COVID and the housing market | Page 162 | GTAMotorcycle.com

COVID and the housing market

nobbie48 said:
"Sadly, it is almost impossible to find trades that take pride in their work."

In many (Most?) cases the developer won't give them the time or the rate is so low they would starve if they didn't take short cuts. The consumer is partly to blame as well. Want Walmart prices, accept Walmart products.

A VIP at one big developer told me they had customers doing delete options so they could afford their luxury homes. They eliminated six and eight inch baseboards and went with two and a half inch in rooms with ten foot ceilings. Premium flooring was replaced with cardboard. They figured they could upgrade later.

The curse with my place is the builder didn't stack the windows. The master bedroom window is slightly to one side of the garage door below by a half brick. The living room window is a different size than the rec room window just below. Another bedroom the window is a different width and offset from the window below.

The whole neighbourhood should have had an extra block in the foundation wall so the water could better be graded away from the house. Bonus, full eight foot ceilings in the basement.

If prices continue to rise it will get worse.

Crappy workmanship? What do you expect for two million? :(
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I questioned a developer that I respect when they built "premium" condos (which means 6" poplar baseboards) and scraps were used. They pay piecework and don't enforce every wall less than x feet must be a single piece. I wasn't impressed with that. Easy enough to put in in the contract. I'd rather have one piece MDF than poplar lego if they are trying to hit a price point.
 
GreyGhost said:
"Hand scraped" laminate may be the worst flooring I have ever seen. Sounds like crap, looks like crap, wobbly table issue, etc. It's hard to imagine a worse product.
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It's common for people to buy decent jeans and slash them for the grunge look.

I wonder if that will grow into buying a new BMW and going over it with a ball pein hammer for the rebel look?
 
nobbie48 said:
It's common for people to buy decent jeans and slash them for the grunge look.

I wonder if that will grow into buying a new BMW and going over it with a ball pein hammer for the rebel look?
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I wouldn't be surprised if a big hailstorm at a distribution center results in the release of "limited edition golf ball texture for aerodynamic improvement".
 
GreyGhost said:
I'd rather have one piece MDF than poplar lego if they are trying to hit a price point.
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I don't completely disagree with you on this. In a basement, kitchen or bath, never allow MDF where moisture can make contact. Anywhere else all it has to do is hold paint. It's drawback here is it's restrictive lengths = more seams.
Draw back to MDF crown is the 3/4" thickness thats used. Limits the depth of detail that can be achieved.
 
Allistonfjr said:
I don't completely disagree with you on this. In a basement, kitchen or bath, never allow MDF where moisture can make contact. Anywhere else all it has to do is to hold paint. It's drawback here is it's restrictive lengths = more seams.
Draw back to MDF crown is the 3/4" thickness thats used. Limits the depth of detail that can be achieved.
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This particular condo was straight up 1x6 rectangular base with no profile. IIRC, where installed as an upgrade crown was the same thing again. Not sloped. 1x6 with no profile nailed to the wall. Blech. The vast majority of walls <8' in production housing have a seam in the trim. It's ridiculous. It's like they start with a piece at one corner and then cut when they hit a corner and use the offcut to start the next wall. The only scrap is when you get back to the starting point (and that is probably the first board for the next room).
 
you can get mdf in 16ft sheets , but nobody wants to handle the pieces. And poplar in 16ft all day long , if you want to pay a premium over random length.
I have access to a fairly good 4 side head planer and a weinig molder about the size of a car, and a wood machinist to show me how to keep from buggering it up.
What bothers me about mdf is outside corners get beat up by vacuums and it never really looks crisp . Our challenge will be an architecturaly interesting profile that works with existing traditional oak stair parts . 5 flights in here and two balconies , I do not want to change out the rails
 
Another YouTube video but an interesting one on homelessness being almost non existent in Finland.

They went against the grain and instead of making people qualify for housing by getting off their social problems they gave them housing first so they could be more secure in getting off their problems.

I know I feel more secure having my own place, regardless of the funny money prices that will only matter when I die and can't use them.

It brings up an interesting point on our capital gains issue in that billions of tax dollars are left in the hands of the home owner while others struggle. Was it the point of the capital gains exemption to provide a windfall for the home owner, their kids and money laden investors?

It's understandable if house prices are reasonable and merely keeping pace with inflation. Security in old age is a good thing and having an asset that needs protecting generates responsibility. More and more I fear a loss in confidence in Canada standing on guard for me.
 
nobbie48 said:
It brings up an interesting point on our capital gains issue in that billions of tax dollars are left in the hands of the home owner while others struggle. Was it the point of the capital gains exemption to provide a windfall for the home owner, their kids and money laden investors?

It's understandable if house prices are reasonable and merely keeping pace with inflation. Security in old age is a good thing and having an asset that needs protecting generates responsibility. More and more I fear a loss in confidence in Canada standing on guard for me.
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billions of dollars , not billions of tax dollars . Not yet anyway . And if not left in the hands of homeowners will be frittered away by Ottawa . And the struggling will still struggle .

Canada stands on guard for you , but tie up your own camel.
 
crankcall said:
billions of dollars , not billions of tax dollars . Not yet anyway . And if not left in the hands of homeowners will be frittered away by Ottawa . And the struggling will still struggle .

Canada stands on guard for you , but tie up your own camel.
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Agreed on the frittering away.

Something has to give. Disillusioned people are easy to radicalize.
 
nobbie48 said:
Something has to give. Disillusioned people are easy to radicalize.
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I'd consider myself disillusioned. At this point, we're looking at options nationwide and applying to jobs wherever we consider it affordable enough to buy relative to our household income. Seems like the logical thing to do considering the situation here. First job interview is tomorrow.

