Olivia Kingsbury and her husband George Grunenberg are ready to buy their first home, but they’ve found the Sunshine Coast market hard to crack.
Kingsbury said they’ve been searching for a home since January and were close to signing on the dotted line three times in the past six months, but bidding wars and strict strata rules have left the couple unable to purchase, with time running out on their rental.
Kingsbury and Grunenberg are searching for a home in the $400,000 range, but every time they place an offer on a home they’re competing against others who are willing to spend more, and sellers are naturally going with the highest bidder.
Homes on the Coast have been routinely selling for thousands over asking price. Kingsbury said that while she and her husband need to make offers subject to financing or a building inspection, “we’re going up against people who don’t need to do that.”
“It’s pretty impossible. It seems like you’re buying a fixer-upper for $430,000,” she said.
After months of disappointment, recently the couple found a home in a strata in Sechelt and were very close to removing all their subjects when a rule about cats was discovered that ultimately stopped the sale.
“We found out that this particular strata does not allow residents to own two cats [and] we have two indoor cats. However, you’re allowed to own three dogs under 20 pounds each and a cat,” Olivia said.
Feeling the rule was absurd, Olivia and her husband went door to door asking members of the strata to make an exception.
“We explained the situation and dropped off letters and they wouldn’t help us. They wouldn’t do anything,” Olivia said, noting she and her husband were crushed. “Our cats are like our kids and we were not willing to let them go.”
When asked why she didn’t try to sneak the cats into the strata, Olivia said the stress and anxiety of keeping them out of sight wasn’t worth it.
“We’re already going to be stressed out about a mortgage. We don’t want to be worried about somebody finding out we have two cats and going through that,” she said.
She’s disheartened that six months of searching for a starter home on the Coast hasn’t resulted in anything and with only a few months left on their rental, the couple is now weighing their options. “Here we are, still without a house, and the reality is we’ll likely have to move off the Coast to move to a community that is more affordable,” Olivia said.
“All our families and friends are here, our jobs, the whole bit, but we don’t have the housing piece and we’re reluctant to rent because there’s slim pickings and the price is comparable to a mortgage. And we’re concerned that if we continue to rent and keep looking for a home to buy on the Coast, we might miss our chance in another community and never get into the market.”
Kingsbury said she realizes not being able to buy a home is “a first world problem” and that “being able to afford a house at all is a luxury,” but with the real estate market on the Coast being so difficult to get into right now, it might be a luxury that’s afforded elsewhere.
