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.

Kraftwerk: Aug 13, 2011; i do not have 10,000 bircoins, please stop asking

I don't understand why dedicated purpose built rental properties are no longer a thing anymore? Why do we build condo buildings with crappy condo boards run by amateurs who have no idea how to maintain and operate a building? In almost every condo environment I've lived in the lowest common denominator has always been malfunctioning equipment, lovely amenities, completely useless building staff and weird arbitrary rules that make no sense. Much needed maintenance almost never seems to get done while building fees seem to skyrocket on a regular basis with no justifiable explanation. You get fire alarms, routine power outages and worse.

I used to live in a condo that was built in 2016 (I moved in the fall of that year). In the 4 years that I've lived there I:
1. Lost my heating three times during the coldest parts of the winter and they didn't do anything to fix it for at least 2-3 days.
2. Had maintenance staff going in and out of my unit at least 4 times per year to fix whatever bullshit is wrong with the stack
3. Had fire alarms due to building idiots.
4. Watched as the various amenities the condo advertised were slowly taken out of service especially when the builder subsidized period of the condo was ended... (for example we used to have a shuttle bus to Kipling station)
5. Had noisy rear end neighbors that building staff couldn't do anything about. I'm talking literal banging and screaming like they're watching the superbowl at 3AM.

I feel like if a dedicated rental company built these buildings and only ever rented them out while assuming the maintenance responsibilities themselves, most of the above wouldn't be happening. Instead you parcel it out to absentee landlords and leave maintenance up to a condo board full of rank amateurs who have no business managing building finances. I think this is why owning a house is probably the best case scenario, yes you assume responsibility for anything that's broken but at least you have total control over the property.

# ? Aug 17, 2021 15:54

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# ? Jun 3, 2024 02:39

half cocaine: Jul 22, 2019

Dedicated purpose-built rentals are definitely being built in Vancouver. Developers try to sell condos during market dips and find that nobody wants to buy their garbage. They're being rented out at far above market rates because developers can do the math. The cost of land is so high they know that they need to charge 3-4000/month for a 2 bedroom 900sqft unit.

Who wants the government to build housing projects? And at what cost to taxpayers??? I'm sure we can all agree the free market is the most efficient path to affordable housing.

# ? Aug 17, 2021 16:07

Demon_Corsair: Mar 22, 2004; Goodbye stealing souls, hello stealing booty.

Kraftwerk posted:

I feel like if a dedicated rental company built these buildings and only ever rented them out while assuming the maintenance responsibilities themselves, most of the above wouldn't be happening.

I wouldn't get your hopes up, my building is an older purpose built rental and we have monthly emergency water shut offs, and they can't keep both elevators running for more then a few days.

But they can put up tvs that show ads in the elevators and lobby!

# ? Aug 17, 2021 17:12

Cold on a Cob: Feb 6, 2006; i've seen so much, i'm going blind
and i'm brain dead virtually; College Slice

�The numbers are staggering�: You now need $1 million to buy a detached house across 97% of the GTA � even in areas far from downtown

https://www.thestar.com/business/20...m-downtown.html
https://outline.com/xdcPBE

quote:

Even before the pandemic, the demand for a house with a yard was escalating as the millennial generation hit their family years.

But COVID has accelerated the drive to buy those homes, and the short supply of them has helped goose prices by more than 40 per cent annually this year in places such as Uxbridge, Scugog and King, according to a Re/MAX analysis of the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board�s (TRREB) territory.

It shows that in 97 per cent of the region, the price of detached houses rose more than 25 per cent year over year in the first six months of 2021.

Among 60 TRREB areas, only six had detached home prices that averaged under $1 million � mostly in further-flung communities such as Georgina and Scugog, where there are new-construction homes on the market. The number of under-$1-million neighbourhoods was down from 28 in 2019 and 18 last year.

�The numbers are staggering. Parts of Durham are up 50 per cent,� said Christopher Alexander, senior vice-president of Re/MAX Canada. The GTA�s transit expansion and the pandemic�s impact on working at home has made relocating outside downtown more attractive, he said.

