Moved from Brampton to north end St. Catharines 2 years ago. Couldn't be happier! Just the right size place for us. Everything you could need within a 10 min. drive max. Great eateries and other entertainment options. Lake is 2 blocks away and two marinas close by should I want to get into boating. North of Lakeshore Rd. is the area to be. Quiet, very friendly and close to everything. Hardest part was finding a suitable house. It's either older bungalows in need of a lot of renovations or new builds which are getting pretty expensive lately. St. Catharines doesn't get hammered with snow either. I've shoveled my driveway only a few times since I've lived here. The snow all goes just south to Niagara Falls, Welland, Port Colbourne & Fort Erie
What are you doing?!?! If they figure this out, they will come down here, it will get crowded and unaffordable!
Shhhh!!!!!
Let the tourist pass through for their wine and don’t tell them how great it is year round. And getting to the GTA is easy when needed.
As for the comment about kids and education, you sock away some pennies saved and ship them off to college or university anyways. And you’ll be happy you did. House to yourself after dealing with miserable teenage years.
They will be fine. Let them snowflakes melt by kicking them out.
My kids grew up in the GTA with their pick of post secondary education, my dream for both kids was the education they wanted and they would leave school with zero student debt. They both ended up in Northern Alberta. How did I F that up ?? LOL
Probably one of the following:
- you let them drive your pickup, bikes, snowmobiles on backroads when they were 10
- you taught them to drink, smoke and shoot too young
- the F word was the most commonly used adjective at your house
- they got a taste for money early in life
My son lives in Lac La Biche , 2hrs south of FtMac, the lake is about the size of lake Simcoe, my daughter camps at Lake Gregoire all the time.
They both got a decent education , which has helped them get decent jobs which are not boom/bust jobs.
Dont shoot stuff but camp,drink and my daughter can swear like a derek rigger
They did have access to mini bikes snow machines and outboard motors at an early age
I really like the place in the two weeks of summer, but the 9 months of winter, followed by 3 months a bad sledding, no thanks
My son lives in Lac La Biche , 2hrs south of FtMac, the lake is about the size of lake Simcoe, my daughter camps at Lake Gregoire all the time.
They both got a decent education , which has helped them get decent jobs which are not boom/bust jobs.
Dont shoot stuff but camp,drink and my daughter can swear like a derek rigger
They did have access to mini bikes snow machines and outboard motors at an early age
I really like the place in the two weeks of summer, but the 9 months of winter, followed by 3 months a bad sledding, no thanks
Lac La Biche is pretty big, but only 1/3rd the area of Simcoe. I worked up there one summer driving a chow truck between highway crews. You are right about summer -- it only lasts for a couple of weeks bordering Jul and Aug. Bugs are epic, wind across the lake make it tough for small craft (except in the 9 months when it's hard).
You can make a lot of money there, but costs of living is stupidly expensive, and travel is more or less by road to Edmonton -- another scary thing in the winter.
While Northern Ontario is too rough and tumble for most of us, Alberta is in a completely different league.
A friend of a friend just listed a detached house in Peterborough. Split into two apartments. Top three bed rented for 1800, bottom one bed rented for 850. Listed for 270K. Damn, a rental property that covers expenses from the get go. I didn't think that was possible anymore in Ontario. I still wouldn't want to be a residential landlord, but it nice to know that it is a financially viable option still (put up down payment and in 25 years, sell the fully paid off house, no further personal capital should have been required).
A friend of a friend just listed a detached house in Peterborough. Split into two apartments. Top three bed rented for 1800, bottom one bed rented for 850. Listed for 270K. Damn, a rental property that covers expenses from the get go. I didn't think that was possible anymore in Ontario. I still wouldn't want to be a residential landlord, but it nice to know that it is a financially viable option still (put up down payment and in 25 years, sell the fully paid off house, no further personal capital should have been required).
Good area for an investment property. Once the 407 got extended to the 115/35 I'm sure properties jumped up a little bit. A friend of mine bought a house in Scugog following entry into Phase 2...he said 2 adults and a toddler in a 1 bedroom condo was insane for the time they were all home.
