At the risk of making the rest of the country hurl, a few more words on the GTA. Yesterday we discussed that gripping 70% drop in new housing sales in the Toronto region, the largest mess since homebuilders started keeping records. This matters, because the area has more people in it than BC, Manitoba and Saskatchewan combined. There may be another colony out there, but I forget. No matter.
The collapse has happened for simple reasons. Prices overreached, which was okay when virgins and speckers could still buy. But with F’s War on the House, all that has changed. Now the townhouses made of pressed corn flakes in distant suburbs, and the sexy downtown condos with their exploding glass balconies are coveted, but beyond reach.
So here’s what has happened. In August condo sales in the GTA fell by 24%, and in the downtown they collapsed 34%. September is no better. All sales are off 15%, condos 28% and downtown units have declined 32%. Meanwhile anyone driving through the place can clearly see crane mania, an indication of how much product is yet to flood into a market with serious issues.
In suburbia local politicians have just done their own bit to murder housing. Days ago the doofuses who run Peel Region (which has more people than Calgary, but fewer trucks with balls) voted a 99% increase in development fees. That means companies turning useless Class A farmland into productive subdivisions must now pay $35,532 to the municipality as a building tax. Per house.
Of course, this gets passed on to homebuyers, which means a home in Mississauga or Brampton will soon be $17,000 more expensive. Throw that on a mortgage and amortize it over 25 years, and it turns into $51,000. Said a bedraggled builder to the council, as he knelt and trembled in their chamber, “It’s the first-time buyer that gets hit the most.”
You bet. And it’s not a great time to be a baby buyer.
Cash-back mortgages are gone, meaning young couples need actual savings for a down payment. Borrowers must now qualify at a heightened five-year benchmark, even if they intend on taking a cheapo, suicidal VRM. The amount of income required to support a loan has been increased. And the passing of the 30-year am had the same effect as raising mortgage rates by almost a point. Now add in to that $650-a-foot condo prices downtown or another $17,000 to live in a suburb where fine dining is a Subway in the Home Depot, and you can see the problem. We’re running out of virgins.
Denial abounds, however. TO’s biggest condo flogging outfit says, boldly: “Our guess is that people have been convinced that renting is the better option right now. All markets take a breather and when people come to the realization that the condo market is not going to crash, they will return in record numbers.”
Who needs Silverados with swinging testicles? Our realtors are fully equipped.
Well, maybe this pathetic blog is just plain wrong. Perhaps people will start buying again in droves, pushing prices higher while happily shouldering more debt in the midst of a moribund economy. It’s not inconceivable F & the Peckerettes could crumble if housing tanks, reversing course and facilitating billions more in new mortgages. After all, before 2009 who ever would have thought the feds would give you money to build a deck?
But this I know. You cannot spend your way into wealth, or borrow your way to security. Prices don’t ascend without end. And all debts must be repaid. Even in Toronto.
Finally, just got this from Al, whoever he is:
Have recently returned to your checking out some of your blogs; and I am pleasantly surprised to see you have made some changes. You have toned down the sexual innuendos and your pics are “clean” and quite humorous.
I can once again recommend your website (which also includes you books) to my younger nephews and nieces. Congrats on setting the “professional and educational” bar a little higher and for the humor that your sharp wit provides.
Tune in later this week. In Al’s honour I will unveil our annual Lingerie Edition.
187 comments ↓
At this point its a game of musical chairs. There are 12 players and one chair. When the music stops? Fun times for voyeurs who are liquid.
Omg first!!!
Primeiro!!!
That means companies turning useless Class A farmland into productive subdivisions must now pay $35,532 to the municipality as a building tax. Per house.
There ya go — local food supply auctioned off to Mattamy Homes.
Could municipal governments actually be *more* corrupt than federal politicians like Tony Clement and Bev Oda?
Hazel, Rob Ford, and the like may have actually out-Harpered the Harper goons!
“Tune in later this week. In Al’s honour I will unveil our annual Lingerie Edition.” – Garth
————————————————————
Now that is a funny line!!
We will see if the next six months bring any smiles to those owning or selling condos in the big smoke.
If things get bad with RE in TO, we can expect the Premier of the GTA to ride in on his white horse to bail out the condo owners and collect a few votes on his way to buying an election victory in the Spring, all of course, on the backs of rural Ontario.
Love the blog Garth. It has cemented my doubts about getting into the market.
Question to the blog dogs: What are a few ETF’s worth taking a closer look at?
second… maybe
Ichiban, bitches…
Lingerie edition?!?!? With Garth’s sense of humour and masterful ability to find odd pic’s, I’m predicting Justin Bieber in fishnet
I also noticed the same things Al did. I agree- kudos to Garth.
On a RE note, just spoke with a real estate agent who hadn’t sold a house in 6 months. This is a seasoned veteran in the business for over ten years. Can anyone say CRASH?!
It would be hardly be conceivable that the gov of the day could go back to ease the debt piling after having put the breaks on and with the market still not corrected. How will they answer the then eventual burst.
But in this day and age, there are no rules or morals anymore, so who knows.
Why $17,000 and not $35,532 ?
The increase. It’s called ‘math’. — Garth
Had a water leak in my condo last week. Plumber came, it’s not the first time. This guy has been doing this job for a year and a half in Toronto. Goes around finding leaks in Toronto condos, cutting holes in walls at 2am. He thought about buying a condo but now doesn’t even want one for free.
But this I know. You cannot spend your way into wealth, or borrow your way to security. – Garth
If you are the government, you can do just that, and more. You can borrow to your hearts content, print money and keep rates low (below inflation). That way you can slowly confiscate the wealth of savers.
Quote. “But this I know. You cannot spend your way into wealth, or borrow your way to security.”
Yet when someone tries to apply the exact same logic to what the Fed has been doing in earnest(with their massive QE’s) since 2008, you scratch and claw like a scalded cat in defence . You can’t have your cake and eat it to. The fed is as screwed as the average house virgin taking his first swan dive into the real estate pool.
Personal debt is not sovereign debt. Repetition doesn’t work with you, does it? — Garth
Thanks for the notice on the upcoming racy edition(s). I’ll plan to tune in later when you are back to flexing some intellectual muscle instead…Lingerie? (Really? Really?) Perhaps there is a shortage of the truck-with-dangling-testicles crowd on this blog? Have you been having drinks with Smoking Man???
Has the train wreck offcially begun?
Poor Al. Must suck to be so sexually repressed.
Quite ironically, I’m sure his nephews could teach him a few things about dirty pictures.
Great … thanks Al. I too was finally able to recommend Garth’s site to the younger people in my life, but now you’ve aroused his prurient side.
It might not be a bad thing if a side effect of the extra fees in Peel stopped the urban sprawl. Keep up the current pace and Brampton might end up looking like Airdrie where trees are as foreign as a Liberal victory party.
Hi Garth
Is there any scenario where the Feds will increase the 25 year window?
I’m with Al.
Hey Garth, at least we’re not property virgins!
Gartho. Harpo aint going down you of all people should know the power of the men in the shadows. They got got u broomed.
Noticed you dident talk about resales in 416. You know better.
Condos suck are over priced and I hope with all my heart crash big time I wana buy a few right. Downtown.
Now that paddle head who said – I can now recomend your blog. To my freinds. One word. For him
LOSER
I’m with Al. Pressed cornflakes, exploding glass balconies, fine dining is a Subway in a Home Depot… No need to disrespect women when you can exploit lots of people — condo owners, townhouse owners and suburban folks for the sake of humour. Haha. You go Garth!
OK, so a FTB in Peel drops $17K on the town vig, $10K on the provincial transfer vig, HST of $60K, and another $5K on closing costs. Add in the $30K for selling the place again if needs be and the FTB needs the price of a $500K home to jump to around $620K in order to come out even.
Good luck on that one.
almost Fiiirsszzztttt !
Debt gets repaid unless you can print your own money.
That means companies turning useless Class A farmland into productive subdivisions must now pay $35,532 to the municipality as a building tax.
Great, it’s long overdue to stop this insanity of ruthlessly gobbling up more Class A farm land for urban sprawl while we still can produce enough food to feed 100 people per year, possibly a few more if many decide to become vegetarians.
Why don’t you ever post anything other then a one liner or stats about Edmonton?
I actually noticed about 6 months ago or so that the pictures are less risque (I miss them btw). I figured that just meant Garth (and therefore the whole concept that housing could be in a bubble) was finally beginning to enter the mainstream. A Joe Kennedy shoe shine signal so to speak.
No, my wife just went online. — Garth
Here’s a quote from a Vancouver realtor’s blog:
“So that’s the bad news: volume is way down in most areas. The good news for potential sellers is that so far, prices have not followed in lockstep with volume. Luxury home/condo prices tend to be sticky on the way down and they are certainly showing resilience again in the light of this slowdown in volume. That said, prices typically lag volume so where prices are headed is anyone’s guess.”
I can’t help but picture Wile E. Coyote, standing cliffside with a rope tied to his ankle, unspooling rapidly because the other end is tied to an anvil gone off the cliff and approaching terminal velocity. What will happen next is anyone’s guess, thinks he.
I can’t speak for all of us who saw this coming, but I’m not thrilled. I know that too much of our economy is in building houses for each other, that when it stops, unemployment will go way up, consumer spending will go way down, and a recession is all but inevitable, no matter what happens in the US and China. I wish we’d had a more moderate market, I wish a correction would have come sooner and less violently. I don’t wish things would have kept going, because the longer something unsustainable keeps going, the nastier is the reversion to normality. I’m not retreating to a bunker with gold bars and canned beans because I believe there’s still investment opportunities out there. That is all.
hi garth
are you sure these new mortgage rules are in place and working.
My unemployed relative just bought a house for 400k with 10 percent down and mortgage is with the one of the big five banks. how is this possible
“Debt gets repaid unless you can print your own money.”
Yep, either by the borrower or by the lender.
