COVID and the housing market

[mimico_polak]

It's all relative, right?

Our first time in Germany, we caught a taxi at the airport and it turned out to be a Mercedes E-Class. We thought we lucked out with a luxury ride for the price of a basic cab. Then we found out *ALL* taxis in Germany are E-Classes. Same as Morocco and Singapore.

I guess...first time I’ve seen a Jag as an UBER ride.

Poland is similar, the older MB are all used as cabs there.

damnit....now I want a 328xi wagon again....damn you @Lightcycle. There’s a really sweet lowered in that gorgeous BMW blue in our area....one day she will be mine.

 

[GreyGhost]

I guess...first time I’ve seen a Jag as an UBER ride.

Poland is similar, the older MB are all used as cabs there.

damnit....now I want a 328xi wagon again....damn you @Lightcycle. There’s a really sweet lowered in that gorgeous BMW blue in our area....one day she will be mine.

 

[Lightcycle]

damnit....now I want a 328xi wagon again....damn you @Lightcycle. There’s a really sweet lowered in that gorgeous BMW blue in our area....one day she will be mine.

Gotta aim higher, my friend:

 

[Lightcycle]

Lol!

Great minds think alike...

 

[mimico_polak]

Bastards....guess I can tell my wife we don’t have to have sex today.

Those sex on wheels is all I need today.

 

[GreyGhost]

Lol!

Great minds think alike...

Have you considered adding a grand-touring segment to your adventures? Park the bikes for a bit and give a nice GT car a workout.

 

[油井緋色]

You guys have expensive hobbies lol

I'd be happy with an F1 style wheel and motion platform. Probably 10% cost of those cars <_<

Like this one (not mine):

 

[GreyGhost]

You guys have expensive hobbies lol

I'd be happy with an F1 style wheel and motion platform. Probably 10% cost of those cars <_<

Like this one (not mine):

But it won't sound the same and it doesn't make you happy in your pants when you look at it.

 

[mimico_polak]

You guys have expensive hobbies lol

I'd be happy with an F1 style wheel and motion platform. Probably 10% cost of those cars <_<

Like this one (not mine):

Put a fan in front of that and it’ll be like a real car. Wind in your hair kind of thing (mind you I’m bald)....but it’s nice to dream.

 

[mimico_polak]

But it won't sound the same and it doesn't make you happy in your pants when you look at it.

The man gets excited seeing cartoon females on his wall....a rumbling seat should do the trick.

 

[Lightcycle]

Have you considered adding a grand-touring segment to your adventures? Park the bikes for a bit and give a nice GT car a workout.

Actually, after spending a year and a half in sub-Sahara Africa on two wheels, we came to realization that this would be a more suitable vehicle, if we ever go back:

I love the looks of the old school Defender. Although, if we were more practical it'd probably be a Land Cruiser, for reliability's sake...

We are still registered in the South African Driver's Registry, so we can buy and sell vehicles as if we were locals. This is a real possibility for us in the not-too-far future. We'd like to spend another year just Safari-ing and overlanding on four, instead of two. More access to parks.

 

[油井緋色]

But it won't sound the same and it doesn't make you happy in your pants when you look at it.

By the time I can afford that I'll have a new VR headset with a 3080 Ti or higher (VR looks like ass right now.) It's real and makes my pants happy if I pretend it is! lol

Plus crashing is expensive, same with tickets <_<

The man gets excited seeing cartoon females on his wall....a rumbling seat should do the trick.

My posters won't age. My fiancee will lol

 

[nobbie48]

At this point, the only solution I see that is remotely feasible is shrinking the square footage and/or more units/acre. The problem is the canadian expectation for housing is two car garage, 3+ bed, 2+ bath (I tried to sell a house with 1.5 bath but none on the main floor and that was enough for >80% of the prospective buyers to cross it off their list). When was the last time you heard of a family living in canada in a one bedroom apartment? Kids and grandparents in the bedroom, parents in the living room. Worked to drastically lower the cost of housing (and child care) for many countries for many years.

I read an interesting article about Seattle. 80% of the land in the city is zoned single-family residential so increasing the number of dwellings in the city is difficult. To help with housing affordability, the concept was a blanket change to single family zoning to allow four storey apartment buildings (approximately eight 1200 sq ft dwellings). That would allow for more affordable housing and bypass the nimby uproar that occurs every single time a density increase is suggested. An extension to this can be people redeveloping their own house. You get a 2400 sq ft apartment plus one or two 1200 sq ft apartments to rent out and provide you income, the developer you partnered with sells (or rents out) the other four 1200 sq ft units to fund the construction.