As of Aug. 6, there are a total 3,705 detached homes listed for sale in Greater Toronto. Last year it was slightly higher at 4,000, Alexander said.

Although he doesn�t expect to see the same buying frenzy the GTA experienced in the first half of this year, Alexander said prices will continue to rise in the mid-to-high single digits in the second half of 2021. But the return of immigration could cause another surge next year.

�Where I�m concerned is � that outside a huge hike in interest rates or a major government intervention, which I don�t support, I don�t see this slowing down any time soon,� he said Monday.

Toronto house prices remain higher than those in the surrounding 905 communities but detached homes in the city haven�t seen the same percentage increases as the outlying areas this year. The Toronto real estate board put the average price of a house in the 905 at $1.33 million in June � 29.4 per cent above June 2020. In the City of Toronto, where the average house sold for $1.7 million, prices were up only 11.5 per cent year over year in June.

The Re/MAX report, titled GTA Hot Pocket Communities, shows that move-up buyers are boosting the number of sales in the City of Toronto. In areas such as Bathurst Manor and Clanton Park (area C06 on the TRREB map), sales soared 169 per cent in the first six months of this year, compared to the same period last year. In Lansing-Westgate, Newtonbrook West, Willowdale West and Westminster-Branson (C07), there were 120 per cent more sales in 2021. In the east, Milliken, Agincourt and Malvern West saw a 171 per cent jump in real estate transactions.

In a period when many people were relying on government assistance to weather the pandemic, low interest rates have propelled some move-up buyers to the high-performing luxury-home category. �People have so much equity in their homes, the jump up is an easier hill to climb,� said Alexander.

Frank Clayton, a senior research fellow at Ryerson University�s Centre for Urban Research and Land Development, has been saying for several years that there�s a disconnect between where people want to live and the kind of homes being built in the GTA.

�It�s a massive exercise to build the units we require but particularly the units we want,� he said.

Clayton hopes that the demand for single-family housing, particularly detached homes, will prompt the province to reconsider growth policies that emphasize multi-family housing, such as a requirement that 50 per cent of homes be built in urban areas rather than greenfields.

�That�s important because in built-up areas you mainly build apartments. Greenfields you build low-density housing,� he said.

Clayton said environmentalists, who object to lengthy commutes and the construction of homes on farm fields and wetlands, need to consider what people want as well as those concerns.

If cars and the greenhouse emissions of homes are polluting, they must be made more efficient, because people will still want them, he said: �If we are going to grow the Toronto region by 100,000 people a year, you can�t just grow up, you have to grow out.�

�We are so much more efficient at growing out than most cities around North America,� Clayton added. �The average lot size in the U.S. is between a quarter and half an acre for detached houses. We�re putting on houses on 32-foot front lots.�

Alexander said the housing supply needs to be a focal point of the federal election campaign and politicians aren�t talking about how they will alleviate the price pressure in big cities like Toronto, particularly with more immigrants likely coming.

�Levels of government need to get creative and think about how we�re going to support housing for potentially a big influx of people,� he said.

Source: Re/MAX 2021 GTA Hot Pocket Communities. Findings are based on Toronto Regional Real Estate Board data for the first six months of the year.

# ? Aug 17, 2021 17:25

Number19: May 14, 2003; HOCKEY OWNS
FUCK YEAH

Everyone is a millionaire now

Unless you weren�t able to get on the property ladder for any number of reasons. In that case you are now permanently part of Canadas underclass, the renter

# ? Aug 17, 2021 17:38

tagesschau: Sep 1, 2006; Guten Abend, meine Damen und Herren.

Number19 posted:

Everyone is a millionaire now

Except, as you said, there isn't enough money available for that actually to be true. :ssh:

# ? Aug 17, 2021 17:46

Kraftwerk: Aug 13, 2011; i do not have 10,000 bircoins, please stop asking

I don't think there is an easy solution to the housing crisis. The government will kick the can down the road until some kind of asset price bubble bursts and crashes the value of people's homes like it always does. If they actively do something to alleviate housing prices and prick that bubble themselves, they'll lose their next election and they are cowards. It really is ironic. I still remember when my family came to this country how cheap it was to get a place in Richmond Hill or Mississauga and in those days you were thought to be in the middle of nowhere. Now everyone wants to be here.

