No better time to buy.. in the US?
A dropping US dollar, a credit crunch and a US housing market collapse. Does it all add up to a buying opportunity for Canadians in the US?
Just a short drive south of the Washington State-B.C. border sits the Horizon at Semiahmoo Resort community, a 650-home development spanning 200 acres nestled on the shores of the Strait of Georgia. When the developers began planning the project, they figured that about half the homes would be snapped up by residents of nearby Seattle, and the other half by Canadians.
That was before parity became a buzzword. Now it appears as though more than 85 per cent of the residences will be sold to Canadian buyers, according to Vince Taylor of Pilothouse Real Estate Inc. in New Westminster, B.C.
“When the magic parity hit the other day, our phones started to ring,” he says. “Everybody wants to find U.S. real estate. The Canadians are coming over the wall. They didn’t build the wall big enough.”
With “nothing more than the pesky border” separating Semiahmoo from Canadians looking for an attractive “green” community for a summer home, Horizon has become coveted real estate. The average price of a house in Semiahmoo is about 50 to 60 per cent less than a similar home in nearby White Rock, B.C., Mr. Taylor says.
My favorite quote from the story: “We always put down 20 per cent in Canada, so what do we care?” Mr. Taylor says.
Uh.. been to Vancouver Mr. Taylor?
October 17th, 2007 at 8:19 am
Michael Randallbard said…You slammed me on gold, silver, ARU (Aurelian Gold—biggest gold find in 30 years) which has more than doubled since I mentioned it to you and has been a ten bagger for me as I bought it at 1.00 (after 4/1 split price) and its now 9.00 You cold have bought it to but you thought I didn't know anything ha ha ha.So since your last recommendation has done so well what's your next recommendation? And don't say gold or resources, I hate chasing past performance.If you were brilliant enough to predict a ten bagger in a gold miner you should have no problem predicting the next bull market stock.BTW what happens to commodity prices once the US and Canadian (and Chinese) economies tank? And how bad do things have to get before gold is used as a proxy currency? And tell me why the government won't ban the private holding of gold as the US did during the last depression?
October 16th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Egg on your face describes it better.Coming from a guy who is a WTC conspiracist, that is a compliment. Go make yourself another tinfoil hat.
October 16th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
Japan and China lead flight from the dollarPerhaps this is so but it will now detach. The USD is on the verge of total collapse. Heres the problem with not hedging you Canadian dollars with gold. When the USD collapses the Loonie will skyrocket ..MAYBE..because with the high Loonie the Canadian economy will collapse also and unemployment will soar. One has to think ahead. Your position will help protect you going forward but if possible try to up it to 25%
October 16th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
So far this year, the loonie has performed better than gold.Disclosure: 10% of my portfolio is gold, 10% silver.
October 16th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
jeff"he actually recommended being 100% in cash."Gold IS as good as cash even better….FAR better. He probably is sugesting that stocks are overbought and due for another crash and I would agree except for the quality PM stocks which initially might get drawn down with the rest but imo will recover and skyrocket as Americans and others around the world really get scared and run for the only real protection from currencies turning worthless…EXAMPLE
October 16th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
"Please please please, no more M3 conspiracist gold stuff."Of course you would say something like this. Of course you would deprive the readers here of a chance for a real rising investment in resources so they can double their money and more in the resources bull market currently underway. And why would you call real money a conspiracy? Is it because your stubbornly ignored me in the last 2 years and now you are looking bad? Bad isn't the word. Egg on your face describes it better.You slammed me on gold, silver, ARU (Aurelian Gold—biggest gold find in 30 years) which has more than doubled since I mentioned it to you and has been a ten bagger for me as I bought it at 1.00 (after 4/1 split price) and its now 9.00 You cold have bought it to but you thought I didn't know anything ha ha ha.You deprived people here of a chance to double their money in 6 short months. That money could have helped renters save for a home. What's in it for you to keep people ignorant and uninformed? Are you still a housing bull LOLOL? Are you out for their interests or your own need to look smart (you don't)So as home prices peak and are sure to decline you stupidly call gold a conspiracy. But then of course the proof is in the pudding isn't it? Enough said.How about your call that oil would fall back to under 60.00? Wrong yet again. It's 88.00 tonight.Why not keep your ill informed comments to yourself as your toes must be soaked from chewing on your feet?My advice to everyone here is IMMEDIATELY go to the bank and take out all discretionary savings that are in miserable low interest paying investments and go to your local coin dealer and buy 1 ounce gold bullion bars or Canadian Maple Leafs. Silver as well as it is lagging and sure to catch up. It was 5.20 per ounce when I started buying it 4 years ago and it is now 13.80
