pStabs

The Dream

Live in a cabin in the woods & raise a few alpacas!

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to live on a small farm, in the country with a cabin or farmhouse. Sometimes I was on a lake and other times deep in the Canadian north. But as I grew and my life changed, I found myself becoming a city girl and categorizing my dream as just a fantasy. I’ve lived in apartments for the past 30 years in mid-sized cities like Kingston, Ontario and big ones like Toronto. The man I married had grown up in the country much like I did (rural subdivision, non-farming) but he did not ever want to move back to the country. The city does have it’s conveniences. So I never bothered to pull that dream out of the fantasy folder.

Over time, housing costs rose and incomes stayed the same while expenses went up. Suddenly, I was priced out of the market despite having a decent salary and good credit. I was pretty angry and bitter that I was priced out. Please keep in mind that this very much is the case for many, many Canadians. It’s currently July 20, 2025 as I write this and we are in the throws of a massive slowdown in the housing market due to a number of factors but mostly due to the trade war with the USA. Continued Below

Earlier in 2025, I started a new role at work where I focused on mortgages and lending. I work as a data analyst in the financial industry. This showed me that I wasn’t actually priced out of the market. Some rules had changed that made it so I didn’t need such a massive down payment. Suddenly, the possibilities opened up and I thought to myself, why not? Why not try for it?

So I’m going for it. A house in the country on a wooded lot where I can raise a few alpacas. Then I can learn how to sheer them, prepare their fibers, spin them, and knit with it. Not for selling but for my personal use. I’d love to be able to give the people who are special to me hand knit items made with wool I made myself from animals that I raised with my own hands.

Inspo Pics

To Build or To Buy

There are two paths I can take to get to my goal. One is to build and the other is to buy. Both come with pros and cons. Building gets me what I want and more land but it’s also more costly and will require a pile of co-ordination. Buying is easier and faster but it comes with more compromise.

I’d love to build but I’m not sure I see a path forward with that just yet. But that is the ultimate dream so I can get the exact house that I want on the exact land that I want. I might as well try for the dream and if I have to compromise on some of it then that’s okay!

The important things are: small house, country, can’t see neighbours, land for the alpacas, internet, and no more than one hour from my Mom.

I am not planning on being off-grid. I need good internet for my job and I don’t trust myself to do off-grid good enough. So I figure that can come later. Building would allow me to plan for that from the get-go.

Estimated Budget

Money solves all of the problems with this but I have to stay within a budget because I simply don’t have as much saved as I should. Without going into too many details, when I was married, we didn’t have much saved. Spent too much to save much. But now that I’m on my own, I’ve worked pretty hard (and got lucky) so I have some savings and a path to save more.

I have a pre-approval for $350,000 CAD with 5% down (insured). I could go higher on my down payment and get more but I’d like to try to stick in this range for buying. I’ll need to go up to $450,000 CAD to be able to build. Materials costs are absolutely insane at the moment.

The Wish List

This is a list of the things that I want and how flexible I am with each item.

Build

• Between 700 and 1000 square feet
• At least one roofed porch
• Metal roof
• Timber or log outer walls
• 2 bedrooms
• 1 1/2 bathrooms
• Open concept Living Room/Kitchen/Dining
• Lofted ceilings
• 4+ acres of land
• Well treed so I can’t see neighbours

Buy

• Passes Inspections
• Can be moved into without issue right away
• Needs some cosmetic interior renovations
• Between 700 and 1000 square feet
• 2+ bedrooms
• 1+ bathrooms
• Roofed porch
• 1+ acres if farmer owns adjoining 3 acres I can rent or buy otherwise 4+ acres
• Drinkable water
• Propane heat preferable