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COVID and the housing market
- Thread starter mimico_polak
- Start date
D
Deleted member 50930
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was there no foreign investment in the past?
why are so many folks blaming foreign investors?? The rise of China?
why are so many folks blaming foreign investors?? The rise of China?
It’s an easy target. Personally I think the main culprit is the flippers that buy up properties, fix them up, live until the capital gain tax exemption kicks in (or have kids, grandma, cousins, whoever) and sell tax free.
100% the CRA should go after them, but it’s easier to go after the normal workers owing a few thousand bucks. Go after the flippers.
I’ve said it before. Get rid of the capital gain tax exemption if you sell your house within less than 3 years (for fun). If 3-5 then tax but at a lower rate, if 5+ years then you’re exempt. Watch the market dry up as now the flippers would have to pay interest for way more years and not risk a downturn in that timeframe.
Right now housing is an investment, and tax free for some. It will continue until you clamp down. But they won’t because everybody is addicted to the profits it brings, and it’s holding up our eceonomy?
EDIT: I am not criticizing the flippers that do it properly, pay their tax, and actually bring value to the table. Just so no one gets offended. I would do it too if I had the capital. But I don’t.
I can't think of another country I would prefer. If I had to go elsewhere Scandinavia could be OK except I don't like herring. There are lots of countries / cultures I would like to visit.
My comments were more like telling a 40 year old that their three cheeseburger a day diet is going to cause them problems in another couple of decades and now would be a good time to make changes. It's easer to fix before you have a heart attack than after.
I was talking to a lady in the USA and they don't pay taxes on their gains as long as they buy another property of equal or greater value. Her problem was she had just moved from LA to Ohio. To avoid taxes they had to buy a mega ranch.
It's not just real estate. How many stock market take overs add jobs or value to anyone but the investors?
Yes, full cost of education paid off as an international student, which was 5x higher - I recall domestic students paying $3K per term vs. $15K per term for me for an engineering degree. Parents took out a loan abroad to afford it and now I assist them financially in return as they're retired.
I don't see the connection in my situation. Paid international tuition fees, paid all my taxes, didn't work the system, didn't claim to be in the country while abroad or anything like that. Did everything by the book from Day 1.
My opinion is that good government should try to provide affordable housing to its citizens, but I see the opposite happening in Canada. Our household income is not low, it's average, but we're not homeowners and see the divergence growing between the haves and have nots. We can try to compete in the mad frenzy. But as dual nationals, we have a choice, and Canada is becoming the less attractive option given the current circumstances and considering we want to start a family. It's logical to consider our options and look to greener pastures for the best possible life.
I didn't mean to pry into your financials and two thumbs up for doing it right. The subject is not something I follow and while I was aware the foreign students were charged more there are a lot of things I did't know with regards to safeguards. If what you say is the normal the concern should be with the "Born here" graduates leaving for the USA.
Your statement "My opinion is that good government should try to provide affordable housing to its citizens" bothers me. I would prefer "That good government must prevent the victimization of its citizens by profiteers and speculators."
The price of the house can be calculated, Square feet X $ per square foot + optional upgrades. It would probably be between $300 K and $400 K. All of that is PLUS the land cost which I gather, starts at a million dollars a lot.
50 years ago I took an evening course in architectural drafting and the rule of thumb was for every dollar one spent on a lot they should spend two dollars on the house. If that is followed a $2 M house gets built on a $1 M lot and it goes on the market for $3 M.
That is not unusual. I was dealing with a small custom builder 7 or 8 years ago and mentioned a recent bungalow sale in my neighbourhood at $800 K. He would have bought it, flattened it and put up 3000 SF @ $300 / SF = 900 K + $800 K land = $1.7 M + profit. At the time the price was high for the area. Now your head, or at least one nostril, would be above water.