Good area for an investment property. Once the 407 got extended to the 115/35 I'm sure properties jumped up a little bit. A friend of mine bought a house in Scugog following entry into Phase 2...he said 2 adults and a toddler in a 1 bedroom condo was insane for the time they were all home.
I am doing mortgages, landscaping and a full time job. I am hoping soon enough I can leave my job for a better one along with the businesses growing. It is stressful but I am trying to bite my tongue and do what I can.
What the ever loving $&#%@. The people we bought our house from moved to a new build two blocks away. 1500 ft larger and 10 years newer but otherwise substantially similar. They just sold that one for more than double what we paid for this one less than two years ago. Wtf.
I don't know where you are but it's similar all over. Prices are crazy and the lust for buying seems to have no ceiling. Have no idea how mortgages at these values are getting approved, especially in this economic climate where no one's job is safe.
I guess it's great while interest rates are in the basement but just you wait; sooner or later rates will climb and not only will a lot of people be underwater but so will this country's debt servicing cost!
What the ever loving $&#%@. The people we bought our house from moved to a new build two blocks away. 1500 ft larger and 10 years newer but otherwise substantially similar. They just sold that one for more than double what we paid for this one less than two years ago. Wtf.
I don't know where you are but it's similar all over. Prices are crazy and the lust for buying seems to have no ceiling. Have no idea how mortgages at these values are getting approved, especially in this economic climate where no one's job is safe.
I guess it's great while interest rates are in the basement but just you wait; sooner or later rates will climb and not only will a lot of people be underwater but so will this country's debt servicing cost!
Maybe I should be wearing a foil hat but I've been thinking about the entertainment industry. I include theatre, movies, pro sports, tourism and dining out. While they are enjoyable they are the easiest things to cut from one's budget when things get tight.
I wonder how much of our economy is entertainment. Entertainment seems to be taking the brunt of the Covid economy crash. Obviously there is trickle down as closed bars mean no serviette or swizzle sticks sales and everything between them and the bottle. Wait staff have no money to spend on new clothes or apartment furniture.
Were we getting to flippant about how much we spend on entertainment to the point we lost track of reality? We pay to watch millionaires play games. We pay champagne prices for a beer at the stadium. Steak prices for a hot dog. At what point does a little voice say "Enough!"
I wonder what our economy would look like if we had put the same effort into industry as we did into entertainment.
I think our parents did ( and maybe some of us) in the late 40's 50s 60's and maybe into the early 80's. They were called "boomers" and got good factory jobs, worked hard and bought cottages. Houses were affordable, mom and pop bought cars that didnt cost a years wages, some saved for the kids education.
They got it all wrong and F'd everything up for the millenials.
Not to get too far off topic. I think they should. People are using this loophole to make a ton of money without any tax.
Renovate, live in for just over a year, flip for profit and rinse and repeat.
CRA should tax the hell out of capital gains if they see you switch houses every 1-2 years. That’s not a normal, changing, family situation....that’s a business utilizing the capital gains exemption loophole.
Not to get too far off topic. I think they should. People are using this loophole to make a ton of money without any tax.
Renovate, live in for just over a year, flip for profit and rinse and repeat.
CRA should tax the hell out of capital gains if they see you switch houses every 1-2 years. That’s not a normal, changing, family situation....that’s a business utilizing the capital gains exemption loophole.
This just happened 2 doors down from me. Bought last year and moved in. Renovated the place himself over the past year and sold for $150k more last week. Probably pocketed $75k on the sale of his "principal residence". Guessing it wasn't his first or last flip?
Thats a tough question and I’m not smart enough to answer.
to me it makes sense to tax a real estate sale for capital gain if someone has lived in the home for less than 3-5 years. Anything over that number of years and you’re tax free. When you see a pattern of house flipping you go to town and audit.
Have seen a guy on our street buy, rent out, rebuild, sell for 500k more after 2 years and then tell me he’s got 3 other properties in New Toronto.
he was smart though. He was the real estate agent, mortgage broker, general contractor and did the whole thing on his own with only subs. I wish I had that money making focused brain!
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