels good, but the process was punishing and expensive.
I’ll never be able to thank my parents enough for their support, but I feel bad for all of those people who don’t have the same advantages that we did. Those people will continue to be priced out of the market
I read a disturbing story on the NOW’s website about the future of the housing market that included this: “Strong home sales are expected to continue over the first few months of 2022. But with limited supply, prices are expected to climb 8.5 per cent in 2022, with the steepest increases occurring over the first six months of the year, said the BC Real Estate Association, which in addition to advocating for more than 24,000 realtors in the province, produces economic research.”
That means the price situation will only get worse. Governments at all levels need to build more housing to ease the crunch so people who can’t access the bank of mom and dad will have a fighting chance.
V. Adams, Burnaby
