Housing in a major city like Vancouver is expensive. In order to achieve the dream of homeownership, you can work hard for years in order to save up for a down payment on a house. Or you can be like one enterprising resident, and offer your services as a pet pretend dinosaur on Craigslist in exchange for a house. It’s just crazy enough that it might… nah, it’s still not going to work.

The Craigslist ad reads as follows:

This offer is not for everyone. Those of you who have saved every penny for most of your life to afford a down payment and currently work around the clock to make mortgage payments, I commend you on your efforts, but this post is not for you.

Do you own more than one property? Do you have so many rental homes with no mortgage payments, yet you still feel unfulfilled? Tired of your illegal tenants whining that there are rats in the walls? Have you always wanted your own dinosaur? Now is your chance my friend.

In exchange for one of your properties, I will be your personal dinosaur for one year. I will be at your beck and call, 24 hours a day, wearing a dinosaur costume. The type of dinosaur is negotiable. I can babysit your children (references upon request), scare the mailman, wash dishes, entertain and impress your guests, and much more. (No sex stuff though, sorry.) I will make realistic dinosaur sounds, eat what the particular dinosaur eats and maybe even sit on a fake dinosaur egg, if you are so inclined. I am well educated, fluent in English and French (as well as dinosaur), can play several musical instruments and have no criminal record or outstanding warrants.

All this and more. This is the only way you will ever have your pet dinosaur, and the only way I will ever be able to acquire a house in Vancouver.
Serious offers only please.

Thank you.

Okay, really the person is offering to be an all-purpose domestic servant who occasionally makes dinosaur sounds. This still raises several troubling questions, such as: how much would you pay in order to have a real house-sized, herbivorous pet dinosaur, as opposed to a guy running around in a dinosaur suit?

What kind of house does one year of a Vancouver domestic worker’s salary buy? Based on what I’ve heard from a homeowner friend in that beautiful city, it might buy a really nice garden shed, or a dilapidated building. Good thing that dinosaurs aren’t picky about their shelter.

Unconventional Offer for Adventurous Home Owner (Vancouver) [Craigslist] (Thanks, Shawn!)

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