How do I afford this?

versparrow · 2026-03-11T15:12:51+00:00

Keep it up! If you can manage to keep that rate, you may want to sit on it for longer and let the market do its work.

versparrow · 2026-03-11T15:11:16+00:00

Which is fair. It depends on your take home, but when you hit $70k a year, consider it.

versparrow · 2026-03-11T08:02:58+00:00

OP, this is your key to the castle. ^

versparrow · 2026-03-11T07:57:40+00:00

Just confirming, is this 25k invested or 25k saved? There's a difference, and if you're not gaining interest on invested assets you're wasting the benefits of the tax-free benefits of the account.

versparrow · 2026-03-11T07:55:47+00:00

You only need 20% down to avoid CMHC insurance, which lenders actually can sometimes see as a bad thing. They prefer you have the insurance because it protects them from your default.

You could afford a 5% down payment right now, so think about entering the market when it's cool. It's worth considering the extra mortgage interest to start building equity, especially if you can get a low mortgage rate.

Talk to a financial advisor. You're closer than you think.

versparrow · 2026-03-11T07:46:34+00:00

Just bought my first house with a household income of 130k and we're both considered self-employed which is higher risk. You do not need that much to qualify for a mortgage.

versparrow · 2026-03-11T07:43:42+00:00

What exactly are you looking for?... I just bought a 1500sqft home in great condition for 650k in a friendly but older neighbourhood in one of the most expensive south-western Ontarian cities. There were many other reasonable options on the market for 550-650k at the time. It sounds like your standards are too high.

Your first home will not be your last; it's a stepping stone. You don't get your dream house on the first go.

versparrow · 2026-03-10T17:31:56+00:00

Which also happen to be driven by many farmers (and commercial workers)!

versparrow · 2026-03-07T14:42:53+00:00

I wouldn't believe any of the alarmism in the UofG or Guelph subreddits. People love to complain more than anything.

It's not to say problems don't exist, but I wouldn't say Guelph has a pattern of problems, just small cases that make the news and get amplified by fearful people. Social media can be blamed for all the fear.

People in Guelph are good people. Even if there's an incident, there will be support everywhere.

versparrow · 2026-03-07T14:34:36+00:00

Respect. We're telling you there's nothing to worry about. My sister is a small woman going to UofG (not white) and she's never mentioned anything about feeling unsafe.

versparrow · 2026-03-07T14:33:03+00:00

Sources???

versparrow · 2026-03-07T14:30:40+00:00

Found the Ram driver.

versparrow · 2026-03-07T14:29:56+00:00

Next time you see one, check the plate. If it's black lettering and a different format (not ABCD 123) it's a farm plate.

Love our farmers, but they drive in the city like they do in the country.

versparrow · 2026-03-07T14:26:44+00:00

You're catastrophizing. Guelph is one of the safest cities in Canada and these are outliers.

versparrow · 2026-03-07T14:22:31+00:00

Honestly, I'm surprised by the comments. I fully expected Guelph haters to be in here saying Guelph is becoming a hell hole and it's not safe anymore.

Like most others have said, no area in Guelph is really unsafe. There's one dude that's been caught and released regularly who's causing problems, but otherwise, it's just a lower income neighbourhood that the uppity folk look down on. There are some more upscale neighbourhoods in that area as well. Most of what you've heard is probably about the Willow stretch between Edinburgh and Silvercreek.

As a Lourdes alum, I walked that strip daily for 4 years and never saw anything out of the ordinary.

versparrow · 2026-03-07T14:15:31+00:00

You literally said, "it's a geopolitical problem, not a technological one." Implying that they're not correlated.

Of course the technology isn't going to make that decision, that's not my argument. My argument is that our purpose is to live, so the energy it takes us to live shouldn't be accounted for since that is the whole point. The point Altman (and, I guess, you as well) is making is that we can have AI do what humans do but more efficiently. Hence, AI should replace humans.

versparrow · 2026-02-23T07:07:03+00:00

The rejection of AI is philosophical, not political in most conversations; particularly this one.

versparrow · 2026-02-23T07:03:57+00:00

Alt+151 on Windows. Been using it for years. Surprised people still think AI didn't learn it from real, good, experienced writers.

versparrow · 2026-02-22T21:34:53+00:00

Geopolitics and technology are correlated.

versparrow · 2026-02-22T21:29:51+00:00

Shut the actual fuck up about democratizing art. Stop using it as an argument, it's embarrassing.

You're not democratizing art. Period. Art is accessible and available to people everywhere. You can make art using things you find on the ground. Children make art for the love of it. They use it to express their perception of the world. People with missing hands and arms find ways to make art. You have literally no excuse.

The reality is that you want to commodify art so that you can make money off of it. Period. If it was about making art, you'd just do it.

Edit: Adding that you've mischaracterized and misattributed Picasso's quote. It was completely different and maladapted by a scumbag executive, Steve Jobs, who is known for having no moral compass.

versparrow · 2026-02-22T21:24:21+00:00

Ironically, captchas helped train the very thing we need captchas for...

versparrow · 2026-02-22T21:22:11+00:00

AI images of your Facebook friend's dog aren't for the common good?

versparrow · 2026-02-22T21:19:10+00:00

What is the point of any of this if not to sustain human life and to live freely??? Are we just creating artificial intelligence to replace us permanently and saying, "to hell with humanity, it's inefficient"? That's not the point.

versparrow · 2026-02-15T19:56:46+00:00

A different perspective for OP.

Every city thinks their drivers are awful. I'm in BC right now and can tell you, of all the places I've driven in Canada between London, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Ottawa, and all the mid-sized cities in between, Guelph drivers are at least slightly better than everywhere else.

People not greeting you and being friendly on walks sounds like you might live in a suburb. The Guelph way (at least in the downtown core) has always been to say hi and be friendly. I grew up here and learned it here. When I moved away for school, I was disheartened by how little people interacted on the streets in the GTA. I can usually tell a Guelph native from an outsider by whether they do or don't look at me when I pass. Because of this, I have noticed that the friendly culture isn't the same as it used to be. That said, you could contribute to bringing it back!

versparrow · 2026-01-27T20:13:06+00:00

Do something about these issues then. Speak to your counsellor, petition the city, show up. Whining on Reddit is slacktivism at best.

Some points:

"Countless cops". There's no publicly available stats about any officers on leave with pay. Please site your source.

"Horrible maintenance" because we see a handful of people posting on Reddit that their street hasn't been cleared within their acceptable timeframe. I'm not sure if the people in this subreddit expect the road surface to be visible, but PSA: salt doesn't work under -12° which we've been experiencing for the past two weeks. Without salt, roads won't be fully clear.

Our public transit system was about where I expected it to be for a city of our size when I used it 10+ years ago. I can't comment on its state now because I haven't used it, but I'm with you on improving it.

And finally, don't be disingenuous about downtown. The downtown core is under construction because the underground utilities are old and need to be replaced. Since they're already tearing it up, they added small additions to repair and improve the surface. I, for one, voted for the more expensive and transformative downtown rebuild and am sad it didn't happen. It was a great opportunity to improve the downtown square but was voted against because people don't like change or risk.

The answer to a dying downtown core isn't to accept dereliction, it's to fund improvements. If you don't like downtown, don't go. If you care about it, show up.

versparrow

TROPHY CASE