It’s not often that you see a mortgage video go viral. Usually the YouTube videos that get passed around involve dancing grandmas, or cats playing the piano. But one young Ottawa man has managed to get mortgages, and the idea of being mortgage-free, to the forefront by paying off his mom’s mortgage and allowing her to live mortgage free. And it just goes to show that even with all the talk of parents giving kids mortgage gifts, it can sometimes go the other way too.
The man’s name is Aba Atlas, and while he spent time as a private in the Royal Canadian Army, he saved every penny he earned. He could, because he was getting free room and board during his time in the army. But he didn’t have to give all that money to his mother’s mortgage, which he ended up doing, so that his mother could live mortgage-free. Up until that time she had been working as a housekeeper in a hotel, and living paycheque to paycheque. Because of that, she was also always stressed out about money.
That was up until April of 2013, when Atlas had finally saved up enough money to pay off his mother’s mortgage. Before he presented her with the cheque though, he set up a video to capture the emotional exchange on video. He titled it “Dear Mother,” and the display of love from son to mother has gone viral. Now, the two are local celebrities wherever they go.
“[She gets] a lot of calls from people, and every day she likes telling me stories of how a lot of people recognize her from the video,” says Atlas during an interview.
Atlas has also gotten his own attention, with people regularly bringing up the video and congratulating him on being able to do such a nice thing for his mother. But, he says, that’s not the same story within the family border. He says that his cousins tease him about setting the bar too high within the family, and placing expectations on everyone else.
“It’s more of a teasing comment,” he says, “but I get it now. Especially from people around my age saying, ‘You put a lot of pressure on us.'”
Now that his mother can live mortgage-free though, doesn’t mean that Atlas is frittering his money away. He’s still saving, but this time for a different goal. Now he’s saving that money so that he can travel to Europe and Australia, bringing his salsa and hip hop dance school to people around the globe.