Lingerie edition?? I heard the refs from that league were unavailable as they’d been called up to the NFL!
“Who needs Silverados with swinging testicles? Our realtors are fully equipped.”
Realtors(TM): strong like bull, smart like truck.
Holy smokes Garth, even Basil the Dink could not help chuckling over some of your quips today. Especially the “pressed cornflake townhouses”, I guess they ran out of sawdust.
I hope you can help Al.
The Big Lebowski wrote:
“Quote. “But this I know. You cannot spend your way into wealth, or borrow your way to security.”
Yet when someone tries to apply the exact same logic to what the Fed has been doing in earnest(with their massive QE’s) since 2008, you scratch and claw like a scalded cat in defence . You can’t have your cake and eat it to. The fed is as screwed as the average house virgin taking his first swan dive into the real estate pool.
Personal debt is not sovereign debt. Repetition doesn’t work with you, does it? — Garth”
———
That’s exactly right. Personal debt is not sovereign debt. But so what? The real significance of the statement is about systemic sustainablity in the “sovereign debt system”. Kicking the can down the road between 2008-2012 isn’t the same as 2012-2016.
The issue isn’t only math, it’s also about all the other bullets required for the sovereign debt can kick. We’re out of those. Could anyone make an argument that we’re not?
It would be good to get ever more clear on this sovereign debt understanding, especially with Q3 to infinity. In other words, permanently unpaid sovereign debt planning has been implemented. Formally. Explicitly. So let’s put Canadian real estate up on the table with this new reality. A visible global reality.
The global system is the target for Canadian liquidity. Investment of smartly harvested real estate equity goes into that system. There’s just no reasonable argument about this being “fine” that I could even imagine that makes sense.
So much for security. Poor risk assessment means poor security assessment.
tonight’s title/picture combo really creeps me out…
I am disappointed to see you have made some changes. You have toned down the sexual innuendos and your pics are “clean” and quite humorous. CUT IT OUT!!!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/majority-of-canadians-remain-blas-about-debt-loads-survey/article4562982/
9/10 would need to go into debt to come up with $2000 for an emergency expense. Actual cash savings for a measly 5% downpayment? Who are you kidding.
I wonder what nonsense Smoking Man will spew tonight… Waiting in suspense to see to what degree he can butcher the English language, and what utter nonsense he will base his assumptions and comments on.
Last year he was a programmer in bay street, this year he is a realtor who know more about the economy, humanity, social order, finances, raising children, education and clearly medicine (hence the drinking and smoking) making him the top .000001% in his profession.
Garth, as usual I am always looking forward to your constructive, educated, factual, properly constructed and presented prose but I have to say that, with the conclusions you have drawn, I am almost at the point where SM’s drivel is becoming as attractive as a reality TV show on human delusion…
Oh yes – getting to the point, the deflowering of a whole segment of the market, the very base of the pyramid in the RE food chain will have profound effects on its sustainability.
Most countries had government take on the debt of the stimulus, in Canada, people were given the choice to be the sacrificial lamb through easy credit.
The fact the US did this to get out of the recession of the early 00’s its outcome should have been a lesson on the effects of bingeing on the loose credit our government put in to get us through the recession of ’08.
Incidentally the US also took on massive government debt (two long wars are expensive).
In Canada the national debt (outside the CHMC implication) grew at the slowest rate in the G20 (From the Economist) during the “stimulus” process, with personal debt load increasing at the fastest pace in the G20 (also the Economist).
We were given the choice to be the feather used to stimulate the economy and we took the job and gave it a whole new meaning.
I expect the next tightening round (Oct?) to be the decisive “coup-de-grace”, creating a painful, but survivable readjustment.
If further loosening takes place instead, the impact will be a whole heap more painful when that is then withdrawn (much higher leverage ratio).
As an immigrant (not yet Citizen), I am not looking forward to economic disasters here, but a readjustment IS absolutely necessary to maintain credibility in the economic fundamentals.
The real economic engine just does not generate enough real wealth to sustain the cost increase of real assets as we have seen.
Increases in its cost base (salary pressure to counter the debt burden) will cause a loss of competitiveness that the energy sector will not be able to compensate for exacerbating the problem at a macro level.
N.B. Norway is not a good example – the oil revenues there are nationalized through STAToil, not privatized like in Canada.
The injection of cash into the system did not only bring demand forward but also created inflation.
Inflation in the number of people who could enter the market (eg. people that normally would not qualify for a loan according to the old standards) and the amount the resulting buyer pool had access to (debt driven leverage).
With fast and easy cash in the pocket, care goes out the window when an environment is artificially created where scarcity is matched with desire and basic economic ignorance.
If everyone had a Billion dollars (cheap bank loans, and belief rates will stay low forever, despite not understanding how they are set) in the pocket and there was only a few suppliers of a product which was then made to appeal to everyone (HGTV, Brad Lamb, Tsur Sommerville, etc.) but the availability was artificially restricted (MLS, Condo marketing systems, etc., pitting the masses against imaginary HAM) – how long do you think it would take for that product to cost a Billion? Remember the Economy 101 example of Tulips in Holland?
Recovering from such a deep imbalance causes serious social pain and I don’t want to see that happen in a country I hope to call my “home” in about a year (FYI, I have been paying taxes on my global income here for 2 years and intend to earn and keep earning the privilege associated with citizenship).
So to avoid going down the route of mindless drivel and joining ranks with SM, I will thank the reader who tolerated this so far for your kind attention and wish you the best in your endeavors.
MfV
…so if a developer blows up one of his new houses, will he be granted seventy-two virgins to buy up the remaining ones?
#11 – #15
THIS TIME IT REALLY IS DIFFERENT
To reiterate, this will not be recurring. “…It’s not inconceivable F & the Peckerettes could crumble if housing tanks, reversing course and facilitating billions more in new mortgages…”
HERE’S WHY…
…because the US, Japanese and European banks have
burned all their monetary bridges will recent announcements of unlimited QE for an unlimited number of years going forward.
AS A RESULT, THE FINANCIAL BARBARIANS ARE MOVING IN…
–The world’s stock markets are heading downhill bit by bit day after day;
–THEN there’s the screwed up currency markets (read: currency wars). This is a full-on nightmare that will throw ALL of us under the financial bus soon.
–bond markets seem prepared for trouble
–Baltic Dry Index starting to unravel after a few weeks of illusiory “gains” so-called.
Even if F’s Peckerettes or any, other similar governmental equivalent elsewhere, wanted to head “back to the future” it can’t happen.
The tension and “surprise”, threatening vast monetary QEs, have lost all their glister; the Oz guy behind the curtain is exposed because someone sold the curtain to help repay some debts, no doubt!
We are heading into an interesting monetary/fiscal winter.
In today’s column, about the Spanish financial catastrophe, London Telegraph journalist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard penned the following:
“…The Draghi bond plan can certainly put off the day of reckoning. It can lower borrowing costs across the board and cushion the slump. But it cannot in itself stop the slow asphyxiation of these societies.
We are moving from the financial phase of this crisis to the full-blown political phase. It really is playing out like the 1930s…”
Remember the history passed along by the Great Depression. All of that economic dross lead to WAR: Japan invaded China; Italy invaded Ethiopia; Spain had a gruesome civil war; then there was Hitler and Stalin…
Will our current money-malaise bring war? I don’t think so right now. Instead it’ll bring human despair on a global scale.
Here on the home front, and the Peckerettes notwithstanding, anybody entertaining purchases of glass boxes deep into the Toronto skyline may be better off taking squirrel hunting lessons and check out
how to camp in a cold Ontario winter night with a military-scale tent and other “survivables.”
#36:
It’s totally different actually, as has been proven for the last few hundred years.
#15
Why can’t you have your cake and eat it too?
It’s called leftovers. Worst saying in the english (s)language
Talking of Farm land. In SW France, most little villages still have a baker, butcher and grocer. Wine is cheaper than water, add to that weekly markets. Almost perfect.
http://theceliachusband.blogspot.fr/2011/11/market-day-in-saint-jean-dangely.html
No Saputo cheese, no Lilydale factory chicken. Prices are higher, yes. Not all is gold that shines.
#38 nocte_volens on 09.25.12 at 11:14 pm I am disappointed to see you have made some changes. You have toned down the sexual innuendos and your pics are “clean” and quite humorous. CUT IT OUT!!!
++++++++++
Agreed, this will attract younger people.
To not reccomend the youth to this blog due to language or pictures is with respect hilarious. This site is tame to say the least. Do them a favor and send them the link tonight, maybe they can sneak out of the market before the full wave crashes down.
Peel Region will still be farmland… poor home-debters are the new crop…
#215 Smoking Man on 09.25.12 at 7:21 pm Daystar
How can I put this best… no government that I know of gets away with wreckless economic policies over the long haul. With RE alone, we’ve had 6+ years of wreckless regulation that spawned a RE/credit bubble to the point where I now believe 1 in 10 are in over their heads and what turns this reality into a nightmare is higher rates.
How much risk has Harper put this nation in, its hard to say. If mortgage rates shot up to 6% on average from our banks 18 months from now, today’s valuations would tumble by… 25% within 2 years with close to a half a million unemployed directly and indirectly from the RE sector alone. The last time the lending environment was like that was January of 08′, just under 5 years ago. (are you virgins scared yet?) With interest rates at 8%, today’s mortgage payments would double, today’s valuations would drop 40 points or more and Canada would face a multi year recession with unemployment in the low to mid teens.
Obviously no one that I know would knowingly support the government that allowed RE values and credit to expand to such a dangerous point if they knew the full consequences of this kind of risk and yet… here we are, 1 of the 10 most indebted nations in the world pretending to be something we aren’t which is fiscally healthy. People either don’t know the economic risks the Conservatives have led us into, or they believe these risks won’t materialize if they do know. We are now a nation that cannot handle high interest rates without a major RE correction that would put Canada, I think, in a multi year recession and yet, the latest polls have the Cons around 34% for their supposed job well done.
