Early March, 1977 - Kathy and I returned to Port Credit after enjoying a driving vacation in Florida. As we left the QEW and drove south to our Port Credit home on Onaway Road, we noticed a new housing development being built on the corner of Mineola and Hurontario. Bulldozers rumbled around the property and already a number of units had been built as "models" close to an on-site sales office. A sign beside the driveway off Hurontario Street announced Craigie Orchards, built by Wimpey Homes.

The following Friday evening, we met with good friends John and Lorraine to share photos of our Florida adventures. Conversation moved on to how cold we had found our pre-war Onaway home on our return. Typical of a 1930s build, it lacked insulation and the cold winds from Lake Ontario just one block to the south of us gave the early hot-water radiator system an almost impossible job keeping the house warm on wintry days. I mentioned the new townhouse development on Hurontario and John immediately suggested we go and have a look to see what homes were on-offer the following morning.

So we did and very much liked what we saw. Wimpey had used much imagination in designing a "country village" site. Small berms and sloping gradings contoured the grounds and ensured the landscape was not flat. Mature farm trees (including an ancient oak) had been carefully retained and protected from construction equipment damage. Winding roads led the way through the curved rows of townhouses and an architectural feature from the former farm - the base of a stone silo - had been left in situ as a future planter. It even had its own "village green," a large expanse of treed lawn just north of the sales office where the road curved towards Mineola Road and the construction entrance gate.

Adding to this was the warm clay-bricked and dark red cedar siding of the townhouse architecture.

At the Sales Office, a review of the plans of the six townhouse styles offered reflected a lot of diversity, but one particular layout attracted our attention - the Orchard Green, with its walled garden and skylight over the staircase.

All-in-all, Craigie Orchards presented a very attractive landscape with warm "country" architecture. A place we would certainly enjoy calling our home. It's no wonder that Wimpey's Dutch architect had won a major international design award for his brilliant blending of the rich cedar wood with the natural greenery of the grass and trees, to create a small piece of heaven called "Craigie Orchards.""

But could we afford it? The purchase price was huge - $59,495.00, and Wimpey needed a down payment of $7,733, backed with a 5 year term mortgage of $51,762, at 10% per annum.

I calculated that if we purchased a unit, monthly principal & interest would be $460, plus taxes of $59. And then there was the $41 monthly common expense each owner must pay as his or her share to not only maintain the property but build a fund for future emergencies. Our total monthly payment would be $560 ... more than we thought we could afford. At that time, we had a combined 1977 income which made this look like an impossible dream, but after re-working our family budget several times, found that we could squeak by if Wimpey's mortgagor, Kinross Mortgage Company (CIBC) agreed to be our friends for 25 years.

Saturday, March 15th - A wonderful day. With budget provisionally approved and after hours of wandering through various Orchard Green townhouses with tape measure and notebook in hand, we decided on unit 79, or would it be 81? Both were in a small cul-de-sac which we believed would provide a quiet, off-the-road location. Both had the desired skylight ... so Kathy became the final arbitrator. She went back and forth between the two units and finally announced, standing in the kitchen of #81 - this is it!

We met with Wimpey realtor Max Pirpamer, John lent me his gold pen and by 4 p.m., we had become the sixth family to buy a Wimpey townhouse ... the proud future owners of Townhouse 81. Our possession and move-in date was set for Thursday June 23rd, 1977.

Incidentally, our purchase was an excellent decision since according to the Bank of Canada inflation tables, $1 in 1977 would be worth $3.95 today. Our 1977 purchase of $59,495 would be valued at $235,005 in today's dollars - an excellent equity investment when you review recent Wimpey townhouse sales in the $600,000 range!

And then on move-in day, our lawyer sent us a copy of a Wimpey letter. To our surprise, we were not yet owners of Townhouse 81, but "Occupiers." Even though all the paperwork was signed and a down payment delivered by certified cheque, until Wimpey sold a sufficient number of units to register Craigie Orchards as an Ontario Condominium Corporation, we were renters, with Wimpey as our Landlord.
Click here for a copy of the letter.