One Sunday this spring, some weeks ago, an astonishingly ugly house in North Toronto was swarmed. It’s a semi, built like its neighbours about 90 years ago, mutual drive, residential street, one block north of an arterial. Current owners added an addition to the original 1,100-square foot, two-storey cube, hiring Frank & Daughter Firewood, Junk Removal and Quality Additions (or equivalent) to do the work. Rooflines don’t match, the exterior’s stucco-over-OSB and the lack of design work makes the squirrels gag.
But it was listed for under a million, in a hood where the detached faux chateaus fetch $1.6 million and tear-downs are eight and change. There were seven offers, and it changed hands for the equivalent of $1,000,000 and eight Kias.
This is what house lust does. It’s also the catchment curse afflicting young parents who think their snowflake children must attend Homogeneous High. The price to pay in a hood like this is staggering. In fact, it’s starting to overwhelm Darren.
I am 30, married, and have been looking to buy a house in Mid-Town Toronto for 2 years now. I haven’t pulled the trigger yet. I couldn’t get by this sinking feeling that there was something fishy going on in the market. I spent hours with spreadsheets trying to justify a million dollar house, as that was what people I knew with similar incomes were doing. But I can’t get past the numbers… Yes, I could probably swing it right now… and so long as I only have 1.23 kids (who god willing will never want a post-graduate degree), 0.75 pets, and so long as nothing bad ever happens to me, my spouse, or my house I could probably even save a little for retirement. My reality (to be) is 3 kids, 2 cats (by force), a bad stomach, and no handy skills.
Anyway, someone recently (finally) turned me on to your blog, and that fishy feeling finally had met a friend! Okay, maybe not a ‘friend’… more like that older kid I used to hang out with who let me try his cigarettes and explained the realities of life to me before I was ready to fully appreciate them, but untimely I was better off for knowing him also.
Now to my question. Does it make more sense to rent or to buy in Mid/Down Town Toronto? My wife and I have an income of $200,000 with $225,000 saved. We live for backyards and want to be somewhere this summer where we can get some fresh air. I’ve been trying to figure out if it makes more sense for me to purchase a house for somewhere between $800,000 – $900,000 (which would basically drain about 75-95% of my savings if I put down 20%), or rent a house where in mid-town it ranges anywhere from $2000 – $4000 per month in which case I could keep our savings in investments. Do you have any suggestions on this??
Well Darren, that $900,000 house will also take $28,200 in land transfer tax and another two grand to close, so now its $930,000. Putting 20% down ($186,000) leaves you with savings of just $39,000, and a mortgage of $744,000. The monthly payment will be $3,600, or $4,300 including property taxes and insurance (no maintenance). The downpayment at a 7% return would give you $1,085, so that must be factored in, for a true monthly cost of about $5,300.
So much for cash flow. Buying the trendy, sought-after house will cost 32% more than renting it for four grand a month. So why would you do so?
Of course. (a) Potential capital gains and (b) whatever emotion (lust, greed, pride, guilt) has you by the throat.
The emotion is your problem. The finances are simple. If you find a North Toronto home for $900,000, it’ll be a fixer-upper you have neither the money nor hairy-sweaty-manly skills to rebuild. As we slide into an inevitable real estate correction your investment (even in a high-demand neighbourhood) could well lose 5-10% of its value, then flatline. After five years this would mean you spent $78,000 more on ownership than renting, and lost about $120,000 in equity. By the way, you’d still owe $638,631 on your mortgage (and mortgage rates could be set to double by then).
So, if you sold it and paid 5% commission, then retired the mortgage, you’d walk away with $152,244, or $30,000 less than your initial deposit. Add in the premium over renting ($78,000), and your family would have spent $108,000 more to own the same home you could have leased. Of course, if some people are correct and real estate loses a fifth of its value, the cost would be far higher. So tell me again why you need to do this, when you’re raking in big salaries and putting away gobs of money?
You want a suggestion? Burn the spreadsheet. Abandon open houses. Get new friends. Embrace your skepticism and common sense. And stay here for a group hug and a smoke.
It’s cheaper.
295 comments ↓
First comment and first!
Garths’ sneak attack…early Sunday
2nnddddddd
Second!
Ha ha. I love that picture. Boomer insanity at its best.
I doubt a Boomer would buy it. Ageist. — Garth
As we slide into an inevitable real estate correction your investment (even in a high-demand neighbourhood) could well lose 5-10% of its value, then flatline.
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And that would be the absolute best case scenario.It will slide down a hell of a lot more than that IMHO.
Your housing comparisons are always spot on Garth for buying an overpriced tear down vs investing the downpayment and renting.
More interesing to me– these are two 30 year olds with 6 figure incomes (on average), and have saved $225,000 liquid in what the 4 or 5 years since they graduated from university–assuming professionals so some post-graduate degrees? With no debts (I guess not doctors)? And the wife took at least one maternity leave in that time?
I’m more interested in what they did to save up nearly a quarter million, with 1 kid and debt free at age 30. Unless it was an inheritance, that’s boring.
Hahaha …. so true! Especially if you know RE prices are not going up ….. and they’re not ….. right? But stock market are for sure … no?
It’s easy if you look into your crystal ball and eye the future.
Nothing’s for sure. But nobody charges you land transfer tax to buy stocks or 5% to get out, or amortizes the related debt so that it triples by maturity. Plus, equity investors get cash flow. You house eats cash. Other than that, no comparison. — Garth
Darren have the medicial solution for a bad stomach, as am the doctor in the house. Your PH levels are out of balance, so take 1 tsp. of baking soda in a cold glass of water before eating a dinner, and all will be well; I will send you my bill for $200 at a later time.
Sell your tangibles and dump your wealth into digital paper, especially the stock market.
Why?
The central banks are printing more now than ever before and commodities across the board have been dropping.
Bitcoins are digital wealth. Stocks represent ownership in profit-producing companies. — Garth
Rent is good with the correction going on – its is so hard to wait, but if markets do lose 25% it will be worth it. Use the time to plot out just what you want & where. Meanwhile, spend your rental time wisely. IF you can rent in the hood of your choice, do so – nothing like taking things for a spin to see if it is truly what you want. Also gives you a real world check for commute times, schools, local shops/services or lack thereof. Yes, it is a pain to move but think of it as prep for the eventual home of choice. If you can, move every year & try different house styles too – maybe you like the stair master climb of a townhouse, maybe you’d rather the old porch style of a Victorian but until you try you won’t know for sure. You may also find that yard work is not your workout of choice – by renting a big yard home with lots of trees you can find that out without the expense of buying. Good luck!
If it wasn’t for silly home buyers and massive debt…. sellers would not be able to cash in on the easiest money they will ever make….but with 200,000.00 incomes to play with it must be easy to be silly? When buying homes today you most likely are supporting the life styles the seller lived while you were roughing it and now you go into debt to save them…how nice of the buyers to be so kind. Over pay to please the seller!!!! Do it now!!!!!
Sounds to me like Darren just needs confirmation to what he already has decided. Renting.
My mantra when it comes to property has always been – dont buy something more than 3 times your income, or 2.5 times your joint income.
So for me, someone earning 200k a year joined – should’nt be buying anything over 500k.
That gives you LOADS of wiggle room for unemployment/kids/savings/etc.
Hilarious
Garth – Renting is fine for the 5 yr timeframe…dont disagree there (most mortgage payemnts only interest etc..). But when you look at it over 20yrs-25yrs is it really a wise solution for a family? I’m in the exact same boat as Darren and what freaks me out is the thought of having a mortgage when I’m in my fifties. I sold my condo (agree with you on those) and am looking at houses in the Beaches area now for the long term…but what happens if prices don’t correct (stubborn sellers etc)? Should young 30-35yr old couples with $150k-$200k household incomes not just take the plunge on the $800k-$900k homes ie if they plan on staying in it for 20yrs – and dont care about capital appreciation ? Personally I just want to live rent/mortgage free in my 50’s and onward…unfortunately given the era I was born in I’m thinking I may just have to suck up these prices if I want to live in the city and enjoy my life minus a commute. I think this often gets overlooked. Would love some thoughts on this.
Nobody stays in a house today for 20 years. Don’t kid yourself. The average is six. Besides, is your life so pedantic and formed that you wish to spend the 20 most productive years in a single place? Yikes. — Garth
Now that real estate is finally bursting what comes next? That’s the issue. How is the gov’t going to deal with this? There are options.
Having ran similar “rent vs own” scenarios for Montreal and Ottawa area with listed properties, I also got similar conclusions that renting is the better option at this time.
However, I feel that Garth Turner is playing a bit too much on the “fear” button lately. We know that the picture is grim with actual up-to-date indicators, so why do you pile up on top of that some more? The claim for double interest rate spike in the short term, feared increased tax rates on RRSP in a distant future, and so on come to mind. It’s a little hypocritical to call out media when they play the fear card, and then play it yourself later.
let’s leave the uncertain predictions for the RE agents. In the meantime, there’s plenty of (real) scary things to worry about without having to create spooky new ones. More facts, less emotions.
Saying mortgage rates will not be 3%, but likely 6%, by 2018 is hardly a ‘fear card.’ Just common sense. Surely you would not spend and borrow so much money without accommodating for that outcome. — Garth
Darren is 30 years old with 1.23 kids earning $200,000 between him and his wife with $225,000 in savings; he is trying to follow the herd about buying a $1 million home. He is worried about what would happen if one of them would die; hey ever hear about term life to insure this all? Then he rants about a big backyard, and going somewhere for the summer.
You and your wife are young with 1.23 kids, and the other option is renting a home for $2000 to $4000 a month, so what is you net after taxes on $200,000 a year, as the gross is an illusion? How can you have 1.23 kids with your wife working, or is daycare part of the equation? Now does the savings of $225,000 give you dividend tax credits to offset the tax impact.
Darren if you can find a home to rent for $2000 a month for a modest family and a couple of pets; do it now, and adjust the savings to reduce the tax impact between husband and wife as best you can, and buy some 5 year renewable term insurance for both of you to secure the future estate. Sit back and watch the real estate market melt down for years to come.
30, married, 375k annual income combined and ~550k saved. Wouldn’t dream of touching one of those pos homes in Toronto for a million. Happily renting and saving. Buying makes no sense whatsoever. Will pick up a fire sale when shit hits the fan, otherwise happy getting rich and watching the lemmings “build equity” lol
Advice:
These are different times. Understand that first.
These are not the good old days of our parents.
I smelt this coming 30 years ago. Something wasn’t right. I would say the early boomers got in under the wire…the late boomers and others got caught up in a transition.
Attempts at answers beget more questions. Stay flexible, not anchored. Yes, that may entail going back home….but there is too much dust that needs to settle first before any major decision.
For the last time – Kias are not money!
[…] One Sunday this spring, some weeks ago, an astonishingly ugly house in North Toronto was swarmed. It’s a semi, built like its neighbours about 90 years ago, mutual drive, residential street, one block north of an arterial. Current owners added an addition to the original 1,100-square foot, two-storey cube, hiring Frank & Daughter Firewood, Junk Removal and Quality Additions (or equivalent) to do the work. Rooflines don’t match, the exterior’s stucco-over-OSB and the lack of design work makes the squirrels gag. Continue reading → […]
#20 “Bizzarro”
Is at it again I see.
Sorry my apologies to #20, meant #22 “Mr Cut and Paste”
@ Toronto_CA
Having 225K saved among two people by the age of 30 is not difficult. Post-graduate can mean Chartered Accountant or Lawyer and being fortunate enough to live at home with parentals can wipe out the spectre of debt. To compare, my GF and I have the same saved at the age of 24, no joke. Just aggressive saving and living at home through university which we both paid for out of our own pocket.
