my residence ownership plan. pretty modest.

D - so here I am. Age 41. 3 years out of a bankruptcy on my student loan. I have finally reached the income level that is average for - wait for it- the average of both full and part-time work in Canada. About half the full-time average. I still need to rebuild my credit (finally have savings for a secured credit card).
Assuming I get my SH*T together in the next year (working MS office certs through an adult school in town), and get into some decent admin work (databases are a hot job skill at local U campuses - the older secretaries can't do it), I can manage a nest egg in the next few years.

If I try to buy a standard house (suburb, big enough to pass primary residence rules of the OBC - Ontario Building Code), the plan must be as follows:
1) save 5 years for the house downpayment, to age 46,
2) pay the house mortgage 25 years to own it, to c. age 72.
At age 72, as the OAS rules stand, I max out my payout. I need to find work I can keep doing to age 72. At 41, I'm already aware of the impact of age on my body.
On my own, if I end up without a significant other, this is the best case scenario to own my primary residence and enjoy a decade or two of well-deserved rest at the end.

My OTHER plan is much more unorthodox, and likely more reasonable. Basically, it's a trailer park but with a twist.

D - that's a Kottage RV, made by that B.C. company. It's a converted shipping container, so you know it's gonna LAST. Those things are tough! It folds up to fit on a standard transport truck trailer. Then opens up to standard trailer dimensions.
I priced them out, and found a small and medium one used for $45 and $60G respectively.

D - here is a more advanced and spacious version of this concept, made for the USA gov't by "Green Horizons" to be emergency off-the-grid shelter for an emergency.

http://www.greenhorizonmfg.com/products/rapid-response/sfh40-2
The SFH-40 (A is off grid, B is basic) opens up the entire side to nearly double the area. But it still fits IN a transport truck standard trailer. That means no special escort vehicles, rare and expensive oversize trailers and road special rules.

D - the fancy pants zombie apocalypse version costs c. $200G, or may cost as little as $100G or so with economies of scale. The "B" version is presumably considerably less, though would require a standard trailer park connection to be habitable.

D - here is the "thought experiment" that got the ball rolling on this pop-out portable house concept: http://assets.inhabitat.com/files/lt_mdu1.jpg

http://inhabitat.com/lot-ek-shipping-container-house/ The LOT-EK MDU unit.

http://www.lot-ek.com/filter/residential/MDU-Mobile-Dwelling-Unit

D - while very nifty, this never reached production.

There are also many concepts based on flat-pack or pop-out 20' shipping containers, such as the ECO-POD.

D- so why bother?

1) they can function as a standard trailer at a trailer park,

2) plunk it down sans wheels /trailer on a concrete pad and you have a permanent residence,

3) upgrading or buying the "A" version allows off-the-grid living. 

Keep in mind it takes a transport truck to move these. The 20' units can likely be towed by just a big pickup truck, 3/4 or 1 ton models.

D - I'm a handy guy. I had planned to co-build houses with my bud a few years back. I (I know- funny) helped him build a submarine hull, so torch cutting and MIG welding is doable. Not right now, but down the road, I could buy a $500 bux beater unit of 8x20' to experiment upon. I can check out the existing products on the market and copycat them. 

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-RVs-campers-trailers-cargo-utility-trailers-40-converted-Insulated-Shipping-Container-W0QQAdIdZ386089407 Here are some boxes that were converted for the 1976 Olympics. Ack - claustrophobic!

Port-a-mini and BigSteelBox look like promising local ops to check out.

That's right- my only own-a-house plan that does not involve working to age 72 involves living in a big converted steel box.  

My bro-in-law suggested I lease a lil' corner of some old farmer's property near the edge of whatever city I work in.  This has issues, such as needing water and septic and power system and so on. 12V trailer appliances are likely a must, as well as very modest and "green" style of living. 

D - and I don't even have kids - could not afford them anyway, nor take care of them myself. 

D - there is some chance that I might meet (or have met?) a woman that I could live with. 2 incomes turns the equation around in a hurry. Being middle-aged with no savings and no house is a pretty grim scenario to be stuck in.

Living in a trailer park for the 2nd half of my working life might be the only practical way to retire otherwise.