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Some readers may think this story is apocryphal but I swear it's not. Kathleen and Jeff are just moving into one half of a semi-detached house in Toronto's High Park neighbourhood and Julie and Chris are still unpacking boxes in the other. By complete fluke, both couples happened to spend a few months this year searching for houses with Holly Chandler of Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd.

The two young couples provide a nice snapshot of the high drama in Toronto's real estate market as 2008 winds up.

Kathleen and Jeff are newlyweds who bought their half of the semi on Thanksgiving weekend. They stepped up to the table quickly when they heard another couple was about to bid on the house.

“My clients love this house - they have to have it,” said Ms. Chandler when she presented the offer.

I know this because I was there - and in the interest of full disclosure - it was my husband who was selling his house.

Jeff and Kathleen bought the house the third day it was on the market and moved in a couple of weeks ago. They love being there so much they've been sleeping on foam mattresses on the floor while they waited for their furniture to arrive from their previous house.

Meanwhile, on the other side of about four inches of brick and plaster, Julie and Chris also moved in this month but they are renters. They too had looked at the half for sale when it came on the market. But, given the harbingers of doom all around, they were becoming increasingly uncertain and joined the buyers crowding onto the sidelines.

I'll tell you more about the decision-making that both couples went through in upcoming posts.

Ms. Chandler says buyers choose a house based on a lot of factors and price is only one of them. Jeff and Kathleen were ready for a bigger house and a shorter commute. But let's not discount that ineffable sense of responding emotionally to a place where you feel you may be content for a long time.

“They wanted the house no matter what - they loved it,” says Ms. Chandler. “They knew that they could do it financially.”

That's it in a nutshell, isn't it? People often buy when they feel they've found a home where they can be content for a very long time.

I offer this tale of two couples and their diverging strategies as a way of getting the conversation started.

Are you a buyer sitting on the sidelines? What are you waiting for? Or do you see the current buyers' market as the opportunity you've been waiting for? Maybe you don't own a house or condo and never plan to. Send your stories to me at cireland@globeandmail.com and I'll share them with readers.