Every other government that precided over a RE bubble that blew up in their faces internationally was tossed on their asses… hard. Sadly, most governments that ran wreckless economic policies had the support of their people until that point so what does that say about how easily suckered the masses can be by media, liars, idiots and/or simply… themselves?
I don’t know the future of interest rates. It could be 3 years before there’s an uptick. 5 years maybe. Maybe Canada goes by way of Q.E. and there’s never a rise in interest rates until the currency collapses to dimes on the dollar and we join the NAU because we now have no choice economically. Maybe thats what Canadians want. Harper will lead the way y’know, to failure we think we don’t have to deal with, like before until we realize its worse but by then, its too late to go back. All we lose is our currency and economic sovereignty and somehow, like a miracle, everything will be well. Until it isn’t. But maybe, just maybe, to everyone’s surprise, we find out reality isn’t fairy tales and engineered nightmares (save the one’s lobbyists come up with), we find out exactly why we aren’t Japan (we sell commodities and our external debt % is in the 40’s) and interest rates go up for no other reason than lenders feeling appropriate risk and for that 1 in 10 and all the rest they drag down with them. Either way, it doesn’t end pretty.
Marco:
IMO deciphering SM’s posts is much more interesting and entertaining than reading your polished rambling regurgitation of Garth’s messages.
Everyone is warning about debt, Let see if canadian will finally get it. If they do expect less growth and cause by less spending. Ouch! Its a catch 22 situation. We’re so deep in the doo doo and now is the time to take the pain, with no backup plan for lots of Canadian.
http://business.financialpost.com/2012/09/25/canadians-debt-bonanza-a-week-of-warnings/
–
“In Al’s honour I will unveil our annual Lingerie Edition.” — Never mind Al, will this be the Sports Illustrated of greaterfool.ca, where bloggers can post dirty pix of themselves? Little sensationalism always sells ads!
Further to the above, #38 nocte_volens — “CUT IT OUT!!!” — Seconded and thirded!
“We’re running out of virgins. No matter. Who needs Silverados with swinging testicles? Our realtors are fully equipped. And it’s not a great time to be a baby buyer. There may be another colony out there, but I forget.” — Would this be in The Twilight Zone, or more horny RE-filled-with-lust Property Virgins?
*
Pakistan – IMF TPTB want Pakistan, next to Iran so they can end Iran’s Central Bank, just as they did Libya; Crime does pay for the 1%, and drunk, too; Weimar Republic QE didn’t work there, either and QE4? QE3 ain’t rich enough; 4:13 clip Renmibi almost 10% of world trade, unsure what the Yuan is; Atlas Shrugged? No, Obomba shrugged and Obomba and FEMA create new army for civil disobedience; Homeless in Honolulu I remember in the mid-70s, Waikiki and Honolulu were thriving, bustling. Times change, I guess; Staples Closing a few stores; Spain’s Hungry “Eat the rich; they taste like chicken(shit)!” wrh.com; Investment Options The Lending Club Experiment; Tax the Rich A flat 20% tax for everyone may be a little better.
9:31 audio clip Take a deep breath, ‘cuz we’re gonna get dunked again; Govt. Regs. one cause of US housing bubble; Smith Barney rides off into the sunset. Going outta business the old-fashioned way; Cleveland Fed Labor gap widening; ECB and Bundesbank check legality of bond buying; Donald Trump is right on this one, and China’s new Prez. in waiting; Unintended US$1.6 Tri. Consequences; Soros Mebbe he knows something about Obomba; Oz cash Pensioners want an income as well, so they’re hiding it; Stealing Parents stealing from kids’ piggy banks; Living Wage? Not in UK universities.
*
Jordan Gee, I wonder who is behind all this? Nose job If this is what cocaine can do to a nose, imagine what it can do to a brain; Bum’s Rush No explanation necessary; Hot Diggity Chili Dog Appy’s; ZZ Top and different variations thereof; Indisputable Owner Chinese govt. says it owns islands; Not The Traveling Wilburys ‘tho an adventurer of sorts; Wasps and / or bees Taking these pix is not my cup of tea; Russia So much for GM corn; Iceland Wikileaks alternative? Tesla Motors could be on to something big here; Smoking Man — And The Worms Ate Into His Brain Life imitating art imitating life? New Camoflauge for the US Army; Hot Air Like politicos, the universe is filled with it; Alternative explanation for GW; Chief Lobbyist for Monsanto? Obomba.
*
disciple — This is the Kali Yuga, fourth of four ages, the Iron Age which is the most spiritually empty and violent age. The lower psychic regions have a few hundred thousand years to go, before they are all destroyed, then rebuilt, and Lucid Dreaming.
39 Devore: 55% = 9/10??
still no price drops in gta or surronding areas!!!!
Wooo hooo !! Linger-eee !!
Ps….why is the developer passing only half of the development fee ?
To Al and others here who agreed with Al. You must live very sheltered lives if anything on any of Garth’s blogs offends you. May I suggest you don’t come on this site anymore? I would appreciate it, as I find this pathetic blog not only extremely informative, but very witty and entertaining too, and besides,you can’t bitch at Garth, you’re not his wife:)
Oops…$17k increase…wow, they doubled it.
We will need tat farmland anyhooo.
Ah… “annual Lingerie Edition”… can’t wait…
A S’toon mention last week and yesterday, and a mention of SK tonight. You must be close to doing a post on S’toon.
Have very sex pic to share for lingerie edition
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=480783528621677&set=a.333091120057586.85782.100000701030243&type=3
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Ha! Try that again – Devore: 45% = 9/10??
Here in Richmond, B.C., the Chinese investors are packing up and selling way below assessment and market value.
If housing tanks fast, Flaherty and the BoC will do everything in their power to prop it up! It’s gov policy that dictates prices for the most part.
Their voter base will be up in arms if they don’t. 70% of us households own and guess what the majority will want? It’s common sense!
Wishful thinking or rationalizing (Junius) 25 hours a day won’t make a difference.
Things the gov can do to prop up the market:
1) double or triple immigration by creating a myriad of new streams the sheep can’t comprehend.
2) Lower rates to ZERO. Variable rates at 1.5% or lower.
3) Quantitative Easing. Flood the market with $$$$$.
4) Put a moratorium on new housing while the population grows. Yes, land use restrictions to prop up prices. Why can’t they??
5) $50,000 bonus to first time buyers. Why can’t they if they have a mandate??
Way to go G-man. Your obstreperous nature is a beacon in a sea of media mediocrity.
#44 Suede
Why can’t you have your cake and eat it too?
– — –
It’s a folksy old metaphor. And as such it has nothing to do with cake, or eating.
Garth,
This LeaderPost article is why you have to do a story on Regina. Fourth largest sales drop in Canada at 13% it says, yet prices will still increase by 7% because of the economic “fundamentals” in Regina.
http://www.leaderpost.com/business/Real+estate+market+cooling+Regina+says+report/7293827/story.html
Yes why are Canadians so politically correct and afraid to laugh?
When I was there in April a lot of places had signs up saying ‘we are a scent free zone’. I thought this was a joke for the first few but apparently not. For the 1% that has allergies, the other 99% has to smell.
I can tell you hand on heart that if such a sign went up in England, it wouldn’t last long. The 99% would be in revolt.
Off to spray myself with perfume.
I’d sign up as a page three girl too out of spite but sadly they don’t take 58 year olds.
KEY-MONEY for people trying to rent an apartment in T.O.?
I’ve heard that some people in Toronto are having to fork over as much as $8,000 cash ‘keymoney’ just for the opportunity to rent an apartment there, the vacancy rate is just that low.
What have you guys heard about this?
>>That means companies turning useless Class A farmland into productive subdivisions
I think you got this the wrong way round: the companies are turning useful Class A farmland into useless subdivisions.
Or do you seriously think that open countryside is less desirable than suburban sprawl?
What opportunities have you identified to short the Canadian housing market? Is there an opportunity similar to what Cornwall Capital did in the U.S.? Maybe the alternative lenders. Have to believe that if there is a 25%+ correction, there will be failures in some part of the financial sector. Maybe there will be fewer sales of $125 yoga pants if everyone is under water on their condos in urban canada. Is Brad Lamb publicly traded?
#40 Marco from Van
Butchere of the English laungage?
Dude it first degree, pre meditated murder.
Mindless Drivil?
What the hell did you just write. Pat your self on the back, perefect spelling and gramor. Your teachers are proude.
My style and invisable rebelion went right over your head. When visiting toronto and you end up on the go I will wave to you from Track 5
Sir Garth:
Chances are that every one of the “duffeses” who voted to increase the development levie charges 99% in Peel Region already own a home. It is certain the increase puts a floor under the price of their own homes.
@ #63 TRT
Things the gov can do to prop up the market:
…
2) Lower rates to ZERO. Variable rates at 1.5% or lower.
3) Quantitative Easing. Flood the market with $$$$$.
>> Rate are already near-zero. In a non-Depression scenario, I doubt the Bank of Canada would lower beyond the 0.25% it hit in the financial crisis. Is 0.75% off really going to reflate the bubble? Keep in mind, a bubble is mostly psychological – sheeple have to believe the “prices only go up” mantra to keep the ponzi scheme going.
>> Quantitative Easing? At this point, that would be mostly to lower our dollar. Yes, you could see bond rates stay lower (like in the U.S.), which helps mortgage rates — but that is basically the same as dropping the BOC prime rate (yes – there is a difference between the bond market and the prime rate, but the goal is still to lower mortgage rates). Also – printing money and lowering the dollar would make imports more expensive. So, you may save some manufacturing jobs, but the average person has less $ because everything costs more.
The only “stimulus” that would make a major impact would be to tell OSFI to take a hike, and let the banks go back to robo-approving anyone with a pulse.
