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qhat posted:It’s definitely possible. I feel like big corporate bonds collapsing is going to be really bad for confidence in that sector, other companies may not be able to borrow at favourable rates if at all. Depending on how exposed people are exposed to those bonds, I reckon it could get sour really quickly, but I don’t actually know for sure. I just think bonds of these biggest companies going bad seems really scary. I could see it going another way too - a stricter real estate regime in China sending another flood of speculative capital this way.
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Sep 13, 2021 18:03
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mila kunis posted:I could see it going another way too - a stricter real estate regime in China sending another flood of speculative capital this way. Debt going bad is deflationary rather than inflationary. As in people don't have money to spend anymore whether they want to speculate or not, either through losing money on investments or the inability to draw on any kind of credit. If those bonds are wrapped up in securities like they were with CDOs in 2007, there could be another financial meltdown and worldwide housing collapse. But that's all speculation. I don't think anybody knows what could happen or how fast, and that's why people are so worried about it.
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Sep 13, 2021 19:01
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Femtosecond posted:If you want to watch something that'll make you sick to your stomach, here's Justin Trudeau responding to a question asking what he's going to do about people treating housing as an investment causing skyrocketing price increases by enthusiastically saying that housing is an investment and one he wants you to get into! That's not what has caused the skyrocketing prices, though. Most homeowners consider their house their investment for retirement and it's been like that since the 1940's. There's just a huge supply shortage of housing close to the major cities because most of the usuable space within a few hours' drive is taken up by suburban neighborhoods with houses on double or triple lots. The solutions aren't that complicated, just make it legal for anyone to buy double/triple lots, partition it into 2/3 single lots, and build more houses on them. On the larger, busier streets do the same thing but let people build 4-5 storey mixed use buildings. The added benefit of this is that the tax base increases for these neighborhoods, too, so infrastructure maintenance and improvement is more financially viable. It would make sense to also eminent domain all the abandoned buildings/lots in the major cities and just build public housing on them too.
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Sep 13, 2021 21:14
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jettisonedstuff posted:That's not what has caused the skyrocketing prices, though. Most homeowners consider their house their investment for retirement and it's been like that since the 1940's. There's just a huge supply shortage of housing close to the major cities because most of the usuable space within a few hours' drive is taken up by suburban neighborhoods with houses on double or triple lots. I mean, this supply-side stuff is necessary and important, but the City of Vancouver has been doing literally what you've posted, and there is still a housing shortage. It's also important to note that where you've written "people", what you mean is "billion-dollar development corporations whose sole priority is maximising shareholder profit", which is a big part of the problem. There have also been a lot of measures put in place to reduce the influx of overseas speculator capital, to the point where the only measures left are to actively target domestic investors. At this stage the only options likely to address housing affordability are massive investment in public housing and disincentivizing housing as an investment vehicle through new taxes and closing of loopholes like the primary residence exemption. Unfortunately there's only one party proposing anything vaguely like that, and they don't seem likely to get into power, at least in this election.
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Sep 13, 2021 21:30
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Lead out in cuffs posted:At this stage the only options likely to address housing affordability are massive investment in public housing and disincentivizing housing as an investment vehicle through new taxes and closing of loopholes like the primary residence exemption. Unfortunately there's only one party proposing anything vaguely like that, and they don't seem likely to get into power, at least in this election. I thought there were two different communist parties?
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Sep 13, 2021 22:02
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Hilarious if what you meant was the NDP, because their solution to expensive housing is to give renters more money to put directly into the hands of landlords.
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Sep 13, 2021 23:05
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Agreed, at its core the NDP is still a 'status quo' party, because otherwise they would be as irrelevant as the Green Party. 500,000 new affordable rental units over 10 years probably does not even keep up with new demand, never mind closing the gap. 30-year mortgage terms and doubling the tax credit is shuffling furniture around that does nothing to address affordability. There is some potentially good stuff in there regarding helping co-ops and such, but that's like swimming up a waterfall. Apparently no one is willing to be actually radical.
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Sep 14, 2021 13:18
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Could the federal government affect how strict zoning can be, or is that strictly in the provincial wheelhouse?
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Sep 14, 2021 17:14
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It's municipal, not even provincial.
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Sep 14, 2021 18:58
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McGavin posted:It's municipal, not even provincial. Provinces have full control of what, if anything, they delegate to municipalities, though.
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Sep 14, 2021 19:06
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Didn't housing used to have a big federal role before Chrétien and Martin downloaded it all and got us into the crisis we're in today? I imagine reuploading isn't feasible with all the graft developers have on provincial and municipal politics.
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Sep 15, 2021 00:15
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eXXon posted:Provinces have full control of what, if anything, they delegate to municipalities, though. Yeah the provinces could take a total sledgehammer to the current powers of municipal governments when it comes to zoning and approval. There was discussion a while back of concrete poo poo the government could do to improve that whole thing from the report the BC government commissioned.
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Sep 15, 2021 00:37
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My condo building in BC wants me to pay $10k because there's water leaking into the balconies or some poo poo. Shouldn't this be coming out of the reserve?
