The Occupation Song
is a song about the financial struggles of young people today, trying to obtain a standard of living where they can buy a house and raise a family.
Starting My Adult Life
I got married young in 1974, and our first child was born in 1975. The rent in our first apartment in a high rise building was $166. a month.
I Wanted A House
I wanted to own a house. We scraped together a $2000. down payment bought an old house for $15,500, with a mortgage payment of about $150. a month.
The rent and mortgage payment were about the same. The only difference was that we had to come up with the down payment, which took us a couple of years to save up.
Just a Down Payment
The rent and mortgage payment were about the same. The only difference was that we had to come up with the down payment, which took us a couple of years to save up.
Two years later we had our second child, and we felt we needed a bigger house. We sold the house for about $27,000. The house value had almost doubled in about 2 years.
It’s Tougher Today
Fast forward four decades and a bit. The single family home lifestyle we raised our kids in, is much harder for young families to attain today.
The Canadian average income in 2018 was $54,000 a year according to one source. For a couple that is $108,000.
The price of homes across Canada will vary, but living in the Vancouver area in 2018, a single family home was about $1,300,000. A minimum 5% down payment for this home adds up to $65,000. That is a big number, and will take a young couple some time to save.
The monthly mortgage payment will be over $7000 a month at 5% interest.
The couple can afford about a $2700 a month mortgage payment, based on their income.
The Condominium Start
The big change in home ownership for young couples today, is that they start by purchasing a condominium, as a starter home. This could be in the $300,000 to $500,000 range depending on where you live. The couple live there for a few years, build up some equity, and then move up to a townhouse or single family home.
My point is that I feel it is more expensive for a young family to have a single family home lifestyle now, than it was back in the 70’s and 80’s.
My Occupation Song lyrics came from the thinking above, and create a tongue in cheek story about opening a Pot Shop to create a larger income.
Occupation Song
If you have not seen the lyric video for the Occupation Song, see it at this link
Thanks for taking time to read.