It gets me thinking, do we really need to own a home? Why not just rent for the forseeable future? Aside from the old rent vs. buy debate, what lingers on my mind as a renter is that I might find a 60 days notice to vacate next time I check the mail. Already happened twice in the past, then the hunt starts all over again for the next address. Not something I'm too keen on when looking to start a family. It is mostly just about feeling secure in your own place.

I was talking to a friend about us considering moving out mainly for affordability of homes, and the answer was "why not look out east past Oshawa, the prices aren't as bad over there, we're actually looking at a few properties as an investment..." And I get it, with such high demand for housing, low interest rates, lack of any real disincentives, why wouldn't investors look to profit on the situation?

Happy to leave the bidding wars to others. Would rather look elsewhere than spend many, many years toiling away to pay off a townhome priced at 8x my household income. No thanks.
 
@bastak , thats fair argument and I suspect your one of thousands. Not everyone can live in the GTA. There are lots of people looking at places like Trenton, Belleville and to the west St Thomas and Chatham where SO far prices are not crazy. If you can find work its a good start, and I suspect if your a decent worker finding gainful employ would not be that hard.
I have several friends in the middle of moving to Bracebridge and Huntsville , taking jobs and moving to their cottage , it used to be access to hospitals and doctors prevented this, but both towns have good facilities and the doctors have figured out living in cottage country is pretty nice.
My new graduate doctor friend took a job in Midland to be near her boat , and bought an amazing country house for 50% less than Toronto.
Why not .
 
bastak said:
@crankcall agree - absolutely considering places like Belleville, Kingston, etc. West of London there's a fair number of openings related to the Bruce Power nuclear plant upgrades - also interesting...
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Kincardine and Port Elgin have had a massive price jump In the last couple of years with expanded work at Bruce.

Had a chance to buy 2 joined semi-detached houses for 170k/each. Didn’t risk it….hindsight :(
 
Squeeze was checking prices where we have our condo. They are now going for 7 times what we paid less than ten years ago. When does this effing madness stop?
 
bastak said:
I'd consider myself disillusioned. At this point, we're looking at options nationwide and applying to jobs wherever we consider it affordable enough to buy relative to our household income. Seems like the logical thing to do considering the situation here. First job interview is tomorrow.

It gets me thinking, do we really need to own a home? Why not just rent for the forseeable future? Aside from the old rent vs. buy debate, what lingers on my mind as a renter is that I might find a 60 days notice to vacate next time I check the mail. Already happened twice in the past, then the hunt starts all over again for the next address. Not something I'm too keen on when looking to start a family. It is mostly just about feeling secure in your own place.

I was talking to a friend about us considering moving out mainly for affordability of homes, and the answer was "why not look out east past Oshawa, the prices aren't as bad over there, we're actually looking at a few properties as an investment..." And I get it, with such high demand for housing, low interest rates, lack of any real disincentives, why wouldn't investors look to profit on the situation?

Happy to leave the bidding wars to others. Would rather look elsewhere than spend many, many years toiling away to pay off a townhome priced at 8x my household income. No thanks.
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Forty years ago someone asked me for a price to renovate their apartment kitchen. I asked why as it was rental.

He said he would never be able to buy in Toronto and the landlord wouldn't do a reno so he was prepared to spend his own money to have a kitchen that wasn't a dump.

I think landlords like to renovate apartments as long as they can up the rent.

Forty years ago you could buy a semi for $70K or a fixer upper detached for another $10 or 20K.

It wasn't great back then but absurd now. IIRC I was living in a house that was worth six times my gross salary. Now the equivalent is twenty times. The balancing element was interest rates. Twelve or thirteen percent then and two now.
 
mimico_polak said:
Kincardine and Port Elgin have had a massive price jump In the last couple of years with expanded work at Bruce.

Had a chance to buy 2 joined semi-detached houses for 170k/each. Didn’t risk it….hindsight :(
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A co-worker retired to Kincardine decades ago and his health improved due to the relaxed lifestyle. After a number of years the health gremlins returned and he spent so much time driving to London Health Centre that it made sense for him to move.

Unfortunately there was a long term shut down at Bruce NGS and massive layoffs. NGS workers sold their homes at a loss but were compensated by NGS. My colleague obviously didn't get any compensation and took a bath in red ink.

Obviously as well, he would have been far better off if he had rented in Kincardine. Hindsight is 20-20.

Other factors in renting:

Forty years ago we didn't have NAFTA and its variants. Job security.

People were hired, not on contract.

We didn't have the internet and outsourcing of paperwork to any country that had auto-translate and few English speaking workers.

Globalization: I was asked about a job in Nanticoke, it got approved in Sarnia, the PO came from Calgary, payment was approved in Rio de Janeiro and payment came from the Philippines.

Chinese stuff? We just getting used to stuff from Japan.

Americans were at war in Vietnam. Now it's a tourist destination and coffee supplier.

Wouldn't it be nice if the government could intervene without making things worse.
 
Different times for sure @nobbie48. Not sure about Bruce but apparently OPG only hired on contract now for many roles.

Have 2 buddies at one plant making 170k/Year (Union) and a third at another plant also making 170k/year (Office non Union). Called all 3 up to see what’s the chance of getting in and they all said the same thing…

You can get in, but forget full time, union, pension, or all the benefits we have.

Too bad…would’ve been nice.
 
^
Yup. Bruce power was contract for me

I was applying to US wfh jobs but then omni hit

Looked at moving really far like WaWa and Sault Ste Marie. Not exactly cheapo
😫
 
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