The Historic District

No all night diners anywhere in Mass... or all night anything... Or real DINERs either. I miss them. I grew up in southeast CT and had relatives in the City, on LI and in upstate NJ. Know the area well. Mass is an adjustment but the Mrs. and I love it here. Ive been through Gardner a couple times - ...

Phil- Thanks for the response, and appreciate that you didn't take offense at my contributions. It seems you have a good head on your shoulders and are thinking this through well. I just get up on my high horse about these issues because Ive seen so many people get in over their heads and then end u...

Mass property taxes are not much better than Jersey in some towns... Mine are about $19/thousand, and have been over 20 in the past. A web search shows New Jersey property taxes average $21/thousand. People around here grumble becuase they where kept low for many years due to Prop 2 1/2 and recently...

So it sounds like the Vancouver housing market is like Silicon valley (i.e. just plain out of reach for normal people). Assuming that Phil gets to the point he cant carry the house anymore he has some options: 1 - Sell an move somewhere he can afford to buy comfortably. This is not fun but its reali...

Actually Jeremy, this isn't necessarily true. When we bought our first house, my husband and I weren't yet married, I was unemployed at the time of purchase (because I was still in university finishing up my degree), and so we put the house title under his name only and the mortgage info was based ...

Once again- I'm NOT trying to say Phil was irresponsible. I'm just pointing out basic math. If the carrying costs of the house are beyond his income he has to face that, and the sooner the better. Its only going to get worse going forward, and better to deal with it when you have options than be for...

jharkin - The issue with the house to income ratio is due to the insanity of escalating real estate prices in the Vancouver area. Phil didn't say he paid $ 750,000 for his house while having an income of $ 50,000. Getting a mortgage under this circumstance would be extremely challenging without a s...

Phil, We are living on a bit under a half acre. The house is only 1400sq ft with one bathroom on a very busy intersecrion.Literally no space for any portable buildings without putting it smack in the middle of our back yard. Beyond the fact I would not want to stare out the kitchen window and see a ...

Phil- Sorry to hear that times are tough. I would definitely do what others have suggested and see if you can appeal the appraisal. Our laws are different than Canada, are your property taxes deductible on your income taxes there? this always softens the blow for me. Having saird all that, honestly ...

Glad to hear I'm not alone.... I expected as much, but just needed to hear it... Main frustration is that we had been to the point of concentrating a lot on the functional upgrades we wanted to do the last couple years and I *though* most of the basic emergency repairs where behind us but they seems...