Canada Housing/Debt: Trust me, I'm a landlord.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Canada Housing/Debt: Trust me, I'm a landlord.

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

Baronjutter posted:

Yeah this is my main reason for thinking capitalism is not a workable system, even with a lot of regulation. Marketing is far too powerful, it's basically mind control for who ever has the most money to spend on it. People are not rational actors nor do they have perfect information. Even well regulated systems end up just having political marketing dollars thrown at them until voters elect people who get rid of those regulations.

And this is why I hate everything to do with "organic locally sourced artisanal non GMO" loving bullshit. All things being equal, I say gently caress all this marketing bullshit and give me the best quality product for the lowest price before I shove your self righteous lulu lemon pants down your throat

# ? Jan 26, 2015 05:18

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# ? May 12, 2024 20:25

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

I'd love a consumer market where marketing is illegal and every single product is objectively reviewed/rated/quantified by some sort of god-ai and said stats/ratings are the only things that can appear on packaging and listings. Without being able to fall back on meaningless bullshit buzzwords or pseudoscience so many products would absolute not exist. Hell it would make real-estate a lot better too.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 05:22

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

And then where would the vitamin/supplement/TCM industry go? :qq:

# ? Jan 26, 2015 05:24

PC LOAD LETTER: May 23, 2005; WTF?!

Baronjutter posted:

I'd love a consumer market where marketing is illegal and every single product is objectively reviewed/rated/quantified by some sort of god-ai and said stats/ratings are the only things that can appear on packaging and listings.

Passing a 'Truth in Advertising' law and requiring RE Agents/bankers/car salesman/<insert seller of high priced item or service here> to do some standardized education of sellers and buyers on the basics of the item and market wouldn't make your dream become reality but would probably go a long way towards eliminating the worst of nonsense that goes on.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 05:32

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

PC LOAD LETTER posted:

Passing a 'Truth in Advertising' law and requiring RE Agents/bankers/car salesman/<insert seller of high priced item or service here> to do some standardized education of sellers and buyers on the basics of the item and market wouldn't make your dream become reality but would probably go a long way towards eliminating the worst of nonsense that goes on.

Sorry I keep seeing commercials on TV saying how the new Truth in Advertising law is actually a way for the government to social-engineer our consumer habits and is an attack on freedom of speech and it will hurt the economy so I'm very much against it, as are most people.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 05:35

FrozenVent: May 1, 2009; The Boeing 737-200QC is the undisputed workhorse of the skies.

PC LOAD LETTER posted:

Passing a 'Truth in Advertising' law and requiring RE Agents/bankers/car salesman/<insert seller of high priced item or service here> to do some standardized education of sellers and buyers on the basics of the item and market wouldn't make your dream become reality but would probably go a long way towards eliminating the worst of nonsense that goes on.

Car loan paperwork have a long bit about how much you're paying for the car, how much you're paying for the interest, how much you're paying in fees and all that. You have to initial next to that.

Yeah, that works about as well as the gross pictures on packs of cigarettes.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 05:40

PC LOAD LETTER: May 23, 2005; WTF?!

Baronjutter posted:

Sorry I keep seeing commercials on TV saying how the new Truth in Advertising law is actually a way for the government to social-engineer our consumer habits and is an attack on freedom of speech and it will hurt the economy so I'm very much against it, as are most people.

Yea enacting effective legislation will be at best a bitch to do as long as current conditions persist. I don't think they will persist forever though. For the US demographics alone might be enough to shift things come 2020. Yes I'm trying to be optimistic with a date like that. I realize it could easily 2024 or even 2028 before the demographics shift enough to allow enough D's into both houses of Congress and really shift the status quo. No I'm not optimistic enough to believe that the D's will be any less pro business to vote for such a law. Just was originally giving an example of something that'd be greatly beneficial.

FrozenVent posted:

Car loan paperwork have a long bit about how much you're paying for the car, how much you're paying for the interest, how much you're paying in fees and all that. You have to initial next to that.

That isn't the sort of buyer/seller education I was talking about, or rather its only a part of it. Though it is helpful if its done properly (ie. why you're paying this, what the historical norms are, standardized methods for showing affordability for a given income/debt level, etc.) instead of, 'initial here to acknowledge how much your paying'.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 07:20

Dreylad: Jun 19, 2001

tagesschau posted:

What makes you think that? A median housing price that's as far above the normal multiple of median income as Toronto's is just isn't sustainable.

