COVID and the housing market | Page 295 | GTAMotorcycle.com

COVID and the housing market

Lightcycle said:
It's been like that for a while. Everywhere.

We lived in Squamish for a little bit. Old logging community facing break-neck-speed gentrification. The flannel-shirt crowd despise the kombucha-hot-yoga crowd moving up from Vancouver, raising prices and property taxes for the locals.

Same story here in the interior. Lots of "red plate hate" (Alberta has red lettering on their license plates) for the oil money moving in and pricing out the long-standing locals. Vehicles with AB plates are routinely vandalized. Ontarians fly beneath the radar - not many of us here... yet.

Our new neighbours are from North York, we huddle together like refugees. Strangers in a Strange Land.
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Yes, I rolled into Squamish and coerced a local into selling me their property. I told them to take 20% over 2019 prices and **** off. Sorry, not sorry, they invested in F350s and lift kits. It's amusing how many different levels of locals there are here. Who exactly is a local? The loggers? The 15-5yr MTB crowd? Mountaineers who lived here before COVID? What about the Squamish nation? Whatever the case may be, at least my piece was sold for a fair price. I found the community is really cool and welcoming. Maybe the key is to fall between the flanel and yoga stereotype. I haven't had any problems, and I feel more at home here than anywhere else.

I'm assuming you're in the Kootenays?
 
daught said:
I'm assuming you're in the Kootenays?
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Just west of. Kelowna.

We were in Squamish in mid-2019. It was well on the way to gentrification by then. The Okanagan is a bit behind Squamish, but it's happening and the locals are not happy.

Further in, the Kootenays will also face the crunch as Vancouverites and Calgarians age out of the city and migrate to the interior.

My buddy in Fernie told me a favorite past time for the local boys would be to start fist-fights with the Calgary ski bros who wandered into their bar on the weekends.

Nice.
 
Friend was the mechanic and the KTM dealer in Kelowna till this winter , he has taken a job with a snow tour place near revelstoke , he rented out his crap house outside Kelowna because he’s afraid he would never get back into that market . Even ugly houses in the sticks are getting pricey


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If you're drowning as you try to afford a house the government is IMO throwing you a wine cork as a flotation device.

You can accumulate $40,000 in a first time home buyers account. It's like a TFSA merged with an RRSP. You can put in up to $8,000 a year.

Every little bit helps I guess but somewhere it was lost that the tax free capital gain was to let gramps and granny keep a roof over their heads in retirement, not make a bunch of speculators rich.

TFSA goes to $6500 in 2023 and RRSP maximums are up a bit. The contribution rate goes to 5.95% ( X 2).
 
Lots of speculators pay the capital gains , it’s only a percentage of what you made . It’s fine


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TFSA increased limits is all well and good but I doubt the vast majority of Canadians have an extra 6500$ lying around at the end of the year.

After mortgages, bills, food, and life the TFSA is the last of things to think about in my life unfortunately.
 
crankcall said:
Toronto real estate board says they have now set a record on the number of listed condos in the city. Geez didn’t see that coming …..


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Guess I can start thinking about tapping into my HELOC now.
 
Overheard a conversation yesterday, the lady put a deposit on a new build in November 2021 and the latest news was she'll get the place in November this year. She thinks that's optimistic and the following spring a better guess.

I wonder how the price / interest fluctuations will affect her.
 
crankcall said:
Toronto real estate board says they have now set a record on the number of listed condos in the city. Geez didn’t see that coming …..


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Where is everyone going and what prices are they expecting?

I just sent in my vacant resident tax exemption. Is that another nail in the speculation market coffin?
 
where is everyone going? no place , they are hoping to unload the possibly multiple units they leveraged and have rented because they felt good about break even rents because on paper that unit went up XX %k per month! and interest rates were free!

Then comes the oh crap moment when your bank calls , lets talk about your obligations and exposure.
 
crankcall said:
where is everyone going? no place , they are hoping to unload the possibly multiple units they leveraged and have rented because they felt good about break even rents because on paper that unit went up XX %k per month! and interest rates were free!

Then comes the oh crap moment when your bank calls , lets talk about your obligations and exposure.
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As much as rents are unaffordable to pay, they don't come close to covering outgoing cashflow on a recently purchased property. Barrie two bed average is now $1930. That's crazy. Many people are stuck renting as they can't afford to buy. High interest rate makes that worse as stress test cuts their access to money. Add in crazy rents and it burns ability to build downpayment. The more people stuck renting the same pool of dwellings, the higher rent goes. Sucks for the tenants, not a windfall to landlords if they have a big mortgage at high rate.
 