Garth,
Don’t look now but the Shanghai index is about to break 2,000 and have a one handle. They have not been this low since the depths of the GFC. We are now well into the second half of the year and I am being proven 100% correct about China. The problem is this time they are in no position for a giant stimulus. Way too much misallocation of capital that they are paying now along with inflation they don’t want to reignite. As far as the U.S.s is concerned we will end up finding up in retrospect like we always do that their recession actually started again the beginning of the second half of the year, like I said. With the macro picture piss poor all over the world and their economy slowing down it is inevitable at this point regardless of QEternity. The Fed actually knows this which is why they’ve done such a desparate move in the first place.
Garth has truly surpassed himself today (again).
He is able to change his storyline from Edgar Alan Poe to Walt Disney without missing a beat. Thanks for everything.
#63 TRT on 09.26.12 at 2:26 am
Things the gov can do to prop up the market:
1) double or triple immigration by creating a myriad of new streams the sheep can’t comprehend.
2) Lower rates to ZERO. Variable rates at 1.5% or lower.
3) Quantitative Easing. Flood the market with $$$$$.
4) Put a moratorium on new housing while the population grows. Yes, land use restrictions to prop up prices. Why can’t they??
5) $50,000 bonus to first time buyers. Why can’t they if they have a mandate??
******************************************
The prop stage is over. We are in the pain stage.
#48 Daystar
I could make a febal attempt to excplane the swaps market and what its saying. Even if I decided to present it in Conrad Black precision. No one other that bond junky would understand.
So her goes Smoking Man way
Rates are going no where but down.
Think of the world as a big game of monopoly. One guys has everything. The oponents are arming them seleves they want to eat. So the winner desides hum to get the central bank to give the banker of the monoply game hords of cash to lend to the 99 precent of players. With very low interest.
The interest and the debt are control.
The peasunt don’t want the cheap money(QE3) they continue to arm.
Helicopter ben has just one bullet left the get the 99 to play.
He’s going to give them all free money that they don’t hafe to give back.
Canada who needs exports will be dead in the water if it also dose not de base its currency.
When this happens. Cash in the bank gets killed. Assets such as real esate gold will rise in value releative to the crumpling value of. Money
I actually liked the older “Garth” better. This is still my favorite pic of all time:
http://www.greaterfool.ca/2011/02/06/accident-waiting-to-happen/
Looking forward to the Lingerie edition…
Daystar wrote:
“Obviously no one that I know would knowingly support the government that allowed RE values and credit to expand to such a dangerous point if they knew the full consequences of this kind of risk and yet… here we are, 1 of the 10 most indebted nations in the world pretending to be something we aren’t which is fiscally healthy. People either don’t know the economic risks the Conservatives have led us into, or they believe these risks won’t materialize if they do know. ”
—–
So true. But in the end the belief system of “Canadian actors” ( drivers) spoils the broth.
You’re violating the most important principle of real estate: Location, location, location.
Let’s look at those three drivers for “Canadian” real estate.
1. Location: Global
2. Location: Global
3. Location: Global
Put all the “location” actors on the playing field
( private interests, unified global central bank policy implementation, political mouthpieces for global interests, Goldman Sachs et al, assorted gangs and crooks), and reality starts to emerge.
You still have a “tinge” of local going on. That’s not involved ( other than follow-up spin and administration).
Maybe we could once again pull out a “doomer” card to keep people confused, immersed in wishful thinking and psuedo-democracy?
At what point would you finally concede the correct
“location” focus. I mean it’s over-the-top absurd. What more information do you need? Start with QE to infinity and then add 19 more facts to the list.
The way you’re going, you’d need to be a buyer on an “international distraction” to keep your “Canadian democracy” illusion in play.
“….what the Conservatives have led us into.”
This isn’t true. Maybe you could make some kind of literal argument, but c’mon. Could it be time to graduate?
It always amazes me how people can be entertained by something so bad that can cause them so much trouble in near future…. if in US where RE was much smaller part of GDP, where US economy had so much more ways of earning then Canada, their RE fell ~35% and we all saw what it did to the country…. tent cities, people on the streets, etc….. just imagine what will happen in Canada if we go twice as bad and we have not even the 1/10 of that US had to help to get out of the hole on top of that our weather is not exactly camping friendly (at least 8 our of 12 months our of a year). Just imagine with almost 30% of our GDP being RE what that will do to our beloved country… anybody… liquid or not liquid will suffer.. loose money and have some major issues coming our way… just to give you an idea… when a city like Toronto has it’s budget go down because of a price of RE (which is a majority of it’s income) and local governments cannot borrow or print money like feds can….. just imagine what 70% in income would do to our city andto the people living in that city… property taxes will go up (eg. Detroit, houses go for $1 but property taxes are 7-9K/yr) and the quality of city services will go down and many government employees can risk getting fired. Then Ontario cannot help to much as well since we are already bloated with to many government employees and hefty spending… which has put us on the same path that Greece is on and that can trigger things which will make living in Ontario not very comfortable…. as well.. Why on earth would anybody rejoice this, with so many unknown variables up in the air when we all will be impacted by it… and we in Ontario have so much less now to help us get out of this mess then before as we are about to get into… in the 90’s we had quite a bit of manufacturing, scientific research, etc happening… now we have RE and service jobs… which means when the RE goes so does the service jobs… and that will be very hard to recover from… we need to export our way of out the recession.. but the problem is we don’t have much to export any more…. other then oil…Canada may not have a such a easy time to get out of the trouble especially if natural resources will be low and oil below $85… in any case I hope that all will go well and the times when feds had a venue to keep the economy going is over as they over build and now they have to stop or other wise they run a risk of destroying the economy…. and they know it… this is not a mistake or by fluke… but unfortunately this is the last venue they could use to keep our economy above water…. now is the time to let the cycle run it’s course. I always think that the guys running the country know what they are doing and we will be OK in the long run, it may not be the easiest of time ahead of us bit for sure we will be OK. They do not make “mistakes” everything is very calculated and planned to detail… many people think that politicians are fools, etc… i bet to differ, they would not be able to stay in their position for too long..someone else would outsmart them. They may “appear” foolish but they are far from it… So brace yourself for a fun ride…. or not so fun…. good luck to all of us and may liquidity save us all.
So whats all this about ETF’s being superior to mutual funds on all the previous posts on this blog.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/funds-and-etfs/etfs/etfs-are-the-new-mutual-funds-and-not-in-a-good-way/article4567353/
Once again, what seems obvious on the surface is never what it truly is.
Garth, it took you about 5 years to turn the housing boom into a bust, does that mean that interest rates won’t rise for another 5 years?
#69 William McNabe on 09.26.12 at 5:31 am
>>That means companies turning useless Class A farmland into productive subdivisions
I think you got this the wrong way round: the companies are turning useful Class A farmland into useless subdivisions.
Or do you seriously think that open countryside is less desirable than suburban sprawl?
……………………………………………………….
I am guessing English is your second language but I may be wrong…
The Squamish Sasquatch strikes again!
Bankruptcy Auction
>Squamish Homes & Renovations
http://www.jarvisauctions.ca/
I hope that the “doofuses” in Peel have followed the Ontario Development Charges Act. You cannot set development fees (actually “charges”) arbitrarily, but only for the services and at the percentages authorized by the Act, and pursuant to a development charges by-law based on a “background study” of historical costs. And you cannot increase charges to make up for past shortfalls.
http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_97d27_e.htm
Developers should have no problem appealing to the Ontario Municipal Board if the new charges have not been set according to the Act. If they have been, the “doofuses” of Peel Region should be congratulated for having taken the bull by the horns and forcing development to pay for itself rather than pass the balance of the infrastructure bill to the general public
Garth,
I respect your opinion, and agree with you on most issues, but you have to leave the gorgeous truck balls alone.
Seek to understand, then be understood.
I slapped a set on my wife’s mazda3 so she can fit in to our way of life here…the sparks shooting out the back of her car at highway speeds are gorgeous.
I am a real estate junkie, so like to tire kick in Calgary. 4/5 “high end inner city homes” I looked at are owned by realtors…as spec properties…you can smell the panic when you arrange a showing…how long collusion will exist before the first one panics and drops $800K off the sell price is anyone’s guess
…It’s not inconceivable F & the Peckerettes could crumble if housing tanks, reversing course…
Yes, Obama did that 2 years ago, with cash incentive giving money to new buyers (8000$, aprox). And now, those new buyers who took the money, to buy a house, are, ALL, under water.
Selling!!! It ain’t selling…. I was just out there last week as mentioned a couple days ago. Row, after row of FOR SALE signs. (crickets)
Tighter Banking Regulations is a bit of farce… Good thing to blame what was already going to happen.
30 Year Amortizations eliminated……Not on Conventional mortgages, couple of lenders still offer 35 years amortizations.
Discontinued Cash Back Mortgages or no money down… Not really we have just gone back to the old ways. Very acceptable for mommy or daddy to give kid the down payment as a gift, then use the cash back to repay the gift. Really it is inst that hard to figure out.
Credit lines are cut back to 65% LTV. Took the Bank’s all of 20 seconds to finagle their way back to 80% ltv as long as there is a fixed component of at least 15% included in the line, and voila….right back to 80% LTV…
The fact of the matter is the changes in policies are actually a good thing. Why should the taxpayer’s continue to cosign almost every mortgage, and is $70,000 income really enough to carry a $350,000 mortgage?
We need to see more radical changes in the lending policies that go significantly deeper into a client’s application.
Banks are only using $100.00 for heat….Really ?? Who’s heating bill is $100.00 per month, most detached homes are running 3 – 4 X that amount.
Why, if OCTO Mom is applying for a mortgage here in Canada, has the same GDS and TDS ratio’s as a single applicant with no kids.???
Why is 32 -40% GDS TDS been the same Ratio’s used for the last 20 years when there has been a significant increases in the cost of:
Gas Prices .60 per litre to $1.30 per litre
Food Prices nearly tripled
$20.00 for 6 chicken breasts
HST Only had PST back then
Cable and Internet – back then was $26.00 now $100 +
Cell Phones – Didn’t have cell pone bills .