#9 Blinded
Sounds like the opposite of what should happen.
whose who
Vincent Tchenguiz ‘spied on his own spies’Court papers claim tycoon made surreptitious recordings to spy on Black Cube intelligence agency, which had been based in his office
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/apr/12/vincent-tchenguiz-black-cube
Sat down and ran the numbers through my anticipated balanced RRSP portfolio. Maybe I got the balance right this time? Average beta is looking to be around 0.5.
Canadian Banks & Telcos 20%
Oil & Gas 5%
Bonds (Corporate and Government) 10%
Preferred Share Funds 20%
REITs 10%
Mixed Funds 5%
World Funds 15%
Other 5%
Pharma 10%
#22 on 04.14.13 at 4:05 pm
Why do you have to continuously repost a snippet of Garths post? You have no ideas of your own to share?
#19 Joe q on 04.14.13 at 4:01 pm
30, married, 375k annual income combined and ~550k saved. Wouldn’t dream of touching one of those pos homes in Toronto for a million. Happily renting and saving. Buying makes no sense whatsoever. Will pick up a fire sale when shit hits the fan, otherwise happy getting rich and watching the lemmings “build equity” lol
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Are the two of you interested in adopting me as a full grown, employed and toilet trained son? :p
“Garth, I’m 14 and have saved $645,765.32. Should I buy a downtown condo in T.O”
I think the B.S meter is about to go off on the some the wage and savings claims coming up here. Unless you are eating cat food and living with spiders, I don’t buy it.
When I grow up I want to be like Joe Q!
You are the best!
#16 Godth
A few years of pain that’s how.
Is there any other way when 90 year old semis go for 1m?
“It’s also the catchment curse afflicting young parents who think their snowflake children must attend Homogeneous High.”
That’s insightful, right on the mark. Makes you wonder why not simply move to Peterborough, Penatanguishene or Owen Sound?
Re: #15 Waiting On The Sidelines
Good point Garth….thats an interesting stat and I guess reflects the true emotional nature of housing. My argument was more regarding the concern of being mortgage free in our fifties – and not having to rent from age 50-85 – yikes to that! Obviously there would be some physical movement and many exciting times over the period but the mortgage would move with us and still be getting paid down. If we rent over 25 yrs we would spend $1m+ and have no asset at the end of the period ie no house. If one aims to pay down a mortgage quickly the figs clearly show that after the first 5 yrs its mostly principal getting reduced….so renting becomes less attractive imo after this horizon. I’m not saying stretch beyond ones limits – nor am I saying that buying equals the best possible return on ones cash…. but I am beginning to think there are clearly significant benefits of owning “some type of house/roof” in the long term. … It appears to me now that my peers and I are in a very different world to the boomers, and unfortunately we we may need to face the reality and get comfortable using the cheap gov debt strategy (they appear as hooked on it as citizens) to create a comfortable retirement lifestyle for ourselves : cleverly complimented by saving and a balanced portfolio of investments obviously.
Every Canadian under 35 is currently faced with this housing/retirement decision and it is not something we can kick down the road permanently. The reality is we all need somewhere to live in when we retire….so at some point we are going to have to pull the trigger on a house -if the market corrects- fantastic…but if it doesn’t then we may just have to suck it up and deal with it.
To rephrase my question, : if one lives within ones means, is under 35, makes @ $200k, has 15% + deposit saved, maxes out rrsps/tfsa’s and follows your balanced portfolio with etfs/preffered/reits etc…, saves, and doesn’t surpass 3.5times annual income in a mortgage – isn’t buying a good long term decision to have as part of ones retirement strategy?
Tks!
I have 60 grand saved, i’m thinking of buying a house in Edmonton. Only problem, with 60 grand I can put it in a costa rica bank and get a residence.
Now will tell you all the secret of life as have a bit of money but am cheap. I went off today to get a carwash as have not done such for 6 months, as drive an old car with low mileage that has been clear coated, so that cost me $3.00 with a power wand, and looks brand new, so saved hundreds of dollars. The next stop was Home Hardware to make a few special purchases as needed to buy a years supply of special filters, and a few other items.
Well the bill came to $51.00, as pay cash, but once again my wallet has tanked, and once again will go off to the bank for some green, as need to throw $20.00 into the car tank to keep me square in life. The moral of this story is that I keep total control over my money within the context of a budget, as just laugh at those that want to buy a $1 million home.
Hi Garth,
I live in Vancouver, recently sold my place and now renting for $1800 per month. I have $265K saved for a future downpayment sitting in the bank, I have 220K in RRSP/TFSA. I earn 100K a year, have a newborn and wife not working at the moment. I’m 38, wife is 32 and thinking of buying a 800K house in 2014 with an in law suite to help pay for the mortgage. Also plans for a 2nd baby will be on its way as well. Do you think it’s a good idea to buy a house then?
Thanks!
No. — Garth
#19 Joe Q
Well said Joe. Very wise.
Darren,you and your wife are also in the cat bird seat. Follow Garth’s diversification formula, the Rule of 90 for RE, and you will do well. Patience. Fund a nice rental, and enjoy your life……today……the future for you is very promising, so live in today, not tomorrow. Many people ruin today, when everything is lovely, by focusing on the future. Don’t do that. Planning for the future is ok……living there instead of living in today is painful, and of no use. No exception. Take Garth’s advice.
#22
I think #22, the post with the really long handle, is Garth. He is reminding us of the topic of the day because he knows we have the attention span of 2 year olds.
Darren should figure out what that little cottage would fetch in a remote city in Canada. About a buck fifty at best if that. I’d say the house isn’t worth $150,000.00. Darren will probably lose his job or get a big pay cut so to even consider such a stupid decision as buying a house where prices will fall somewhere around 40 percent and never recover for 20 years at best means Darren would be working until he drops if he doesn’t lose his job or health first.
Re: #38 Finally on 04.14.13 at 5:14 pm
With 99.99 percent certainty you’d likely lose your house if you bought in Vancouver in 2014 if you were the average simpleton with no net worth.
Mystery £6m house with links to three tax havens
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/margaret-thatcher-tax-snatcher-mystery-1828441
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Secret film shows how buyers of luxury London homes can avoid millions in tax – video
I love the post today. Too many people skip the spreadsheet and let a realtor explain how to afford too much house.
Renters and House Dreamers drank the Canadian kool Aid
This is not coming from realturds or loan brokers or bankers or ….
This is coming from an average renter on the waiting list of the affordable house ownership for years.
This is a joke.
The emergency rescue plan ((ultra low interest rate)) meant mostly for the 70 % home owners who already have houses. The reward was double or triple their house value .
The existed home owners are laughing for this free ride and they don’t have to worry about their kids or other people if they can afford buying a house.
the bank will offer an excellent loan for the home owners since their house is a smart secured golden box, but the renters has to buy high premuim rate for their unsecure future.
All the talks about the high debts of the home owners doesn’t mean much since selling the house will wipe the debt and create profits for good retirement.
For us we will be waiting for the promised tiny price house reduction for years to come, it is useless.
Who created this mess will not reverse it or back up, the damage is been done.
We have to accept this is a norm, norm and norm and we have to live with it.
OH, my be the government will find a magical solution and treat us with fairness like the other tax payers by building a new subdivision for new home buyers with a logical reasonable affordable prices. why do they have to do this ? since they have already 70 % of the voters to re-elect them .
Some economists were astonished and said how on earth the recession can make the canadians house prices hit the sky where the american house prices go underwater.
what goes up must come down, but in canadian RE what goes up will stay up and become normal.
As they say ,it is different here and I will keep taking my blood pressure medecine on time to keep it down.
So it’s come to this…people so poor in the cities that they have now gone Mad Max and are killing the animals who raom the back streets and parkland. And the justification is not poverty….no…..it’s ethical.
http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/Ethical+killing+urban+hunters+looking+sustainable+ethical+ways/8237288/story.html
Welfare, subsidies and food banks are no longer enough to bridge the gap between paying the bills and starvation…..the hipsters are devolving in hunter gatherers just to survive.
Is this the end of society as we know it….have the civil service unions punched the final anil in the class war and declared victory…..are the only people who can afford to eat meat the civil service union members making five fold what the ‘average’ Canadian takes home after taxes?
How does an advisor to the mayor justify making $360,000? How can a union supervisor at a liquor store pull down $700,000? How does a sky train cop earn $200,000 while double dipping a six figure pension?
This country is swirling down the toilet……keep your cats and dogs inside at night…the ethical hipsters are hungry.
Great story about a Buddhist-raised, recovering vegetarian, urban, bloodthirsty killer. Maybe she can track down your fictional $700,000-per-year unionized liquor store supervisor. And I suggest you stop wearing the raccoon hat. (Why did I ever start this pathetic blog…) — Garth
Totally believable numbers. My wife and I are young professionals (GP and RN) with two children. We are 32/29 and have about $200k of liquid assets and no debt. Our household income is also around $225k when she is working (currently taking some time off to be with children). We know other young professional couples our age that are worth more than we are. I had over $100k in loans to pay off while some of my doctor friends had everything payed for and free room and board with their parents. A dentist I know in Alberta grossed $32k (net $20k) last month. He’s 26 and still lives with his parents. He is waiting for his girlfriend to finish med school before moving out. With his gf’s help, he could very well be worth $1 million dollars by the time he is 30 (unless Alberta’s economy tanks). Type A personalities tend to attract one another…..for better or for worse.
I should add that we are happily renting in Halifax. Our neighbors think we must be poor money managers
Nobody stays in a house today for 20 years. Don’t kid yourself. The average is six. Besides, is your life so pedantic and formed that you wish to spend the 20 most productive years in a single place? Yikes. — Garth
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True….re: average….
……but how much money is thus wasted feeding realtors fees and other assorted cling – ons that parasite off of this 5 year turnover nomad style?
I think that average is skewed by certain groups that make a living building a house…using their ethnic crew….gleaning the capital gains ….and onto the next one..probably do 3 houses in 5 years.
I think that market is toast from what I see. There is a lot of gridlock that will be undone only with major haircuts.
Staying in one place for five years is ‘nomad’ living? — Garth
#48 Halifax Observer – I monitor a site in that area and am amazed at the quality of life that exists in Nova Scotia which transcends most of Canada; not a bad place to hang out or to invest into for a retirement haven.
#35 To rephrase my question, : if one lives within ones means, is under 35, makes @ $200k, has 15% + deposit saved, maxes out rrsps/tfsa’s and follows your balanced portfolio with etfs/preffered/reits etc…, saves, and doesn’t surpass 3.5times annual income in a mortgage – isn’t buying a good long term decision to have as part of ones retirement strategy?
————–
Sure, if that was actually possible in Toronto, and currently isn’t….A couple making 200k is not getting to live in a dumpy area with a650k semi. They are looking at 1M+ to be in the same place as similar people (who paid the inflation adjusted equivalent of 650 ten years ago…)
Is it sinking in yet? Do you see the problem here? What you suggested is great and NOT possible!!
Much joy in the Great White (?) North.
The great Trudeau legacy lives on, as Justin is new Liberal leader.
These family dynasties have much to offer, like the Bushes, Windsors and Kardashians.
PS Suckers….I have now closed all my CDN accounts and transferred funds to my Nigerian Banker.
Begger’s Stump…
Canada 2020…
http://www.independent.ie/videos/thousands-at-dublin-antiproperty-tax-march-29195097.html
discounted securities” loss relief scheme
A top tax barrister who designed his own tax avoidance scheme and defended it in court against HMRC has lost his attempt to avoid paying tax.
