My buddy took a couple suitcases of cash down to FL and bought 2 condos for less than 100k CAD during that time.
He’s enjoying his retirement at 45 now.
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COVID and the housing market
- Thread starter mimico_polak
- Start date
He’s enjoying his retirement at 45 now.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
There were homes in our gated community that got abandoned then sold for $35k, they are now worth $1m.
You needed cash, if I didn’t have 3 small kids at the time I’d have done like your buddy.
‘08 was the year I bought the house in Arizona , sold for $285 in ‘02 , $190 in ‘06 , I paid $112 in late ‘08 . Sold in 2020 for $188 , exchange rate was a 32% ! Then I learned about US Capital gains , cdn gains on foreign investments, gains on the exchange rate . 2k to file an INS number in the US . And the party was over. We thought about leaving the cash in the US, I had 12 months to reinvest , but Fla was not on the radar any longer and thank goodness we didn’t , Covid would have spoiled the fun
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HSBC is being investigated for tons of dodgy loans using very questionable foreign income. Freeland knew about it when she approved rbc takeover. So much stink.
betterdwelling.com
Canadian Mortgage Fraud Rampant At HSBC, Lawmaker Demands Investigation - Better Dwelling
Greater Toronto’s soaring prices got a lift from mortgage fraud at a major bank. Earlier this month investigative journalist Sam Cooper and The Bureau, revealed whistleblower allegations of a massive mortgage fraud scheme at HSBC Canada’s Greater Toronto operations. RBC acquired the bank shortly...
betterdwelling.com
BC seems to be leading the charge. I’m on board with this.
bc.ctvnews.ca
B.C. will implement a new 20% 'flipping tax' on homes: What you need to know
Premier David Eby has been clear that speculators are in his crosshairs, and with the 2024 budget his government has announced details of a new 'BC Home Flipping Tax.'
It will generate $43M per year taking a 20% cut of house flips in the province? Sounds like the program is a few decades late. Not so long ago, a single neighbourhood in Toronto would blow that figure out of the water if this tax existed.BC seems to be leading the charge. I’m on board with this.
B.C. will implement a new 20% 'flipping tax' on homes: What you need to know
Premier David Eby has been clear that speculators are in his crosshairs, and with the 2024 budget his government has announced details of a new 'BC Home Flipping Tax.'
Politicians don’t look forward. They’re too busy looking backwards so they can cover their arses.
The ugly truth.
Short story
Woman has good job with Microsoft. Goes after a $465,000 home and bids $200,000 over list.
She gets laid off, interest rates almost double her mortgage payments and she goes into default. She throws the keys to the bank and the place is sold for less than the mortgage and sales cost. She gets sued for the difference.
ottawa.ctvnews.ca
Short story
Woman has good job with Microsoft. Goes after a $465,000 home and bids $200,000 over list.
She gets laid off, interest rates almost double her mortgage payments and she goes into default. She throws the keys to the bank and the place is sold for less than the mortgage and sales cost. She gets sued for the difference.
Ottawa woman loses home, faces bankruptcy
An Ottawa woman's life has been turned upside down by a job loss, inflated house prices and rising interest rates. CTV's Katelyn Wilson.
Good on her for going public. Most people don't realize how quickly things can go wrong.The ugly truth.
Short story
Woman has good job with Microsoft. Goes after a $465,000 home and bids $200,000 over list.
She gets laid off, interest rates almost double her mortgage payments and she goes into default. She throws the keys to the bank and the place is sold for less than the mortgage and sales cost. She gets sued for the difference.
Ottawa woman loses home, faces bankruptcy
An Ottawa woman's life has been turned upside down by a job loss, inflated house prices and rising interest rates. CTV's Katelyn Wilson.
As for the bank suing her, I'm ok with that. She made bad decisions and now she has to live with the consequences. She is lucky that the payments bit her and caused a loss of a few hundred thousand before the rising river made her lot worth zero.
Agreed, I am sure this type of thing happens more often then we think.
I am pretty sure there are millions of Canadian families that are a paycheck or two away from total financial ruin.
I consider myself lucky we could float for 4-6 months before having to dip into LOC's etc. But even that worries me.
There are thousands living paycheck to paycheck and leveraging everything. I don’t like to see anyone underwater , but the reconning has been coming for a long time . Cottages , boats , travel , all on the super cheap LOC ….. guess what .
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Mad Mike
Well-known member
My dad's advice to us was to put 2 week's gross pay aside each year until retirement. Turns out the math works out pretty good on that.
If you followed the average wage growth in Canada and achieved the average stock market return over the last 40 years.... after 25 years you would have 2.5 years salary, and after 40 you would have 20 years of income from that savings.
Most people that are financially comfortable these days followed similar basics. Does that work today considering housing costs?
TBH there are a lot of people that even back in the good old days could never afford a house. If I was 30 YO and making what I did then, adjusted, I couldn't afford a house in the GTA.
Does one scrimp and save until retirement and miss the good things in life, still never achieving a home?
Or is YOLO the rule?
With all this blathering on I never hear hard numbers about affordable housing.
Exactly how much is an affordable house? Is that with our without granite? In a trendy neighbourhood? Near a travel agent?
The definition governments use is something like 10% under market rent. That is in no world "affordable" and governments are still not remotely close to hitting their targets.
The "affordable" apartments being built in barrie have an approved budget of over $1M per dwelling (not including the land). That will climb during construction. In no world is that affordable. To be rented at a reasonably affordable rate, total costs need to be well under $500K per dwelling (ideally closer to 200K but I don't think that is possible in canada anymore).
Funny how the people that get their rent/mortgage paid via taxpayer dollars are the ones that dictate what "affordable" is...
Affordable housing is in of itself an oxymoron in the Golden Horseshoe . Houses can be bought , they get sold everyday, but 80 yrs ago we had renters because not everyone gets a house . Sadly or not , my concern with affordable housing, it’s maybe still not for everyone. It’s a political prize and talking point.
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Mad Mike
Well-known member
Affordable housing definition is typically 30% of gross income, which for a minimum wage earner in Ontario is about $860/mo, and for 2 earners $1720/mo.
The tough part of affordable housing is defining housing through the lens of entitlement and necessity. Does a single person require a 1 require a studio apartment or a room in a house with shared facilities? Does the purchase price of a home get included in 'affordable housing' or is it a measure applied to rents?
If I were solving the problem, I'd do many things, but the first would be to increase low-income shelters by building lots of small apartment buildings with simpler designs. For example, building small walk-ups of 6 stories or less to eliminate elevators (making 1/6th of the units, the ground floor, fully accessible. Make more use of shared facilities - laundry rooms, community room, and for some portion shared kitchens and bathrooms like you find in student housing.
An example like the one below, would fit nicely on this lot https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/26234623/385-centennial-rd-toronto-centennial-scarborough and could be built in prefab form for $250/sq' which works out to a build cost of 3.5M or well under $200K/unit including land (but not including development costs). Go back to basic fixturing (kitchens and single bath, central laundry and community room in the basement, unit HVAC, and no elevators.
Fits on a 60x100'lot for high-density areas.
While I agree with your definition of affordable, try to find an organization with authority that uses that. Everybody wants to say they are doing something about affordable housing. Even with their goal posts moved all the way to 10% less than market, they get almost no units online. With you definition, we are probably close to zero new units in Ontario in recent history.
Great idea. 19 units for about $4 Million. Suggest it to your MPs and MPPS. They'll have a $5 Million conference to discuss it and run out of money.
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