I honestly don't know a solution but government hand outs of any sort bother me. The minute the govies get involved things go from bad to worse. "Well the government is picking up the tab so load the plate"
I grew up in a single parent household a half century ago. My mother had a clerical job. We ate healthy but not fancy, paid our own rent, never heard of food banks although some churches did help others. We were OK on our own. There were presents under the Christmas tree and on birthdays. What's gone so wrong?
As for international students, I have no problem with the way bastak did it. Many, many come to international high schools so they qualify for resident university rates and then bugger off never having paid income tax in Canada.
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too expensive
Pickled herring....lots of it ?
My B-I-L is Dutch heritage and the first Christmas he was married to my S-I-L she asked him if there were any tradition Christmas foods his mother served and he told her of the herring and other special dishes. She went all over TO getting stuff and presented him with the traditional Christmas feast.
He said" That's what she made. I didn't say I liked it. Can I just have some toast."
Pretty much.
Lived in Stockholm for 4 years growing up.
I’d retire there...and hit the British commissary often for food lol.
matt365
Well-known member
My dad will eat that stuff right out of the jar... Friggin' Dutchies...!Pickled herring....lots of it
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Every time we had big Christmas dinners the first meal was pickled herring.....every time I was the only one with an empty plate as I refuse to touch it. Just thinking about it makes me shudder. Might be delicious...:but I can’t even look at it.
Yeah...
When I was in Sweden we did a student exchange trip with Estonia. This is back in early 90s so they were just beginning to recover from the Soviet era.
Long story short it was my first introduction into a culture that didn’t have much. We stayed with a local family whose son had stayed with me and they fed us fresh fruit from the garden every morning, but I could tell they didn’t eat like this everyday. One night we got invited to a neighbour’s place and they gave us some sort of seafood cocktail. Man....I hate seafood, even till this day. But you better believe I licked my plate clean that night. I remember my mom hugging me real tight after and saying how proud she was that I hadn’t complained.
Knowing when to suck it up is a big part of life I don’t see much of in the young ones.
Ah now I understand the reference a bit better. Yes, I met a few of them in university. I assumed they were also international students, but as you say, they moved to Canada for the last years of high school before enrolling in university with resident rates. Seeing where they are now, maybe a 60/40 split - most stayed but some moved back. What surprised me the most though was that for a couple of them, their parents had never even actually lived/worked in Canada, but somehow had citizenship - sounded shady to me...
Whistler village. Years ago there was a story in the Globe about the issue of getting people to work there....as many properties in the village had been bought up by investors it had forced the locals out. The locals provide the services. Vicious cycle driven by greed.
Theres a breaking point.
Same sort of thing here in downtown Kingston. There’s an appetite for living downtown so lots of condos either proposed or being built. They are often being built in the lots that former stores or a cinema used to be in. The condos are advertised as being in a vibrant downtown...which is less and less vibrant as every year passes because of the condos which take the place of businesses. Vicious cycle driven by greed.
It takes some serious balls and some civic legislation to ensure there’s a balance. Unfortunately in the Kingston case the developers run rampant with seemingly few checks and balances whereas in Whistler it seemed to be the Wild West for a while.
Subdivisions are named after what was destroyed to build them.
Adder: Toronto has apparently approved some new names for quaint villages. I used to live on Wright Ave in what was just Toronto. Now it's Ronces' Village. It was more of a self sustaining village before it became a village. Butchers and bakers competed with each other by offering more bang for the buck meats and baked goods. Now Ronces' village is a bunch of trendy bistros and shoppes. Shoppes, not stores or shops. Store is too common. Bloor West Village ditto.
You knew when you were in little Italy. They didn't have to put it on the street signs.
If you're different you don't need it written on your tee shirt.
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I guy I knew had a son in hockey and they did an exchange with a team from Sweden, billeting at the other players homes.
After dinner everyone went to the sauna buff naked including the teenaged daughter. Talk about social adjustment.
The same here but I eat sardines. I slather sour cream on pierogi but won't lick the spoon before putting it in the sink, ick factor.
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