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Sep 16, 2021 16:46
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Lol the reserve! Good one! Next you're going to want to see the depreciation report hahaha!
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Sep 16, 2021 16:57
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I got into the mistake of arguing with people on facebook this time over housing prices when it comes to the gov doing anything to control price levels you get I DON"T WNAT MY HOUSE TO LOSE 50% OF ITS VALUE!!!!! as a response from a whole bunch of people
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Sep 16, 2021 17:00
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Typo posted:I got into the mistake of arguing with people on facebook Do they have kids and do they want to live with them forever?
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Sep 16, 2021 17:02
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Typo posted:I got into the mistake of arguing with people on facebook That's our electorate 
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Sep 16, 2021 17:15
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The more debt people have to take on to buy a house the more likely they'd fight any housing policy that would see prices come down, which of course means said policies don't happen and prices go up which makes more and more people single-issue house price voters. It's been a fantastic system.
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Sep 16, 2021 17:19
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Throatwarbler posted:My condo building in BC wants me to pay $10k because there's water leaking into the balconies or some poo poo. Shouldn't this be coming out of the reserve? That should come from the contingency fund if there's enough money in there. But ultimately it should come to a vote on what to do. Whether that's using all contingency funds if there's a enough. Or if the amounts low (they aren't allowed to take it to zero) then how much should unit holders chip in each. When our roof was redone they they did about half and half.
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Sep 16, 2021 17:21
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Whatever happens, make sure your strata erases all mention of this deficiency because it might diminish your resale value!
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Sep 16, 2021 17:27
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Throatwarbler posted:My condo building in BC wants me to pay $10k because there's water leaking into the balconies or some poo poo. Shouldn't this be coming out of the reserve? Good odds they are taking money out of the reserve and you're paying on top of that. Either that or the reserve is near "empty" due to previous expenses. 60/40 special assessment to CRF is common. Stratas typically contribute 10% of their budget to the reserve a year. It's not that much, and it takes years and years for the Contingency Reserve Fund to build up. Doesn't take too much of a major expense for that few hundred thousand to vanish. A strata (in BC anyway) can't completely empty the CRF either. By law they have to have a certain amount.
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Sep 16, 2021 18:18
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Typo posted:I got into the mistake of arguing with people on facebook This is exactly the same government response to businesses failing at the beginning of the pandemic. What is the free market justification for favouring a seller of an asset over a buyer? It's not like if the Keg goes under there isn't going to be a buyer waiting in line to grab all the assets at distressed prices and open up a new steakhouse at the same locations. Just cause a house loses 50% of its value doesn't mean someone isn't going to be living there.
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Sep 16, 2021 18:46
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Noblesse Obliged posted:Do they have kids and do they want to live with them forever? One guy just said "well if you save for down payment until your 40s you can finish paying it off ur mortgage in your 70s so what's the problem" also "everybody said I missed the train on real estate in 2004 but I bought in 2006 so don't worry"
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Sep 16, 2021 19:07
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Random people on facebook are universally guaranteed to be complete loving idiots.
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Sep 16, 2021 19:14
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Typo posted:One guy just said "well if you save for down payment until your 40s you can finish paying it off ur mortgage in your 70s so what's the problem" Do they understand that eventually their home will be reassessed and they will be paying taxes based on their value which potentially could be more than their mortgage in a surprisingly short amount of time?
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Sep 17, 2021 00:08
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Noblesse Obliged posted:Do they understand that eventually their home will be reassessed and they will be paying taxes based on their value which potentially could be more than their mortgage in a surprisingly short amount of time? This is not how mill rates work. Briefly, it's more dependent on your property's relative value. Each year the municipality decides they want $X in property taxes and divides that sum up proportional to value.
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Sep 17, 2021 00:17
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Well poo poo. Pump it up then baby I’m a millionaire!
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Sep 17, 2021 00:22
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Typo posted:I got into the mistake of arguing with people on facebook Tell them you think there should be 100% capital gains taxes on housing appreciation above inflation and watch them lose their minds still. It is not enough that their house be valuable, that value must increase, and they must be able to pocket all that money in principle.
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Sep 17, 2021 00:44
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Throatwarbler posted:My condo building in BC wants me to pay $10k because there's water leaking into the balconies or some poo poo. Shouldn't this be coming out of the reserve? Have you taken a look at your strata's financial state recently? If you're lucky there might be a couple hundred thousand in the reserve. Condo building insurance rates skyrocketed over the last 5 years in BC, like often more than doubling. In any case, any expenditure other than routine maintenance is going to lead to special assessments. The costs of big-ticket items at the scale of an apartment building (and regulatory requirements) are simply too big to be covered by strata fees. Those commercial-scale fire alarm panels that can pinpoint which alarm was the trigger? Hundreds of thousands to replace. Reserve funds would have to be funded into the millions. It's honestly one of the things that drove us away from Vancouver. We couldn't accept paying 600k+ for an 'ok' condo which will have an additional 4-500 in strata fees every month and then it's only a matter of time until the inevitable special assessment comes. People with the privilege to have access to enough capital to buy a non-apartment come out ahead here I think. The initial outlay is higher but I'm betting in a lot of cases the ongoing costs are actually lower as long as you do some maintenance.
