House hunting (just looking...)

Yesterday we went to Fort Langley to take a look at the Bedford Landing development, right next to the river. Let me emphasize that it's RIGHT NEXT TO THE RIVER. Okay, with that out of the way, we can now talk about how much you're going to spend for a house that will, one day, be floating.For a detached house, you're going to spend a minimum of $589,000 (or 'value priced' as it says in the ad) and for a detached house that you get a backyard and some semi-privacy with you're going to have to sell your soul for a minimum of $899,000 (again, 'value priced'). It was sad walking around mass-produced homes that try so hard to have character but just end up looking like dominos waiting to be toppled over (hmmm, enter river flooding action?). There were so many issues that we saw all through these houses, from the choppy basements (unfinished, so I can say we're able to make that assessment after doing our own) to the outright mistakes that were made (a beam that went into a staircase and was carpeted over, a fridge door that couldn't open fully because of a wall) to the HORRIBLE finishing of cheap moulding, wobbly edges of drywall, crappy painting...

You can see my point. If we moved in there we would need two contractor's packs of caulk because the builders sure didn't use any. Oh, and remember that you'll be paying GST on those prices above for that 'brand new' house.

Not that I'm immune to the whole mass-produced house, we live in one now. People make the mistake all the time of saying that we live in a townhouse because these houses are so close together. But at least we can say that this is only our first house and that hopefully on the next move that we'll be moving up in size, both with the house and with the lot. But realistically, those Bedford houses can't possibly be a starter house for people, and look at what you're getting: a teenie house on a teenie lot.

Oh! And the best part: there are two ways into the area, and both are crossed by rail lines. When we were walking through the houses we noticed that there were fire sprinklers all over the place. Well, this is in case your house is burning down and there's a train on the track and the fire truck can't get in. The rep at the sales office told us that Park Lane was kind enough to do this for peace of mind for the homeowner, and that the maximum time it would take, if there were a train on the track, for the fire fighters wait to cross would be 20 SECONDS. Hmmm. Not sure where they get that time, but there are some long freight trains that take a lot longer to get through the crossing than that. I suppose they'll say anything to sell a house then. Good thing they didn't ask us what we thought of the development...