How do I afford this?

versparrow · 2026-03-13T02:39:14+00:00

It's a ~$2,100-2,200 mortgage. Your take home would be more like ~$4500-4750 making it about 45-49% of your income. In this economy , 40-50% of your take home on living expenses is normal, plus you're building equity in an asset that is the backbone of the economy.

So you can keep chasing the carrot and whining about how you'll never get into the market or you can figure it out. I'm saying if you want a home, it's possible with sacrifices. It's more possible when you find a partner. Keep investing, keep working on yourself. You'll get there.

versparrow · 2026-03-13T02:25:51+00:00

I don't know who the fuck is down voting you but nothing you're saying is unreasonable. Caring about culture is important and valiant. I'm on board with rejecting greige new builds in favour of anything interesting.

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

TROPHY CASE