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.

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Case in point of how Vancouver has priced itself out of reality: I graduated med school in 2006 and residency in 2008, both in Edmonton. I had always wanted to live in Vancouver or Toronto, as I'm much more... socialist... than the average person here in Alberta. The reason I wanted to live in either of those places (or Montreal, but that's a hostile environment for family docs) is that I prefer a low-commute urban lifestyle to living out in the burbs. I also prefer older neighbourhoods, most of which have heritage/character homes in them.

Unfortunately, there essentially wasn't (and isn't) any housing that I'd call remotely affordable in either of my preferred cities. Certainly not on a resident's salary, but even as a staff doctor I'd be paying substantially more than 33% of my income servicing the mortgage on a crack shack. This is clearly insane, and unsustainable.

Edmonton actually turns out to have some very nice neighbourhoods which still have some properties (if you're lucky) for reasonable prices. I lucked out and was able to find a good condition heritage home in a walkable neighbourhood, 10 minutes by car or 30 minutes by transit away from my office, for less than half a mil. Similar properties don't exist given commute times in Vancouver or Toronto, but if you got a bit farther out you'd be paying ~1.5 in Toronto or 3 million plus in Vancouver. Incomes certainly aren't any higher in BC or Ontario, so I presume the bubble has to pop soon. Because loving nobody can afford real estate anymore.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2013 05:13

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 04:46

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Isentropy posted:

Just out of curiosity, what district in Edmonton did you end up in? I've been pretty averse to moving out there even though it's the "Promised Land" for my field. Part of it has been politics, but another part of it has to do with racism. I'm not really sure how they treat black people out there; in rural Nova Scotia they seem to see them primarily as farm workers and as a nuisance.

Westmount - it's a nice mix between pre-war detached houses and newer condos/apartment buildings. Plus the best Greek restaurant in town is right on 124th. Going a bit further north or east takes you into more affordable (but often still nice) areas; going west takes you to Glenora and old/oil money.

There aren't a whole lot of black people in Edmonton (most of the ones I know are either professionals or refugees at my clinic so my perspective is necessarily skewed) so I'd say it's more 'curiosity' than 'rampant racism.' There's a large South Asian/East Asian population in Edmonton so it's not as though someone who's black is the Only Minority In Town (unless you live in Spruce Grove); TBH any prejudice is much more likely to be economic than racist in nature.

jet sanchEz posted:

Well, he and his wife each earn a little over a hundred grand a year so $635K doesn't seem too outrageous. They were approved for close to a million, is that unusual though?

I make substantially less than the average doctor in Alberta since I work at a homeless clinic, and when I got the mortgage for my house the bank told me I would be approved for $1.4 million. Which would be on top of the $140K I still owed on my condo. I politely told them that was loving insane and proceeded to get a house that my wife and I could afford. I think a substantial part of the housing bubble is that the banks are still WAY too eager to lend enormous amounts of money to people for very little down.

Speaking of condos: I bought into the market in mid-2006, just as the price runup was starting and when I had to outbid people for a two-bed, two-bath place on the ground floor near the university. I put it on the market this past year and couldn't get a bite within about 40K of what I'd paid for it, so at least for condos the price has come down significantly in Edmonton. I wound up renting it out for the cost of the mortgage + condo fees + a modest profit so it's not too bad, but there's a lot of people gonna be hosed if mortgage rates go up significantly.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2013 05:55

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Welp, the end is nigh.

Idiot Realtor posted:

30 Hanson St
Greenwood-Coxwell
Toronto, Ontario
$229,000
For Sale
MLS� ID: E2718298
1 Bed(s)

Cute And Cozy. Detached Oasis In The Heart Of The City. Cheaper Than A Condo, This Detached Gem Is Steps Away Of The Subway And Minutes From The Beach. The House Comes With Everything Inside And Out. Owner Has Paid For Municipal Water And Sewage To Be Bought To The Property Line. New Owner Will Need Install Bath And Kitchen Fixtures And Connect To The City. Completely Rewired In 1998 With 100 Amp Circuit Breaker Panel.

Extras: Wall Mount Air Conditioner. All Furnishings And Window Coverings
Property Features

Bedroom(s): 1
Kitchen(s): 1
Lot Size: 20.00 x 14.50 Feet
Estimated annual taxes: $168
Tax Year: 2013

Exterior: Shingle
Living style: Bungalow
Property type: Detached
Sewer system: Sewers
Air Conditioning

I suppose, to be fair, that the end is not quite nigh; no one has yet paid almost a quarter-million dollars for a bathroom-less shack on less than 300 square feet of land.