“Some people make the mistake of thinking that a complex avoidance scheme backed by a senior lawyer is safe from HMRC’s challenge. That would be a big mistake, as this outcome proves. People should always ask themselves whether a proposed scheme is too good to be true.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/tax-barrister-beaten-in-court
@44
I love the post today. Too many people skip the spreadsheet and let a realtor explain how to afford too much house.
—————-
So true. I’d even sub spreadsheet for just a calculator and a little common sense. M
Great post, Mr. Turner.
I had the chance to use this to help a friend save his economic life.
Mr. Turner, I just wanted you to know that your hard work just saved a really great family – potential economic disaster, down the line.
I hope that kind of payoff, makes the hard work to maintain this estimable blog, worthwhile.
#47 Halifax Observer on 04.14.13 at 6:07 pm
A dentist living in his parents basement is truly inspiring.
#33 Sebee
A few years of pain that’s how.
There`s no easy way out, it`s true. It`s a mess and there`s plenty of blame to go around. The question now becomes austerity or fiscal spending to try to stimulate growth.
If you are into self flagellation then austerity will gladly be provided for the benefit of the big boys. It will, as is being demonstrated elsewhere, be promoted I`m sure. That it has been shown to make things even worse (unnecessarily) is all the better for the few.
Based on the sorry state of our governments….I can only see lots and lots of increases in property taxes, consumption taxes, road tolls, transportation and energy taxes….Budget accordingly…
Oooh, the home ownership spreadsheet with the amortization and equity columns, and the box up in the corner for assumed appreciation. My favourite!
2%? Better to rent.
Make it 5, Freedom 55
If it’s 7, you can retire in heaven!
And all you folk complaining about cut-n-paste #22… It’s called a pingback or something. Some other clown is linking to this on his blog and the software posts that thing in attempt to get more links for more traffic.
Smokes, it appears most who write are making easily $100K each – $250K in savings, are on top of their game – but become braindead when it comes to realestate. Simply put – what goes up – must come down.
I may need to find a blog where most are in the income bracket of $55K – if your problem is not knowing when to buy a Million dollar home – geez, let me get out the violin – my heart goes out to you….(barf)!
Congrats Garth! Your buddy Justin just won!
His father sneered at me once. — Garth
I thought the market was going to crash this quarter and we going to get homes for 20% less?
Oh wait, that’s Next Year. Lol
You must not live in the Lower Mainland. — Garth
#20 Dr. Hoof – Hearted
Interesting times, new perspectives.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWXA8UGCqPY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwaS0w9wUF8
I stumbled on your blog a few weeks ago and I agree with your premiss.
I’m 28 and have $360k saved with an income over $200k, I was looking to get a place downtown TO for my weekends, I’m still living at home but would like my own place to get away from my parents for a couple of days here and there, what do you think about picking up a 2 bdrm in the core area?
You’re joking, right? That’s what hotels are for. — Garth
Staying in one place for five years is ‘nomad’ living? — Garth
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Well …..sonny……I gotta explain the facts of life to ya…..(at least re: hard a$$ets)…..perhaps ask why the average is 6 years.
We’ve been in our abode for 17 years….my Dad’s abode will be 50 years of residency….actually come to think of it..most people we know are rooted….well beyond the 6 years.
PS: Maybe not use term nomads ….perhaps tumbleweeds.
Darren think of that old house has a new KIA(Garth’s favorite) ,nice at first then the high maintenance for constant break downs ,fuel costs ,insurance etc.; soon you come to the point you regret even buying it and with the Housing market in a correction it will be depreciating at about the same 10 to 15% just like that new KIA the day after you drive it off the lot. Yikes, I am going out to the garage to wash old Betsy.
It appears Burlington is becoming ground zero for the property sales plunge in the GTA. Sales were down 22.7% in March 2013 vs March 2012. This follows a 19.4% YOY sales drop for Feb. Average March YOY sales price skyrocketed 15%. The Lakeshore area has more $million+ houses for sale than I’ve ever seen. No difference in North Burlington either, 67 SFHs for sale in the new Alton development alone. Lots like this to pick from, no idea who can afford it though:
http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=12916035&PidKey=758386750
April stats should be a good indicator of how bad (good?) the summer will be.
Something went wrong with their logbook….
German ‘Wise Men’ push for wealth seizure to fund EMU bail-outs
Professors Lars Feld and Peter Bofinger said states in trouble must pay more for their own salvation, said arguing that there is enough wealth in homes and private assets across the Mediterranean to cover bail-out costs. “The rich must give up part of their wealth over the next ten years,” said Prof Bofinger.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9993691/German-Wise-Men-push-for-wealth-seizure-to-fund-EMU-bail-outs.html
Sunday Funnies.
http://maxkeiser.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/f74850ee03ad4bf194ce709f7a48d19f.gif
“It’s also the catchment curse afflicting young parents who think their snowflake children must attend Homogeneous High.”
Last time I read greatness on this level was Kurt Vonnegut. Bravo!
Justin, and now we a have a 3 way split come next election, with the ndp going center, I see a ndp+lib coalition gov
# 15 Garth said: “nobody stays in the same house for 20 years. Earth to Garth: I stayed in the same house for 60 years. There are still some “pillar” in the community, not everyone is transient. Yes this was in your Riding in the GTA.
Living the same life in the same place every day for six decades? Not for this dude. — Garth
I’m in a similar situation… wife & kids & cash & waiting for the insanity to stop.
Open Houses for anything under $1M have become busier than the unemployment lines outside of RBC.
If you own a house in mid-town Toronto right now that was valued anywhere from $600k-$900k in the past, just list it at $999,999 and wait for those CMHC-insured dollars to show up in your bank account.
Unintended consequences, Mr. Flaherty?
#65 rickRude on 04.14.13 at 7:46 pm
I’m 28 and have $360k saved with an income over $200k
____________
Udder bullshite
Why does everybody want to live in Toronto? What is the attraction?
I will re-phrase – why does anybody want to live in Toronto?
His father sneered at me once. — Garth
What? No hand gestures?
http://tinyurl.com/ch7egmn
Trudeau elected Leader of the LPC….
Politics isn’t about electing the best candidate..they all suck…It’s about eliminating the worst candidates….
Mulcair and Trudeau are the worst…
I just shake my head at the guys who come to this blog. I read lines like:
“Me and my wife are only 20, and we have a combined income of 2.6 Million. Should we buy a $500,000 house or keep renting?”
Really Mr. 1-percenter; try spending a bit of your income to keep professional CA (accountants) who earn only $32,000 per year in Toronto employed!
#72 Smoking Man on 04.14.13 at 8:13 pm
Justin, and now we a have a 3 way split come next election, with the ndp going center, I see a ndp+lib coalition gov
God help us if the NDP ever gets in power. Everyone has a short memory, Bob Rae took Ontario into bankruptcy. Do Rae days come to memory?
Living the same life in the same place every day for six decades? Not for this dude. — Garth
===============================
I agree.
Why I no longer rent 10,000 sq. ft. basement suite with pool… jacuzzi…24/7 butler and maid.
Too many Amazons , Stephen Harper posters and Harley parts.
Not worth hassle.
I’ve got $1200 in my chequing account and $800 in my TFSA (all in money market) should I buy a house?
Garth,
Trudeau Sr. sneered at everyone. BUT, at least he didn’t have a personality bybass like this current DUD in the PMO.
As of man of numbers and city dweller in the same income bracket as Mr.Daren, I call a large BS on the 225k saved with kids, wife, pets and a mat leave thrown in the mix. This smells like mommy and daddy or providing the cash, unless they leave in a basement apt for a grand a month, don’t have cars, eat wonder bread every meal. In net dollars assuming they have worked for 5 years, this is not possible, unless he knocked it out of the park on a junior miner.
We are dinks, take to vacations a year, rent a nice place eat well, one car and generally live well. We also save diligently and have nowhere near that amount. Good for the professionals that can live at home, not everyone has the option and or willingness to do that.
Love to see your spreadsheets as to how you put away that kind of cheddar! Cough. Cough. bs.
Mathman
Spent the afternoon quaffing some brews at a fine establishment here on Queen st. w.
Only problem was the view. Three new condo buildings being built side by side, in front of a recently finished condo building. And the condo presentation center front and center itself in front of a plot designated for a massive condo project which lies just behind a new condo/retail project. That is a block away from the new gentrified area ‘all condos’ beside another presentation center, just behind low rise condo/retail development again on Queen West.
I think its time for extra strength Prozac!
I smell something fishy.. 30-year-old at combined $200K. If your smart enough to make that why can’t you figure the rest?
My financial advisor tells me in a downturn the well-paying jobs are usually the first to disappear.
#87…
I agree. Totally.
It would be nice to have a little “realsim” now again.
Just for kicks.
Garth, lots of people live in one house for more than five years. I bought mine in 1982 for $20,000 under asking after Calgary’s last boom collapsed. Easy access to the mountains, direct transit routes to downtown three blocks away, quiet neighbourhood.
Those statistics about people moving every five years are distorted by speculators flipping properties.
That’s a bargain.
http://www.stylegarage.com/products1/accent-tables/douglas_chunk/douglas-chunk.shtml
#65 rickRude on 04.14.13 at 7:46 pm
“I’m 28 and have $360k saved with an income over $200k”
——————————————————————–
Okay, I have done enough reading for today. I will check the blog tomorrow night.
In the meantime, I will need to stop at Canadian Tire and pick up some additional rubber boots and several shovels.
#85…. Get a few escorts instead…. Much better time :)
My wife and I make a combined 740,000 per year. Last time we bought a house, in 2002, we paid in cash and sold it 4 years later at a 400k profit. Since then we have been renting a 2m $ home for 7k$ in monthly rent. No way we are buying, our wealth management firm has us well-diversified in investments, mostly outside Canada. This country has nowhere to go but down.
but..but…isn’t Darren “throwing his money away” if he rents? (I’m only kidding, just had to say that since that is what I hear from about 98% of the people who discuss the rent versus own question).
Back in the 90s was making money hand over fist mfg ddl
The China product hit the shores, whole selling 40 present below my cost to produce.. Had a buyer for my company in two weeks… He went belly up two years later,
That’s when I started an import export company….change happens all the time…..
My point is of late tone of posters whining all the time..
They can’t think or adapt, just complain…
I see opportunities everywhere, vast majority here, just see unfairness and in justice…..
How can I help them garth….
Hi Garth! Can you do a post on rent-to-own? I’m just curious! I just went to see a place to rent, but to my surprise it was rent-to-own.
Regarding the wage welders make in yesterday’s thread:
Having been a welder/fabricator in the past, I have often come across professionals or sales people that get angry hearing about the big wages some trades people make. It must be an ego thing. However, these wages we hear about that welders working on pipelines make, in my opinion, are ‘justified’. These are highly skilled welders.
I worked on a gas pipeline in Alberta in the mid 80’s. It was for a non-union outfit and I was the oiler for a backhoe operator on the ‘ditch crew’. We worked on average 12 hour days 7 days a week. The hours are long but the work isn’t labour intensive, per se, however, that life is not for everybody.
We dug the ditch along a previously staked out surveyed line to a certain depth. Often the pipe would have already been brought and laid alongside the ‘right of way’ for the pipeline. The ‘pipe gang’ followed lifting up the pipe sections strung along but still outside the ditch and butting up one end to the other. The welders with their rigs moved with the pipe gang.
