COVID and the housing market

[mimico_polak]

@LiNK666 did at least one before. Definitely investigate as much as possible. Like lease reassignments that used to be possible, builders will try hard to keep the money for themselves and make it difficult/expensive for you to profit.

Ok that’s who it was.

I emailed the broker to see how that works out if we want to use the HELOC as a down payment on another property. I mean why the eff not.

The guy at work has properties in Windsor, Kingston, London and now looking in Whitby today.

 

[nobbie48]

Sadly that's a bait price. Hammer will be 700 or more. Condo town with 360/mo maintenance. That equivalent to about another 80k mortgage.


The other day, I saw a house listed for 900 with only an aerial image. Sold in hours for asking. People are desperate for a stable place to live.

Definately bid bait but a reasonable maintenance fee isn't all money down the drain. It covers things that house owners have to cover as well, roofs and some insurance. Some of it does take away potential sweat equity.

 

[crankcall]

360 condo fee may not be bad, depends what is in it. My moms is internet/ cable tv , heat A/C , water electric, and the building is nice with a pool and gym . When we had all that in a house it wasn’t cheap and my pool season was 5 months , not an indoor pond.


Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com

 

[mimico_polak]

We were paying about $330 or so and all it included in our townhouse was: exterior wall, roof (not the inside attic part if it got mouldy), common areas, insurance, lawn mowing, leaf blowing, and water.

 

[nobbie48]

We were paying about $330 or so and all it included in our townhouse was: exterior wall, roof (not the inside attic part if it got mouldy), common areas, insurance, lawn mowing, leaf blowing, and water.

Just BS figures but the water, roof and exterior reserve fund plus insurance is money a home owner would have to allow for over the years. However I would use the money up front to pay down the mortgage first and worry later when I needed a new roof. Hopefully I would be in better shape.

The $100 or so a month for lawns and snow removal with management fees tacked on is lost sweat equity. I've never figured out an easy way to get a lawn mower from the front yard to the back with a townhouse. Also not everyone is into sweat equity so you end up living next to a Kevin.

High rise or anything with underground parking is a different story.

 

[Mad Mike]

Ok that’s who it was.

I emailed the broker to see how that works out if we want to use the HELOC as a down payment on another property. I mean why the eff not.

The guy at work has properties in Windsor, Kingston, London and now looking in Whitby today.

Think carefully. I was a real-estate millionaire at 30 with 2 rentals, a flip and my own home. A correction in the early 90s fixed that, back to zero. I ended up losing all but one of the rentals, couldn't renew underwater mortgages.

It can be a lot like Vegas. Once you can't get the cash to cover your bets, the house wins and you're out.

Fortunately I was young enough to recover. Not without learning a hard lesson about greed.

 

[GreyGhost]

Just BS figures but the water, roof and exterior reserve fund plus insurance is money a home owner would have to allow for over the years. However I would use the money up front to pay down the mortgage first and worry later when I needed a new roof. Hopefully I would be in better shape.

The $100 or so a month for lawns and snow removal with management fees tacked on is lost sweat equity. I've never figured out an easy way to get a lawn mower from the front yard to the back with a townhouse. Also not everyone is into sweat equity so you end up living next to a Kevin.

High rise or anything with underground parking is a different story.

If you have cooperative neighbours, I have seen some where one person cut the front yards and the other the rear yards. Given the postcard size of most townhouse rear yards, more are moving away from grass as its not worth the effort and storing a lawnmower back there eats up a decent percentage of your space. Astroturf, mulch, hardscape, deck etc are all commonly used. Municipalities very rarely enforce hardscaping limits.

 

[mimico_polak]

Think carefully. I was a real-estate millionaire at 30 with 2 rentals, a flip and my own home. A correction in the early 90s fixed that, back to zero. I ended up losing all but one of the rentals, couldn't renew underwater mortgages.

It can be a lot like Vegas. Once you can't get the cash to cover your bets, the house wins and you're out.

Fortunately I was young enough to recover. Not without learning a hard lesson about greed.

Oh I know fully well how stressful it can be! Been there during the full on decade of landlording. I'm never going to stop kicking myself for selling that...but it had to be done.

Maybe one day we can restart the empire again...but I'll have to wait until the time is right, and the conditions are right also.

Probably better off going the investment route overall...but it's nice to reminisce about times gone by.

 

[MacDoc]

or not....
You can never lose the experiences gained by putting money into travelling ....
Life experiences are wealth in my view and every day for hours those photos travel across my three 27" screens and renews my enjoyment of those travels. Been hiatus with Covid but still local rides to enjoy.

 

[Mad Mike]

or not....
You can never lose the experiences gained by putting money into travelling ....View attachment 53929
Life experiences are wealth in my view and every day for hours those photos travel across my three 27" screens and renews my enjoyment of those travels. Been hiatus with Covid but still local rides to enjoy.

