For several years now the world has been dealing with a financial crisis and many families have seen the value of their homes plummet. This has been true for most of North America except where I live. While the economy in Vancouver has slowed down like most places, the value of real estate hasn't followed and the cost of owning a home here is crazy. The average detached home now costs $750,000. That's the average. On my street alone every house will cost you between $800,000 and $1.7 million to buy. (!) This vintage home down the way, which is considered a tear-down, can be yours for a mere $888,000.

Built in 1959

In a previous post I told you about all the renovations we've done to our rental suite. Even though we can't own here we thought we should at least have our place feel livable. Well this apartment complex is nearly forty years old and it looks as though its days are numbered. The land is too valuable. We've kept our eyes open for other places but it looks as though the rents have been going up as fast as the real estate. I guess you can't ask for less than a couple thousand dollars rent for your "mortgage helper" if your house cost you over a million dollars. Sigh.

As we shake our heads and ponder how far east we have to move take a look at this site "Crack Shack or Mansion" in amazement. Take note that to live in the most expensive city in North America you'd be wise to sell crack. Just sayin'.

How much does a family home cost where you live?

I've been feeling guilty

My shop has been re-opened for a full month so far and while I've been doing some tweaking on my listings , I've been trying hard not to be too concerned with my views or lack of sales. Ever since Etsy has changed the way items are being searched I've found my views to be a lot lower than before. It's obvious that promoting offline and trying to get people to come directly to my shop will prove more successful than someone finding me from an Etsy search. 


So as the month has progressed and I've been busily working on new product and projects I've found myself getting more and more critical about not having any sales in the shop. I've been really trying to figure out why and when I get like this and I don't think it's solely a lack of sales that get me down. Approaching the end of last month, as I purchased some books for my illustration course and supplies for shows I'm preparing for this Christmas, we got a notice of a rent increase. We tend to squeak by right now.Ugh. This was on the same day that I had seen this real estate ad tweeted for a home near here. Yup, nearly a million dollars to own pretty much what we have now. Double ugh. It's these multiple reminders that make me feel guilty about pursuing my dream of an artistic career. My resistance to put more hours into a regular job to make ends meet. How do I justify spending the money on art and craft supplies when I find it tricky to pay my other bills? I can't stop creating but when the money is scarce I feel guilty for doing it. Luckily Christmas gives me the perfect economical excuse to create.
I think this is really going  to become a matter of faith for me to know that it's okay for me to create and that we'll be better off if I do. 
As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

One of my hande-made art dolls

silkscreened napkins

The New Floors are in!

This is a very happy post for me because I finally get to say that I've ripped up the disgusting old carpet in my rental and have replaced it with wood laminate. Well, I didn't do much but some prep work. My husband is the one who killed his back and cursed over tight spots. Thank you honey! I will buy you more Robaxacet.

I had put up a post on YouTube documenting some of the things we have done to our apartment as a visual record of the time, care and money we have put into our place. Many people have questioned why we would do so much to our place when we just rent but we've lived here for almost six years now and the dream of owning is long gone for us with the prices of real estate in Vancouver. We live in a suburb of Vancouver where a house down the street will sell for over a million dollars. Here's an example of a house in our area for the same age and size and one new. There's no way we can afford the mortgage payments on those, let alone the maintenance. On the flip side, to rent a 3 bedroom in this area would cost us at least $1500/month. That's approx. $500 more than what we're paying now. As you can see, the amount that we invested into our home is equivalent to maybe a couple months rent and we get to live with a better quality of life. So we lose our damage deposit(?!) but it's worth it. I can't tell you how happy, as someone with sometimes intense dust allergies, I am to get rid of that dirt trap of a carpet.

Our 20+ yr. old carpet

The mysterious lumps we found underneath. It felt like sand but we think it was deteriorated underlayment.

To date we've upgraded and repaired the following to our apartment:

-replaced floors in the kitchen, hallway, bathroom and living room

-replaced kitchen counters

-installed subway tile backsplash in kitchen

-replaced cracked toilet with a brand new one

-installed baseboard moldings

-installed a ceiling fan in the main bedroom

-replaced bathroom lights

What has the owner supplied you ask? Well I can't say they haven't done anything because after three years of requests, I was finally able to get a new fridge. (You should have seen my hydro bill) I also got a new oven and a new dishwasher after I poked my finger through a rust spot on the inside of the machine in front of the landlord. So I am thankful for the things they have done.
Here are a few "After" shots:

Front hall through to main bedroom

Living room from hall

Living room from kitchen

So what do you think? We're no "Holmes on Homes" but I think our place is finally turning into a family home.