The process described very briefly: The welders sit in the truck while the pipe gang butts the pipe ends together. The welder only jumps out of the truck to fine tune the fit up which helps ensure a proper penetration during the initial ‘root pass’ around the pipe joint. Then the helper comes in and cleans the slag off the weld, by grinder and/or wire wheel. Then the welder lays a second bead called a ‘hot pass’ which ensures good penetration into the joint and pulls any impurity such as very small slag remnants of the first pass to the top. Then the final ‘cap’ or reinforcement weld is deposited and the welded seam is complete, after which the weld is subjected to an x-ray process. And if passed, tape is wound around the weld area to protect it from corrosion. (The pipe has a plastic coating around it except near the ends where it needs to be welded),
The welders (all had their own rigs on the job) were making $800 per day, this in the mid-80’s on a non-union job, so it is definitely not a stretch that many of them can make a few hundred K per year. As mentioned, it is not labour intensive as they sit in the truck most of the time. However, they are/were allowed only two failed welds under the scrutiny of the x-ray machine. On their third fail should it happen on any particular job, they’d be ‘run off. These are very talented welders, but everyone has a bad day from time to time and some would be run-off the job. Others would be on the job for many weeks or months on end without a failed weld.
“Great story about a Buddhist-raised, recovering vegetarian, urban, bloodthirsty killer. Maybe she can track down your fictional $700,000-per-year unionized liquor store supervisor. And I suggest you stop wearing the raccoon hat. (Why did I ever start this pathetic blog…) — Garth”
Have you seen the price per 100 gram of Tofurkey at Whole Foods or Loblaws these days? A recovering vegetarian would starve without a bit of road kill at these prices.
No wonder the hipsters are trolling the alleys and for coon and squab….or a bit of Bambi. I appreciate this generations go get ’em attitude though…not like the oldsters who have capitulated to Purina.
Hey…I didn’t make up the $700,000 LCBO supervisor……the mention is credited to CTV who has been publishing the ongoing scandal of civic pigs in the trough at the Ontario government liquor monopoly.
I just read , watch, write and report on this train wreck we call Canada….people who aren’t news junkies like myself literally can’t believe what’s really going on.
It’s become so surreal that I admit to not having the imagination to make this crap up….reality is far more insane than my dreams could concoct. Canada has literally become a pig farm of excess.
Anyways back to real estate. Soon breaking ground on a new house in Japan. We just gave the go ahead after seeing the crazy pricing of not so great houses here over the past 2 weeks. It is being built while we are here in Canada this year. The old house is being demolished and a two story jobby is being erected in its place. Prices are still insane here in Canada so we will put off staying in Canada for any length of time until the kids are in the latter stages of high school (might have to return again for a year prior to that to boost their English levels again, luckily 60% of my work is portable so these English expeditions only hurt alot financially rather than a ton). I figure the parking lot in Japan only lost $100 in value for no apparent reason last year so the really horrendous chapter of the bubble collapse in Japan is likely behind us. Only 21 straight years of property price decline. The builder is actually a little busy this year and cut us a deal because he has an extended period to complete construction. My wife is quite a bit younger than I am and she will likely spend her twilight years in the house in Japan (hopefully living with one of the kids but who knows). I intend to get all my fillings replaced before I leave Canada this time next year. One 2 and a half hour visit to my Canadian dentist and $580 later and 6 months of pain is over. Dentists are very important people. There is also something a little spooky about how nice alot of my fellow Canadians are. I have to go to bed now. I have to start work at 2am. I need to get some investments going and get the whole international tax thing straightened out over the next week or 2. The wife is even more reluctant than I am to jump into investing so it is not going to be an easy sell. There is no retirement for myself in the cards. Hopefully I can keep getting term life insurance and keel over during one such term maybe 20 or 30 years from now.There is no cruise control in my future either. I really have to make a better light bulb or something. In closing I just want to say that I have been wolfing down all my favorites foods for the past 2 weeks since I have been back and as a result I have packed on at least 2 kilograms over that time period (likely 3kgs). That is going to take me 3 months to loose.
#75 not 1st on 04.14.13 at 8:23 pm
#65 rickRude on 04.14.13 at 7:46 pm
I’m 28 and have $360k saved with an income over $200k
____________
Udder bullshite
…
How so? I’m 22, and have assets totaling 725k. I developed an app that has been downloaded over two million times and has a 12% purchase rate. On pace to have a million by my 24th birthday…
Since March 27 the number of listing in Calgary and area has jumped about +400, does anyone know if this is normal for the City, or a real downward trend?
#102 Code Monkey on 04.14.13 at 9:32 pm
…………………………………………………………………….
I am working on an app now but cannot see how I can get any cash out of it. Moved onto Java and object oriented programming (I am currently a horrible thousand line main amateur procedural C coder, it is now time to become more professional about it, only 30 years late but I’ll keep swinging). Cannot get over how readily people gave up computing power and re-embraced the whole proprietary thing for the sake of portability. Anyways there are thousands of apps so how did you get yours noticed?
Do some of you regret you didn’t get in the market during the dip of 2008-2009? Well now is your chance! Call your local realtor ASAP or hide in your parents basement forever.
Welcome Darren.
#25 MC on 04.14.13 at 4:21 pm
“To compare, my GF and I have the same saved at the age of 24, no joke. Just aggressive saving and living at home through university which we both paid for out of our own pocket.”
So at 24 years old you and your girlfriend had made and saved a quarter million dollars after taxes on you own despite having gone to university?
My, McDonald’s must be paying part time cashiers more than when I was putting myself through university in the 1990s.
Either that or this blog is full of shit tonight…
Sure, Muffy and I could have salted that much away if we’d stuck to the lesser vintages and bought domestic kittylitter and factory farmed cat food for Miss Smuggly, but REALLY!
Some of you are hilarious. First, he didn’t really say he had three kids yet; that’s just the plan, apparently. Second, how can two people make $200k/year in their late 20s and NOT save a pile of it? The taxes alone will kill you unless you max out the RRSPs ($44k), not putting $10k into the TFSAs would be foolish, and throw the $16k tax refund into a non-registered account. This assumed they’re salaried and earn roughly the same.
#97 Smoking Man on 04.14.13 at 9:10 pm
Back in the 90s was making money hand over fist mfg ddl
================================
Yes.
…Pet Rock and Chia Pet craze should have knocked out Al Gore’s Oscar and Nobel prize.
…still not too late to have drug test for adjudication committee
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100640654
“China’s economic recovery unexpectedly stumbled in the first three months of 2013 as the annual rate of growth eased back to 7.7 percent from the 7.9 percent pace set in the final quarter of last year”
Whats unexpected? Commodities are an iffy now…..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9993714/Over-60s-must-keep-working-as-Britain-is-running-out-of-workers.html
“Employees will need to remain in their jobs until the age of 70 because Britain is running out of workers, the Government has suggested. ”
What was that thing called retirement???…..
Small Town Steve, #147 from 04.13.13 at 4:08 am
“The world does not owe you a living. You have the right to seek one but that is no guarantee that you will be successful. Nothing and no one can stop you from earning a living if you want one you have the same right to try as everyone else.”
“Nothing is stopping you from success but yourself.”
Perhaps you’re not aware that top end of 1% of Americans control the wealth of half the country, and they are not sharing. Granted things are somewhat different in Canada, but could we be on the same path? This video is for you and all those that think everyone has an equal chance of success and that there should be no limit to the influence of corporations.
http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/park_avenue_money_power_and_the_american_dream_2012/
@ #92 guava.ca on 04.14.13 at 9:03 pm
That’s a bargain.
http://www.stylegarage.com/products1/accent-tables/douglas_chunk/douglas-chunk.shtml
you win. that is awesome.
That would go perfectly in some $1M 16ft-wide semi in mid-town.
Another blood bath for Gold.
Down another $58.00 at the open in the far east.
Gold
Oh my! Looks what’s happening to gold as the markets opened up in Sydney and Hong Kong! Down 84$ US in a couple of hours.
BS meter is off the charts tonight.
-24 Year olds with 225k saved.
-A 26 year old dentist grossing $384k a year (12X32)
-Even the 30 year old with 225k is suspect but at least that is somewhat realistic for the more disciplined among us.
@ #95 Nobuy on 04.14.13 at 9:07 pm
My wife and I make a combined 740,000 per year. Last time we bought a house, in 2002, we paid in cash and sold it 4 years later at a 400k profit. Since then we have been renting a 2m $ home for 7k$ in monthly rent. No way we are buying, our wealth management firm has us well-diversified in investments, mostly outside Canada. This country has nowhere to go but down.
———————-
Well – you certainly don’t need to spend time on this blog then, do you???
$740k/year?
Depending on how that splits out between you and your wife (and if you’re in Ontario), you might actually fall into that new Tax Bracket for $500,000+ income:
http://www.bdo.ca/en/Library/Services/Tax/pages/Tax-Factors/2012-03/New-Ontario-tax-rate-for-individuals-earning-over-500000.aspx
I keep seeing all these “I make 100k plus” people posting here. No private sector worker I know makes that much dough. There must be allot of public sector employees on this blog. No wonder RE is crashing……
#82 :):( Ying Yang
“God help us if the NDP ever gets in power. Everyone has a short memory, Bob Rae took Ontario into bankruptcy. Do Rae days come to memory?”
Stephen Harper has already led us to bankrupcy. We’re the most indebted nation in the world. How can the NDP break what’s already broken?! *Scratches head*, must constantly remind myself not to discuss economics with conservatives.
The short vid (about a year old) below offers some insight into the Dodd-Frank Act to be implimented by the end of the year in the USA. The video doesn’t touch on this, but it is my understanding that it will allow banks to re-classify savings deposits, mutual funds and IRA’s as assets and not liabilities. This does not bode well for depositors, can it, as ‘assets’ can be seized, but not liabilities?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=348WAJ5XEPM
The law was passed in the summer of 2010, and does no such thing. — Garth
I am absolutely amazed at the price of both purchase and rental homes in Toronto, and cannot understand why anyone would want to live in such an expensive place. I’ve visited Toronto on numerous occasions and do not see anything to warrant such high prices.
I do remember that when I was young I tended to prefer life in urban centres because in those days the night life such places offered was of paramount importance to me. But once I got married and my priorites shifted my spouse and I lived in areas that were more affordable. Sure there were times when we bitched about what we thought we were missing, but the bottom line was we could not afford to live in places like Toronto and/or Vancouver, so we didn’t. And that was almost 40 years ago.
Over time we came to prefer small town living, and nowadays you couldn’t pay me to move to a large urban centre. Just goes to show how time changes ones perspective I guess. But the bottom line is that if living in Toronto is too expensive for your taste, then do what I did and MOVE.
Stockman KO’s Krugman in Big Fed Brawl
In my drinking Sunday night tradition, I just came up with an amazing invention, do I share this multi million dollar idea… With the world…
I am tempted knowing that no one here will act on it…
But this one is a home run, hint Samsung, iPhone, black berry.
I will video start to finish, sourcing a mfg in China, negotiations with marketing company and a detailed report on Profits…
Slaves you will just watch and cringe in envy….. Why.
Albert Einstein said it best, creativity is intelligence having fun..
Stay tuned bubble heads, I’ll show you how it’s done….
DELETED
Kept n eye on parking lots of developer sales offices in Vaughan. Mostly empty. Despite these sales offices having huge openings parties in last month.
Many resales, hardly any sold signs.
I’m certain they will blame last weeks weather.
Great article Garth, this sort of advice should be widely available to the masses at a price. But I am greatfull that you provide it free of charge and I can say you have saved a lot of people a lot of hearthache and financial disaster.
I agree that the problem with buying RE today is one of emotions, they are blinded by their emotions and not intellect. There is a saying “wise men say only fools rush in”, these fools rush in head first not thinking about the economic hardships they put their family and themselves in when they buy a house they really can’t afford. I feel sorry for their children if they have any.
