Out of curiosity, have you actually looked? Around here, acreage tends to be less expensive than cookie cutter houses. Unless by acreage you mean 40+. I live on 7.5 acres in an old neighborhood with a voluntary HOA and my house cost less than my mom's .25 acre in a development with a strong HOA.
Granted, I want more acreage because I can still SEE the fucking neighbors. But we rarely talk.
Yeah - I work in the downtown core of a major urban center, so the commute would fucking kill me if I lived outside the city limits - this city's road system was designed for 1/3 of its current population so traffic is perpetually bad. Also, I am divorced so proximity to family and all that.
Okay there is another jimmy - the North American divorce laws are fucking retarded. I live a VERY sedate lifestyle and have curtailed most recreation and vacation trying to figure out how I will successfully retire at a decent age, while my ex, who DOES NOT WORK, takes 3 vacations a year, smokes and drinks like the ship is going down, bought a NEW vehicle last year, and complains constantly at how she is strapped for cash. Bitch, you are still taking half my annual salary, PLUS the maximum possible child support for one child, so shut the fuck up.
So all the spousal support I pay is taxable when I earn it, and of course I get back all the tax at the end of the year and my ex has to pay the taxes on it because it is considered income (child support is above the law so she gets it free and clear while I pay the taxes on it). Every year I get audited by the government to ensure I paid all my support (including child support, which is federally-mandated and outside the auspices of the CRA, but they STILL use it as a leverage for withholding a tax return), and I always have to wait 4-6 months to get my tax return. Fuck you.
Then, additionally, every year my ex complains that she has to pay a bunch of income tax while I get a return. At least 8 people, including an actual financial advisor, have told her to put aside an appropriate monthly amount to emulate the tax she would pay on the spousal support and then at the end of the year she would be set. She has never done it and stresses and complains every April. Fuck you.