And hey, check out how low the tax bill is! I pay like $4K in Edmonton, and we barely have transit!

# ¿ Aug 23, 2013 02:44

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

cowofwar posted:

Shack indeed

If you scroll to the alley side of the building you can see there's still a garage door there. Makes moving a snap!

# ¿ Aug 23, 2013 04:34

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

A 71-storey tower in Edmonton? I give them points for being ballsy, at least.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2013 07:14

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Serious question, for brighter minds than mine: what would you generally consider to be a sane price-to-income ratio for a house?

Assuming that interest rates stabilize near historic norms.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2013 20:32

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Lexicon posted:

I started my degree at UBC and it was about 2.5k a year. It was pushing 7 by the end. Bastards (the Liberals) - I genuinely feel bad for anyone coming through it now.

I'm not so much worried about now as to what poo poo is going to cost in 18 years when my kid goes to university. I was lucky enough to be able to go to university and then buy a house for $100K under market because the sellers were desperate! but unless you're a professional or have family money you're hosed these days. If tuition and home prices keep rising as they have - and I don't think prices will actually crash anytime soon - literally no one will be able to buy into anything approximating a stereotypical middle class lifestyle in a couple of decades.

Franks Happy Place posted:

I went to school in New York, so mine cost about $45k USD a year... when the exchange rate was bad.

Holy poo poo. I paid about $45K CAD total for four years of undergrad... and then four years of medical school :psyduck:

(Granted this was 98-06 so prices are substantially higher now. But still. Holy poo poo.)

# ¿ Jun 22, 2014 06:33

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

computer parts posted:

That may happen in private schools but it sure as hell isn't happening in public ones. My university has 42,000 undergrads and with a charitable estimate of international students they make up about 5% of that.

There's a bit of a loophole though at least in the US because people who are "out of state" pay the same rate as international students.

Quebec does this too, IIRC.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2014 16:46

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

FrozenVent posted:

They're spending $500 a month on wine, $400 a month on eating out and $1000 a month on food. They're not offsetting their cost, they're spending on stupid poo poo. They don't get to complain.

I'm more boggled at how they spend $170 a month on hair, nails, and waxing. I could maaaaaybe see the first two if you're in a presentation-dependent 'job' like REALTOR, but I can't get my mind on how you spend any money on 'waxing' if you're not putting anything towards your RRSP.

I have a mental image of this couple as weird hairless creatures like the tank people from Minority Report.

EDIT: I have a fairly substantial wine collection. I might spend $100 a month on it. I would not purchase any wine if I couldn't put anything into savings, but then I don't think I'm an idiot.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2014 16:32

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Cultural Imperial posted:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/road-scholars-bcs-cash-strapped-students-take-to-living-in-their-cars/article4468327/

Trevor is the most vancouver ever.

Seems like literally anyone can call themselves a doctor these days. http://drerikson.com/bio/

Haha he's a Chinese medicine dermatologist. He doesn't just practice bullshit, he specializes in it!

This does not seem like a career worth living in a van for.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2014 20:04

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Reggie Died posted:

I feel I've heard this is commonplace in places like New York, but I've never done or seen it happen in Vancouver.

I've always been curious though; I'm assuming Strata/HOA would make you pay two full payments? My other question is; in condo's, is the strata payment $X / number of units = payment? Or is it based on sq/ft where a penthouse would pay more than a 1 bedroom?

Anecdotal only, but my condo board in Edmonton at the condo I haven't been able to unload charges based on square footage.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2014 17:17

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

From Edmonton

quote:

EDMONTON - City council approved zoning for twin 38- and 28-storey condo towers in Chinatown Monday just north of Station Lands and the new Royal Alberta Museum.

The Chinese developers hope to start pre-selling condo units here and in Asian markets next year. The $200-million project would rise out of a two-storey commercial podium that would fill the surface parking lot behind the existing Yorkton Pacific Mall on the west side of 97th Street.

After all the issues in Vancouver with absentee foreign investors, do they really think it's a good idea to pre-sell units overseas?