I guess I should have said that I think any real estate in collapse in Toronto would be largely in the condo sector. I don't think Toronto is recession-proof by any means.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 13:48

EvilJoven: Mar 18, 2005; NOBODY,IN THE HISTORY OF EVER, HAS ASKED OR CARED WHAT CANADA THINKS. YOU ARE NOT A COUNTRY. YOUR MONEY HAS THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND ON IT. IF YOU DIG AROUND IN YOUR BACKYARD, NATIVE SKELETONS WOULD EXPLODE OUT OF YOUR LAWN LIKE THE END OF POLTERGEIST. CANADA IS SO POLITE, EH?; Fun Shoe

You'd be surprised how many people in Toronto are one or two paycheques away from losing their half a million dollar house. Imagine if interest rates go up or we start seeing layoffs due to current economic stressors.

The last place I worked at was full of people playing high stakes shell games with their housing, trying to keep ahead of the game.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 14:32

Reince Penis: Nov 15, 2007; by R. Guyovich

EvilJoven posted:

You'd be surprised how many people in Toronto are one or two paycheques away from losing their half a million dollar house. Imagine if interest rates go up or we start seeing layoffs due to current economic stressors.

The last place I worked at was full of people playing high stakes shell games with their housing, trying to keep ahead of the game.

Anecdote time:

My friend is a banker/financial planner at a big 5 branch in Toronto. We were talking about house prices and incomes over the holidays . She was telling me that she sees younger people all the time who had mom & dad give them the down payment, and six months down the line can't even have their credit extended for a new roof/furnace because they're already over their heads in debt.

There are a lot of people in Toronto one paycheck or rate hike from selling thier homes.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 14:54

Dreylad: Jun 19, 2001

yeah fair enough, reading this thread I should know that poo poo could easily backslide everywhere, not just cities-other-than-Toronto.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 15:18

triplexpac: Mar 24, 2007; Suck it
Two tears in a bucket
And then another thing
I'm not the one they'll try their luck with
Hit hard like brass knuckles
See your face through the turnbuckle dude
I got no love for you

PK loving SUBBAN posted:

Anecdote time:

My friend is a banker/financial planner at a big 5 branch in Toronto. We were talking about house prices and incomes over the holidays . She was telling me that she sees younger people all the time who had mom & dad give them the down payment, and six months down the line can't even have their credit extended for a new roof/furnace because they're already over their heads in debt.

There are a lot of people in Toronto one paycheck or rate hike from selling thier homes.

I know a few people who have houses and/or condos and they each got like 20K from inheritance or parents to buy the drat thing.

One couple got divorced, and are still in the process of paying their parents back for the house that they owned for maybe a year and had to sell cause they couldn't afford it.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 16:10

peter banana: Sep 2, 2008; Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.

It's not just younger people. I'm tangentially related to HR now and the amount of 35+ people I hear who come up to talk to our HR team about the basics of enrolling in our RRSP. They ask the head of HR how to split their investments. Over 50% of my company isn't even enrolled and their contributions sit in a daily interest account. I regularly hear about people in their 40's who have only a couple hundred in their chequing account until payday.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 16:48

SpannerX: Apr 26, 2010; I had a beer with Stephen Harper once and now I like him.; Fun Shoe

So I guess that having 100k rrsps, 20k liquid, and half of our mortgage (of our relatively modest home) paid off between the two of us isn't so bad. Yay me (and my wife)?

# ? Jan 26, 2015 17:04

jet sanchEz: Oct 24, 2001; Lousy Manipulative Dog

My girlfriend's uncle sold his house in Vancouver this past weekend for ~$1.3M. He and his wife paid less than $200K for it back in the '80s. He was going to keep it for a few more years but he wanted to downsize now and do some travelling.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 17:11

Lexicon: Jul 29, 2003; I had a beer with Stephen Harper once and now I like him.

jet sanchEz posted:

My girlfriend's uncle sold his house in Vancouver this past weekend for ~$1.3M. He and his wife paid less than $200K for it back in the '80s. He was going to keep it for a few more years but he wanted to downsize now and do some travelling.

The best part is: that capital will throw off so many dividends, he can live still wherever he wants in Vancouver anyway.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 17:15

Postess with the Mostest: Apr 4, 2007; Arabian nights
'neath Arabian moons
A fool off his guard
could fall and fall hard
out there on the dunes

SpannerX posted:

So I guess that having 100k rrsps, 20k liquid, and half of our mortgage (of our relatively modest home) paid off between the two of us isn't so bad. Yay me (and my wife)?