Wasn’t buying kids I phones, Ipads, or Laptop computers either
Daycare expenses – not even on the application
University expenses – not on the application. Cost 3 -5X what it did 20 years ago.
This is not going to end well.
To #78
That photo is disgusting SHE”S NOT WEARING HER SEAT BELT!!
Personal debt is not sovereign debt. – Garth.
Almost a modified version of “It’s different here.”
Isn’t that money owed to someone? Doesn’t it have to be payed back?
If printing more money is the answer then why are there any poor countries?
Nations create their own income, plus set fiscal and monetary policy. There is no valid comparison. — Garth
# 80 TO Guy
THIS is exactly what WE in Ontario NEED !!!
So many things beyond housing is OVERPRICED that we all look like SHEEP here !
Ontarians ( BC maybe) are gang-raped by Telecoms, US retail-chains-with-NON-US prices, while we eat second-class-dieseled food, and now car-insurance-fraud capital of the world – due to lack of severe prosecution.
not to mention one third being overpaid in Unions and refusing to give in 1% while the rest give up much more…
We need BIG correction in Ontario.
And Garthoney , this is not war on Virgins and housing!
This is all out WAR on credit madness by lululemonized starbuckers who live beyond their means! You said that!
First time buyers will BE ABLE to buy pressed cornflake house that will cost now average $250K
while glass condo will cost average $150.
And MLS will be public and RE agents will be retrained to be clerks, and burger flippers, or shift managers in warehouses…
Too many leaches suck the system.
NOT collaps, but RESET is coming. All will have to work for food and housing…
#62 TRT,
You said, “If housing tanks fast, Flaherty and the BoC will do everything in their power to prop it up! It’s gov policy that dictates prices for the most part.”
Really? Who is dreaming now? As the market in BC continues to fall you become increasingly transparent as a pumper. Don’t blame me if you lack objectivity and reason.
Governments have a limited amount of policy options but more importantly their focus has shifted. What you also fail to understand is that they used housing to pump up the overall economy not the other way around as you hold. It was never about pleading the electorate but was all about fooling them.
85 Herb – sounds similar to the rules for “development
cost charges” in BC. Neverthless, we seem to get widely ranging costs within the same geographic area. Though developers may gripe about them, given time, they just work there way into all the other associated costs and are passed on to the consumer.
Hi #51 Nostradamus, Thanks for links.
Your “Russia So much for GM corn” and “Chief Lobbyist for Monsanto” are timely. I wonder what H,F, and the other MP’s families are eating right now!???
FYI anyone, Here’s a link or two for more background info. on the GMO food issue, and a new poll explaning why Garth’s site and others keep getting more hits by the day, for now anyway.
http://www.naturalnews.com/037315_Monsanto_GM_corn_breakfast_cereals.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/
http://www.naturalnews.com/037326_mainstream_media_trust_poll.html
http://seedsofdeception.com/
(scrowl down for info video)
“But this I know. You cannot spend your way into wealth, or borrow your way to security.”
…unless you’re a government
#55 Freedom First
That’s where you are wrong. I CAN bitch at Garth… he has all my money. I do appreciate his ironic and satirical humor and he is intelligent enough to use it without denigrating himself in the eyes of half the population and lowering his standards to the level of Animal House. Garth, keep up the good work!
By the way, I don’t know if this was posted by someone already but it’s got some good charts http://theeconomicanalyst.com/content/toronto-condo-market-fly-search-windshield
On the sovereign debt derail… the vast majority of sovereign debt is owed internally. Eg. in America, somthing like 60% is owed to states and cities holding bonds and only 8% to China, despite the rhetoric. That’s the fundamental difference. Trade deficit is a better thing to look at if you simply must compare countries to people.
Just to let you gys know Torontonistan and Dumpcouver are not the only places with mad condo buyers. We have them here in Ottawa too.
Yesterday i had a chat with a person who bought (couple months ago) 2BD unit in 28-year old Minto-built tower for over $300K. His condo fee is $540/month and heating system is electrical! He says he is short over $200 every month to pay all living expenses.
To #78, my favourite is:
http://www.greaterfool.ca/2012/01/page/7/
#78-that’s a great pic!!!!!
Funny, very little mention in the media about this new home sales decline. Only National Post I think. Why don’t they report it? Is it not relevant?
CBC: “Ontario to freeze wages of 480,000 public sector workers…”
*****************
Adding insult to injury…
12KG — “Why $17,000 and not $35,532?”
The increase. It’s called ‘math’. — Garth
************************
They’re already paying $17,000 — now they’ll pay another $17,000. For a total of $35,000.
Jane54;
“When I was there in April a lot of places had signs up saying ‘we are a scent free zone’. I thought this was a joke for the first few but apparently not. For the 1% that has allergies, the other 99% has to smell.
I can tell you hand on heart that if such a sign went up in England, it wouldn’t last long. The 99% would be in revolt.”
Here in the new world we use soap and water instead of bathing in perfume to make ourselves smell clean without causing asthma attacks. England must be lovely where you have to sit next to old ladies whose perfume is so strong you can taste it.
“#99 Sebee on 09.26.12 at 11:07 am
Funny, very little mention in the media about this new home sales decline. Only National Post I think. Why don’t they report it? Is it not relevant?”
Very good question. I emailed the Star and the G&M to ask this very question yesterday. No response. “German priest has heart attack giving wedding ceremony in Munich” apparently is front page worthy on the online Star but not a 70% decline in new home sales???
I hate to wear the conspiracy theory hat but it smells of the advertisers saying no. I can’t think of why they wouldn’t run the story. It was on Canwire news.
I, for one, like the sexual innuendos and racy pics. The ancient Romans had frescoes of people engaged in sexual acts right in their homes. Graven phalluses on building walls pointed the way to the nearest body house. Now that was civilization!
>>I am guessing English is your second language but I may be wrong…
You guessed wrongly, of course. Perhaps you were surprised by my ability to spell correctly.
And your point is?
After hearing what I heard on CBC this am around 7:45 about condo insurance and ever increasing huge deductables I don’t think I’d ever buy a condo again. Much to much risk of being wiped up financially.
#81 Bigrider on 09.26.12 at 8:17 am
Like any product, there are good ETFs and bad ETFs.
The author of the article acknowledges the key advantage of ETFs over mutual funds: lower fees. ETF fees can easily be a fraction (say 20% to 50%) of the total fees associated with mutual funds. In the long run, the difference in fees can make a huge difference to your returns.
The other key risk factor the author identifies is retail investors’ tendency to trade often and try to time the market. This is true, but it has nothing to do with the structure of ETFs vs MFs. In either case, discipline is required.
Yes, ETFs are far more liquid, making trading costs and timing errors more likely. But history shows that even those invested in the best performing mutual funds rarely do as well as the fund itself for the very same reason: they buy at the top and sell at the bottom.
ETFs are not perfect by any means. Like MFs they are a derivative of equities, bonds, etc. And you need to understand what you are buying. But when you understand that in the long run MFs don’t give you any real alpha, the lower costs of ETFs can make a significant difference.
Who needs Silverados with swinging testicles? Our realtors are fully equipped. -Garth
This ties up all the loose ends in the universe. Script is done, the end is near. The sun is about to explode
Sebe wrote:
“Funny, very little mention in the media about this new home sales decline. Only National Post I think. Why don’t they report it? Is it not relevant?”
——
Could you by chance work up a little info on western media? You know, something which includes who owns what and where and whatever.
What’s 119 seconds of google research?
Unreal.
The Region of Peel has been doling out money to first time homebuyers for down payments. Think that has anything to do with the problem?
http://www.peelregion.ca/housing/home-in-peel/apply/qualifications.htm
I like your writing Garth and have a lot of respect for your opinions, but you are wrong about us having entered the ‘recovery’. There is no recovery–this depression has roots far deeper than just a housing crash in the US. Even the so-called ‘housing recovery’ in the US is not even happening ( http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-09-26/less-expected-31000-new-homes-sold-august-dent-recovery-meme ), the FED will continue to try and reblow the housing bubble with this 85+ bil/month purchase of MBS, but without that manipulation, or even with it–we are not out of this hole yet (not even close).
To DM in C
And don’t get me started with the Winterlude trees that look like just like Christmas trees or the Family Day holiday or the bans on peanut butter sandwiches. Canada and I am a Canadian is really into micro control of the ordinary person.
When my brother wanted to put a parking spot on his own front garden, land that he owns, he had to get planning permission and pay for it from TO Council. When I told Uk friends this, they didn’t believe that either.
Life is for living and laughing, you have to have personal space.
Cheers and since it is 5 pm here, off down the pub.
#91 Mark
Personal debt is not sovereign debt. – Garth.
Almost a modified version of “It’s different here.”
It is different – nobody is going to change the rules for personal debt – not for you, anyway, at least not in any way that will benefit you. But nations get to change the rules for themselves.
So no, the sovereign debts will never be paid back. But there will be no jubilee for us.
> #103 CBC: “Ontario to freeze wages of 480,000 public sector workers…”
I’m shocked. SHOCKED!
I’m shocked that there are 480 THOUSAND public sector workers in Ontario…
#68 WaterlooResident – My large (850 square foot) 1 bedroom in Forest Hill/St Clair area costs me about 1200/month with parking and utilities included. The building is clean and well maintained and the area is beautiful and very close to the subway. Although I would say that vacancy rates are fairly low, until last winter they were offering tenants cash incentives to bring in new tenants.
The rental condo units are charging much, much more. I’m not sure why somebody would pay upwards of $2500-3k to rent a 500 sqft shoe box. Just for the granite counter tops? Concierge?
Hi Garth,
Your reminder of condo balconies shattering reminds me that in earlier posts you quoted some developers who said that many of these new condos are poorly built and will need major repairs in coming years (due to argon leakage from windows or something, among other things). Is there a good resource out there that people can look to as a guide for what to look for in condo construction so that they can seek builings in which their monthly fees will not dramatically escalate?