Barrie blanket-approved accessory dwelling units and people are freaking out. One house near Georgian college has the house rented as two apartments and now construction on a third dwelling in the backyard (~1200 sq ft) is underway. There is still a green courtyard between the two dwellings. The rear neighbour is crying about how this was her forever house and now there is a dwelling near here property line which she did not sign up for and she thinks it is wrong. Once she moves through the stages of grief, her choices are get over it, move or join them. An entirely detached dwelling generating rental income while saving you from cutting half the lawn you rarely used anyway? Yes please. I would prefer it is Barrie started with an owner-occupied requirement so the owner is the worst-case receptor if they have bad tenants (or short-term renters). Far too many absentee landlords only look at the money and could care less about the effect of their choices on the community.

The housing Ponzi scheme:

Our neighbourhood is fighting some development and the city has said Toronto has no more land left so growth will be vertical and there will be growth.

 

[GreyGhost]

The housing Ponzi scheme:

Our neighbourhood is fighting some development and the city has said Toronto has no more land left so growth will be vertical and there will be growth.

Toronto is a special case of (imo) having property taxes that are far too low and no politician with stones to work on correcting the problem. To have a chance, Toronto should have a relatively rapid 25% bump in property tax. That causes issues for a few people but I am ok with allowing deferral (with interest) and a lien so nobody has to move to cover their bill.

 

[ChrisCBR]

The story behind a lot of these "rich kids" is that they get a monthly stipend from their parents back home for living expenses while they go to school here. However, with no parental oversight, all that money goes straight towards an expensive car and they live in very modest accommodations as a result.

Sure, some of them get enough money for a nice place and a nice car, but I've seen many of those high end cars being used for Skip The Dishes or UberEats, so they can actually afford rent after all the monthly allowance is eaten up by lease payments...

My best friend has lived in those condo buildings at Yonge and Sheppard for several years.
The foreign rich students don’t rent. Their education costs ~$50k + a year. Why would their parents pay $2500 a month in rent when they could buy and flip in the future for profit.
It’s irrelevant either way.
I’ve seen 23 year olds driving around in $700k Aventadors.
Another friend works corporate. Everybody on her team are fairly young, rich immigrants.
One is 33 and owns over $5m worth of property and he’s not even the wealthiest one.
I’ll stand by my statement. The most privileged people in this country are fairly young new immigrants whose parents back home are the 1% of the 1%.

 

[jc100]

I think the Benz taxis were used very widely all over Europe and further south because they had reliable Diesel engines and were cheaper to run than expensive European gas fed cars.

Also my friend had an old Land Rover. He used to carry the tools to fix it in the back of the Rover and had to use them often. They were good off-road though, he used to drive over roundabouts rather than go round them.

From my travels off-road on 4 wheels I’d take a Toyota Land Cruiser though!

 

[mimico_polak]

Had a Chinese boss once. He told me point blank.

You piss off the Chinese govt back home, poof, all your money, property, cars, status are gone in a flash.

Don’t toe the line. POOF. You’re poor.

take the money out, buy property in Canada as it’s safe and easy, and just sell when it’s time. Money grows tax free and if you don’t need tenants why bother with the hassle. Just let the house sit vacant.

 

[bigpoppa]

Had a Chinese boss once. He told me point blank.

You piss off the Chinese govt back home, poof, all your money, property, cars, status are gone in a flash.

Don’t toe the line. POOF. You’re poor.

take the money out, buy property in Canada as it’s safe and easy, and just sell when it’s time. Money grows tax free and if you don’t need tenants why bother with the hassle. Just let the house sit vacant.

kind of have to admire it, in the west if you got money you're basically god.

Not so in china(or russia for that matter), see:

Jack Ma’s Alibaba Hit With $2.8 Billion Fine For Abusing Its Dominant Market Position

Alibaba Group was hit with the highest-ever antitrust penalty imposed in China when the country’s regulator announced on Saturday that it had slapped a $2.8 billion fine on the tech giant.

www.forbes.com

Still waiting for amazon to be broken up.

 

[GreyGhost]

@george__ how do you feel about Kirkland Lake?

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Move in ready!
56 McCamus Ave, Kirkland Lake, ON P2N 2J7, Canada
House for Sale by owner.
56 McCamus
$279,900
Move in ready! 3 +1 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, private laundry room on the main floor, sun room, open concept floor plan, crown moulding throughout, large fenced in yard with a double deck.
Full basement
Serious Inquiries only!
Call for a booking.
705-668-0336 (Paulo)

 

[bigpoppa]

@george__ how do you feel about Kirkland Lake?

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Move in ready!
56 McCamus Ave, Kirkland Lake, ON P2N 2J7, Canada
House for Sale by owner.
56 McCamus
$279,900
Move in ready! 3 +1 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, private laundry room on the main floor, sun room, open concept floor plan, crown moulding throughout, large fenced in yard with a double deck.
Full basement
Serious Inquiries only!
Call for a booking.
705-668-0336 (Paulo)

was almost sure it was a scam to start a bidding war till I google mapped it, its legit

But again, unless you're friends with mad mike, probably thin employment options