Comments on: Mortgage slaves in Toronto

By: Toronto realtor

Toronto realtor — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 08:15:48 +0000

Yeah, this is exactly the case. It happens again and again, still the same mistake. I have dealt with couple of cases like this every year during my career. People should be more cautious in this but on the other hand I can understand them. Imagine yourself in a position that you have found a house that fit your dreams and you are under time pressure it could easily happen that you acting bit irrationally. I can just recommend to all potential buyers to read one of my guides in order to avoid problems. You can find them on my webpage Toronto realtor.

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By: elli davis

elli davis — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 06:58:51 +0000

I agree that the prices now are incredible high but it should be change in a couple of month I believe. I think that buying a house in the US is not a solution for that problem because you may have problems with the selling if you decide like that. What concerns the Toronto houses that`s true that the first-home buyers are in real trouble but renting can be one of the possible options until the situation improves which will soon.

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By: Leaving Vancouver For Different Reasons « Vancouver Real Estate Anecdote Archive

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:58:09 +0000

[...] And morefrom the same poster 2008-03-26 14:58:20 - [...]

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By: jesse

jesse — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:07:18 +0000

"Believe me, spec builders of new unsold houses are scared s**tless" I agree 100% here. The problem is exacerbated because margins are now very thin due to rising labour costs. One spec builder I talked to said they made their profits on land appreciation and lost on the structure. It is not going to be pretty if prices start dropping.

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By: jesse

jesse — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:54:42 +0000

From the article: "B.C. and its trade-dependent resource industries will soon follow the U.S. into recession, with obvious implications for real estate. " That's actually not the only economic concern. Almost all the reduction in unemployment in the past 5 years has been due to construction/RE jobs (yes). Supply will start waning if buyers do not materialise this year and the vicious cycle will begin.

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By: jesse

jesse — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:43:12 +0000

re: Vancouver Magazine article In terms of MSM articles this one isn't bad. Looks like a few reporters are perusing the blogs and the comments! Maybe they saw the post on MSM bias a few weeks' back? I'll remember the name Jim Sutherland for future reference. He missed mohican's blog though albeit the FPPS blog is not 100% RE focused.

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By: jesse

jesse — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:20:53 +0000

"Incur the debt, obtain principal — like “pre-saving” and hold it or waste it as you see fit, much as you would unexpended income that has gone into savings." A good way of thinking about your line of questions is understanding the difference between balance sheet and income/cash flow statements. People make careers out of this stuff I hear.

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By: BDK

BDK — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:18:43 +0000

FROM VANCOUVER MAGAZINE. 2. Be Condo-Wary This category of real estate attracts a large proportion of the wrath dispensed by the bad-news bears, who regard it as the domain of flippers and “specuvestors,” a group they disdain or, at least, envy and resent. On the upside, it’s led to blogs like Condohype.wordpress.com, which wittily dissects the marketing efforts behind our city of glass (admittedly an easy target). On the downside, it’s contributed to global warming due to the number of bears driving around counting darkened windows—a sign, they believe, that an apartment is empty, which means it is owned by a speculator who will be forced to abandon it to foreclosure when the market turns, a crucial stage in the process leading to real-estate armageddon. All this said, many sane and sober prognosticators regard downtown condos, and apartments in general, as vulnerable, and recent market statistics provide some evidence to support the view. One of the culprits is a flood of assignments—units that were presold and are now nearing completion, at which time the original buyers (those specuvestors) will have to pay in full, something they had no intention of doing. Due to taxes and fees, assigners will have to sell for as much as 10 percent more than the original presale price just to break even, which in a slowing market will be difficult. Assuming Vancouver’s population continues to grow toward a seemingly inevitable three or four million, the long-term future of apartment living is bright—but in the short term there could be blood.

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By: BDK

BDK — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:17:39 +0000

Vancouver Condo, Un real estate, real estate talks etc. are all mentioned in this months Vancouver Magazine!

http://www.vancouvermagazine.com/articles/08apr/S…

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By: Bankerman

Bankerman — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:56:56 +0000

The BC boom is not a commodity boom but rather a credit boom where hundreds of billions of mortgage debt has been added to the balance sheets. British Columbia will likely be ground zero for a massive banking system crisis to hit Canadian banks. There is a reason why the bank act originally required 25% down payments in order to protect the buyer. Now with zero down and 40 year ammortizations, this will be truly really ugly. With little industry, wealth creation to support the price level, when the high paying construction jobs cease, this province will see tens and tens of billions of non performing debt. Canadian banks, CMHC are in big trouble. Taxpayer bailout?

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