Why am I not making an offer on the house, you ask?

A lot of people have asked this question, so I thought I’d answer it here: the asking price — $CDN679,000 is at least $150,000 too high. Eileen and Richard, my sister and brother-in-law, whom I consult on all yuppie-flavoured issues, couldn’t stop laughing when I told them how much the landlord was asking for the place. Not only are they experienced house-shoppers, they also know my house well; from August 1999 through July 2001, they lived there with me.

Yeah, it’s nice, but it also suffers from best-house on a bad street syndrome: many of the other houses on the street are pretty ramshackle, poorly maintained and total firetraps. There are better deals in up-and-coming neighbourhoods (downtown Chinatown is dying as everyone migrates to uberswanky suburban Chinatown, home of monster-size homes and the largest Chinese mall in North America).

And so, the house hunt begins.