# ? Aug 17, 2021 17:56

Arc Hammer: Mar 4, 2013; Got any deathsticks?

Maybe that's what the Feds meant when they said they were lifting people out of the middle class. As long as you own a house you're no longer poor.

# ? Aug 17, 2021 18:10

Tighclops: Jan 23, 2008; Unable to deal with it; Grimey Drawer

Cold on a Cob posted:

‘The numbers are staggering’: You now need $1 million to buy a detached house across 97% of the GTA — even in areas far from downtown

https://www.thestar.com/business/20...m-downtown.html
https://outline.com/xdcPBE

My parents just sold their house in pickering, I guess it's a foregone conclusion that I'm going to get trapped in the rear end end of nowhere now. Great country we got here

# ? Aug 17, 2021 18:17

tagesschau: Sep 1, 2006; Guten Abend, meine Damen und Herren.

Kraftwerk posted:

If they actively do something to alleviate housing prices and prick that bubble themselves, they'll lose their next election and they are cowards.

It's worse than that. Any government that doesn't keep housing prices propped up is going to be shown the door, even though the government won't be able to prevent the bubble from popping when the time comes.

# ? Aug 17, 2021 18:18

Cold on a Cob: Feb 6, 2006; i've seen so much, i'm going blind
and i'm brain dead virtually; College Slice

Tighclops posted:

My parents just sold their house in pickering, I guess it's a foregone conclusion that I'm going to get trapped in the rear end end of nowhere now. Great country we got here

I'm fully resigned to renting for the rest of my life. I could buy a condo still but I don't want to own a condo and a house would be wasteful anyway since my partner and I are never having children.

# ? Aug 17, 2021 18:22

Slotducks: Oct 16, 2008; Nobody puts Phil in a corner.

I'm half convinced the bubble won't pop - more and more of our GDP will be housing related and then when it finally pops is when climate change will reach a breaking point and we'll be a destination for richugees from climate destroyed countries and it'll continue.

Livin' like a serf in a G7 country lmao

Cold on a Cob posted:

I'm fully resigned to renting for the rest of my life. I could buy a condo still but I don't want to own a condo and a house would be wasteful anyway since my partner and I are never having children.

Boomers are now downsizing into the homes that are purpose built for people like you and I. "Starter homes" with 2/3 bed 1 bath are now going for insane amounts of money

# ? Aug 17, 2021 18:22

Cold on a Cob: Feb 6, 2006; i've seen so much, i'm going blind
and i'm brain dead virtually; College Slice

Time to move to Thunder Bay to get ahead of the climate refugees

# ? Aug 17, 2021 18:23

Arc Hammer: Mar 4, 2013; Got any deathsticks?

Cold on a Cob posted:

Time to move to Thunder Bay to get ahead of the climate refugees

Planning on getting into the human trafficking business with former thunder bay cops?

# ? Aug 17, 2021 18:27

Arivia: Mar 17, 2011

Fidelitious posted:

Even to the owner themselves moving in, it should not be allowed unilaterally.
Forcibly removing someone from their home is so extreme that like you say, it should only be possible in the most limited of circumstances.

Oh and there better be some harsh punishment for any BS from the landlord regarding situations where they make life so hard for the tenant that they feel they have to leave.

I recall a story about a landlord somewhere in the maritimes I think who removed their tenants front door. That's not just fines imo, that's prison time. Or government seizure of their property. Whatever works.

Happened here in Hamilton recently too.

# ? Aug 17, 2021 18:27

Slotducks: Oct 16, 2008; Nobody puts Phil in a corner.

