After enduring the agonizing Christmas shutdown with no job in sight I was anxious to be able to do something successful so focussed my attention on buying a condo. The sensible option was to get a job first and then buy a place but commuting from my family home to any of my job prospects would be a nightmare by bus or car.

I had already gone twice with my agent to see some properties near the lakeshore. While I was away for three years they have built a glut of condos many of which were sitting empty. One of the buildings we looked at we had our choice of brand new vacant units.

Before Christmas I was focussing on getting a job so didn't make a move on any unit, which also would have tied me down permanently had I wanted to get an overseas job. But now the lack of job frustration motivated me to buy a property even without a job as I had enough assets to do this. It felt like a bargain compared to what I sold at in 2010 and was a great location on the lakeshore, the biking trails, and close to highways.

I was still trying to arrange financing so as not to use all my cash. The bank had suggested since they cant lend anything to me with no income, I should try a mortgage broker as with my assets they may be able to find a lender.

In the meantime I was ready to move on a unit. There was one on the 21st floor with den plus locker, semi ensuite bathroom, and double walkout to the balcony from the bedroom and living room. I was waiting till after the new years to have a viewing and put in an offer.

However right after New Years it came under offer so the agent wasn't able to get a viewing. I then had to resort to my 2nd choice, a smaller unit with no den/locker, on the 19th floor. I had already looked at this in Nov and again in Dec so it had been sitting unsold for some time as had many of the other units. It was smaller than what I had in 2010 but the same size as my last apartment in Korea so something I could manage.

We tried to put in a low offer thinking the seller would be getting desperate now. However, he had deep pockets. He was from Asia and was selling the last of his three units he had bought. So he could afford to sit it out although ours was the first offer he had received since listing three or more months ago.

After some negotiation he did eventually come down to an agreeable price. Now I was still trying to arrange financing. A mortgage broker was able to find terms but not what I was looking for.

Because I had no job/income the lender wanted the 12 months payment up front. However they also wanted 12 months property tax paid up front as well as 12 months condo fees. So basically they had eliminated all risk of me defaulting but I didn't like how I was being treated like some child unable to manage his finances.

My lawyer also strongly cautioned me against using this lender as once they went on my credit record it would cause so many problems in the future as they usually deal with bankruptcies.

Another broker referred by my real estate agent who had arranged a mortgage for me years ago was able to find alternate terms. While the terms were somewhat more favourable the way of arranging it amounted to mortgage fraud.

I was to file a statement of income that I was self employed overseas for the last three years. I also had to file a statement of self employed projected income for 2014. And I had to provide a tenancy agreement as I would be buying the property as a 'rental investment'.

I pointed out the flaw in that I was going to live there not rent it. I was told to just make a fake rental agreement. I didn't feel comfortable filing all these fake declarations as I could be on the hook for mortgage fraud if any of this was audited and the lender wanted a demand loan back in 30 days.

So basically I decided not to take either financing option thru either broker and just do it all myself thru my own assets, credit cards, and line of credit. In the meantime I still didn't have a job which could reopen the financing options if I had an offer before my closing date.