Jessie Darroch, 32, director of talent acquisition at CrowdRiff; and Maya Shankman, 30, human resources at SamplerJessie and Maya started dating in 2019. Six months later, Maya moved into Jessie’s 900-square-foot one-bedroom rental in Seaton Village, which now costs them $2,550 per month.
“We felt like if we pulled the trigger and bought a $1-million home in Toronto, it would significantly impact our quality of life and we’d feel house poor,” said Jessie. Kimberley, a ski town of 8,000 people a few hours southwest of Banff—where Jessie has a cousin, aunt and uncle—was as beautiful as it was different from their lives in Toronto.
They ended up paying $4,000 for six weeks in an Airbnb. During the trip, a thought crossed their minds. They visited a few places, but nothing stuck. Then, they visited a condominium built in a former motel and were smitten. A day after returning home to Toronto, Jessie got a text message from her cousin in Kimberley, telling her to look at a new listing on Facebook Marketplace. Another two-bedroom condo in the condominium they visited was up for a private sale.
The process was the same as buying a home in Toronto, though they weren’t eligible for the first-time home buyers rebate and had to pay for the land transfer tax.In October 2021, Jessie and Maya flew to Kimberley to see their condo for the first time—and weren’t overly impressed.
Yeah, just pillage the few affordable options from a province with a much worse housing crisis. Also, where TF is Euclid BC?