A masochist is defined as someone who enjoys pain.
Often it has a sexual overtone, but not in this context.
This context is the masochism of struggling to pay the debilitating mortgage on your home.
The Real Estate and Mortgage Institute of Canada, which trains mortgage brokers, wanted to know just how far we'd go to pay budget-breaking mortgages.
So, it surveyed 1,000 Canadians.
And the answers are somewhat shocking.
Almost 65% of respondents agreed that they may very well be a 'mortgage masochist'.
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It shouldn't come as a surprise.
Home prices have shot up and incomes haven't, so homebuyers really do have to be 'mortgage masochists' to get into this unaffordable market.
For instance, in Kelowna, where a typical single-family home is $1 million, a townhouse $750,000 and a condominium $500,000, buyers are putting the bare minimum down and take on burdensome monthly mortgage payments.
Often, after paying the mortgage and utilities and buying groceries there's nothing leftover.
Or, even worse, there's less than nothing and homeowners go further into debt with credit cards, loans and lines of credit.
"It's time to end 'mortgage masochism'," said Real Estate and Mortgage Institute of Canada president Joe White.
"It's simply insane that we've created a culture where house-poor Canadians struggling and sacrificing to meet monthly mortgage payments are somehow wearing their pain as pride. A mortgage shouldn't feel like a purgatory, a punishment or a bad deal that you can't get out of until your 70s. The right time to make sure your mortgage isn't an albatross is when you are applying in the first place. Banks may not be taking your lifestyle needs into account. A mortgage broker is required to simply won't sell you a mortgage that you can't afford."
Just over 30% see mortgage struggles as a rite of passage and just part of what it takes to achieve the Canadian dream.
Almost 46% said they'd make sacrifices to pay a hefty mortgage, but would draw the line if it affected their health.
Some of those sacrifices include the usuals of not buying coffees out, forgoing restaurant meals, driving that car until it falls apart, skipping vacations, buying fewer clothes, turning down the heat and shopping carefully for groceries.
But the sacrifices can also extend to life-changing decisions like delaying getting married, holding off on having kids, retiring later and possibly even still paying off a mortgage in their senior years.
Close to 11% said they'd do as much as it takes, even if it means financial struggle for years, to pay a mortgage.
One-third of people think their fellow Canadians secretly enjoy the 'struggle' of paying down a mortgage and 14% say it's a badge of honour.
Just over 40% of Canadians won't fully pay off their mortgages until they are in their 60s, 10% will be 65, 8% will be in their 70s and an unbelievable 5% will be in their 80s.
Most of us are doing this because they don't know what else to do.
Asked why we tolerate skyrocketing housing prices, massive mortgages and no chance for improvement, 32% said 'no one knows.'
28% don't trust the government to fix it, 24% think suffering is normal and 17% think Canadians are too polite to challenge the status quo.
35% think Canada's unaffordable housing market is already beyond repair, while 24% are hopeful government intervention could make some improvements.
Bottom line, 35% think doing whatever it takes for homeownership is still worth it because it's a necessary step to building wealth.
Meantime, 32% feel it's not worth it because the financial burden is too harsh.
27% said taking on a mortgage would have only been worthwhile before the 2021 real estate boom that drove prices up and 7% have given up on the dream of owning a home altogether.