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Hot markets plus fast close equals house sold by criminals while you are on vacation. This one will be a stinker to unwind. Does title insurance pay out to the buyers? They would be homeless but have their original money in that case. I am assuming the original owners get the house back.

toronto.citynews.ca

Suspects sought for impersonating Toronto homeowners, selling home

Toronto police are seeking help identify two people who allegedly impersonated homeowners and sold their home without consent last year.
toronto.citynews.ca toronto.citynews.ca

Investigators say the owners of a Toronto property were out of the country on business in January 2022 when two people used fake identification to impersonate them.

Acting as the real homeowners, the suspects hired a real estate agent and managed to list their property. The property was eventually sold and new homeowners took possession.

The actual owners returned to Toronto several months later to find their home was listed and sold without their knowledge.
 
crankcall said:
where is everyone going? no place , they are hoping to unload the possibly multiple units they leveraged and have rented because they felt good about break even rents because on paper that unit went up XX %k per month! and interest rates were free!

Then comes the oh crap moment when your bank calls , lets talk about your obligations and exposure.
Click to expand...
Another possible factor, Toronto is also implementing the 1% vacant home tax, they sent out the letters and the owners have to declare by end of Feb and list the occupants. Given that the current property tax mil rate is around 0.5% (give or take) that looks like it will triple taxes for those just sitting on empty condos. Sure there are lots of ways to lie about occupancy, maybe some don't want to.

Last I looked there were nearly 70K empty condos in Toronto alone.
 
crankcall said:
70k empty , and we have a housing crisis. Sad


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I blame the short term rental market primarily. A lot of investors bought these condos with easy cash in their eyes.

As it stands it's not looking good, and their investments aren't printing easy money...time to flip.
 
GreyGhost said:
Hot markets plus fast close equals house sold by criminals while you are on vacation. This one will be a stinker to unwind. Does title insurance pay out to the buyers? They would be homeless but have their original money in that case. I am assuming the original owners get the house back.

toronto.citynews.ca

Suspects sought for impersonating Toronto homeowners, selling home

Toronto police are seeking help identify two people who allegedly impersonated homeowners and sold their home without consent last year.
toronto.citynews.ca toronto.citynews.ca

Investigators say the owners of a Toronto property were out of the country on business in January 2022 when two people used fake identification to impersonate them.

Acting as the real homeowners, the suspects hired a real estate agent and managed to list their property. The property was eventually sold and new homeowners took possession.

The actual owners returned to Toronto several months later to find their home was listed and sold without their knowledge.
Click to expand...
Something like that happened to me, it was expensive to resolve and the scoundrel was a lawyer. Sadly neither Peel nor Toronto Police fraud squad felt it 1 condo unit theft was a criminal matter, I had to resolve thru the courts, good news is I had a good outcome.
 
GreyGhost said:
Hot markets plus fast close equals house sold by criminals while you are on vacation. This one will be a stinker to unwind. Does title insurance pay out to the buyers? They would be homeless but have their original money in that case. I am assuming the original owners get the house back.

toronto.citynews.ca

Suspects sought for impersonating Toronto homeowners, selling home

Toronto police are seeking help identify two people who allegedly impersonated homeowners and sold their home without consent last year.
toronto.citynews.ca toronto.citynews.ca

Investigators say the owners of a Toronto property were out of the country on business in January 2022 when two people used fake identification to impersonate them.

Acting as the real homeowners, the suspects hired a real estate agent and managed to list their property. The property was eventually sold and new homeowners took possession.

The actual owners returned to Toronto several months later to find their home was listed and sold without their knowledge.
Click to expand...
Happens in the rental market as well. Rent a house and advertise it for rent, pretending to be the owner. Collect deposits from 30 people and disappear. Thirty moving vans show up at the end of the month. Bast****.
 
Mad Mike said:
Something like that happened to me, it was expensive to resolve and the scoundrel was a lawyer. Sadly neither Peel nor Toronto Police fraud squad felt it 1 condo unit theft was a criminal matter, I had to resolve thru the courts, good news is I had a good outcome.
Click to expand...

Wtf, how is it even possible. Did the lawyer lose his law license for such a big fraud?
 
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