John Assaraf
Travis and I have big news to share with you...we bought a house!
This is an unbelievable dream come true for us and one we never thought possible.
When I was diagnosed with ALS in 2013, we were told I had 2-3 years left to live, and since we were living in a 3 floor walk up with a loft, I would need to move into accessible housing right away. It was devestating to have to sell the first home we owned together. We moved into a "luxury rental" that met many of my accessibility needs.
Cut to 7 years later and I'm still here! My only regret was that instead of buying a bungalow when we sold our condo we have been paying very high rent. Of course, we had no way of knowing that I would be in the 10% of people living with ALS who survived past 5 years. I began to fear that I was living too long!
When Travis was laid off this March due to the pandemic, we feared we wouldn't be able to afford our rent. It really made us rethink where we were at in this stage of our lives together.
During the past seven years, Travis & I have been fortunate to have spent much time travelling together and living in an apartment was convenient and made sense during that time. As travelling became more and more difficult for me we realized that it was no longer an option, in fact, our last trip was to Antigua in January of this year. Instead of being depressed that I can no longer travel, I feel that we made the most of our opportunities while we could and I am so full of appreciation for the places I've been able to go. As well, it made it much easier to come to this decision while the whole world was also not able to travel!
While Travis was laid off we had the time to think about our future together (and as someone living with ALS, "future" can sometimes feel like a dirty word). As we discussed our worries over paying rent, we thought, as least if we had to pay for a mortgage, we would still be paying ourselves. As we took walks around our neighbourhood we started dreaming of owning a home with some property for Travis to be able to plant a vegetable garden. Somewhere along the way we thought "why can't we make our own dreams come true?".
When Travis was rehired the search was on. Of course we sold our condo during a buyer's market and now we were looking for a house during a seller's market and during a pandemic no less! In fact, the Ottawa housing market was one of the few places in Canada where home prices INCREASED during April and May.
We also had the disadvantage of requiring very specific needs for a house. It had to be a bungalow with no stairs inside. We wanted a property though wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to be isolated. We didn't want to be too far from Travis's work. We needed an ensuite with a walk-in shower. Let's just say the odds were not in our favour!
Thanks to our dedicated Real Estate Agent Karen Cayer from Keller Williams Integrity Realty who sold our condo and understood our needs better than we did, we found our forever home. It has a beautiful yard, deck, fireplace and even a sunroom!
We close at the end of August and move during the month of September (Travis will need to install a few ramps for me to get into the house), with our final moving date with a truck for the big items on September 27th. If you would like our new address shoot me a text or an email.
Thanks to all who have supported us during this time. I thought people would think we were crazy to be doing this with my condition, but everyone has been so encouraging.
Travis and I are embracing the next stage of our adventure together.
The Ottawa housing market is so crazy, a home buyer's letter is recommended. I thought you might be interested in ours. So grateful our offer was accepted.
This is an unbelievable dream come true for us and one we never thought possible.
When I was diagnosed with ALS in 2013, we were told I had 2-3 years left to live, and since we were living in a 3 floor walk up with a loft, I would need to move into accessible housing right away. It was devestating to have to sell the first home we owned together. We moved into a "luxury rental" that met many of my accessibility needs.
Cut to 7 years later and I'm still here! My only regret was that instead of buying a bungalow when we sold our condo we have been paying very high rent. Of course, we had no way of knowing that I would be in the 10% of people living with ALS who survived past 5 years. I began to fear that I was living too long!
When Travis was laid off this March due to the pandemic, we feared we wouldn't be able to afford our rent. It really made us rethink where we were at in this stage of our lives together.
During the past seven years, Travis & I have been fortunate to have spent much time travelling together and living in an apartment was convenient and made sense during that time. As travelling became more and more difficult for me we realized that it was no longer an option, in fact, our last trip was to Antigua in January of this year. Instead of being depressed that I can no longer travel, I feel that we made the most of our opportunities while we could and I am so full of appreciation for the places I've been able to go. As well, it made it much easier to come to this decision while the whole world was also not able to travel!
While Travis was laid off we had the time to think about our future together (and as someone living with ALS, "future" can sometimes feel like a dirty word). As we discussed our worries over paying rent, we thought, as least if we had to pay for a mortgage, we would still be paying ourselves. As we took walks around our neighbourhood we started dreaming of owning a home with some property for Travis to be able to plant a vegetable garden. Somewhere along the way we thought "why can't we make our own dreams come true?".
When Travis was rehired the search was on. Of course we sold our condo during a buyer's market and now we were looking for a house during a seller's market and during a pandemic no less! In fact, the Ottawa housing market was one of the few places in Canada where home prices INCREASED during April and May.
We also had the disadvantage of requiring very specific needs for a house. It had to be a bungalow with no stairs inside. We wanted a property though wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to be isolated. We didn't want to be too far from Travis's work. We needed an ensuite with a walk-in shower. Let's just say the odds were not in our favour!
Thanks to our dedicated Real Estate Agent Karen Cayer from Keller Williams Integrity Realty who sold our condo and understood our needs better than we did, we found our forever home. It has a beautiful yard, deck, fireplace and even a sunroom!
We close at the end of August and move during the month of September (Travis will need to install a few ramps for me to get into the house), with our final moving date with a truck for the big items on September 27th. If you would like our new address shoot me a text or an email.
Thanks to all who have supported us during this time. I thought people would think we were crazy to be doing this with my condition, but everyone has been so encouraging.
Travis and I are embracing the next stage of our adventure together.
The Ottawa housing market is so crazy, a home buyer's letter is recommended. I thought you might be interested in ours. So grateful our offer was accepted.
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