Open Topic

Friday Free-for-all!

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268 Comments

It’s that time of the week again so lets do our regular end of the week news round up and open topic discussion thread for the weekend!  Here are a few recent links to kick off the chat:

–Inventory starts to climb sharply
–‘Vancouver condo crisis’ to hit Calgary?
–Pillar of sand and fog
–Statscan warned on RE bubble
–Selling like a couch on craigslist
–Only see a bubble in retrospect?
–Digital Domain sinking fast
–Rates stay low, good or bad?
–Genworth: Don’t wait to buy Toronto
–Immigration crackdown causes fraud?
–Canadian exports collapse

So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes here and have an excellent weekend!

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Anonymous

Hi

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[…] home was purchased in 2007 for $540,000! Thats 16% below the 2007 price!” – Groundhog at VCI 15 Sep 2012 11:24am Share: This entry was posted in 11. Regrets about Investing in RE and tagged Anecdotes, British […]

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X

@Vancouver: at 3% = $9k on a 300k mortage you are paying only interest and none of the principle. what is the amortization for this mortgage? Infinity?

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Vancouver

4SlicesofCheese – hey dumb! not only is it $9,000. But once you make the first payment and each payment after that the amount declines 🙂

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Vancouver

So much cheaper to buy vs rent now in Vancouver.

1-bedroom downtown is $1650 to $1700 = $20,000 per year.

$75,000 down-payment
$300,000 mortgage at 3% = $9,000
Property Tax = $1,300
Strata fees = $2,700
Total = $13,000 per year.

SAVINGS $7,000 or about 10% return on down-payment.

I will repost until this is not foreclosed on…

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Vancouver

4SlicesofCheese – Are you 4 slices of dumb?

The money is savings, it doesn’t come from anywhere.

I bet you have debt cause you are so dumb!

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Girlbear

UPDATE 1-Canadian existing home sales drop in August 17 Sep 2012 09:54 ET * Sales down 5.8 pct m/m, 8.9 pct on year * Declines seen across most of country * Tighter mortgage rules have cut demand – economist TORONTO, Sept 17 (Reuters) – Sales of existing homes in Canada dropped in August from July, notching the biggest month-over-month decline in more than two years, the Canadian Real Estate Association said on Monday in another sign Canada’s long real estate boom is cooling. The industry group for Canadian real estate agents said sales activity was down 5.8 percent in August from July. Actual sales for August, not seasonally adjusted, were down 8.9 percent from a year earlier. “While we always caution that housing market trends at the national level can and do run counter to trends in many local markets,… Read more »

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4SlicesofCheese

Oh duh I get it. you are only calculating interest.

But still only saying it is 9000 a year is misleading, even though the rest goes to principle, you have to add it to your budget. That money has to come from somewhere.

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4SlicesofCheese

“4SlicesofCheese – Just use the interest to figure out cost. The rest of the payment is your money. The rest pays down your mortgage.”

That is what I did, I used a mortgage calculator from a realtors site and it gave me $1,262/month for a 300k mortgage at 3% for 30 years.

Can you show me how you got 9k/ year for a 300k mortgage at 3%?
I am honestly curious, maybe it is cheaper than I thought if I can borrow your math.

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Vote Down The Facts

@An Observer:

Closing costs would be about $1200-$1500, and a FTB would get an exemption on the PTT.

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An Observer

I don’t see many $375K apartments downtown renting for $1700 – I’m sure there are a few but not typical. More like $1600 = $400K which cuts into your numbers by about $4K and that $75K down payment can easily earn 4% after tax in very safe investments so a $3K opportunity cost.

Now the return is 0% – costs when things go wrong and need fixing not to mention the equity that is about to disappear with falling prices, the $10K or so in PTT and legal / inspection fees up front and another $15K in realtor fees when you sell.

Great deal.

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oh oh

Anyone know anything about the fancy development on Granville and 16th?

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Vancouver

4SlicesofCheese – Just use the interest to figure out cost. The rest of the payment is your money. The rest pays down your mortgage.

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4SlicesofCheese

A 300k mortgage at 3% even at 30 year amortization is $1,262

How did you come up with 9k a year?

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Vancouver

Vote Down The Facts – I know I was being conservative so people couldn’t find any holes in the math. Thanks tho.

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Vote Down The Facts

@Vancouver:

The property tax estimate is too high – a resident owner would likely qualify for a discount.

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Vancouver

So much cheaper to buy vs rent now in Vancouver.

1-bedroom downtown is $1650 to $1700 = $20,000 per year.

$75,000 down-payment
$300,000 mortgage at 3% = $9,000
Property Tax = $1,300
Strata fees = $2,700
Total = $13,000 per year.

SAVINGS $7,000 or about 10% return on down-payment.

I will repost until this is not foreclosed on.

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Vancouver

Of course all you use is interest. It is the cost going out. The rest of the mortgage payment is going back into your pocket.

I can help anyone do a calculation on any property they think is good value. We can stop the madness of renting.

We all need to spend wisely and save wisely. So stop paying your landlords mortgages.

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Vancouver

Painted turtle – hard time following my math?

Just showing that anyone can make their dream happen and buy a property and save a ton of money versus renting.

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Vote Down The Facts

@Painted turtle:

I imagine the $9k is just the interest.

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popgoesthebubble

Ok I am getting tired of waiting. When is this damn thing going to pop? I don’t want 1% drops, I want 30-40%! What’s going to be the triggering event?

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gokou3

@HAM Solo: Don’t you think a bailout will not occur until there’s substantial pain, e.g. 30-40% drop? If you think the bailout will happen when there’s a 10% drop, then there should have been bailout already given average prices have dropped by 12%.

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Dukes of Moral Hazardous

@Vancouver: “$75,000 down-payment”

Say you did this deal. Is there any way of wringing out say $60,000 of the down-payment and putting it into a segregated annuity? Eg: Drain the collateral down to 5% and then plead DK when it can’t be rented out. DK = Didn’t Know.

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Painted turtle

Find a better calculator!!! I obtain $22,000 for buying. Bad return on investment for your $70,000…

Nice try 😉 Are you a realtor?

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Vancouver

So much cheaper to buy vs rent now in Vancouver.

1-bedroom downtown is $1650 to $1700 = $20,000 per year.

$75,000 down-payment
$300,000 mortgage at 3% = $9,000
Property Tax = $1,300
Strata fees = $2,700
Total = $13,000 per year.

SAVINGS $7,000 or about 10% return on down-payment.

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