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Exhausting the first list of potential candidates, we get a little more daring, expand the search characteristics, start getting a little crazy. Let's see how much a hundred or two more would get us, the boy says, meaning a hundred thousand, because you start thinking in terms of k's once you get into the house-buying mindset. Clicking through photo after photo of some stunning three-quarter-million-dollar detached home, we can picture ourselves living in that beautiful space, never mind that it's way out of our league. It's easy when you're not house hunting for real, and little details like money aren't getting in the way, because hey: Looking is free. Dreaming is limitless.

Yes, it's all terribly addictive and a glorious way to spend a couple of hours on a lazy Sunday. It's also, I'll admit, fairly unproductive. See, faced with our imminent move back to North America, we haven't called moving companies, or decided on a moving date, or figured out any of the practical matters, really, for getting our butts from this side of the ocean over to that one. Instead we've been frittering our time away on the Toronto housing market -- which might seem practical, given the importance of ensuring a roof over one's head … except that housing is the one aspect of the big move that we've mostly got figured out. After all, we're already planning to rent we first get there -- the boy's employer has blocks of perfectly acceptable housing dedicated to new hires like the boy himself, which saves us from the near-impossible task of attempting to do an apartment hunt from afar. Given that neither of us has spent more than two weeks in our entire lives in the city to which we will soon be transplanted, trying to buy a house straight away makes zero sense. We're rational folks, we are; we know this next house will be one we hope to stay in for awhile, something to grow into, something we want to get just right. We'll wait till we're ready; we'll rent awhile longer. This is the smart plan, no doubt about it.

Still, for all our sensibility, we know it's more fun to dream. And hence, one of our favorite ways to while away a weekend has become this: a shared sofa and a big blanket to snuggle under, some music, and mls.ca popped open in the laptop window.

o

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