1.23 kids? and .75 pets?
Your speadsheet and your
fishy feelings says it all.
Sounds like your left hemisphere
is doing as well as your troubled stomach.
Rooflines don’t match, the exterior’s stucco-over-OSB
OSB = oriented strand board
http://www.cement.org/stucco/faq_sheathing.asp
someone turned me on to your blog, and that fishy feeling finally had met a friend!
pretty funny
If you find a North Toronto home for $900,000, it’ll be a fixer-upper you have neither the money nor skills to rebuild.
so true, and it takes both money and skills
Northof49: in your dreams Burlington Ontario 43°
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlington,_Ontario
Sales were down 22.7% in March 2013 vs March 2012. this is the spring, between January and May sales double. If April and May sales are down 20% it’s going to hit the newspapers.
espressobob: Spent the afternoon quaffing some brews at a fine establishment here on Queen st. w.
I stayed at the Gladstone. I couldn’t miss the condo next door.
Coho: I worked on a gas pipeline in Alberta in the mid 80′s.
good story, I mean in the sense that I believe it.
The Buyer: There is no retirement for myself in the cards. I do admire Canadians who have learned Japanese – I know of only one. God bless.
Well, something on today’s blog has got him going … fleeting vision of Smoking Man chopping wood in his garage to sell worldwide on E-Bay at $99 a stump.
The Buyer: I meant Mr Buyer
45°north
I’m a part time welder earning $700,000 per year, mostly while I sleep in my truck and have managed to save $13.7 million bucks living in a box under the Leaside bridge. I have no debt, no kids, a small dog and will soon be inheriting my mother’s fortune on top of all that.
I was thinking about buying enough land in Arizona or New Mexico so that they may re-name either state (possibly both) after me.
What do you think Garth?
@ #117 Julie on 04.14.13 at 10:37 pm
I keep seeing all these “I make 100k plus” people posting here. No private sector worker I know makes that much dough. There must be allot of public sector employees on this blog. No wonder RE is crashing……
________________
Seriously? No private sector worker makes $100k?
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/famil105a-eng.htm
1.45M people made $100k+ in 2010, and 500,000 people made $150k+.
There were 283,000 *TOTAL* public servants in 2010:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Service_of_Canada
Seems clear that most of these salaries are in the private sector.
Listen:
Smoking Old Man’s wizzdumb is Joker in deck…. may be extremely valuable at some time in far distant future.
Keep in back pocket…( but don’t let run loose in rest of pants without a leash !)
on another topic (last post before bed):
Gold already down another $60 (-4%) in pre-market trading:
http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/%40GC.1
Gold now 1440
Silver 24.50
I think gold is going to be hitting 1000 within a month.
As for welders as a previous poster stated about pipelines in the 80’s. I know a bead hand that is payed 3000/day as a retainer whether he works or not. He is that good and might get 1 repair every 10000 welds on zero bead defect lines.
I have been in the patch for 25 years :)
As to other posters crapping on Alberta 50% of all job growth for all of Canada last year came from Alberta. Currently unemployment in AB is 4.2% probably will be higher this year.
As for the socialist whiners in other parts of the country crapping on Alberta we would gladly stop transfer payments to those that bite the hand that feeds them, not because we begrudge you this money but because of the ungrateful nature of your attacks against us. See how well you fair without us.
I am not a bloody conservative either so do not lump me in with that crowd. Ya Harper sucks in more than a few ways but be careful what you wish for people. If the NDP get into power Canada will become a third world country faster than you can say “woops”. You think 7.3% unemployment is bad? Just wait till it hits 20% under the NDP. Those corporations that you lament for outsourcing? They will literally pack up shop and set up head office in Singapore.
Our way out of this mess is to grow the Economy. You may even be able to keep government programs in place but you have to grow the economy.
Government “help” to business is just as disastrous as government persecution… the only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off.
You doubt the above statement?
Ask yourselves who is responsible for the current housing bubble we have that Garth repeatedly warns us of. What is the main cause? CMHC and government interference with artificially low interest rates. This is only one example. There are many.
With 3 kids and 2 cats (and money) this family is ripe for buying a house. If they are thinking long term, if I were them I would be looking at buying in the $800,000 range, in a good school district and on a quiet street. If they can find a house that meets those criteria, with their large incomes and downpayment I’m sure buying is the better 10-20 year plan. However, if they can’t find what they’re looking for in that price range, then renting for a year or two likely won’t hurt.
#131 T.O. Bubble Boy on 04.14.13 at 11:30 pm
———————————————–
Well if Julie works at McDonald’s or Walmart no wonder she doesn’t know anyone in the private sector making 100k+.
134 Small Time Steve
“Ask yourselves who is responsible for the current housing bubble we have that Garth repeatedly warns us of. What is the main cause? CMHC and government interference with artificially low interest rates. This is only one example. There are many.”
The exogenous money supply is responsible, who’s responsible for that?
whoops, make that the endogenous money supply is responsible.
They have a $200,000 income and $225,000 in savings. I would not have more than 25% in real estate over the long term meaning by or near retirement say 60-65 years old. If they buy this type of house $800,000-$900,000 range it will make it very difficult for them not to have too much in one illiquid asset like real estate.
The housing market does not look fairly valued some say 10% but some say 25% over valuation. The $225,000 in savings would be all put in the house which is not a good financial decision.They would need at least $3,000,000 to $3,500,000 in financial assets like GIC’s,bonds,ETF’s,stocks,REIT’s in or but more difficult out of RRSP’s,RRIF’s,TFSA”s etc. to justify having a $900,000 or $1,000,000 house.
I don’t see how they can have these financial assets in say 25 to 30 years if they get into so much debt and have the extra expense of such a large home with utilities,property taxes,maintenance,repairs,H.S.T. on all costs,expenses,home insurance etc.If the $200,000 is gross income than it makes things much worse. The net after tax income is more like $128,000 not $200,000.
I don’t know what the percentage of their income together is but say they can contribute together maximum $33,000 a year towards their RRSP’s and they put $11,000 maximum in to their TFSA’s annually.If they were disciplined and took the annual income tax refund of $13,000 and put it towards the annual contributions of RRSP’s,TFSA’s they would really need to save $31,000 a year out of pocket.
If they made a 5.00% rate of return and contributed the maximum $44,000 a year in RRSP’s,TFSA’s annually for 32 years they would have a total of $3,313,148.49.The TFSA’s would be $828,287.12 and the RRSP’s would be $2,484,861.37.Basically 25% in TFSA’s,75% in RRSP’s.You can see how having a mortgage for 25 years and other debts could really make it difficult to save $3,000,000 or more by the time he is 62 years old.
For each $100,000 mortgage they would buy it’s total extra monthly cost which is mortgage,property taxes,maintenance,repairs,utilities,insurance,H.S.T. on all costs,expenses etc. is about $750.00. This does not include CMHC insurance because they said they would have at least 20% down.
So a $200,000 lower priced house would cost them $1,500 a month more. This is equivalent to about $28,000 a year in gross income to pay for this $200,000 more expensive house for 25 years. This is with the current low 3.00% 5 year fixed rate mortgages not say 5.00% or 6.00% 5 year fixed rate mortgages in maybe 5 to 10 years.It does not look like a sound financial decision for him,his wife and his children.
#15 Waiting On The Sidelines
The point you seem to be missing is that if you rent and invest wisely then you’ll be able to pay cash for a house when you’re 55, should you choose to – no need to stress about having a mortage into retirement. Even if you’re going to hold the house for 20 years, paying $800K now vs $700K in a few years (at least in real $) seems a no brainer to me.
#105 JK – NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO GET INTO THE CANADIAN HOUSING MARKET. YOU MUST BE A REALTOR. THERE’S LOT OF TIME TO WAIT AND WATCH FOR FURTHER DECLINES.
Aussie Update
Seven money saving tips you should ignore
Buy an investment property, rent it out and you’ll make a fortune
Becoming a landlord is not an easy way to riches, says Kirsty Lamont, director of financial comparison site Mozo.
“More often than not it’s a route filled with hard work and difficult tenants and more out-of-pocket property expenses than you ever expected,” Ms Lamont said
Property prices always go up so you can’t lose by buying real estate
Put simply, this is wrong.
“This is often espoused by Baby Boomers who have been the benefactors of one of the biggest redistributions of wealth through property that Australia has seen and that we are unlikely to see again,” Ms Lamont said.
http://www.news.com.au/money/money-matters/seven-money-saving-tips-you-should-ignore/story-e6frfmd9-1226612482857
MSM finally getting the message?
Thursday morning I almost burn a hole in my shirt. I was ironing my daily attire when Steve Mickenbecker from Canstar joined Kochie on Sunrise to talk about if it is cheaper to rent than buy.
Kochie introduced the segment with the following slide showing the stats over the past decade:
http://www.whocrashedtheeconomy.com/blog/2013/04/renting-vs-buying-half-right/
#121 Smoking Man
You’re always entertaining, but comparing yourself to Einstein is really stretching things. If you’ve read anything about him he was the polar opposite of yourself. Compassionate and humble…
Time for the gold bugs to panic:
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livegold.html
Garth what is your take on Jim Rogers. He’s always claiming doom and gloom. Claiming we need to be prepared for chaos and own hard assets.
http://moneymorning.com/ob-article/jim-rogers-major-crash-ahead-2.php#.UWuGdbAq3D1
I’ve got the same basic numbers are the letter in question, except I like a different neighborhood.
I’m renting, but looking…
BUT, where can I get a 7% return on my money???
To those who think a 100k salary is high, you do realize that 100k today is what 63k was in 1990, right? Time passes, inflation marches on.
reading some of the posts here… and while there could be some BS, there is also a lot of hate. For those who don’t believe others could possibly have “saved” so much, did you ever consider that people have:
– worked a very long time, and spend very little.
– owned property and sold during the boom?
– perhaps worked at a company that was bought out to their benefit?
– invested heavily and enjoyed great returns?
Wow, look at gold!
Not even Smoking Man has witnessed a camel toe of this magnitude before…
Well Garth,
I see the time has finally come to split the blog into two camps:
1). Paid subscription ($3000/mo sounds right) to impart “personalized” service for all the “dumb as a stick, but make $500k/yr at 22” posters;
2) Continued free service for the rest of us who live in the sh*thole known as “reality”.
BTW – where’s your “Best Canadian Financial Blog” ribbon that i voted for you to receive?
pardon me, but could anyone here tell me if
perhaps this is a gold blog?
mc hammer says it hammertime again 1444
will it make 1000?
moving so fast will the bottom come in a week or a month?
some crazy shit.
ps a real stump has roots.
pps what’s the negative inverse base10 log of the hydrogen ion concentration of an aqueous solution
Are these hugs free?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJfYAJJYMqg
#131 Small Time Steve
Nice rant. It seems you don’t realise that Alberta oil sands only became a reality because of heavy (and smart) subsidies by the Lougheed gov’t in SAGD and other technologies.
Your meatball analysis of apocalypse under NDP is rather humourous. Perhaps you’re not aware that the federal NDP is pushing for ‘in country’ refinement of Alberta petroleum (lots of good, high paying jobs there) as well as the West-East pipelines across Canada. This requires assistance from the gov’t to make it a reality, perhaps with some sort of guarantees on bond issues, etc.
True Nation building is rarely (ever?) done by private industry on its own. Heck, without direct government intervention, you wouldn’t even be able to post your nonsensical arguments for the rest of us to ignore.
Seriously? No private sector worker makes $100k?
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/famil105a-eng.htm
1.45M people made $100k+ in 2010, and 500,000 people made $150k+.