Also, Edmonton's Chinatown occupies much the same space as its inner city. Nothing more heartwarming than seeing hundreds of people sleeping rough in -25 weather, while a bunch of unoccupied 'investment units' sit empty and warm above them.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2014 15:45

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

PT6A posted:

Same in Calgary, but you also get to see people drive by in supercars and go to six-figure salaried jobs. Part of the problem is that, when you're chronically homeless and living on the streets, you're looking up at pretty much everything and everyone. We should take steps to address homelessness (and Calgary, at least, is doing fairly well), not feel bad that we live in places where the homeless can see us in our relative wealth.

Oh, I have no problem with new condos going up; Chinatown is way too close to downtown to have been economically depressed as long as it has, so it's good that gravel parking lots are now turning into buildings. I'm also encouraged that city council is mandating a number of 3 bedroom units, because it's extremely difficult for families to find anywhere to live if you don't want to buy a detached home in Edmonton now.

My issue is specifically with marketing units to overseas investors; if Vancouver's experience is anything to go by, many of those are likely to sit empty and that would be a shame given Edmonton's ~1% vacancy rate and thousands of homeless. I'm not upset at gentrification, I'm upset about the potential waste of resources.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2014 06:26

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Throatwarbler posted:

I lived in Calgary for 5 years paying about $450/month rent which I split with my girlfriend at the time in a shared house, and since then rents in Calgary have only come down. Since I'm pretty sure Calgary incomes are pretty high relatively, if you only make $30k a year in some dead end shithole like Vancouver then perhaps you should consider something other than these $1200/month Taj Mahals? Hell I've done some quick searches in the past for comparisons sake and generally I find Vancouver rents to be slightly lower than Calgary.

Where in the hell did you live in Calgary where rent was $450? There's nothing in Edmonton for less than $850 for a 1br unless you want to live in That Building Where All The Murders Happen.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2014 15:17

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Cultural Imperial posted:

Yeah, but how many people put 20% down these days?

I would hope - though I'm certain this thread will crush it - if you've got the scratch for a 20% downpayment you can afford the payments on a 20- or 25-year amortization.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2014 16:52

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Baronjutter posted:

I always find it weird how articles on housing will quote realtors as experts on the subject, as if they were quoting a doctor on the topic of flu shots or something. When a doctor says to get your flu shot and gives out stats and figures he doesn't have a vested interest, he's not selling the shots.

Hey now, your doctor gets to bill the government $9.82 for giving an injection.

You do a few dozen of those and you're talking microsuite cash :v:

# ¿ Nov 20, 2014 17:15

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Buskas posted:

The tar sands, on the other hand, disturb massive swathes of highly complex peat bog that will never return to its natural state. Not to mention Alberta is destroying its water reservoirs which will eventually gently caress not only most northern communities but also the city of Edmonton.

No one gives a poo poo

Although I'm not exactly a fan of the way the tar sands have been developed, northern Alberta is watered by several large rivers and not groundwater. The oil industry pollutes the hell out of the Athabasca (and, presumably, the Slave and MacKenzie rivers as well), but it is downstream of essentially all agriculture and most population.

Edmonton is in a completely separate watershed. There isn't any oil development upstream of Edmonton on the North Saskatchewan.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2014 07:20

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Lead out in cuffs posted:

The best part about it is how much the whole practice of not providing for the poor ends up costing anyway. Instead of providing somebody with a safe, healthy place to live for a few thousand a year, you let them get so bad that they end up in a prison cell or a hospital bed for months or years on end at a cost of hundreds of thousands.

I work for a program that houses the severely mentally ill. We're expensive because we have a high staff-to-client ratio, and because we have a family doctor and a psychiatrist. Despite this, in our first two years we saved our entire budget and then some, just in hospital admission costs. Of course, trying to get the government to fund more of this type of program has been like pulling teeth...

The great thing about Alberta is that, if you're disabled (but not permanently so) then you are allocated $326/month as a shelter allowance. The average rent in Edmonton is about $950 for a one-bedroom. We have a math problem here.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2014 06:00

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Blade_of_tyshalle posted:

This explains why all the people I knew on AISH were living in apartments together while attempting to hold down jobs (or dealt drugs) to make ends meet.

AISH actually gives you a more substantial wage, $1600 a month. Which still isn't enough to really live on. And it frequently takes >2 years to get on it.

My favourite thing about the shelter allowance is that, should you be homeless or living in a shelter, you don't get the allowance. Because you're not paying rent, you see, so clearly you don't need that money. :allears:

# ¿ Dec 3, 2014 07:49

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Heavy neutrino posted:

Does anyone know what the Alberta Heritage Fund looks like these days?