I agree travel csn be a wonderful teacher, it can also be a money pit. My kids are young adults, they are getting some of those experiences now.

An annual trip to Cancun or Vegas is fun and there are things you will learn. Repeat that to 30 other carribean all inclusive resorts... not so much.

 

[MacDoc]

Best gotten early on when they are still kids IMNSHO...and not pinned by jobs or house aspirations etc.
Age 7 to14 are the critical years in my view tho not all kids love to travel

One reason I love the BackPacker program in Aus is it offers work and travel to under 30s from other countries.
Be nice to see that open again.
Vital for agriculture, reasonable wages and safety for the kids.

Immigration and citizenship Website

Find out about Australian visas, immigration and citizenship.

immi.homeaffairs.gov.au

 

[nobbie48]

Castle anyone?

Is having a castle any better than having a bungalow if everyone in the neighbourhood has the same thing?

500 Abandoned Disney-esque Castles Found Inside Ghost Town

The eerie ghost town has hundreds of abandoned castles as far as the eye can see, complete with turrets and balconies.

www.newsweek.com

 

[GreyGhost]

Castle anyone?

Is having a castle any better than having a bungalow if everyone in the neighbourhood has the same thing?

500 Abandoned Disney-esque Castles Found Inside Ghost Town

The eerie ghost town has hundreds of abandoned castles as far as the eye can see, complete with turrets and balconies.

www.newsweek.com

Nope. Even the subdivisions of "ski chalets" around horseshoe look like crap to me. Cool design in the right location, when built in fields with very similar models it just looks dumb imo.

 

[nobbie48]

Nope. Even the subdivisions of "ski chalets" around horseshoe look like crap to me. Cool design in the right location, when built in fields with very similar models it just looks dumb imo.

Yeah but my place is unique. The door knocker is bronze not brass like everyone else.

Seriously though, did you ever notice that the cookie cutter homes have unique colours for the front doors so the owners can tell where they live without counting the houses. Mine is green with pink polka dots.

 

[crankcall]

A castle in Turkey you say? doomed from the start.

 

[mimico_polak]

Yeah but my place is unique. The door knocker is bronze not brass like everyone else.

Seriously though, did you ever notice that the cookie cutter homes have unique colours for the front doors so the owners can tell where they live without counting the houses. Mine is green with pink polka dots.

My sister lived in a new development, at the time, at Burloak and Lakeshore area...I remember when they went away for a vacation I was asked to take the 128 for a spin every week because why not? Gotta make sure to exercise the car!

Come back to put the car in the garage...key code doesn't work...wtf. Try again and again and again...wtf is going on. Oh snap...her house is next door over.

All the houses were the same from the front, and at night it was hard to tell colours apart. Light green, green, and darker green...all look the damn same!

Luckily the family inside didn't hear me trying to get into the garage but I got the hell out of there fast.

 

[mimico_polak]

So what's a good area to invest in housing in? Obviously the GTA is out of the question lol.

Trying to wait and see what HELOC value MCAP comes back with, but all signs are pointing toward 150-200k depending on final review and appraisal.

Ottawa? KW? Guelph? Hamilton? Ideally somewhere near universities as that rental market is fairly steady...fairly.

 

[GreyGhost]

So what's a good area to invest in housing in? Obviously the GTA is out of the question lol.

Trying to wait and see what HELOC value MCAP comes back with, but all signs are pointing toward 150-200k depending on final review and appraisal.

Ottawa? KW? Guelph? Hamilton? Ideally somewhere near universities as that rental market is fairly steady...fairly.

Funny guy. Most student ghettos ran away on pricing decades ago. I think you need to start with overall budget and then look for places that's work. Loc will be 150 to 200 but what price are you looking at for the dwelling?

 

[Evoex]

So what's a good area to invest in housing in? Obviously the GTA is out of the question lol.

Trying to wait and see what HELOC value MCAP comes back with, but all signs are pointing toward 150-200k depending on final review and appraisal.

Ottawa? KW? Guelph? Hamilton? Ideally somewhere near universities as that rental market is fairly steady...fairly.

Colleague scooped up a bunch of Duplex's in Waterloo a few years ago, I believe around 170 a pop. He's laughing.

 

[GreyGhost]

Yeah but my place is unique. The door knocker is bronze not brass like everyone else.

Seriously though, did you ever notice that the cookie cutter homes have unique colours for the front doors so the owners can tell where they live without counting the houses. Mine is green with pink polka dots.

90s subdivisions were terrible with rows of identical dwellings. Now they have come back to a similar situation but they put in lefts and rights to make some variation (but not much). Sometimes architectural control throws on a box out or some other useless ugly feature to try to break it up. How about different designs for every house instead of an entire subdivision made of a half dozen different models? At this point, the architects have a full war chest and could easily pull out 100+ models ready for construction.