October 16th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
"Will it happen in Vancouver? Asolutely."Wow.. what a bummer for the people who bought before that auction…Some guy from cibc was on tv the other night. basically said everything was peachy keen in canada regardless of the us economy because he thinks ours has "decoupled" from the us economy. says china, russia, india et al are driving the economy, and our resource and construction sectors are pretty strong.i wonder what will happen after all the construction projects are finished in a couple of years…
October 16th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
"Isn't this site just catoring to the gold bulls? Save yourself, buy gold. Ask your grandma or grandpa whether they could eat gold in the 30s…"That is the stupidist statement I've ever read. Maybe we should ask them if they could eat their greenbacks with caesar dressing and croutons with parmaesan cheese. Maybe we should ask them if they got so hungry they started eating the roof of their houses.In case you haven't noticed gold has gained just under 100.00 in 3 weeks and will gain another 200.00 before Christmas is my guess. Now that the real estate bubble has burst people are looking for the next big thing to invest in but commodities including base and prescious metals and energy have been rising for a few years now under the radar screen of the masses. So stick around in housing if you want but I —GUARANTEE—that the smart money has exited the sector over the last year or so and is on to bigger and better things. Gold is REAL money. A person who holds gold can cash it in in 5 minutes and buy declining paper currency if they need it but one cannot sell an investment property in this environment in the USA and many places in Canada like Edmonton where home prices are crashingAll the gold info and commentaries one needs is here at <a href="http://WWW.KITCO.COM” target=”_blank”>WWW.KITCO.COM
October 16th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
“I cannot wait to hear how Lawrence Yun of NAR will spin this."Freako, do you think things will get so bad, that Yun will have to enlist Muir, Pastrick, and Rennie.Could the market deteriorate badly enough as to need Rob?
October 16th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
As we expected, the liquidity crises did affect the U.S. sales mix, and the median is getting hammered. California was down 7.6 percent in September alone. October will be worse. I cannot wait to hear how Lawrence Yun of NAR will spin this.
October 16th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
prices drop by 50%Will it happen in Vancouver? Asolutely.
October 16th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Stocks and Gold are the same thing…As for keeping cash, that great if you know when to do it…Which he of course doesn't say or dare to predict. If you had that attitude since 2001 you would have lose out on 100% in the market gains. The point is, as with the real estate, knowing when to get in and out which nobody knows (inlcuding the self proclaimed market gurus).
October 15th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
my apologies… not a gold plug… I heard this guy on BNN today and then found the article on i guess a gold site.he actually recommended being 100% in cash.
October 15th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Please please please, no more M3 conspiracist gold stuff.
October 15th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Ask your grandma or grandpa whether they could eat gold in the 30s… Are stocks more edible than gold?
October 15th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Read this… The Grandich Letter… this guy was just on BNN.“What I’m about to write about is not pretty. In fact, it’s downright scary.â€http://news.goldseek.com/Grandich/1192464000.phpIsn't this site just catoring to the gold bulls? Save yourself, buy gold. Ask your grandma or grandpa whether they could eat gold in the 30s…
October 15th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Today, Greenspan says there was nothing the central bank could have effectively done to stop the housing bubble from forming. Yes, he says, he did miss just how big the subprime market had become. But there were other factors at play.He denied and denied there was a housing bubble, now he claims it wasn't his doingTICK TOCK, TICK TOCK
October 15th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Read this… The Grandich Letter… this guy was just on BNN.“What I’m about to write about is not pretty. In fact, it’s downright scary.â€http://news.goldseek.com/Grandich/1192464000.php
October 15th, 2007 at 10:28 am
Canadians will not save the US housing market. Most are up to their ears in debt and many are still "investing" in Calgary or Vancouver.Those with savings should wait another year until they consider investing in a property in USA. The loonie will most likely go up against the US dallah and US home prices will go down by another 10% to 15%.