PureGin.org

Well, it looks like we have bought a house, with trees and everything. Not just a condo, but a giant, energy and money sucking, portal-to-the-home-depot-lifestyle, house. Of course, since we're not gazillionaires, it's naturally not in Vancouver, or any other actual City, but rather just outside of Ladysmith, on Vancouver Island.

It's been an interesting process, very, um... educational. No doubt the learning has just begun. One of the interesting recent lessons is just how useless the 'First time home buyer program' really is.

Here's the deal. When you buy property, you have to pay tax, based on the fair market value of the property. Why? Probably to pay for the huge 52% pay raise that our provincial MLA's have voted themselves. Fortunately, in order to make it possible home ownership easier for non-gazillionaires, there is an exemption for first time home buyers. Unfortunately, the exemption to the exemption is that if your house costs more than $375,000 in the Greater Vancouver / Victoria areas, you don't qualify. Since $375,000 in Vancouver or Victoria buys you a garden shed, or small broom closet, you are basically out of luck.

I figure the program might actually be applicable to 10% of first time buyers, if that. Why bother having a program that is useless to the first time home buyers it purports to serve? Clearly, it is intended to give the appearance that government is acting to make housing affordable, while actually retaining the lucrative tax-grab that the hot real estate market offers.