There were 283,000 *TOTAL* public servants in 2010:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Service_of_Canada
Seems clear that most of these salaries are in the private sector.
————————————-
First of all…..I said “I DONT KNOW ANY private sector workers (not including business owners) that make over 100K”.
Second bright boy……I guess provincial and municipal workers don’t count? There’s another million govt workers. Not to mention the tens of thousands of “ACTION PLAN” workers. Yes…..bridge builders, road workers, boat workers etc etc…..are all govt workers because they are being paid…..with tax dollars not private dollars. What do you call all those drunken sailors in Ontario that are paid hundreds of thousands that want to go on strike. Gag me……
Hey Garth, do you think the yield on the US 10 year has bottomed?
Gold and Silver were limit down….and are trying to crawl back up. Good luck with that…..
AWESOME call Garth on RE and PMs. Now…..if only we could see eye to eye on stocks. I like many other people still think we are going down. Then like 2008 it will definitely be buying time !!
Considering myself one of the longest (anotomically speaking, of course. Ladies?) readers of this fantastic blog, I’ve found a system that enhances the experience. Always read the blog entry. Garth does come up with some funny lines. Then when you go to read the comments, only read those that Garth comments on. Those are the real gems. He’s either dishes out a classic zinger or more importantly, gives precise advice. I also only look at comments that have links in them. With an average of 200 comments per post, I’ve only found one or two that spark my lightbulb. Whom ever posted that comment about High Park and the condos going up deserves a medal.
Here’s an interesting article about how club land in Toronto sold out to developers. Not their fault. It’s typical corrupt, soulless, Canadian politicians who as teenagers were rejected by chicks and now are getting a little attention will do anything someone asks of them. (Not including you, Garth.)
http://www.thestar.com/life/2013/04/11/with_its_clubs_disappearing_where_will_toronto_dance.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj1wcs7SZj0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zR6ROjoOX0
Working on my schitt.
Re: #134 Small Time Steve on 04.14.13 at 11:44 pm
All good news for me i’m heavy short gold and oil. Just went short oil back on February the 1st as the stock market should’ve crashed by now. I always believe oil leads the move in stocks up or down in this case down. All the bogus positions made back in January by Wall Street, pensions funds and basic manipulators with lots of money are being unwound as their positions were clearly the wrong choice (as usual betting on something that never had a hope in hell of happening).
Another great discussion today, one which again shows the cavernous divide from the arrogant 0.5% subset who have millions tucked away and are floored when regular folks cannot do the same. Now I completely understand why my comments yesterday caused so many monocles to drop into champagne glasses.
Based on many comments today, the path to financial freedom and success looks very clear to me now:
1. Be a doctor;
2. Marry a doctor (or welder, apparently); and
3. Live until your thirties with parents who will allow you to go to school, get well-paying job, pay off student loans (or pay tuition outright) and accumulate hundreds of thousands of dollars, all while paying absolutely nothing.
Now that I think of it, you’ll probably need to be born to well-to-do parents as well. If this is not possible, I’d recommend picking better parents.
Sounds easy enough.
Smoking Man’s Old Man on 04.15.13 at 12:40 am#121
Smoking ManYou’re always entertaining, but comparing yourself to Einstein is really stretching things. If you’ve read anything about him he was the polar opposite of yourself. Compassionate and humble…
…………
Of course he’s humble, he got wrong, C is not a constant. It slows down in a shrinking universe…..
I got right hence, brag fest…..
I think the Dow Jones will reach 16,000,S&P 500 1,700 and the Nasdaq 3,600 in the next 4 to 8 months. The problem is I can see the Dow Jones in the future at 11,000,S&P 500 at 1,175 and Nasdaq at 2,500 after this market rally.
It looks to be stretching out too long. The TSX will be at most 13,700 and than drop to 9,700. This will all happen in 1st quarter of 2014 to 2nd quarter of 2014. I just have a feeling something is not right.
Well, enough said. Your bunions have spoken. — Garth
This is not a gold blog.
#153 Grooby
Yes I am well aware of the government subsidies involved I was there 600 feet below ground at one of the SAGD experiments in 1989. I also worked at Syncrude,Suncor and the Husky Heavy Oil Upgrader in Lloydminster when it was being built. It too was subsidized by government and then ran at a loss do that the government sold it’s stake in it at taxpayers expense. One year later it miraculously started making profits. I stand by my words government has no business being in the economy.
The government should NOT dictate whether a pipeline is built or not built. It should not decide if a refinery is created. The economy should do that. The only thing a government should possibly be involved in is safety and that these projects are built to code. Ultimately if a company screws up and there is an impact that affects the environment and or people they should be held liable. That is what living under the rule of law is for.
For the record the NDP are anti oilsands if they had it their way it would all be shut down.
You can also look forward to 50-60% tax bracket if you make anything approaching a decent standard of living. Unless of course you on are welfare. The 1% will either get eaten alive and bled to death or flee the country. Everyone’s standard of living will drop. Prices will go up, people will spend less. Our already hurting economy will tank. We will go beyond depression era misery.
In an attempt to fool people the NDP is going to strike all references to socialism from their platform. You can put lipstick on a pig but it is still a pig.
We still have Great opportunities in Canada. I agree with you the east-west pipelines SHOULD and WILL be built. As should Keystone, As should Gateway we need to diversify and have access to global markets. We should also build refineries when it is economical to do so. Do you know how long it takes to build a refinery? First it must get approval. Then it must be engineered. If hypothetically we had the actual skilled labor to set aside to build one today and it was already engineered it would still take at least 15 years to build one that is the necessary size to handle our oil.
By the way since you insist that we refine all our oil first you also better make sure that all grain be baked into bread before being shipped overseas as well. Awmygawd we don’t dare ship actual WHEAT to anyone that would not be as profitable!!(insert sarcastic tone here).
Carry on with your regular scheduled programming now..
Garth, shhhhhhhh! If all these sheeple sell their houses and put their money into the equity markets, I’ll have to get out. Let’s keep this quiet and not startle Mr. Market.
#156 Julie on 04.15.13 at 2:48 am
“if only we could see eye to eye on stocks. I like many other people still think we are going down. Then like 2008 it will definitely be buying time !!”
——————————————————————–
Good Luck with that. Especially with the U.S. Market.
#158 Tony on 04.15.13 at 4:21 am
“All good news for me i’m heavy short gold and oil. Just went short oil back on February the 1st as the stock market should’ve crashed by now. I always believe oil leads the move in stocks up or down in this case down.”
——————————————————————–
Hey Tony, what happened to your market crash prediction?
Nobody gives a shit about Gold, It’s heading down to $600.00.
As far as Oil goes, low oil prices will give a major lift to the Global economy.
#162 Dean Mason on 04.15.13 at 6:34 am
“I think the Dow Jones will reach 16,000,S&P 500 1,700 and the Nasdaq 3,600 in the next 4 to 8 months. The problem is I can see the Dow Jones in the future at 11,000,S&P 500 at 1,175 and Nasdaq at 2,500 after this market rally.
It looks to be stretching out too long. The TSX will be at most 13,700 and than drop to 9,700. This will all happen in 1st quarter of 2014 to 2nd quarter of 2014. I just have a feeling something is not right.”
——————————————————————–
Oh No. Now you are predicting the stock market outcome?
What happened with your Provincial Bonds?
I never feel a thing is real
When I’m away from you
Out of your embrace
The world’s a temporary parking place
Mmm, mm, mm, mm
A bubble for a minute
Mmm, mm, mm, mm
You smile, the bubble has a rainbow in it
Say, its only some paper gold
Sailing over a fiat sea
But it wouldn’t be make-believe
If you believed in me
Yes, it’s just an inflated sky
Hanging over a debased tree
But it wouldn’t be make-believe
If you believed in me
Without your love
It’s a naked, short parade
Without your love
It’s a melody played in a bitcoin arcade
It’s a Benny Bernanke world
Just as phony as it can be
But it wouldn’t be make-believe
If you believed in me
N.B. Love Kitco’s chart rescaling feature — it’s working floorlessly.
#53 Humpty Dumpty
ireland:
tracker mortgages …
But there are now concerns that some of these deals contain clauses buried in the small print allowing lenders to renege on their guarantees “in exceptional circumstances” and widen the margin at which they “track” the Bank Rate – pushing up mortgage costs for home owners.
This is what Bank of Ireland – and its Bristol & West subsidiary – did last month, increasing mortgage costs for 13,500 customers. Some will see costs double.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-1583960/Fixed-rate-vs-tracker-variable-SVR-mortgages.html
Tracker moves aimed at preventing repossession – Central Bank
Updated: 18:06, Friday, 12 April 2013
The Central Bank said it is reviewing the code in a bid to strengthen the protection it affords consumers, and to facilitate better resolution of mortgage arrears problems between borrowers and the banks.
Meanwhile, the Money Advice and Budgeting Service has said that increasing numbers of older people, who should be almost finished paying their home loans, are now getting into mortgage arrears.
A new report by MABS has found that – contrary to the general view that most of those in mortgage arrears are in their 30s – 60% of the agency’s clients are between the ages of 41 and 65
Garth: But nobody charges you land transfer tax to buy stocks or 5% to get out
——-
Nobody charges you to get out of stocks? You pay cap gains tax on profits to get out of stocks, but no cap gains tax on principal residence.
Monday, April 15, 2013
“How I opened a Liechtenstein numbered account in 13 minutes” (via the UK.)
http://taxjustice.blogspot.ca/
========================
In total, Greece has been granted €270 billion in bailouts, which it receives gradually.
In return, successive governments pledged to overhaul the Greek economy and have imposed stringent spending cuts and tax hikes. The reforms have been painful. The country is mired in a deep recession, currently in its sixth year, and unemployment has spiraled to around 27%
Just four out of 107 offshore companies investigated by ICIJ are registered with tax authorities as the law usually requires, particularly when the firms hold assets or conduct business in Greece. Officials apparently have no record of the other 103 firms — or whether the owners declared any assets held by these entities or paid taxes on them.
http://www.icij.org/offshore/greek-tax-authorities-have-little-clue-about-offshore-companies-owned-citizens
Garth
Your blog is geared toward the to 5% income earners as the ave family gross income in Toronto (2010 by census Canada) is $68,110. Real numbers representing the real population.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/famil107a-eng.htm
I respect this blog very much, but i’m affaid you have TROLL problem here.
Ya think? — Garth
http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/canadian-dollar-commodities-tumble-wake-disappointing-chinese-growth-123740109.html
“Doubts about the future of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary policy program known as quantitative easing have also factored in. The program involves printing money to buy US$85 billion of bonds every month. It has had a depressive effect on the U.S. dollar in the past and helped hike gold prices since bullion is seen as an inflation hedge.”
Ya think? Print Ben, Print! Otherwise the commodity bubble will pop………
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/canadian-universities-feel-the-squeeze-of-spending-cuts/article9582355/
“On Thursday, Alberta slashed university operating grants 6.8 per cent just one year after promising more money. It was a $40-million blow to the University of Alberta, an outcome far worse than even university president Indira Samarasekera had foreseen.”
So you need highly skilled workers but your cutting education..hmm? And what did the feds do in theirs?…
@#160 Mr Monday Night
Nah, it was more like cigarette ashes floating down into my beer mug while I was counting all my money.
..Gartman: ‘I’ve Never Seen Anything Like This’….
Investor Dennis Gartman is stunned by the rapid drop in the price of gold..
Yeah, Okay Dennis.