New post from BlogTO: Can't afford a house in Toronto? Check out these commuter towns near Toronto:
West Guilford
Ingoldsby
Maple Valley
Havelock
Gooderham
and darkhorse pick: Hallebourg

# ? Aug 17, 2021 18:30

Precambrian Video Games: Aug 19, 2002

There are so many choices for classy, culture-rich cities within easy* commuting** distance*** of Toronto, including:

London
Stratford
Paris
Berli... oh, oops
Princeton, Blandford-Blenheim (part of Oxford County)

# ? Aug 17, 2021 18:47

Cold on a Cob: Feb 6, 2006; i've seen so much, i'm going blind
and i'm brain dead virtually; College Slice

I unironically considered looking at condos in London but it's just too loving far from friends & family.

Then covid hit and all the condos I looked at before that had been 300k or less are now selling for 400k or more and I ain't paying 400k to live in London.

# ? Aug 17, 2021 18:52

Slotducks: Oct 16, 2008; Nobody puts Phil in a corner.

London - where you could work for either General Dynamics (or their offshoot suppliers) who sell tanks to Saudi Arabia to use on their populace - or work at Diamond Aircraft and await the next batch of layoffs due in about 18 months or so!

# ? Aug 17, 2021 18:56

Kraftwerk: Aug 13, 2011; i do not have 10,000 bircoins, please stop asking

Slotducks posted:

London - where you could work for either General Dynamics (or their offshoot suppliers) who sell tanks to Saudi Arabia to use on their populace - or work at Diamond Aircraft and await the next batch of layoffs due in about 18 months or so!

I thought Diamond shut down their London facility and only manufacture in Austria now?
(On a related note, Bombardier's Downsview site is being shut down by its new parent company)

Prices are skyrocketing in the Niagara region too. St. Catharines is going gangbusters on home sales and let me tell you, a lot of those houses are in lovely condition.

# ? Aug 17, 2021 19:10

Slotducks: Oct 16, 2008; Nobody puts Phil in a corner.

If you think boomer's and late xers left the world in a state of disrepair oh boy wait til you see their neglected houses.

# ? Aug 17, 2021 19:22

Cold on a Cob: Feb 6, 2006; i've seen so much, i'm going blind
and i'm brain dead virtually; College Slice

Yeah my in-laws' house is slowly crumbling around them.

Sum total of professional work they've had done since they bought it in 89:
- new roof in ~2015, only because it was outright leaking
- new furnace rental when the old one failed

Everything else is either ignored or my father in law does a lovely job fixing himself, like when he repaired the main bathroom tiles with plastic window blind slats and caulk.

# ? Aug 17, 2021 19:32

Slotducks: Oct 16, 2008; Nobody puts Phil in a corner.

New furnaces every 10 years because they can't keep up with the 40 year old leaky as windows they refuse to replace

# ? Aug 17, 2021 19:56

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

The only thing more brutally expensive than house upkeep is not doing the house upkeep.

# ? Aug 17, 2021 20:12

Cold on a Cob: Feb 6, 2006; i've seen so much, i'm going blind
and i'm brain dead virtually; College Slice

Baronjutter posted:

The only thing more brutally expensive than house upkeep is not doing the house upkeep.

Agreed. I am not going to judge someone harshly for getting the maximum life out of the fixtures and appliances and I absolutely think it's wasteful to renovate every 10 years like some people, but letting the place crumble is just sad.

We've wasted so much breath trying to convince our in-laws to do something about the condition of their home but it falls on deaf ears.

# ? Aug 17, 2021 20:23

qhat: Jul 6, 2015

Theoretically it shouldn't really matter whether you do upkeep or not, financially. The only difference is whether you choose to pay now or pay when you sell your home via the depreciation cost. But nowadays you can just wait for a housing mania to kick off and only accept offers that don't have home inspection as part of the deal.

# ? Aug 17, 2021 20:44

Cold on a Cob: Feb 6, 2006; i've seen so much, i'm going blind
and i'm brain dead virtually; College Slice

For superficial stuff, sure. The fact my father in law let the upstairs shower/tub stall leak so long that it damaged the ceiling above the dining room says otherwise though.

Edit: I would argue/agree the smart money is to put zero dollars into superficial stuff because trends change so often it's not worth, for example, updating the kitchen if you're going to sell in 5 to 10 years. But if you skip on things that can cause water damage or risk of fire, well, that might not pay off so well.