Smoking crater.

E: dammit.

Edit for content: The Fund�s value at September 30, 2014 was $17.4 billion on a fair value basis.

For comparison, Norway's sovereign wealth fund was at $890 billion USD earlier this year. They have extracted a comparable amount of oil to Alberta, but apparently a non-comparable amount from oil companies.

Albino Squirrel fucked around with this message at 06:12 on Dec 15, 2014

# ¿ Dec 15, 2014 06:09

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Throatwarbler posted:

Haha is this an actual thing? I always heard that about Calgary solving its homeless problem every winter by just giving them all bus tickets to Vancouver but I thought it was just a Ralph Klein joke.

Nope, "Greyhound therapy" is a real thing. Although sometimes it's Ontario -> Alberta.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2015 07:29

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

etalian posted:

Montreal is basically the best low cost city in Canada.

Truth. I have a trainee in town from Montr�al and she was aghast when I told her the average 1-bedroom rent is like $1000 in Edmonton.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2015 07:14

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

PT6A posted:

Maybe I need to hire a better accountant, but I don't think it's really all that easy to dodge taxes by incorporating. Yes, personally, I obviously have a lower tax bill if I pay myself via dividend instead of drawing a salary, but considering I've already paid corporate tax on that money, which I obviously wouldn't have to if I were just making straight income from working for someone else, the total amount of tax paid on that money is strikingly similar -- it's almost like they designed it to work that way, it's so close.

Pretty much the only even half-way questionable (from a fairness perspective, not a legal perspective) expenses I use are being able to have the company pay me a bit of rent every month, and being able to use the company to pay a portion of both my cellphone and internet bills. The first reduces my corporation's taxable income by a few thousand at most, and I have to report that as personal income anyway, and having an internet connection and/or a cellphone paid for by an employer are fairly normal anyway, no matter whether you work for yourself or not. If these are the amazing tax advantages I've signed myself up for by incorporating, I'm disappointed, frankly.

I incorporated strictly for the liability protection. Unless you're pulling some bullshit that will probably get your pee-pee spanked during an audit (and, to be fair, a lot of business owners do this), you don't really save all that much on taxes at the end of the day, especially compared to what you spend on simply maintaining the legal entity of the corporation. Or at least I don't... maybe I just need to make more money and hire a better accountant.

There is a huge advantage in incorporating if you earn substantially more than your lifestyle costs. You pay yourself enough in dividends to live, and everything over that remains in your corporation where it can be invested. You can draw that down after you're retired; in that sense it's functionally like an RRSP.

This, of course, is where it really helps to have a lifestyle in that 44-89K federal tax bracket.

Edit: I pay my accountant through the nose to make sure I don't gently caress anything up.

Albino Squirrel fucked around with this message at 16:08 on Feb 17, 2015

# ¿ Feb 17, 2015 16:00

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Heavy neutrino posted:

Haha I love how every province that has some shred of a manufacturing sector left has a positive forecast, presumably due to cheaper exports. Except Newfies for some reason (???)

Newfoundland also produces oil. Although the lower dollar does help manufacturing exports, it is difficult to export non-existent fish.

# ¿ Feb 20, 2015 07:20

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Sassafras posted:

As someone with extensive experience with administering methadone, once a junkie always a junkie. Heck, they renamed the program the "methadone maintenance program" because nobody but nobody*** ever gets clean.

*** In my personal experience, one person did, of hundreds.

The point of methadone (and, these days, suboxone) is stabilization. You get enough drug to stave off withdrawals, but not enough to get high. And then you're able to function, or at least not limited by the constant search for opioids. If your dose is right, then you're not using other opioids, and not stealing anything to pay for your drugs. So it doesn't really matter if you're still on methadone for years because it reduces the negative personal and social effects of opioid dependence.

Of course there may be underlying mental health or social issues that need treating. Sometimes it helps to put people in recovery housing, ideally in regular neighbourhoods and not stuck off in the ghetto.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2015 16:01

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Jumpingmanjim posted:

http://www.ntnews.com.au/lifestyle/...s-1227250917290

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Northern Territory mostly empty? It seems like it should be fairly simple to, I don't know, plot out another cemetery in the suburbs.

Or is most of the surrounding land covered under Aboriginal title and unavailable for that use?

# ¿ Mar 6, 2015 16:37

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Mr Luxury Yacht posted:

My building has a 4th, 13th, 14th, and 24th floor

All those load bearing ghosts are keeping it structurally sound.