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Sep 17, 2021 13:28
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Fidelitious posted:Have you taken a look at your strata's financial state recently? If you're lucky there might be a couple hundred thousand in the reserve. Condo building insurance rates skyrocketed over the last 5 years in BC, like often more than doubling. That's a nice dream but the reality is 
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Sep 17, 2021 22:17
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Fidelitious posted:The costs of big-ticket items at the scale of an apartment building (and regulatory requirements) are simply too big to be covered by strata fees. I mean, they're not too big if the fees are set so that they cover them, but as you note the fees would probably have to be more like $1K/month rather than $500/month. But yeah, this is something which should really be regulated, rather than leaving it up to strata boards to deliberately put off. Having the for-profit insurance industry become de facto regulators is just not a recipe for happiness.
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Sep 17, 2021 23:37
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Lead out in cuffs posted:I mean, they're not too big if the fees are set so that they cover them, but as you note the fees would probably have to be more like $1K/month rather than $500/month. But yeah, this is something which should really be regulated, rather than leaving it up to strata boards to deliberately put off. Having the for-profit insurance industry become de facto regulators is just not a recipe for happiness. Yes, that is the other part. Generally the developer operates as the 'council' until all the units are sold or a certain date or something like that. They will always set the maintenance fees to be $250/month or something stupid low because it helps them sell the units and they're free and clear of any obligations by the time any big work needs to be done. The first thing any strata should do upon creation is double the maintenance fees. I just don't know how you could sell it as a good purchase when you're buying in at 600k with an additional minimum 1k off the bat. I actually do prefer the special assessment way of doing things, it lets you keep control of your own money for longer and councils can only invest CRF money in very conservative things like bonds, t-bills, and GICs.
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Sep 18, 2021 14:31
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Fidelitious posted:Have you taken a look at your strata's financial state recently? If you're lucky there might be a couple hundred thousand in the reserve. Condo building insurance rates skyrocketed over the last 5 years in BC, like often more than doubling. Do these buildings have a professional manager paid to be on site and keep track of this sort of stuff, or do the councils just wait until there are too many false fire alarms or something like that?
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Sep 18, 2021 16:24
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Wasn’t there a strata in Manitoba that was investing the CRF in Bitcoin and there was exactly gently caress all the homeowner could do about it? I think it was specifically a nuance of the Manitoba strata laws that allows stratas to invest in something order than investment grade bonds.
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Sep 18, 2021 17:14
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At least in BC we have rolling depreciation reports (done by real companies) that take an inventory of all building components and give an estimated lifetime and cost. The output of the report is funding models that the council can adopt when setting strata fees to ensure it always has the cash on hand to replace the item as it reaches its lifetime. I prefer having the council hold onto my cash for the rainy day through higher strata fees. As long as you know it’s going to the fund and not being blown by council on frivolous stuff because they just see a bunch of money in the bank. It’s much more predictable for me and most importantly for others in the building who I wouldn’t trust to be able to come up with 10-20k out of the blue for a new roof if desperately needed. The contractors aren’t going to wait around for one of the units to sell and pay off the lien, they want that money now and it’s better to have had the council collect it in advance. Otherwise your strata is looking at a high interest loan (no real assets, just liabilities), not doing the work or looking to other owners for extra money to cover them in the meantime. Small strata here where this matters. We don’t have hundreds of units to spread the risk over.
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Sep 18, 2021 17:15
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Any time you are near a strata meeting talking about money, you get to hear from every pensioner in the building about how they are on a fixed income and nothing can change. Your only real choice is to tell them to find an extra $20 every month or hope they just happen to have a spare $20K on hand when the work needs to happen.
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Sep 18, 2021 21:48
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Crow Buddy posted:Any time you are near a strata meeting talking about money, you get to hear from every pensioner in the building about how they are on a fixed income and nothing can change. Your only real choice is to tell them to find an extra $20 every month or hope they just happen to have a spare $20K on hand when the work needs to happen. Calling pensioners “fixed income” is so weird. This isn’t a jab at you, but my income is fixed, too. If I suddenly need $20k, I can’t just go to my boss or take that more lucrative job or whatever. Are we trying to avoid saying “I’m poor, you can’t raise the price on me.”
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Sep 19, 2021 00:00
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MickeyFinn posted:Are we trying to avoid saying “I’m poor, you can’t raise the price on me.” This is a generation of people that are fighting over the cans we throw in the recycling so they can support their disabled children, but would probably slash your tires if you tried to help them in a way that didn't make them silently suffer.
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Sep 19, 2021 00:16
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Pensioners are rich. I'd love to have a pension that covered my cost of owning property.
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Sep 19, 2021 05:47
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Mantle posted:I'd love to have a pension.
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Sep 19, 2021 06:17
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