Finding an affordable house with four, five or six bedrooms is a colossal challenge. Talk to parents of lots of kids, blended families, and buyers who want extra room for a telecommuting office.
Mother of six, Caroline Brennan has been struggling with the lack of rooms for years. In his old house, his offspring had to live with two people per room. When the three oldest left, she and her partner wanted to offer a single room to the other three. “We looked for four years in the Mirabel area,” she remembers. As we couldn’t find anything, we got tired of it. We needed a change in life, so we sold everything and went on the road for 18 months living a nomadic life. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY CAROLINE BRENNAN
It is in Bas-Saint-Laurent that Caroline Brennan, her partner and three of their children found their happiness.
On the way back, providence intervened, she says, laughing. “One morning, we visited a house, we made a purchase offer at 3 p.m., it was accepted two hours later and we were moving 25 days later! »
Direction: Bas-Saint-Laurent, where an old presbytery awaited them with seven bedrooms, six bathrooms and three shower rooms. “We found much more than we wanted, after having broadened the scope of our research: we had decided to search throughout Quebec. »
Too small, too many people
Six years ago, Ann-Julie Huard and her family lived in a property that lacked space. “When I met my chum, he already had two children and we had another together, she explains. I sold my condo to move into a small semi-detached apartment which had three bedrooms. »
They then demonstrated resourcefulness and flexibility. “We sacrificed the living room in the basement to set up our bedroom and so that the children each had their own,” adds the mother. And we only had one bathroom for five. We knew it wouldn’t hold up. »
At the end of 2018, they went looking for a house with five bedrooms (including an office) and two bathrooms in the Terrebonne area to stay close to the mother of the two girls in shared custody.
Their reality is that of more and more households. In fact, one in ten Quebec families is reconstituted and 20% of families made up of a couple of parents have three or more children, according to Statistics Canada.
Marylène Côté-Gaudreault, real estate broker at RE/MAX, points out that three-bedroom houses have been the norm for decades. “And even in older buildings, when there were more rooms, they were not always compliant. Today, if you find a house with at least four bedrooms, the price is generally higher than what an average buyer can afford. It’s almost a luxury. »
His colleague Corrine Fortin agrees. “Houses with four, five or six bedrooms have always been rare, but with the increase in property prices in recent years, they are extremely expensive… if they are in good condition,” emphasizes the broker with Royal LePage for 27 years. .
A story of compromise
The two brokers refuse to believe that these are impossible missions. “We always end up finding something, but it takes time, and when a product presents itself, you have to act quickly! », exclaims Mme Fort.
Mme Côté-Gaudreault must sometimes suggest to its clients that they reassess their needs.
Back in our grandparents’ day, they would put a baby in a desk drawer and that was okay. Today, we want an office, a guest room and a bedroom for each child. Sometimes we have to lower our criteria to find.
Marylène Côté-Gaudreault, broker at RE/MAX
Or be manual enough to finish a basement and divide a large bedroom, even if it means reducing the dimensions of the family room. Some families also make the compromise of putting two children in one room, while others, like that of Caroline Brennan, do everything to avoid the situation. “In addition to the number of rooms, we wanted a large garden, no longer having close neighbors and a taste of holy peace. We found it in Bas-Saint-Laurent. »
Ready for work
Their immense presbytery met all their needs… or almost. “We wanted a house with few renovations, but the one we bought needs a lot of love to restore its character. Ultimately, our biggest compromise was moving away from the three oldest children and our family. »
For her part, Ann-Julie Huard could leave with all her kids, but she simply couldn’t find the property she wanted. “When we sold our old house, possession was on 1er July and still nothing had been found on May 25, she recalls. It’s amazing how hard it is to find a house with more than three bedrooms! »
You should know that the stress of not finding something accentuated an already very specific life situation. “We had a young baby, I was going back to school and my father-in-law was in palliative care,” says Mme Loon. For all these reasons, we wanted a house with no renovations to do. »
They too were forced to change their expectations. “We bought a house with five bedrooms whose roof needed to be redone, in addition to the front of the house being made of aggregate which increased the risk of water infiltration. Now that we have it, we won’t leave until our kids leave the house. »