v11.0 - Fresh Start

Afternoon Folks,

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I thought I would starting these musings fresh. My mood lately has been quite down and I know people don't enjoy reading depressing musings, so I thought I'd step things up a notch and get back to where I was when I started writing these.

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With that, let's start with the musing!



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I want to start this musing off to share some good news with everyone. I'm sure I've mentioned in my previous musings (since moving to Halifax) that I have been having some issues getting my Van registered in Nova Scotia. Let me recap for those who may have forgotten or are not aware:

1) Bought a brand new Toyota Sienna prior to moving to Nova Scotia
2) My dealer told me to wait until I made it to Nova Scotia before registering the vehicle (to save me some cash)
3) I arrived in Nova Scotia and was unable to register the van here unless I paid the PST (Provincial Sales Tax) portion of the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax PST+GST) on the purchase price. That was around $2,500.
4) I contacted my dealer and told them the bad news, my dealer sent me a Power of Attorney letter to sign and send back to give them the power to transfer my registration over in Alberta.
5) I waited
6) I waited
7) I waited

Now normally I'm a patient guy (listens for the laughs from those who really know me). I've basically be driving this van around illegally (kinda) since just before Christmas. If I had gotten pulled over for anything, I would most likely be up Chocolate creek without a popsicle stick.

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Well, the good news is:

1) I called my dealership in Calgary and found out my sales guy had a heart attack just over a month ago.
2) I spoke to another sales guy there whom I've had dealings with in the past
3) He asked me to send him all my information and he would see what he could do
4) I sent everything I had and waited
5) I received an email from him later that day letting me know he had completed the registration transfer and he was going to send the updated registration card via Registered mail

YAY!

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So here I sit, waiting for this letter to arrive (should be sometime today) and all I will need to do is get the out-of-province safety inspection done and then transfer the vehicle over to Nova Scotia registries.

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HUGE load off my chest, let me tell you. To top it all off, my Alberta plates would have expired the end of February which would have made matters a lot worse if I had gotten pulled over with them on my van.

Speaking of expired plates. I was on my way into work today and I pulled in behind this white Neon who was driving a little crazy. Not to my surprise, he had Alberta plates on his vehicle dated December 2005. Just a little bit expired I would say and most likely driving around illegally as well. I smiled.

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Buying a house is a HUGE decision. I was just recently pre-approved for a mortgage and we have been searching (scouring) the market here in Halifax looking for a house. Katie has been on the ball and has found us quite a few potential candidates to go look at. Unfortunatly for us, we need to come up with quite a bit of money up-front in order to make this work (like 10k worth).

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Those who know me, most likely know my situation here in Nova Scotia. While the money I'm making is good (according to other people in the IT industry here), it isn't enough to really do any kind of saving with. I look at the amount of money coming in and I look at the amount of money going out and that leaves us with very little each month to save towards a house. Now I know there are "creative" ways to get around the whole Down Payment thing, but as of right now I don't really see a way to do this without having to spend a load of cash.

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I really want to get into a house. We are currently paying $900 a month to rent a 2 bedroom apartment and I would much rather be throwing that money to something I own. We went to look at a few houses on the weekend and didn't see anything we really liked. Unfortunatly, we don't really have the "right" to be picky.

I feel as though I'm wasting my Real Estate Agent's time. What if we find a house we want? What are we going to do about getting a down payment so we can actually get the mortgage for it? I would love to be able to walk into a house, have us fall in love with it and put an offer in on it. I just don't feel we are in a position to make that kind of move at the moment even though we've been pre-approved for it.

Frustrating.

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The good news in all of this is I was pre-approved. Something I haven't been able to do since I declared bankruptsy 8 or so years ago. I have just started rebuilding my credit recently and apparently I'm doing ok or I would have gotten a fat NO letter from the bank. This all falls under my "Fresh Start" heading which is something I've been trying to do for the last 4-5 months I've been living here. Making a fresh start and a new beginning for my family and I has been difficult, but we're making it and things are getting better every day.

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How you perceive things will change your mood drastically. If you're looking for problems, more often than not you'll find problems. If you're looking to fail, you will fail. Yes, we had a lot of bad things happen to us when we moved here. The job, the money, the cost of living lies, and all the issues with the Van and other little things. My family has been strong through all this. Yes they miss their family back in Calgary, but we have learned to adjust and are moving on.

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Katie's mother is coming out to visit us sometime in March (or is it February?). The kids do not know and we want to surprise them when she arrives. I know both my kids miss their Grandma and would love to get the chance to see her again. My only worry is when it comes time to say goodbye.

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Well folks, I'm going to run now and try and accomplish some work today. I had yesterday off (long weekend) and I need to get back into it. Take care all and God bless.

Cheers,

Al