Cold on a Cob fucked around with this message at 21:10 on Aug 17, 2021

# ? Aug 17, 2021 21:08

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

There's a ton of upkeep stuff where deferring spending a few thousand to fix or replace a thing can end up costing tens of thousands later. Don't delay or gently caress around with anything foundation or roof related, fix all potential leaks and don't ever take a chance with electrical poo poo.

Anything else is whatever. Let you lawn go to poo poo, never redo your kitchen, its all superficial stuff. But do not let the bones of your house go bad.

# ? Aug 17, 2021 21:27

Fidelitious: Apr 17, 2018; MY BIRTH CRY WILL BE THE SOUND OF EVERY WALLET ON THIS PLANET OPENING IN UNISON.

Cold on a Cob posted:

Time to move to Thunder Bay to get ahead of the climate refugees

Coincidentally I was just discussing this with my wife a few days ago. Ottawa definitely has climate plans but one city cannot do anything to change the fact that this area could become fairly unlivable within say 40 years, being conservative.
You gotta choose the right time to head north and unfortunately Thunder Bay is somehow the furthest north.

I wonder when governments start doing climate investment in building northern cities.

# ? Aug 18, 2021 13:42

Slotducks: Oct 16, 2008; Nobody puts Phil in a corner.

Fidelitious posted:

I wonder when governments start doing climate investment in building northern cities.

Trust me - the moment you see the Ontario PC Government or Fed Cons start to build in northern cities it will also be the time you start to see them start to begrudgingly admit it's real. One can't happen without the other.

# ? Aug 18, 2021 15:16

Purgatory Glory: Feb 20, 2005

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canadas-inflation-rate-jumps-to-37-in-july-on-rising-housing-costs/

More inflation. That they won't be doing anything to battle.

# ? Aug 18, 2021 16:51

Crow Buddy: Oct 30, 2019; Guillotines?!? We don't need no stinking guillotines!

Slotducks posted:

Trust me - the moment you see the Ontario PC Government or Fed Cons start to build in northern cities it will also be the time you start to see them start to begrudgingly admit it's real. One can't happen without the other.

I am curious how you envision governments doing anything of the sort.

I am pretty resigned to doom as I doubt we, as a culture, have the wherewithal to actually do the dramatic things that may allow us to survive. Just building northern cities just doesn�t seem like anything a government could even do. Obviously they can, but I think it would require a complete redesign of how government actually functions to happen. It seems unlikely to be something our current governing structures would support/allow.

:negative:

# ? Aug 18, 2021 21:00

Slotducks: Oct 16, 2008; Nobody puts Phil in a corner.

Crow Buddy posted:

I am curious how you envision governments doing anything of the sort.

I am pretty resigned to doom as I doubt we, as a culture, have the wherewithal to actually do the dramatic things that may allow us to survive. Just building northern cities just doesn�t seem like anything a government could even do. Obviously they can, but I think it would require a complete redesign of how government actually functions to happen. It seems unlikely to be something our current governing structures would support/allow.

Literally any billionaire deciding that that area should service a massive factory or warehouse or whatever kicks the ball into motion

# ? Aug 18, 2021 21:29

Flocons de Jambon: Apr 11, 2015

ARTPUP posted:

Seeing more and more land for sale that is basically conservation protected on realtor.ca You pay for the land but cannot build on it. Here's one from Burlington: https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/23476535/1412-hidden-valley-road-burlington

What would be the point of buying this? Could you at least put a road in, then have a camper to "live" there? Only thing I can think of is to buy the land, then donate it to the Conservation Authority and get a tax deduction for the value...

Not a bad bet since this conservation land is right by a Metrolinx station. Isn't it part of the big push for rapid transit in the GTA that the province will override municipal zoning laws for transit-oriented development?

Flocons de Jambon fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Aug 19, 2021

# ? Aug 19, 2021 20:23

Cold on a Cob: Feb 6, 2006; i've seen so much, i'm going blind
and i'm brain dead virtually; College Slice

https://thinkpol.ca/2021/08/19/a-liberal-candidate-is-flipping-properties-in-vancouver-someone-got-twitter-to-gag-me-for-revealing-it/

quote:

A Liberal candidate is flipping properties in Vancouver. Someone got Twitter to gag me for revealing it.