I stayed in a hotel in Van which was missing its 4th, 5th, 6th, 13th, 14th, and 24th floors.

I don't get the 5th and 6th.

# ¿ Apr 25, 2015 07:08

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

PT6A posted:

Yeah, people told me "take the bus in Spain! It's great!" and I'm like, "but won't I get my head chopped off and nibbled on by a lunatic or something?" and they said, "No, it's completely different from North America and buses don't suck horribly!"

We'll see how that goes; I'm still taking the train most of the time.

The bus is generally nicer and more convenient than the train in Iberia, unless you spring for the AVE high-speed.

EvilJoven posted:

Oh gently caress no our mortgage is super low. Under 2.7%

We calculate what we can afford based on 5% so we know that 5 years from now if rates go up we aren't stuck with a house we can't afford and have to sell at a loss because nobody is buying.

The massive wiggle room between our actual housing costs and what we've budgeted for will be saved.

If there's one thing people in Canada need to learn, it's this. I asked my sister if her and her fianc� could afford her house if mortgage rates tripled and she was all "nope let's hope that doesn't happen! :downs:

"

Sucks you didn't get the place. See if there's anything appealing that's been on the market for a while, that's how my realtor was able to screw the sellers of our current house down.

# ¿ Apr 29, 2015 05:54

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

JBark posted:

This house in Melbourne (that's right, Melbourne, not Sydney) just sold at auction for 4.21M, 1.71M over the 2.5M reserve. Your move, Canada.

Mother of loving God :stare:

# ¿ May 4, 2015 06:15

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Hal_2005 posted:

If you are looking at which city would be the most habitable or least decrepit should we return to 1970's level stagnation then the answer is the cities with the newest infrastructure and capable of adapting to 10 years of population growth (about 1%/y, give or take). So in this regard, Calgary as the city was upsized to support 8 million by 2025. Worst ? St. Johns. The Irving family is a loving mess and I would wager they go the way of Seagram before 2020. This is reflected in the municipal bond spreads. We could also throw Quebec city and Charlotte Town on the list just to enrage the Frenchmen (Quebecois? ).

... what the hell are you talking about? Calgary (and Edmonton) have massive infrastructure debts with their current populations. Each city is short at least a couple of non-crumbling hospitals and a few dozen schools. The roads are in generally poor condition (inevitable, given the degree of freeze-thaw we have here in Alberta) and Calgary still hasn't been able to complete its ring road.

The infrastructure, I grant you, may be the 'least bad' in Canada, but that's like being the smartest kid in the remedial class. And "Calgary was upsized to support 8 million by 2025", while having the same structure as a sentence in English, is a completely batshit loony phrase.

Edit: haaa, I typed the whole thing out without realizing I was responding to Hal_2005. I'm leaving it here as a monument to the time I failed the Turing test.

# ¿ Jun 9, 2015 14:50

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Square Peg posted:

Alberta has to be the worst for this. I think the idea that you need a massive truck to be a "true prairie boy" is pretty deeply engrained.
But it's like, I have a van and a tarp, what would I need a truck for?

The worst part is that most of the extended-cab trucks have a short box, so you couldn't carry much even if you wanted to. I'm pretty sure I could fit more in my station wagon than you could in some of the trucks I see around Edmonton.

You could also fit a lot more in a Tesla, come to think of it. Love the frunk. Can't wait for them to get affordable.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2015 07:07

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Mederlock posted:

Edmonton's new expansion to the LRT line has been delayed for more then 9 months because they contracted out the signalling software through a P3 to a lovely rear end developer. Like, the lines have been laid, stations sitting empty for 8+ months, and it's all because some of some terrible software company. How they expect the planned Valley line to proceed on schedule after this boondoggle is beyond me

To be fair, it's not ALL because of some terrible software company. As it turns out, most of the delays (including, apparently, some of the software issues) are because the contractor hosed up the grading and conduit construction so badly, despite charging $200 million per kilometre to build what's described as a 'third-tier system.'

The lead contractor is thread favourite SNC-Lavalin. Who, of course, are bidding to build the aforementioned Valley Line.

# ¿ Jul 11, 2015 22:23

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

OSI bean dip posted:

Shut the gently caress up, Fraser Institute.

http://www.theprovince.com/Report+blames+builders+fees+city+tape+intensifying+Metro+Vancouver+housing+squeeze/11218746/story.html

Yes. If these were lowered then the savings would be passed on to the consumer!