Depends if you're 25 or 55.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 17:16

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

jet sanchEz posted:

My girlfriend's uncle sold his house in Vancouver this past weekend for ~$1.3M. He and his wife paid less than $200K for it back in the '80s. He was going to keep it for a few more years but he wanted to downsize now and do some travelling.

Any boomer rear end in a top hat not doing this is a loving moron. That's tax free capital gains.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 17:18

SpannerX: Apr 26, 2010; I had a beer with Stephen Harper once and now I like him.; Fun Shoe

Ikantski posted:

Depends if you're 25 or 55.

Unfortunately, 43. Oh well. Wife has a pension, and I've got... 20ish years left in my career.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 17:57

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

I've politely told my parents to sell their house now that they are just 2 people living in like a 4,000 sqft house with huge gardens all by them selves and they refuse to ever rent but they could downsize and have 200-300k in the bank and not be constantly struggling with upkeep and taxes and gardening. But that's never going to happen, ever.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 17:57

ascendance: Feb 19, 2013

Baronjutter posted:

I've politely told my parents to sell their house now that they are just 2 people living in like a 4,000 sqft house with huge gardens all by them selves and they refuse to ever rent but they could downsize and have 200-300k in the bank and not be constantly struggling with upkeep and taxes and gardening. But that's never going to happen, ever.

We all get to the point in our lives when we realize our parents don't always make the best choices.

Just this weekend, my furnace conked out. My parents told me to sign up for a Direct Energy contract.

Hahaha.

No.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 18:39

triplexpac: Mar 24, 2007; Suck it
Two tears in a bucket
And then another thing
I'm not the one they'll try their luck with
Hit hard like brass knuckles
See your face through the turnbuckle dude
I got no love for you

ascendance posted:

We all get to the point in our lives when we realize our parents don't always make the best choices.

Just this weekend, my furnace conked out. My parents told me to sign up for a Direct Energy contract.

Hahaha.

No.

At least they aren't lazy like drat millenials!!

# ? Jan 26, 2015 18:42

Baudin: Dec 31, 2009

triplexpac posted:

At least they aren't lazy like drat millenials!!

Almost every generation about the next since the dawn of time.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 18:50

Shifty Pony: Dec 28, 2004; Up ta somethin'

Wait you can rent a goddamn furnace? This is a business model that exists?

# ? Jan 26, 2015 18:58

Juul-Whip: Mar 10, 2008

PK loving SUBBAN posted:

I feel like I'm having a schizophrenic breakthrough, because I suddenly see all the connections between lovely 3hr commutes, inflated suburban property values, miserable Torontonians/905ers and the election of Rob Ford.

It's.... beautiful.

I've seen time lapse videos of a Toronto car commute and like, god drat how do these people go on living?

Shifty Pony posted:

Wait you can rent a goddamn furnace? This is a business model that exists?

Direct Energy is a scam where they offer you a fixed rate on your hydro or gas that just happens to be a few points above the mean of the rates you'll get if you just pay the power or gas company directly. They claim that those regular rates are very fluctuant, and that's a real problem when you're on a pension or other fixed income and barely break even each month because of whatever you spend all your money on. So why not pay a fixed rate to a middle man at a small premium which is commonly pitched by slimy door-to-door sales dicks and cold callers.

Juul-Whip fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Jan 26, 2015

# ? Jan 26, 2015 19:22

ascendance: Feb 19, 2013

Shifty Pony posted:

Wait you can rent a goddamn furnace? This is a business model that exists?

It does. And you can rent a hot water heater too. However, there are early exit penalties if you move.

But no, they were telling me to sign a furnace servicing and repair contract with Direct Energy.

A quick google search will tell you this is a bad idea. Especially since I have a trustworthy HVAC guy.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 19:27

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

I can't believe people don't have cash on hand for emergencies like this.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 19:33

Juul-Whip: Mar 10, 2008

"And cut into my $200 a week booze budget? Nah, stuff like this is what my line of credit is for" --a shocking number of people I know

# ? Jan 26, 2015 19:34

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

quote:

*tugs collar nervously* MT @BenRabidoux: #Calgary condo sales down 40% y/y so far in Jan. Inventory doubled. Median prices falling.

https://twitter.com/LJKawa/status/559710603691163648?s=09

# ? Jan 26, 2015 19:35

triplexpac: Mar 24, 2007; Suck it
Two tears in a bucket
And then another thing
I'm not the one they'll try their luck with
Hit hard like brass knuckles
See your face through the turnbuckle dude
I got no love for you

THC posted:

I've seen time lapse videos of a Toronto car commute and like, god drat how do these people go on living?

