To understand where we are going in our search for a home, you need to understand where we currently live.

Right now, we rent out a 599 square foot apartment on the top floor in a low-rise building in Whalley.

Our rent is reasonable, at $850 a month, with hot water and heat included in the rent. Utilities (hydro, telephone, cable and internet) are reasonable, all in costing us less than $150 a month, split between myself and my fiancee.

The building is decent, as it was completed last year. Our suite faces a busy street, 108 Avenue, one of the main arterial routes in Surrey.

Also, right outside our window is a pedestrian-controlled traffic light that blinks green nearly 24 hours a day.

The venetian blinds in our bedroom, which also faces the street, fail miserably at trying to stop the flashing light from bleeding in while we try to sleep.

In the apartment, there is what is known in real estate circles as an 'open layout,' meaning there is absolutely no shape to the place whatsoever, rooms are not sectioned-off, the kitchen blends into the rest of the apartment and the bathroom is tiny.

Another example of real estate mumbo-jumbo is that our hovel has what is known as a 'cheater ensuite,' which means there is a short hallway between the bedroom and bathroom.

The flooring is west coast condo chic: cheap, pine-coloured laminate that is beginning to curl and shows stains from any sort of cleaning in the kitchen and awful carpet in the bedroom that has become a favourite spot for our cat to dig his ever-growing claws into.

There is no paint on the walls, just primer. The primer was haphazardly done, with only one coat instead of two, so the walls are covered in marks.

The fixtures are again, west coast condo chic: ugly track lighting paired with black appliances that show fingerprints clearly enough for even the most incompetent cast member of CSI to take a sample.

This place has been my residence for the past 15 months, but I've never been able to call it home.