Thanks, Mike
“Nations create their own income, plus set fiscal and monetary policy. There is no valid comparison. — Garth”
Good lord, you are stuck using 19th century political science as the basis of your analysis of economies.
I suggest that you check out recent work (e.g., last two decades) on ownership and control of resources. For example, a recent paper analyzed the graph of share ownership relations for major companies. They found that a small group of firms were at the heart of this structure, entailing an enormous degree of power. As a hint, these companies are the same ones that were the founding members in the federal reserve, and the same ones who funded the bolshevik revolution. They have incredible power that transcends nation states.
One can also look at multinational companies and lobbying, composition of boards of directors (in which a small number of people sit on the boards of all the major corporations), etc etc.
In short, the claim that nations set their own monetary policy is highly questionable. The claim that nations have fully independent governments is highly questionable. The assertion that nation states are the primary political actors is also highly questionable.
My personal take is that the real rulers of the world (who set policy and send armies to war) are the families that run the banks.
The question was about the differece between personal and national debt. But thanks for the conspiracy update. — Garth
Interesting study out from Prof. Shiller:
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/09/what-have-they-been-thinking-home-buyer-behavior-in-hot-and-cold-markets/
The study looks at survey results from 2003-2012, which ask questions related to expectations for the housing market in the U.S.
Between 2004-2006, there was a striking change in the tenor of the answers. The common themes in 2004 (pre-crash) were strongly emphasizing a “shortage of houses,” a large number of “immigrants,” “scarcity of land,” “lack of building space,” “too many people,” “the desire to have it all,” that the city “is expensive and always will be.”
Only occasionally did they mention in 2004 that affordability might be an issue.
By 2006 (peak — when the crash started), the optimistic themes of 2004 were still in evidence, but less prevalent. The most common theme in 2006 was “rising interest rates.” Also common were the words “high prices” and “no equivalent increase in wages,” “over valued homes” and “Numerous newspaper & media articles speculating on/or reporting on slowing sales” and “Astronomical price spikes of previous 2 years simply cannot be sustained.”
In 2004, 14% of respondents volunteered the word “supply” in answering these two questions, almost always with a suggestion of short supply, limited supply, no supply or demand exceeding supply. In 2006, only 5% of respondents used this word.
So, in 2004 before the bubble peaked, everyone was talking about:
– a shortage of houses
– a large number of immigrants
– scarcity of land
– lack of building space
– too many people
– the desire to have it all
– that the city is expensive and always will be
In 2006:
– rising interest rates
– high prices
– no equivalent increase in wages
– over-valued homes
– slowing sales
– unsustainable prices
Sound familiar?
#116 Iconoclast “So no, the sovereign debts will never be paid back.”
Right, and then what happens? We all just go on about our merry way? No consequences? That money came from someone, from somewhere. It is owed to someone who is not simply going to accept not being paid back.
Why are there poor countries in the world if it’s as simple as creating currency and spending it? If you can run a trade deficit into the trillions, why work at all? Just print, consume and enjoy, right?
Worried realtors sound like fools but then again they are useless and uneducated. If Government could stop the crash why didn’t the US and EVERY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD stop their housing crash? The housing crash in Canada is going from bad to worse as many out of work realtors post in a panic on Garths blog. It’s going to be a nasty crash realtors a nasty crash!
Aussie Update
Preparing for the China crash – goes mainstream
For years, China was the flavour of the month. So popular were its attractions that the Rudd government had enough time to stitch together a new mining tax and the Gillard government to unstitch it. Yes, it’s been that long.
When faced with economic difficulties, the United States could first rely on Alan Greenspan to make money cheaper, and then on Ben Bernanke to make it free.
Australia had its very own “put” based on China. No matter what went wrong in Gondwanaland, the industrialisation of the world’s most populous nation would dig us out of a hole by paying us to dig more holes on its behalf.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/intelligent-investor/how-to-prepare-for-a-china-crash-20120924-26gnj.html
RENTER – REDEMPTION on 09.26.12 at 9:57 am
# 80 TO Guy
THIS is exactly what WE in Ontario NEED !!!
So many things beyond housing is OVERPRICED that we all look like SHEEP here !
Ontarians ( BC maybe) are gang-raped by Telecoms, US retail-chains-with-NON-US prices, while we eat second-class-dieseled food, and now car-insurance-fraud capital of the world – due to lack of severe prosecution.
not to mention one third being overpaid in Unions and refusing to give in 1% while the rest give up much more…
We need BIG correction in Ontario.
And Garthoney , this is not war on Virgins and housing!
This is all out WAR on credit madness by lululemonized starbuckers who live beyond their means! You said that!
First time buyers will BE ABLE to buy pressed cornflake house that will cost now average $250K
while glass condo will cost average $150.
And MLS will be public and RE agents will be retrained to be clerks, and burger flippers, or shift managers in warehouses…
Too many leaches suck the system.
NOT collaps, but RESET is coming. All will have to work for food and housing…
—————————————————————–
It’s going to be a nasty crash realtors a nasty crash!
I just cannot believe all these Republican types worrying about the sentiment and pictures on your blog.
They must be from the school of “ignorance is bliss”.
How much more censorship do they think they may have power over? Watch “any” TV shows lately. Then on Oct 18th they’re really going to be revved up when “Hannah Montana” shows up in bed with Ashton Kutcher……..
Stick to the topics and let the writer write…..IMHO
#106. Toronto_CA
Like I said yesterday don’t expect to see much more gloom and doom in MSM. And if you do crash words will be toned down
Mission accopleshed for F and C condomania has been contained
#117 Iconoclast on 09.26.12 at 12:07 pm
> #103 CBC: “Ontario to freeze wages of 480,000 public sector workers…”
I’m shocked. SHOCKED!
I’m shocked that there are 480 THOUSAND public sector workers in Ontario…
——————————————————————
Take away all the hospital workers, teachers, snow plow operators and see what happens. There is a lot of maintenance involved in a jurisdiction as big as Ontario.
Mike #119 see http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/11/13/tor-glass-walled-condos.html
The day of reckoning has finally arrived and it is not surprising that so many soon to be victims are in complete and total denial. I know of a young family that bought their first house using a loan from family for the downpayment. Things were tight even with both working but things changed virtually over night with you guessed it a pregnancy. One year later no more maternity benefits this young famiy found themselves in debt to the tune of 25k ( 15k LOC 10K Credit Cards ) Listed their home in August for the same amount they bought it for. Well thirty days passed with no interest so parents got involved and now the Realtor is saying to get serious they would have to lower the asking price by 25k to 30k and hope to find a willing buyer. Now keep in mind this home was originally purchased for $330,000 some 3 years ago. The numbers are staggering for this couple. 8k for deck landscaping and fencing materials, 6k for sales tax, 9k for CMHC fees, 15k loan for downpayment, 15k LOC (used to live off of for one year) and oh yes if they are lucky a shortfall on the mortgage of 40k. So in the end a 330k purchase over three years could end with 100k in debt. Shocking to say the least!! On the advice of the parents they met with a trustee and as a result of this meeting they are preparing to file bankruptcy. They will move into one of the parents basement suite until they get back on their feet. So much for the great Canadian dream!! How many 600k to 900k mortgages out there are in the same position and will the losses become 200K to 300K? Not to mention how this sale will impact the selling prices of the other listings in this area.. I take no delight in saying what will it look like in the fourth quarter.
#106 Toronto CA… All forms of major (and minor local) media outlets are indirectly beholden to their advertisers, no exceptions. Read Noam Chomsky (I am not certain that the Chomsky you see in the media is the same guy who wrote all those brilliant pieces and this actor is probably the same actor that plays Hugh Hefner); nonetheless, there is a lot of truth in the writing whoever it is that wrote it.
smoking man you might like this link to frontline
http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106689
1987 Sep 23 We
Margaret Thatcher
Interview for Woman’s Own (“no such thing as society”)
Document type: speeches
Document kind: Interview
Venue: No.10 Downing Street
Source: Thatcher Archive: COI transcript
Journalist: Douglas Keay, Woman’s Own
======
Apollo 20: One Man’s Plan to Fix Failing Schools
http://www.houstonisd.org/HISDConnectEnglish/Images/Apollo/ApolloResults.pdf
=
dumbing down profits
Sanborn said that overuse of the “private school” code has become one of the latest ways that Texas high schools can lower their dropout numbers. But these private schools aren’t what you think. The state is home to at least 10 programs that offer a high-school diploma for a few hundred dollars and some completed workbooks, or an exam, submitted online.
Critics call them “diploma mills,” but what they do is legal. The programs are protected under a Texas law that allows students to complete their studies through unregulated, unaccredited home-schooling programs, which it considers private schools.
========
http://allaccess.org/
In Miles’ program, students pay $300 to take a 200-question test. One they pass, they receive a diploma.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/dropout-nation/
#130 robert – This situation is fairly common. I know of a young couple who bought in Oakville in 2010. The house was purchased for roughly 450k and they put minimal down. The especially scary part is that their total family income is/was 55k (husband was unemployed). Fast forward a couple years, thousands of dollars on house “upgrades” and he’s is still unemployed. The wife works in a very unstable field. Personally, I don’t think I’d be able to sleep at night knowing I had that much risk…
121 T.O. Bubble Boy
Excuse my ignorance but oes Shiller get a royality for his insurance hedge index?
I am surprised these reasons were left off the survey?
to pay for children student loans
divorce payments
medical treatments
job loss
#123 Realtors and bankers in an all out panic.
I think You are : I wish I can be, a sucesful realtor.
Most realtor ,in Quebec, are educated and helpful, rich peoples, always, have a Realtor that represent them.