Since I've gotten married I've been having nightmares of us having to move out to the suburbs to buy a house, and having to drive into the city every day.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 19:35

computer parts: Nov 18, 2010; PLEASE CLAP

Baronjutter posted:

I'd love a consumer market where marketing is illegal and every single product is objectively reviewed/rated/quantified by some sort of god-ai and said stats/ratings are the only things that can appear on packaging and listings. Without being able to fall back on meaningless bullshit buzzwords or pseudoscience so many products would absolute not exist. Hell it would make real-estate a lot better too.

The most effective lies are typically lies of omission.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 19:59

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

quote:

Royal Bank Is First to Cut Mortgage Rates as Bond Yields Plunge
terminal: {NSN NISRZC6TTDST<Go>}

Check out @prudent_theta's Tweet: https://twitter.com/prudent_theta/status/559788133391556608?s=09

# ? Jan 26, 2015 20:03

sbaldrick: Jul 19, 2006; Driven by Hate

Cultural Imperial posted:

I can't believe people don't have cash on hand for emergencies like this.

Most people don't have the cash on hand to pay the 500 bucks if the furnace or hot water tanks goes bust (call cost plus parts). I pay 20 dollars a month and they just ripped out and replaced the hot water tank as part of the service contract or what it would cost for 10 years to buy it and given they generally only have a lifespan of about 10 years it's worth the money.

That's how you do a real emergency budget for something like this.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 20:18

MickeyFinn: May 8, 2007; Biggie Smalls and Junior Mafia some mark ass bitches

sbaldrick posted:

Most people don't have the cash on hand to pay the 500 bucks if the furnace or hot water tanks goes bust (call cost plus parts). I pay 20 dollars a month and they just ripped out and replaced the hot water tank as part of the service contract or what it would cost for 10 years to buy it and given they generally only have a lifespan of about 10 years it's worth the money.

That's how you do a real emergency budget for something like this.

I'm not going to argue the merits of service plans versus saving the money yourself, but having any kind of plan at all it miles ahead of most people.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 20:44

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

quote:

Rate cut: RBC cuts mortgage rates in wake of surprise cut by Bank of Canada last week. RBC five-year fixed rate now 2.84% down from 2.94%

https://twitter.com/pwaldieGLOBE/status/559798377043726336?s=09

Housing is totally affordable you guys

# ? Jan 26, 2015 21:00

Rick Rickshaw: Feb 21, 2007; I am not disappointed I lost the PGA Championship. Nope, I am not.

THC posted:

I've seen time lapse videos of a Toronto car commute and like, god drat how do these people go on living?

Link? As a cyclist, I enjoy car-commute schadenfreude.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 21:24

jet sanchEz: Oct 24, 2001; Lousy Manipulative Dog

Cultural Imperial posted:

Any boomer rear end in a top hat not doing this is a loving moron. That's tax free capital gains.

Yup, he is 61 and intends to keep on working as long as the company will let him. He gets 2 months of vacation and each year travels all over the world, he was in Nepal last spring and is visiting eastern Europe this year. His kids are all grown up and left Vancouver years ago so he doesn't need a house anymore, he bought a condo by a metro station and will travel 15 minutes to his job. Best place in the world to live, etc.

# ? Jan 26, 2015 22:36

Saltin: Aug 20, 2003; Don't touch

In a thread where pretty much everyone agrees that renting is better than owning, it's pretty funny to see people laughing at hot water tank rentals. Who the gently caress wants to own a hot water tank. You need to own them forever in order for it to be better than renting.

# ? Jan 27, 2015 00:18

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

If you can't afford 3k for home repairs you shouldn't be owning a house.

# ? Jan 27, 2015 00:24

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# ? May 12, 2024 20:25

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/canada/british-columbia/topstories/micro-condos-promoted-as-affordable-real-estate-in-surrey-1.2932464

quote:

go backNewsBritish Columbia

ADVERTISEMENT

i

Micro-condos promoted as 'affordable' real estate in Surrey

Concrete tower in Surrey advertising suites under $94,000

NEW3:03 PM PTCBC News

A 35-storey concrete tower in Surrey is the latest to jump into the small home trend, with suites as small as 316 sq. ft. offered to buyers for $93,900.

They're being billed as "affordable luxury," and a way to purchase something for under $100,000 in greater Vancouver's hot real estate market.

"It is a perfect suite for bachelors, or single people or if you're just trying to get into the market," said Bill Morrison of Platinum Project Marketing, during a tour of the building's display suite.

# ? Jan 27, 2015 00:35

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