Solid as a rock, the cutie pie home on Cuddie Crescent, deemed the cheapest house in Prince George this summer with a list price of $179,900, was sold this month to a 22-year-old longtime resident.
Cole Brenton is the proud owner and even though it’s only 400 square feet, it’s not a tiny house to him - it’s his first home.
So what is a 22-year-old doing buying a house in today’s crazy real estate market?
“I always had my eye on the housing market,” Brenton said. “It was something I always wanted to do but it’s very tough to be able to afford anything in this housing market. It was actually my mom that had sent me the article about the house and initially it didn’t appeal to me. Then I talked to some friends and I thought about it more and I thought it’s the cheapest free-standing house in Prince George and that’s gotta be worth something.”
Brenton said he had considered buying a condo around that same price but knows there’s no land attached and didn’t see the value in that. Then there are strata fees to pay on a monthly basis and that wasn’t very appealing to him, he added.
“Things moved pretty quickly once I saw the listing,” Brenton said. “I saw the listing on Friday. I called the realtor on Saturday, I looked at it on Sunday and put my offer in on Monday and my closing date was two weeks later.”
The appeal was simply about having something that was his, Brenton said.
“And it had to be a house,” Brenton said. “You can buy a trailer in a trailer park, or a condo in an older building but you just don’t see houses for that same price. Going into it I was worried and my mom told me that there’s probably a reason that it’s so cheap and to be prepared to be disappointed.”
So Brenton went to the viewing with some hope but knew he had to be realistic.
“So I went over there and it was perfect for me because it’s 400 square feet and I’m only one person – I don’t have a girlfriend currently and no roommates so this is the opportunity for me to have a space that’s my own that I can change and develop as I see fit. I took possession on Oct. 9 and I’ve already starting my renovations."
He's already torn up the floor. Vinyl planking will go in and all the walls will get a fresh coat of white paint.
“I know that’s boring but I feel like my design style falls more into letting my art decorate the space rather than the wall colour,” Brenton said.
The inspection came back pretty clean, Brenton added, with only a few minor issues on the list but nothing that sent up alarm bells.
Brenton works at a small independent car dealership and knows steady employment was key to getting his mortgage approval.
“Since the business is so small I have a pretty diverse role, so I started in marketing, then sales and now finance,” Brenton said.
“I’ve worked there for three years now. Because it’s really small, we’re really close so I enjoy getting up and going to work and I wouldn’t have the opportunity to get a house this young if I didn’t have this job.”
And in the future?
“I think I’m using this house as a stepping stone,” Brenton said. “It’s not the kind of house that you live in forever and raise a family. It is something I take pride in and I’m renovating it to be the space where I want to live. In the next few years whether I sell it or rent it out I want to just keep climbing the ladder of real estate until I’ve got the house that I want to be in for the long run.”
Brenton knew he always wanted a house.
“I didn’t want to live in an apartment or a trailer and definitely didn’t want to live in a dump,” he said.
He found a recent shopping trip rather serendipitous.
“I was at Costco and I bought a speaker - like a really good speaker - knowing I can’t use it right now because it’s too loud, and I thought it would be about two years before I could even take it out of the box and here I am two months later with a house and so now that speaker is coming out of that box.”
Some of the challenges of owning a home are basic logistics.
“It’s been a challenge because it’s such a small space,” Brenton said. “So I’ve had to order furniture and I’ve had to go in and measure every single piece. It’s not like I can say ‘oh, I like this I should get it’, it’s more ‘oh, I like this, will it fit.”
Brenton wanted to thank his mom, Andrea, for her encouragement during the process of first-time home ownership. His dad, Mike, also played a big role in helping Brenton buy his first home, making sure to ask all the important questions so all his bases were covered.
And there’s someone else that made an impact, too.
“I would feel bad if I didn’t mention my boss-slash-manager-slash-co-worker-slash-friend George,” Brenton said. “He was the main person who talked me into buying this house and told me the benefits of it. He’s the one that came with me to look at the house with the realtor, he’s the one who helped me with all the mortgage stuff, house insurance and everything and now he’s the one helping me with all the renos so I don’t think it woulda happened without him either. George is great. I couldn’t have done it without him.”
Brenton knows he’s pretty young to own a house and understands the responsibilities that come with it.
“It’s not so common any more for someone as young as me to buy a house,” Brenton acknowledged. “I hope young people will be inspired when they hear I bought a house. I took that leap and so can you.”
