What a lot of posters seem to be missing on this forum is the couple's heritage and the plan to bring the husband's parents to Canada.
... From that perspective [of being an immigrant], I am not so sure that the outsized home was truly their independent "choice".
I understand there are different cultural values at play, but this couple simply purchased a home that they
could not afford at their current salary, in addition to having other debt. They borrowed the maximum amount they could, and then borrowed even more from family. I'm not doubting they could have good, family oriented intentions. They simply can not afford it.
I don't think you non-hyphenated Americans and Canadians understand how much hell there is to pay when one of us immigrants makes a choice like this. Hell hath no fury than the parent of an immigrant.
I'm not sure what a non-hyphenated American is. Everyone can be hyphenated. As the son of immigrants who then moved to another country I can empathize with the pressures from family, but ultimately a person makes their own choices, and they made some financial whoppers. Free will and responsibility and all that.