Also I like the fact that they just used a sample of 45 respondents.

Fraser Institute posted:

"It's much too expensive to build two- and three-bedroom condos, so you don't build it because you (as a developer) can't afford the extra expense," she said.

"If it's too expensive, it won't get built," said McMullin.

I'm sorry, why the hell is it more expensive to build 3-bedroom condos? Your cost should be less per square foot because proportionally less would be devoted to expensive things like kitchens and bathrooms, and more to relatively cheap bedrooms. If anything you'd think it would be more profitable.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2015 06:16

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

jm20 posted:

If you have a part time job you qualify for a 100k mortgage

To buy a Porta-Potty in Kitsilano.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2015 06:18

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Terex posted:

What I don't get is the high six figure houses in remote poo poo holes.

http://realtor.ca/Residential/Single-Family/15254261/9-Chinook-Crescent-High-Level-Alberta-T0H1Z0
High Level, Ab

How do people expect to sell these? With somewhere like Vancouver there are millions of people and actual jobs, so surely someone will be dumb and rich enough to buy overpriced condos, but who drops half a million dollars or more to live in High Level? What pays enough to get people to buy a three quarters of a million dollar home in Atlin, population 450? You can't even retire in these places, since they are so far in the middle of nowhere that if you need urgent care you're hosed.

High Level is expensive because there's a) oil projects still on the go, and b) a tremendous lack of housing. It always blows my mind that there's a lack of housing in a little town surrounded by hundreds of kilometres of nothing, but that seems to be common across the far north of Alberta.

'Remote shithole' doesn't even begin to cover how loving terrible High Level is. The entire town is usually covered in a fine dusting of ash from the beehive burner at the lumber mill, as are your lungs. Your food choices consist of Boston Pizza and frozen pizzas from the Super A. They literally couldn't pay me enough to go work up there. There is actually a decent hospital building in town, but they can't find doctors to staff it (also common to Northern Alberta). You'll get excellent care in rural Alberta if you speak Afrikaans!

# ¿ Jul 27, 2015 18:12

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Killin_Like_Bronson posted:

Albertan Debt Porn: I just had a customer (oil worker) sign to trade their 1.5 month old vehicle for a loss of $30,000 since he rolled $15,000 over into that truck. His current deal has him spending $1280/month for 96 months in a midgrade truck that will have a total cost of borrowing of $125,000. I tried to tell him not to (lateral truck move) but I can't tell an Albertan how to spend his money. Ram tough.

the price people will pay for trucks astounds me. That's more expensive than a 7-series.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2015 22:58

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Seat Safety Switch posted:

Note that some German cars are actually getting much better for resale and not falling apart immediately after the second owner takes delivery (Mercedes, although the CLA remains to be seen) but there are also some real minefields in places the average Canadian customer wouldn't expect (Mini).

The luxury car treadmill absolutely pulls a poo poo ton of otherwise productive cash out of homeowners' pockets and out of the country, and easy financing only makes doing so more popular, even for families that realistically can't afford to take those risks. They're overwhelmingly the McMansions of cars.

It is amazing how eager dealerships are to get you into a lease. I had to to fight for an unreasonably long time to convince the most recent car dealer that I didn't want to lease, because I was paying cash.

And yeah, that's true about Minis. Although my old one fell the gently caress apart while I still owned it...

JawKnee posted:

loving

probably would have been cheaper to have one installed

e: assuming you want one in the Canadian Prairies haha

Sunroofs are fine in Alberta; my station wagon has one and it doesn't seem to lose heat any faster than the rest of the roof in winter. I don't think any kind of roof would help that degree of idiocy though.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2015 00:45

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

El Scotch posted:

What else are the super rich supposed to spend their money on? They banned (legally) buying people long ago.

Vanity runs for President.

Failing that, you must be able to buy SOME Latin American country for cheap.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2015 17:43

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

Cultural Imperial posted:

Having a lot of cash in hand right now is kind of a good idea.

So when does this poo poo crater? I actually do have an amount of cash on hand. Mostly because I've been too lazy to go invest it, granted...

# ¿ Aug 25, 2015 14:43

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 04:46

Albino Squirrel: Apr 25, 2003; Miosis more like meiosis

cowofwar posted:

Doctors are notoriously bad with money because they have smartest person in the room syndrome. They are egotistical narcisists and everyone preys on them because they are easy suckers.

True story.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2015 16:04

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

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