I told my clients , years before, whats coming, to take proper actions. This is helpful.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/top-investors-expect-financial-tsunami-in-2012-survey/article4569722/
Top investors expect financial tsunami in 2012: survey
#68 WaterlooResident – key money has been around for decades in any tight rental market, and it might take place with the sale of a cheap throw rug to buy for lots of green to make the transaction legal for a sublet, or whatever. I have seen during the 1970’s a good apartment building in Toronto with hundreds of units having a zero vacancy rate forever.
One time wanted the best in Toronto, and phoned the Property Manager of a huge corporation, and said guy I want in for a one bedroom. He said we are kicking out someone with the sheriff, and have a bachelor unit that is vacant, and can make an arrangement for you to sleep on the floor for a month at no cost, but keep a low profile. Then you will have the one bedroom for a lease agreement, and said we have a deal – he gave me the key, as wanted a good tenant who could pay.
The question was about the differece between personal and national debt. But thanks for the conspiracy update. — Garth
——–
This isn’t going to fly at all at one point. If a middle ground isn’t being sought on legitimate points, that means something. It’s not neutral.
Polarizing becomes a strategy. As long as you stay in one corner, support for the idea may continue.
You can see it eroding now, and fast. These assertions won’t have traction after the US election. That comfortable corner has no future.
For me, there was a last vestige of “maybe there’s a point to that argument” for a really long while ( being Canadian and all).
Fleshing it out ane questioning over and over really works to get a good read on what’s happening. Like anyone I can be snowed. But no longer on this particular “head in the sand” approach.
The fork is on the napkin…for now.
GregW I’m a big fan of naturalnews.com Tells it like it is for sure.
120 Jim
Quote “My personal take is that the real rulers of the world (who set policy and send armies to war) are the families that run the banks.”
Yes you are correct. Nothing, and I mean nothing that happens politically, militarily, or economically in this world happens by accident. It is planned decades in advance, AND written about for those who still possess the ability to read and critically think. We are living through a script, a long term business plan if you will. And the Media, Government are only there to sell us on the plan, implement it and silence any dissenting views. They are completely controlled on both sides and is nothing more than political theatre for our entertainment.
They control both sides of any conflict, argument or social unrest. Out of that conflict they brainwash the public with mis-information through media and government to create a consensus which they need to continue forward with their long term model. Be it environmental, geopolitical, or military, it all has a purpose to shepherd the sheep towards a common purpose, one the Bankers you mention control. The end game is the formation of the U.N as the global government , the IMF as the global book keeper usurping any sovereignty of countries, and a population living in perpetual austerity with the Bankers in complete rule over them. The rest of what happens in between is just noise to scare the public into giving up their god given rights.
#119 Mike on 09.26.12 at 12:11 pm…
Here in BC, the risk of owning a condo just went up again as reported by the CBC…
http://tinyurl.com/BC-Condo-Woes
Add in high strata fees, sinking buildings (at least in Kelowna), poor construction (plumbing, HVAC, etc), leaky condo crisis (even in Kelowna, but mainly Vancouver and Victoria) you can only conclude buying a condo, especially in a high-rise, is a risky proposition.
It will be interesting to follow the death-spiral of condo prices in Kelowna, and how badly it drags down SFHs at the same time!
A new virgin Alert…
A” federal” Union of Eruope….
http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Entries/2012/9/25_MEP_Nigel_Farage.html
Home values will be the least of your problems…
#127 Smoking Man on 09.26.12 at 1:00 pm
I hate it when you’re right.
NO more developers ripping off the buyers .
Developers have had it to good and times
are changing .
CMHC and Genworth nearing their insurance limit. Chart
Now you know why sales are down, cause when the lending stops, everything stops.
To jane54
” Canada and I am a Canadian is really into micro control of the ordinary person.”
I’m from England too, so don’t get me started on the TV licence or the incredible CCTV culture in the UK, or the speed cameras…………need I go on?
Toronro_ca
Another reason to hate me. Last week I said shuttle go with throttal up. I said a perfect batman was forming on the bond yeilds.
Anyone chk out the bond market today, rates to plung
An I’m am still predicting C is going to need to bring the overnight rate down soon.
Swap tarders of the world chance to make out HUGE
MSM really is pathetic. But hey, why alert the minions.
The Star, well – they have Condo interests now with their parking lot sale, no? Nothing bad about Condos in The Star since that sale.
But don’t fear MSM lovers. They all reported on the US new home sales – since it’s obviously more relevant on this side of the 49th.
Seebe just scanned all three papers no re gloom.
I believe C and F and the machine under estamated the inpact of there MSM blits. But as he see daily track 6ers look at the tv and follow orders
Maybe. But the backstory to my post was not so much that the feds will overact and juice the economy or vice versa as that the feds are influenced one way or another on which fiscal policy tool to employ by that which is happening in their perceived “Center of the Universe” (Toronto/Ontario) with little heed to the unique goings on in the markets of other regions of our vast country. It is different there and it is different here if for no other reason than timing. But then, doesn’t everything come down to timing?
I hear Christy Clark may be seeking to announce her own Minister of Separation in a bid to thwart an NDP victory in the next provincial election. Don’t laugh – could work.
sacked scapegoats
According to the uk telegraph
RBS traders boasted of Libor ‘cartel’
Senior traders at Royal Bank of Scotland boasted about operating a “cartel” that made “amazing” amounts of money by rigging interest rates, it has been disclosed.
The LIBOR Robbery of the Cities and States
Paul Gallagher & Tony Papert
18 Jul 2012
…”The Belgian-French banking giant Dexia has been the one big banks to fail in the 2011-12 Eurozone collapse so far. It has been bailed out twice in three years, to the tune of nearly 80 billion euros, and is now, as a zombie bank, demanding more bailouts. When striding the Earth as the world’s largest municipal lender, Dexia was costing cities in Italy, France, and the United States billions with interest-rate “swaps” based on the LIBOR frauds. Now as a zombie, it is looking to take down whole national budgets with its bailout demands…”
=======
Bernhard Ardaen, a former Dexia banker who has written a book on Dexia’s collapse called Time Bomb, says the bank’s needs could eventually swell the French budget by €75 billion, while Belgium’s public debt could shoot up by €150 billion to 1½ times its annual output.”
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/0804/1224321440307.html
====================
local result
Refund Transit Coalition
http://refundtransit.org/what-is-a-swap/
In these 12 cities across the country, our transit agencies are overpaying more than $500 million to Wallstreet banks. Click on your city to learn more…
Research by the Refund Transit Coalition found that a sample of 1,100 current “swaps” deals at more than 100 government agencies, together are robbing taxpayers of $2.5 billion/year. Now – after the same banks which rigged the LIBOR rates have been bailed out with perhaps $6 trillion in purchases and $25-30 trillion in liquidity loans by US and European governments and central banks – these banks can borrow at virtually zero rates. But the states and municipalities trapped in their “swaps” can {not} refinance their bonds, and continue to pay 6-8% interest or monster criminal “penalties” to get out.
http://www.lesoir.be/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-26/libor-fraud-may-have-accelerated-dexia-s-fall-l-echo-reports.html
===============
As of 2008, the Dexia group has benefited from significant state support from France, Belgium and Luxembourg, approved by the Commission in return for a restructuring plan to be concluded by the end of 2014 (see IP/10/201).
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/12/578
Dexia’s remnant bank still holds state and city loans and interest-rate swaps based on rigged LIBOR rates all over Europe and the US. It is demanding that Belgian-French-Luxembourg guarantees for its bailout be increased from 55 billion euros to 100 billion immediately. But at the same time, in June it cut off its bond-lending lines to more than 100 cities all over France, putting the cities in a severe squeeze. The national Banque Postale is trying to enter the municipal market with 4 billion euros to compensate for Dexia’s suddenly calling in bonds.
In Italy, where 400 local administrations bought interest-rate “swaps” totalling 66 billion euros, Dexia’s zombie is looting more than 10% of that. Its subsidiary Dexia-Crediop has sold “swaps” derivatives to 36 municipalities, with a value of 3.9 billion euros. In a revolt in the courts, some cities have cancelled these looting contracts as illegal, including Florence, Pisa, and now Prato.
Re #117
====================================
#117 Iconoclast on 09.26.12 at 12:07 pm
> #103 CBC: “Ontario to freeze wages of 480,000 public sector workers…”
I’m shocked. SHOCKED!
I’m shocked that there are 480 THOUSAND public sector workers in Ontario…
=====================================
You probably will choke even more if you know that their actual number is well above 1,300,000
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/govt62d-eng.htm
300,000 of them were created under the watchful eye of our current supreme commander. The debt and deficit went their way and did not fall from the sky – and most went into the RE…
In a tight rental market the landlord will waste no time in throwing you under the bus with a legal proceeding to have your door posted for eviction, and in a bad rental market the landlord will ‘ sail with you’ for a period of time hoping your situation will pay rent, and this is when there is a discussion as to circumstances for non payment of rent.
The reason is logical, as if the market has too many vacancies that unit could sit for many months with no cashflow, or a loss. The landlord or property manager of many apartment units just wants one thing, and that is to maximize rental cashflow for the whole, and will do whatever it takes with prudence to make it happen.
Garth,
If anything reported in the MSM carries any accuracy anymore, it seems majority of investors disagree with you about that once in a lifetime event that was GFC.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/top-investors-expect-financial-tsunami-in-next-year-survey/article4569722/
Smoking Man, quit smoking and drinking, live clean and you’ll make it to the next one in your lifetime.
The sample was 300 respondents, most of them institutional. This is news? — Garth
We’ll I think most of us know my favourite and why…
http://www.greaterfool.ca/2010/12/21/survival/
Yup that’s my girl, or a reasonable facsimile anyway.
It was a sad situation in life many years ago when I had Lawyers calling me to explain the details of the Landlord and Tenant Act, as took the time to become an expert, and they knew it. Now when the Ontario Government announced the Family Reform Act this was a shocker, and remember one Real Estate Broker calling me crying, and said what do I do before this becomes Law? I asked him a few questions about the babe he was shacked up with for the past 5 years, and said guy you are married, and she has a claim on all your assets, and move quickly into a new place or else you will take a hit if she gets ideas.
