The realtor setup our search for us, and we got the regular updates. Alas, most of the houses that came up were on the mountain! Undeterred, we selected the interesting non-mountain houses, and waited for the earliest opportunity to physically walk in some of these houses. We noticed that the houses that we were being sent didn't include any houses east of downtown, but we were seeing these in our own MLS searches. So, S asked our realtor if we could see some houses in the St. Clair area.

We ended up doing a 5-house tour in this area in one afternoon. All of the houses were old, but in various states of (dis)repair. The first house we saw was by far the best of the lot: in good condition, spacious, nice floors, etc. After those initial tours we liked that one house, but wanted to see some other houses in different areas.

But then! Something happened that changed all of that. We found out that on the next Friday, other buyers would be making an offer on that first house. We were torn: we really liked it, but we hadn't had time to look at much else. What to do? We made a quick decision to have a go at making a counter offer to try and get it. If we lost, we'd have more opportunity to look around. If we won, we'd get a nice house. After a strange, low-stakes bidding war, we ended up getting the house for the asking price.

If there was one downside to the whole affair it was that we found out during the home inspection that there was some old wiring in the home, the kind that insurers don't like. We ended up signing off on the house instead of trying to cut a deal with the owners to take some money off the deal, because we didn't know better. It wasn't a deal-breaker, just kind of a bummer.

For those wondering, Aeromove worked pretty good. Never having done this before, I don't know how using an Aeromove realtor affects how they interact with the buyer; if they want to do less for you because they have to pay for some Aeroplan miles. It certainly will limit your choice in realtors, but that wasn't a problem for us. We got the points after we told Aeromove that the deal had closed successfully and we now owned the house.

The discussion to move had been happening for quite a few months. There was back and forth about location and type of housing: Guelph or Hamilton? Apartment or House? For S, the important thing was that it wasn't a 1-bedroom, and not a condo. Oh, preferably two bathrooms. Beyond that, almost anything goes.

Economically, it made much more sense to live in Hamilton. The homes are more affordable, and since I have to do most of the daily commuting, there would be a savings on gas, as well. We were sad to leave Guelph, but on our meager salaries/stipends, it was very difficult to justify that cost.

So, we started gradually, on our own, just browsing the MLS.  We figured we were limited to the low $200K range, so that's where we focused our search.

Unfortunately, that also limits where in Hamilton we could live. Ideally, we would look in Westdale or Dundas, nice areas near the University. But the reality is that houses in those areas don't go on the market in that range. So, while we crossed our fingers, hoping that something would magically appear, we turned our eyes to different areas. There's the mountain, which isn't really a mountain, but the top part of hill. Reasonably affordable. There's also downtown and the surrounding area. Also fairly cheap and plentiful.

But! and this is a big But! The houses we starting look at in those areas (in our range) were just disasters. Particularly the basements. Ugh, just thinking about them makes me cringe. Basements always hide the dirty laundry, so to speak. Water damage, cracked floors, dirt, and other manner of bad things. I have to admit, I wasn't really taken with the area on the mountain we drove through, either. Kind of drab and sprawling.

It became clear that we needed an agent. But how to choose? Well, we took an easy way out, and contacted Aeromove - Aeroplan's service for hooking you up with an agent. You use one of theirs, and they give you a few thousand Aeroplan points. Fair deal.

<to be continued>