By Rohana Rezel

I tweeted recently about how a candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada in the upcoming election was engaged in property flipping. This morning, less than a week after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a snap election, someone reported my tweets to Twitter and got my account locked.

The candidate who�s been doing a bit of flipping on the side is Taleeb Noormohamed. Noormohamed is running to be the next Member of Parliament for Vancouver-Granville, where the incumbent independent Jody Wilson-Raybould is not running this time. Noormohamed�s main opponents are Kailin Che, a lawyer who�s running for the Conservatives, and climate change activist Anjali Appadurai, who�s running on the NDP ticket.

In a series of tweets last May, I show how Noormohamed has been engaged in a series of real estate transactions that are consistent with quick flips.

In one tweet, I showed how Noormohamed bought 501-1616 W 13th Avenue, Vancouver for $880,000 in March 2020, and then flipped it for $949,000 in under three months. That tweet was reported to Twitter, and Twitter deemed that my tweet violated �rules against posting private information.�

That�s not Noormohamed�s only rodeo. Noormohamed bought 205-189 National Avenue, Vancouver for $755,000 in July 2020, and sold it seven months later for $870,000. Noormohamed has also been involved in numerous other real estate transactions.

Information about properties Noormohamed flipped are not private information by any stretch of the imagination. As well, there�s a clear public interest in revealing this information.

This is a chilling vision of what�s to come under Liberal�s proposed internet censorship laws. Under the proposed law, platforms like Twitter and Facebook will be forced to implement measures to identify harmful content and to respond to any content flagged by any user within 24 hours[1].

The public have a right to know that ruling politicians are profiting off real estate flipping in the midst of a housing crisis. But a false report is all that it takes currently to Twitter to censor such vital information of public interest about a ruling party politician. With the new laws Prime Minister Justin Trudeau�s government has proposed, we cannot expect any platform to fight back against government mandated censorship.

I have reached out to both Noormohamed and Twitter for comment, but neither party has yet to get back to me.

# ? Aug 20, 2021 11:54

Fidelitious: Apr 17, 2018; MY BIRTH CRY WILL BE THE SOUND OF EVERY WALLET ON THIS PLANET OPENING IN UNISON.

Because as we all know, real estate transactions are private information???

drat my local Land Registry Office is leaking all kinds of private information to me about former owners of my property.

# ? Aug 20, 2021 13:23

qhat: Jul 6, 2015

Who would�ve thought a liberal candidate�s first priority is to protect their own investments? More and more I despise this party, I used to think the federal liberals were different to the BC liberals, but I don�t think this is true anymore.

# ? Aug 20, 2021 18:33

Lead out in cuffs: Sep 18, 2012; "That's right. We've evolved."

"I can see that. Cool mutations."

Fidelitious posted:

Because as we all know, real estate transactions are private information???

drat my local Land Registry Office is leaking all kinds of private information to me about former owners of my property.

It seems like the sort of thing which an overworked Twitter moderator could mistake as posting someone's home address. Still lovely that someone (presumably from the candidate's campaign) abused the Twitter report functionality.

Also kinda murky, because at various levels property flippers are often claiming that every property they own is their "home address".

# ? Aug 20, 2021 18:48

peej: Apr 10, 2009

Cold on a Cob posted:

I'm fully resigned to renting for the rest of my life. I could buy a condo still but I don't want to own a condo and a house would be wasteful anyway since my partner and I are never having children.

You're just on the wrong side of the border!

# ? Aug 20, 2021 18:51

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# ? Jun 3, 2024 02:39

Crow Buddy: Oct 30, 2019; Guillotines?!? We don't need no stinking guillotines!

qhat posted:

Who would�ve thought a liberal candidate�s first priority is to protect their own investments? More and more I despise this party, I used to think the federal liberals were different to the BC liberals, but I don�t think this is true anymore.

Oh they are different, but running assholes is pretty evergreen for every party.

# ? Aug 21, 2021 15:41

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

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