Imao, as this guy was having a nervous breakdown on the phone about the Family Reform Act, and said be a man and move out quickly, or get married. He said oh no I don’t want that, so he moved out like a coward as marriage was a bad word on his page, and he didn’t want to share his assets with any woman.
–
#77 Smoking Man — “The interest and the debt are control.”,
+
120 Jim — “In short, the claim that nations set their own monetary policy is highly questionable. The claim that nations have fully independent governments is highly questionable. The assertion that nation states are the primary political actors is also highly questionable.”
+
#140 TheBigLebowski — “The end game is the formation of the U.N as the global government , the IMF as the global book keeper usurping any sovereignty of countries, and a population living in perpetual austerity with the Bankers in complete rule over them.”
— which goes with —
#142 Humpty Dumpty — “A” federal” Union of Eruope….”
and
#138 John — “Polarizing becomes a strategy.”
All valid and strong points. Govts. have to polarize sheeple in order to let the others play out. One hears the pitter-patter of tiny steps, The Fourth Reich (Germany) and The Tiger (China) walking in tandem. Lotsa unknown stuff to be sorted out, ‘tho.
#95 GregW, Oakville — Hi Greg, and thanks for the links.
#111 Spiltbongwater — “This ties up all the loose ends in the universe. Script is done, the end is near. The sun is about to explode” — Does this mean GW is now the flavor of the day again?!
#124 Aussie Roy — When China sneezes then sinks, Oz and Canada will have a plague to deal with, which is why neither are particularly interested in the EZone.
Old Man @ # 157,
I don’t blame him – why should a man ( providing you Canadian ball-less wonders even know what that is ) share his hard won assets with some women who has contributed likely nothing except being equipped with you-know-what?
In that scenario she is a thinly veiled prostitute and he is a damn fool…
Hi Garth….always enjoy your blog.
Under a separate email please let me know your mailing address or email….I was cleaning out some out stuff and happened on an article your wrote June 7, 1981!
Very interesting to look back all of those years (yes I was a home owner way back then and lived through the brutally high mortgage rates of the early 80’s).
In your article your wrote about mortgage rates hitting 19% and you predicted they would soon to reach 20% (I think they tapped out at 21.5%)…and gold at $850 an ounce. A lot of people who read your blog have never lived through those kind of interest rates.
Seeing that old article of your’s really brought back a lot of interesting memories. The pain that high interest rates brought to those mired in debt….and the bonanza it represented for people who were liquid.
Few know Garth is actually a covert fiscal policy tool of the Feds. He was never actually fired, that was just a cover to conceal his new purpose.
er, uh, I meant monetary policy.
Although he could be a fiscal policy tool as well as he employs a throng of Amazonian women who in turn spend those wages on Amazonian women things that those monies multiply through the economy as he spends and then she spends and so on and so on or vice versa
#108 William McNabe on 09.26.12 at 11:16 am
>>I am guessing English is your second language but I may be wrong…
You guessed wrongly, of course. Perhaps you were surprised by my ability to spell correctly.
And your point is?
…………………………………………………..
Well I was thinking that the whole farmers field bad expensive poor quality housing good thing had an assumed NOT at the end, again, I could be wrong
#161 };-) aka D.A.
“Few know Garth is actually a covert fiscal policy tool of the Feds. He was never actually fired, that was just a cover to conceal his new purpose.”
You didn’t know? Garth 007
AGF.B slammed, down 9% today. It’s dividend yield is huge; for how long? It is doomed into becoming another AIC?
Proof, people are shoving their funds into the Orange Guy’s yawning maw:
_________________________________
AGF posts $13.3 million loss Q3 loss
By Canadian Press | September 26, 2012 10:40
AGF Management Ltd. (TSX:AGF.B) said Wednesday it lost $13.3 million in its latest quarter as revenue fell 20% compared with a year ago.
The investment fund manager said the loss amounted to 14 cents per share in the quarter ended Aug. 31 compared with a profit of $15.4 million or 16 cents per share a year ago.
Revenue totalled $119.8 million, down from $151.4 million.
AGF sold its trust operations to Laurentian Bank’s B2B Trust subsidiary earlier this year for $421.6 million.
Excluding the sale and $30 million in one-time items including restructuring and impairment charges, AGF said it earned 11 cents per share.
Total assets under management were $41.2 billion at Aug. 31, down 14.8% from $48.4 billion a year ago.
BTW FYI; Two Amazonian women is a pair, three is a trio, four is a throng and five or more is a gaggle.
Re: #69 William McNabe & #108 William McNabe
I think his point was that you missed the irony of the following statement:
“That means companies turning useless Class A farmland into productive subdivisions”
Breaking… Ahmedinejad of Iran is Henry Winkler! 100% confirmed with ear analysis to be posted shortly to my blog… Keep in mind he also plays John McCain… need I say it again: Your world is an illusion…
Golly Gee, who would of known?
It’s Murphy’s law. The bad news keeps on rolling for the tight property Virgins.
This is identical to the 1980’s crash. Except the bubble blown bigger and no one has savings.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/09/26/canadian-housing-bubble-unemployment_n_1916681.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-business
Property taxes to go up in Ontario. Another nail in the home ownership coffin. These houses will be assessed at a their pricing zenith. While the house prices will be in steady decline you will gradually be paying more in property taxes. Damn this government is as sneaky as a GTA realtor.
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/housing/assessed-value-of-ontario-homes-to-rise-property-tax-may-follow/article4567042/?service=mobile
Garth booked.
Ok enough.
Lloyds anti-fraud boss who stole £2.4m told police she deserved cash for long hours
The former head of online security at Lloyds Banking Group has been jailed for five years after admitting stealing more than £2.4 million from the taxpayer funded company. telegraph uk
====================
Family Budget: How to go Broke on $100,000 a year. Why the Middle Class has a hard time Living in Expensive Urban Areas. (*American side – but kind of universal, now).
>”One of the challenges during this economic crisis is budgeting. As much as we hear about the housing collapse or the stock market seesawing like a playground, we rarely get a glimpse into the actual budget of real live Americans. Sure we know housing is expensive. We all intuitively knew that $147 a barrel oil was not going to be good on our economy. But how does this translate into the monthly budget of a family trying to get by?”
http://tinyurl.com/5sqfhx
#172 watchdog
I can’t believe Garth didn’t respond to that link. It was the funniest thing I’ve seen all day.
#159 Westernman
“In that scenario she is a thinly veiled prostitute and he is a damn fool.”
Einstein had a parallel thought Westernman. He said the above woman was a prostitute with a long term contract. I hope yo are you game for a plowing rematch with Form Man at the SASTPGFBDCParty.
Hi Garth
More nudity (fish & beef) and animal attack pics on the blog please. The more public & outrageous the better.
Thanks
Some of us deviants visit for ulterior reasons.
It’s going to be a nasty crash realtors a nasty crash!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/11/13/tor-glass-walled-condos.html
So now that things are finally unraveling ……. what and when is the time to build a strategy to take advantage of the mess. For those of us who have been preparing for this for the last few years. Catastrophic change always creates huge opportunities. And for the few with cash and/or credit at their disposal …… the next few years will be the time to set ones self up for another good 10 year ride.
A farmland into productive subdivisions must now pay $35,532 to the municipality as a building tax…..a home in Mississauga or Brampton will soon be $17,000 more expensive.
——————
Re: # 12: Why $17,000 and not $35,532 ?
——————-
The increase. It’s called ‘math’. — Garth
—————
it just says ‘must now pay’ …does not say it has been increased to…..all your readers do not carry the current taxation knowledge, especially if they do not live in that area.
Old Man @ # 157 Did it ever occur to you that the obligations were mutual? That’s what marriage is about. I’m a cynic, but I can’t help notice that men want traditional marriages and modern divorces. Wimps.
35K for a house?? That’s unheard of! especially on the coast.
I chuckled as I handed over the cheque for my getaway in the states. After the title company tracked down the half doz owners scattered around trailer parks in 4 states (that were somehow still on the title), it was mine!
That’s the price of an SUV thought I. I couldn’t go wrong. After all, RE ALWAYS appreciates.
At the time, a flea bitten dump on Vancouver’s east side was going for 10 times that amount.
Fast fwd. After owning it for 19 yrs & having renovated it, it’s now worth 50K ‘tops’.
When the dust settles, I should get out with about 30K IF I can find a buyer.
Nobody can call me stewpid.
In suburbia local politicians have just done their own bit to murder housing. Days ago the doofuses who run Peel Region (which has more people than Calgary, but fewer trucks with balls) voted a 99% increase in development fees. That means companies turning useless Class A farmland into productive subdivisions must now pay $35,532 to the municipality as a building tax. Per house.
__ __ ___
They may be “doofuses” but at least their actions might indirectly save some grade “A” farmland from development. Peel Region and much of the GTA is little more than a soulless suburban hell of our own making.
Canadian Watchdog: CMHC and Genworth nearing their insurance limit.
so CMHC and Genworth can insure only half the amount in the 4rth quarter as they insured in the 2nd quarter, worse if they do insure half then they cannot insure anything in 2013 (however as people pay off their mortgages, CMHC can re-insure the paid-off mortgage)
#173 Jess – at least they still put them in jail. In Canada she would have probably been appointed to the Senate.
I can’t believe that realtors can get away with comments like this one reported on CBC news as a quote from realtor Cameron McNeill:
“The fact of the matter is, in Vancouver today, you can buy a condominium and you can rent it out and you will have 40 people in line trying to rent that condominium,” McNeill says.
Here is the link to Rebgv complaint form which I intend to fill out.
http://www.rebgv.org/sites/default/files/RECBC%20Complaint%20Form.pdf
“Sexy downtown condos with exploding glass balconies” LMAO