Dennis Gartman
I guess his subscription to Greater Fool elapsed. — Garth
#164 Small Town Steve on 04.15.13 at 7:02 am
Amen to that! When all the tree hugers are finished with their rants and the NDP have picked us clean and there is no cash or no oil they can enjoy themselves as they pull up to the gas station at $11.50 per liter. Build refineries now, here, use local talent. Stop selling non-valued added commodities. You can make more profit every time you enhance a product. Sales 101!
Seen the price of Gold lately?
This piece in TO Star adds another layer of grave concern for condo owners who’ve sold.
http://www.thestar.com/business/personal_finance/2013/04/13/some_toronto_condo_sales_face_tough_tax_scrutiny.html
It’s as though all the information of condo investment perils were purposely not spoken about over the last 8 years.
This entire math equation has to be now factored into. How many will be underwater AND facing CRA?
Frightening place for someone who had no clue but to flip for profit.
I am 59 years old. I earn 15k a year. I saved 5k in my piggybank. What should I do with my money?
Everybody happy now? Feel richer now?
Hmmm, gold and KIA’s on sale today. Which is the best investment? I tend to think God favours the bold when they are not delusional. I better wait before deciding because bank Preferreds are looking pretty good these days.
Actually, I think low precious metal prices will hurt the mining industry, bad news for Quebec and Ontario. Damn, just for the hell of it, I hoped Alberta might get an equalization cheque from them just to knock a little sense into our leaders.
It is getting a bit darker for Canadian RE as the last thing we need are job losses.
GLTA
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100641624
The New York Fed’s “Empire State” general business conditions index dropped to 6.56 from 20.21 in March, far below economists’ expectations for 18.00. It was the lowest level since last November.
Hang on people …it is just a speed bump…..isn’t it?..
http://www.businessinsider.com/everyone-should-be-thrilled-by-the-collapse-of-gold-2013-4
“The huge corpus of economic research, which has informed the US’ efforts to stimulate the economy, is not a pile of garbage. You can do a lot without blowing things up, as the goldbugs claimed would happen.”
ah we love research don’t we…….lol…
#180 GTA Girl on 04.15.13 at 9:36 am
Maybe I’m naive but were they (CRA) not properly taxing flippers in the recent past?
How come the STUMP has not sold ?
I thought I saw a pre-sale line up.
Maybe take it off the market and then raise the price…that usually works.
#161 Smoking Man on 04.15.13 at 6:24 am
Smoking Man’s Old Man on 04.15.13 at 12:40 am#121
Smoking ManYou’re always entertaining, but comparing yourself to Einstein is really stretching things. If you’ve read anything about him he was the polar opposite of yourself. Compassionate and humble…
…………
Of course he’s humble, he got wrong, C is not a constant. It slows down in a shrinking universe…..
I got right hence, brag fest…..
Sorry Smoking Man C is a constant; The speed of light has long been calculated to be 299,792.458 km per second in a perfect vacuum. Of course the speed of light is constant – it’s the only thing that is constant in the universe!
We have to consider your Relative viewpoint in combination with String Theory.
Light must be moving at a constant speed just as has been declared. So, it must be OUR time that is really speeding up and slowing down – we are affected by our innocent by standing. It just looks like it is moving slower from our viewpoint. We are really accelerating and decelerating in a wave-like motion constantly, sometimes simultaneously. That must be why some people get so confused….Next you will be using infinitesimal calculus to redefine areas under curves, minima and maxima, and other geometric and analytic problems. Please don’t start adjusting Planck’s constant either. I do not believe Quantum Mechanics is really your forte! Please see C below.
E = mc2
Where E is energy, m is mass, and c is the speed of light. The formula is dimensionally consistent and does not depend on any specific system of measurement units. The equation E = mc2 indicates that energy always exhibits relativistic mass in whatever form the energy takes. Mass–energy equivalence does not imply that mass may be “converted” to energy, but it allows for matter to be converted to energy. Mass remains conserved (i.e., the quantity of mass remains constant), since it is a property of matter and also any type of energy. Energy is also conserved. In physics, mass must be differentiated from matter. Matter, when seen as certain types of particles, can be created and destroyed (as in particle annihilation or creation), but a closed system of precursors and products of such reactions, as a whole, retains both the original mass and energy throughout the reaction
Small Town Steve:
gee, where`d you hear all that? did you come up with that yourself? It sounds genius and vaguely similar to what everyone was told in the 80s. Remember the 80s? Good times. The whole trickle-down thing would have been great had it not been so short sighted. It gave us, what? 10 years of wealth before the hangover began? Maybe not even 10.
Anyway, here’s a report, in case you’re worried that regulation is strangling the life out of corporations, chasing them away from Canada.
http://www.businessinsider.com/profits-at-high-wages-at-low-2013-4
:) happy reading.
For those that suggested buying Barrick last Thursday and Friday, this chart is for you:
http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=ABX.TO&t=5d&l=on&z=l&q=l&c=
Can somebody tell me what it means when an MLS listing number ends in “b”? Such as 1303374b.
Re: #170 AK on 04.15.13 at 8:01 am
You’re far too optimistic.
Re: #169 AK on 04.15.13 at 7:53 am
I did say the latest the market would crash would be April the 15th (today). One thing for certain the market will erode in the late afternoon. Hopefully April the 12th was the resumption of the long bear market.
And of course watch it take three weeks for gas to go down three pennies. I pay 98 cents Cdn for gas in WA once a week…….it’s $1.40 in Vancouver. Dumb politicians just don’t get it.
DELETED
@ Buy Curious… I need a hug
Garth If the US economy is in recovery mode than what do I buy? I think I should re-balance my portfolio.
I have 15%Emerging Markets ETF international
5% Preferred Bank Shares CAN
35% TSX ETF
35% Bonds
10% Us stocks
Should I sell some of the TSX Etf’s and purchase more US investments? And I am not sure what to purchase in the US? These investments are in my RRSP so far my portfolio has grown 10% over the last 16 months. I am about 2 months away from opening a unregistered investment account. I have a TFSA which I opened 2 months ago which I don’t know what to put in it. This is all overwhelming as everything on the TSX looks like it is at it’s high? My portfolio is at it’s best in 10 years. What to do?
Gold
AK at 177 said:
Investor Dennis Gartman is stunned by the rapid drop in the price of gold..
Garth responded
I guess his subscription to Greater Fool elapsed. — Garth
***************************************
And also he should listen to Kevin O’Leary who has said repeatedly when commodities “correct” they often “don’t touch the sides” on the way down.
Suicide day for gold bugs lol
Garth,
On the same day that the G&M reports national home sales are down more than 15% compared to last year, goldbugs fall to their knees. When you’re right, you’re right. Any more bold predictions while you’re basking in the glow of your victories?
Why am I get a visual of the great gartho, pounding his chest, screaming out the Tarzan yelp, knowing the gold bugs just got ivisirated…
Comment section will go quiet for a while will all the gold men are suddenly paralyzed, stund, and in shock can no longer type..
Money Flow Mysteries
At 159 Garth responded to Mayehm (who predicts a stock crash)
Actually money is coming from commodities and likely to migrate into equities.
*******************************************
Okay, let’s say a bunch of people sell commodities and buy equities. That is money going from commodities to equities.
But an equal amount of money will have to be spent by the buyers of the sold commodities. Where will that money come from?
Can we agree that no net money will flow out of commodities when some investors sell their commodities to other investors?
And as some investors buy stocks an equal amount of money will flow to the former holders of the stock, no net money has been injected into equities. But yes equity prices are driven up in the process.
117 Julie on 04.14.13 at 10:37 pm
I keep seeing all these “I make 100k plus” people posting here. No private sector worker I know makes that much dough. There must be allot of public sector employees on this blog.
**********************************************
The only people I know with the exception of a few directors and senior managers in the public sector make in the neighbourhood of $45,000 to $60,000 and those that make the higher end of that require either technical school or at least a bachelor’s degree…..Conversely all my acquaintances in private business do extremely well and would never consider a government job of any kind. Don’t know where some think that a government job is the way to untold wealth, just isn’t so.
Gold PLUNGES again, down another $124.00.
Now at $1,377.00 an oz
Garth where is a good entry point for Gold?
guy on CNBC says its going to $1000
It doesn’t matter what market related products you owned this past two weeks…..you got douched…..even cash has lost value……whoops !!
Personally … I hope the Canook Loonie Tune Dollar goes to .90 ( or below)…. I ‘ll get a big raise in currency exchange alone….and it might entice more Yanks to cross the border and support the pimps and hookers on this side of the divide.
Stump = Gold
Spot gold and silver price is diverging significantly from physical price, and physical at the bullion dealers is selling out.
That means in time those in the paper markets who have borrowed to invest and leveraged that over and over again, including the stock market – are the next Goldman Sachs Muppets.
You have been proven an unreliable source of market info. Shoo. — Garth
#187 Holy Crap Wheres The Tylenol
http://www.holoscience.com/wp/synopsis/synopsis-11-some-basics/
Interesting, that’s twice you’ve used the word ‘homogeneous’ recently. Is that homogeneous, as in class, or hue? This segues nicely into the fantastic production of Independent Lens that aired over the weekend. Absolutely fantastic. Basically how the war on drugs isn’t a war on drugs, but a war on people, on people who are no longer needed once their jobs have been outsourced or become redundant.
I encourage everyone to watch this, and it’s at the very end where you go “holy sh*t” and damn if there wasn’t a phrase or two that made me think of Smoking Man:
“If you stand in a federal court, you’re watching poor and uneducated people being fed into a machine like meat to make sausage. It’s just bang, bang, bang, bang. Next!” says journalist Charles Bowden.”
That image reminded me of the Pink Floyd song.
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/house-i-live-in/film.html
“Actually money is coming from commodities and likely to migrate into equities.”
Commodities dropping as much as they have been is a signal that consumption is dropping. When 70% of the market in N America is made up of consumption, guess what happens to the stock market?
Stock price increases could come from Japan’s massive printing, the EU’s continued collapse and money moving from EU to USA, and Fed money printing. But then you are investing in an artificial rise not supported by capital fundamentals but debt leveraged over and over have fun timing that.
Sir Garth:
Congratulation! Man you hit this one on the nose! I wonder if you are as overly positive on the housing correction, as you were on the cloudy future of Gold.
“Living the same life in the same place every day for six decades? Not for this dude. — Garth”
Living in the same place for decades will be the fate for many Canadians. The loss of mobility is perhaps the greatest consequence of this housing bubble. People don’t like selling for a loss.
hey #35 – I’m in the exact same position as you. Still question the cost benefit over the long term. Waiting and waiting…
#188
Once again you are WRONG!
America was founded on life,liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
That any one man through his own self reliance,ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit could raise him self to any height attainable by his own merit and his ability to percieve and act upon his reason in order to make his stamp upon the world.
America has fallen so far from the principles of the founding fathers that it is no longer recognizable as the republic that it once was.
America is the only nation in the entire history of man to not be formed by territories claimed by monarchy or theocracy. It was formed out of philosophy born out of the enlightenment era. That man has a right to exist for his own sake, for his own life, and to reap the full benefits of the fruits of his labors.
Today America has this.
http://boingboing.net/2012/02/04/on-the-horrors-of-getting-appr.html
The backbone of America is the entrepreneur. Those small mom and pop operations.
What the US(S)A needs is to go back to it’s constitution.
Bnn reporting If gold hits $1300 Barrick gold will be junk status…… Ouch!
Wow look at the stock markets in North America falling big time like some folks here been warning… Wonder if it’s going to be another big one. Perhaps the precious metals were warning of a deflationary collapse in all markets.
Equities are down about 1.5%. That is hardly a ‘collapse’. Gold, on the other hand, is in freefall. — Garth
#153 Grooby
Probably because borders are a construct of governments, not corporations. They will, however, readily take advantage of this public schizophrenia to their benefit.
