This makes me sad. I miss riding lol.
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COVID and the housing market
- Thread starter mimico_polak
- Start date
Close enough. Wife wanted to buy a subdivision house in Barrie with no mortgage. I pushed her to buy something nicer outside. Happy with our choice overall. Never happy to have a mortgage.
bigpoppa
Well-known member
Then you've realized you've scrolled the map all the way up to North Bay... ?
not gonna lie, i've spend more nights than Id care to admit, drinking vodka and my own tears, looking for affordable homes, realizing iv been drinking and scrolling when the map shows im now looking at northbay/timmins/sudbury
Looking at the map is really interesting. Subdivision prices can sort of make sense as they often follow a pattern and have direct comps. Move into the country and wtf. Two very similar houses on similar parcels of land and one will be 1.5 and the other 8M. I don't get it. I'm not sure if they are targeting a demographic that filters out "cheap" houses?Then you've realized you've scrolled the map all the way up to North Bay... ?
Have you considered stopping drinking? In no time you'll be able to save an extra 500k! LoL (I kid I kid....avocado toast bad!)
48Connor
Well-known member
For sure. It's crazy how much interest you actually pay over the life of a mortgage. Good for you guys on working that down so quick!
I'm set up on accelerated bi-weekly, and the first time a 3rd payment in a month came out I was shocked that it knocked an entire month off the end of my mortgage.
I took a loan from the bank of mom&dad to buy this place, so I've been funneling them $500/month to repay them. Once that is paid off, I plan to put that $500/month back into the mortgage.
Good for you. It’ll make a massive difference.
Perhaps not as much sales data for the remote areas, due to low inventory and low turnover?
Priller
Well-known member
Having done the (mini)acreage thing, value can be difficult to pin down. A lot depends on land use, whether it's farmable, whether it's suitable for horses, whether there's any creeks or wetlands with development setbacks, whether road access/zoning is suitable for subdividing down the road etc. Add well vs city water, septic system/age/condition, views, proximity to civilisation (even 10 minutes closer makes a difference when doubled for round trip and is required for even the most basic needs), how prestigious an area is, and the numbers can vary wildly. One thing we learned when we were property hunting was looking first-hand revealed a lot more surprises than 'normal' housing.
I remember one that looked absolutely amazing in the listing, but had a neighbour who was essentially operating a scrap yard next door. It was easy to hide this in photos, but when the view from the deck was hundreds of rusting cars, the appeal disappeared fast. Another was adjacent to marshland, and the biting bugs were unbearable. Another only had access up a steep hill that would've been a nightmare in winter. Another was next to a logging road that had heavy equipment and trucks coming and going regularly. Another was on a well that we found out ran dry in mid-summer, requiring water delivery for 2-4 months every year. Another was near a huge cannabis production facility, and the smell was pungent.
We really enjoyed doing these showings, as the drives were usually pleasant, and it was a lot more fun checking out barns and views than measuring basement clear height and rooting around for furnace manufacturing dates. I'm not sure our realtor agreed, though. We ended up getting something that had a creek running through the back, which was cheap(er) because development setback meant the back half of the property was undevelopable. It was on city water (major bonus) but had an old septic system that needed redone (not cheap).
I met a guy that did that with a Goldwing, throwing $30 K onto his mortgage so he didn't have to carry comp on his bike insurance. Then he crashed the bike.
A different shade of 2008 sub prime. Under qualified people get to buy a house they can't afford and the furniture and new car get thrown onto the mortgage. The house gets repossessed and they keep the furniture and car. What could possibly go wrong?
My parents are getting older. In theory, my brother may assume ownership of their property at some point. With the recent crazy price increases, buying out my half is well beyond anything he could ever afford, yet alone paying them so they have money for alternate living arrangements. To make the finances work, we may have to subdivide and I own most of the land while he gets the house and a few acres. It was included in the ORM as my parents are not developers so the land got locked up. Last I checked, you are allowed one split into two lots. It is not a simple situation. If my parents sell it and spend it all, good for them. It would be annoying if he got gifted everything to try to correct for his poor choices. Once land leaves the family, you will never get it back. I don't use it often but I don't want it to disappear forever.
In real estate crash of 1981 ish a house sold down the street and got flipped with a price increase of 25% just as the market crashed. All they did was paint and clean. We watched them drop the price a bit at a time as the market dropped, chasing a falling cannonball. They ended up renting it out for a few years until prices came back up.
Of course there is a big "trend" to look and/or move out of the city and buy something cheaper further away because of COVID telecommuting.
Hopefully this works out for these people BUT from past experience:
Hopefully this works out for these people BUT from past experience:
- The company they work for may change policies and now they will be required to suffer in traffic to get into the office or forced to now rent a place in the city for those days, even if it just a few times per week.
- An opportunity to move up the food chain may come with more in-office time.
- The current company may downsize or even go out of business, now they are looking for the same level "big city" job in the boonies.
- An opportunity at another company may require in-office in the city, even worse if the point above happens!
Agree. An opportunity came up a few years ago that would have been a lot of fun and financially rewarding but I turned it down as they required a lot of office time and the commute would really really suck. Everything is a balancing act.
Pfft. I worked on a joint off Bayview and the master bedroom suite was 5,000 square feet. He lived there when he wasn't in China or one of his houses in USA, UK or NZ /Aus.
I can't wrap my head around that much house to take care of. You need too many people around, cleaning and gardening. It has to be high tech so bring in the high tech fix-it men.
Back then we laughed at the dumb Italian labourers that bought some acreage to grow tomatoes.
Who's laughing now?
There is a street I really like the houses on in aurora. In ~2010, houses were ~1.2 (but never went up for sale). Now prices have gone to the moon. Still no houses for sale, the current owners are renovating/expanding. One house added a two storey addition that looked like it was about 3000 sq ft. Master suite w deck on 2nd floor. My guess is if that comes up for sale they would be looking for ~5M.
It's because you can't wrap your head around how much money they have in China.
In Vancouver, they've tried to levy all sorts of vacancy taxes to deter absentee foreign ownership.
It did absolutely nothing to house prices. In fact, prices kept on rising. 1.25% Empty Home Tax a year? Pfft, the property just appreciated 30% from last year!
Canadians who want to own property in the country they live and work in just cannot compete against the vast sums of money trying to hide from the Chinese government. There needs to be check on foreign ownership, and not just in word, by enforcement as well.
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