#196IvanDrago on 04.15.13 at 11:20 am
Suicide day for gold bugs lol
Dunno. They are not speculators like you and I.
They bought as much as they could afford to hold indefinitely for some day of reckoning.
Betting many will view this as some conspiracy by the Bilderbergers, Freemasons, Illuminati, Zionists etc. meant to tank the price so many panic sell, so they can get it all for themselves.
I figure the loonies keep buying as much as they can afford………….which will just end up being lots more than it used to be.
Wondering where the bottom is to be found. Figuring it’s a whole bunch lower than today’s close.
The US in a recovery? “23,087,886 US households, or the number that according to the USDA were on foodstamps in January and just happen to be a fresh all time high”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-15/us-households-foodstamps-hit-record-high
Gold Chart back to 1792: http://www.businessinsider.com/long-term-gold-chart-going-back-to-1792-2013-4
What Happened Last Time Gold Fell like this?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-15/what-happened-last-time-we-saw-gold-drop
The index needs to be read with intelligence, as the Toronto stock exchange is weighted with sectors which will distort the real picture.
Gold in free fall amid ‘general bloodbath’ in commodities
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/top-business-stories/gold-in-free-fall-amid-general-bloodbath-in-commodities/article11211143/
Gold at $1366. I am beginning to believe it might indeed hit $800 by the end of the day.
For those goldbugs:
Gold = hedge against stability, government and lawful society. If it goes up, there is concern. It is not a hedge against inflation or the rate of change of inflation. Plot a chart and you’ll figure this out in 5 seconds.
With Gold falling, investors and funds see that “organization” is stabilizing.
This is a cold fact.
I can see the newletters and gold dedicated sites jumping on the “Goldman sold X amount of gold” or ” (Insert big country here) dumped gold”, this is a conspiracy, etc.. etc…
Price and volume don’t lie. Make the trend your friend and trade accordingly. You don’t have to be LONG all the time, just ask Leafs Fans.
Gold bullion plunges more than US$140 an ounce; mining stock also swoon
http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/gold-bullion-down-10-two-days-nears-us-134235472.html
Move out of Toronto. Find a job in a more affordable city. Why are people brainwashed with Toronto. You can find anything Toronto has and more in a smaller more affordable city. Poor thing has 200K for down payment and complains about buying a house. You can buy a better house and pay it all off with that much money in a smaller city. Yes you will make less in a smaller city, but you will be mortgage free and be happier, more time to spend with your family. This is my advice to you.
My take on spot gold is that there is a panic afoot with small dead cat bounces that are breaking down quickly with dumping. This is triggering more sell stop orders for further downward velocity. Will this happen with real estate at some point in time – maybe? The other factor to take into consideration is margin calls are always coming into play with ones portfolio.
I thought this article was worth a look for RE charts and comments. I am not familiar with the author (Ben Rabidoux) but the statistics quoted look credible. It appears Montreal has a very large number of RE listings. http://www.theeconomicanalyst.com/content/canadian-housing-and-economic-trends-good-bad-and-ugly
The author also comments, “It begs a question: Have you given thought to what this all means to your investment portfolio? Though some bearded gurus believe otherwise, I cannot envision a scenario where a hard landing in housing is not vented to a significant degree through the financials (some bank/financial stocks much more so than others).”
Ben has a point and a pot shot. Preferred shares can be called and converted into common shares. The call ability of preferreds has always made me cautious about them. Due diligence is required or stay with the EFTs.
IMHO
Mr. Rabidoux has recently joined forces with National Bank Financial advisor Devid LePoidevin who went out on a limb last year publicly stating Canadian banks would be badly hurt in a housing crash. I believe he is wrong on several counts. By the way, banks have since posted record profits. Bank preferreds Uunless convertible) do not morph into common stock, with yields unaffected by corporate earnings. Finally, Mr. LePodevin has also heavily invested his clients in gold as a hedge against his vision of the future. Today I would not wish to be one of those individuals. — Garth
#217 Devore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKkRDMil0bw
Thankfully, this madness truly has no future.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioyq6GNbJg0
Meanwhile something very interesting is going on, it could truly be called a renaissance.
FrankLeSkank,
It’s sounds as though condo sellers haven’t been paying capital gains, or wrongly stating they lived in these units. CRA can be slow to wake, but the smell of blood in the water brings the sharks. And CRA always gets paid first.
Equities are down about 1.5%. That is hardly a ‘collapse’. Gold, on the other hand, is in freefall. — Garth
Tsx down 800 Pts since it peaked last month. ETF’s like XCS which you recommended not too long ago is getting rocked due to the heavy exposure to commodities.
I did not reconmmend any specific ETF. Investors with a balanced portfolio and a minority Canadian exposure position (which I have recommended) should have a calm day. — Garth
Now on a positive note for those that have liquid assets to invest start doing some homework as a study project, and do lots of print outs tonight with the TSX with everything. Over a coffee in the next few days take a look at what has gone down; what has stayed firm; and what has gone up. This will give you a handle or guideline concerning what sectors maintain investment quality during a crash, and always look for the largest corporations in Canada with solid balance sheets; growing dividends, and profits; not to mention the safety of preferred shares in the mix as well.
Why home prices tick higher despite sales slump?
That’s because the rich are still buying, everyone else doesn’t have the money.
Picture 10 homes that get sold: 2 for 100,000, 3 for 200,000, 3 for 300,000, and 2 for 400,000. That’s an average of 250,000 per home.
Now take the bottom 2 houses off the list (2 fewer houses sold). Average house price goes up to 287,500.
I’m afraid if the stock markets open lower tomorrow we could be in for significant drops. Hope that’s not the case. But worried!!
Worry about something that matters. Like world peace or your hairline. Markets will correct, as expected and forecast, and carry on. — Garth
Sir Garth: I nominate GTA GIRL for ” The Good Wife ” of the year for her Saturday Recourse here. Sorry Beach Girl, you are single and loving it. But Girl Friend of the year is still open!
Equities are down about 1.5%. That is hardly a ‘collapse’. Gold, on the other hand, is in freefall. — Garth
This is where Garth doesn’t get it. He thinks Gold can be at $1,000 while stocks can remain at all-time highs. This plunge isn’t a good sign for stocks. It isn’t in isolation either as all the commodities are dropping. It’s called deflation. You know the thing the Fed has been fighting for six years.
Yes, it’s the thing I’ve warned about, while metalheads screamed ‘hyperinflation.’ The stock market will be fine. — Garth
#113 AK on 04.14.13 at 10:25 pm
Another blood bath for Gold.
Down another $58.00 at the open in the far east.
Gold
——————————————————
Don’t watch the paper spot price my friend, physical metal is being accumulated hand over fist, there is something horrible going down and the insiders already know about it. While the “little” people will find out when it’s too late.
Excuses, excuses, excuses. You were clearly warned on this blog what was going to happen. You have nobody to blame but yourself. — Garth
Nice to see (at least from your comments) that you are keeping calm Garth … hopefully for you it will indeed be a modest 5-7% correction.
I however think that the phony ‘investment thesis’ based on fake Chinese numbers and FED pumping is coming to an end … an ugly end.
Enjoying being in cash … that sound of “FLUSHHHH” is still some time away but I can almost hear it … :)
I wonder what poor excuses will come from Eric Sprott or Marc Faber after today?
The past few months Eric Sprott been a huge seller of his fund even though on many sites has been encouraging people to buy silver and gold. That’s not very nice…
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/inside-the-market/eric-sprott-sells-big-chunk-of-silver-trust-units/article11157109/
I wonder what poor excuses will come from Eric Sprott or Marc Faber after today?
A guy from Sprott was on BNN this morning, and said “We’d be buyers today if we had cash.”
I must admit, it’s been a pretty brutal day to own a hole in the ground. But lower overall beta than the Canadian or US indices for the win…
CREA quotes of the day
“CREA said there was some noise in the data, including the Easter holiday, which may have held sales back.”
“We’ll be watching closely as the spring market picks up to see whether the March sales increase (over Feb)marks the beginning of an improving trend.”
“National sales have been holding fairly stable since last summer,” CREA President Laura Leyser said in a statement.
http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/canadian-home-sales-rose-2-4-percent-march-132613860–business.html
“I’m afraid if the stock markets open lower tomorrow we could be in for significant drops. Hope that’s not the case. But worried!!
Worry about something that matters. Like world peace or your hairline. Markets will correct, as expected and forecast, and carry on. — Garth”
You’re right Garth…I forgot about my hairline. Thanks for putting things in perspective…
I’m not buying, but I just spoke with my bullion exchange house in White Rock B.C. They have NO bullion in house to purchase and their supplier is not taking orders, so one can not place orders at all, maybe tomorrow was told. I’ve known this person for years and would like to believe he/she is not holding back, waiting for upward price movement. I’m completely out of the bullion market other than a very modest core holding (never to be sold). This really shows the contradiction in paper spot VS bullion spot. I called for metals to drop a while back and don’t think its done moving down. I no longer have the conviction to commit to metals, on any significant scale as things are just too volatile.
Mission accomplished I guess. May just wait for Garth’s index correction, if significant enough, or just sit on the sidelines patiently.
Throw another log on the fire..
This Currancy War is ready to set a blaze..
ROSS NORMAN – Gold crushed by 400 tonnes or $20 billion of selling on COMEX
The value of the 400 tonnes of gold sold is approximately $20 billion but because it is margined, this short bet would require them to stump up just $1b. The rationale for the trade was clear – excessively bullish forecasts by many banks in Q4 seemed unsupported by follow through buying. The modest short selling in Jan 2013 had prompted little response from the longs – raising questions about their real commitment. By forcing the market lower the Fund sought to prompt a cascade or avalanche of additional selling, proving the lie ; predictably some newswires were premature in announcing the death of the gold bull run doing, in effect, the dirty work of the shorters in driving the market lower still.
http://news.sharpspixley.com/article/ross-norman-gold-crushed-by-400-tonnes-or-usd20-billion-of-selling-on-comex/159239/
Now here is another thought to ponder within the context of the real estate market in Canada, as all money is connected. What if those that bought too early in Toronto and elsewhere are now being hit with their investment lifelines? They might have bought cheap debt to buy that dream home, and now the nest egg is crashing; so will they panic?
Silver spot is $23.39
The following are selling over $27/ounce:
SprottMoney
ScotiaMocatta
APMex
…
BREAKING: Two explosions near finish line at Boston Marathon
Image 1
Image 2
Because when printing money doesn’t work anymore, the next best thing is a new boogeyman.
60 dead explosion at Boston merithon
Yes, it’s the thing I’ve warned about, while metalheads screamed ‘hyperinflation.’ The stock market will be fine. — Garth
I don’t care about what metalheads say. They are overzealous about gold as you are about equities. I said DEFLATION because the bad bets placed had to be backfilled at the cost of slow economic growth to mask a Depression. The money printing was never going to turn into HYPERINFLATION. Especially with stagnant wage growth. Gold will be fine so will the stock market but you have no idea what you are talking about if you think gold can crash and the stock market won’t. Both will recover. Both would be on sale.
Two Boston Marathon explosions are being reported. I pray everyone there is ok.
#243 Blacksheep on 04.15.13 at 2:44 pm
” I called for metals to drop a while back and don’t think its done moving down. I no longer have the conviction to commit to metals, on any significant scale as things are just too volatile.”
——————————————————————–
Why hurry. Once Gold finds the bottom, it will flatline for another 50 years. :-)
One needs to be selective when it comes to CNBC but among lots of junk they do sometimes have some material that is worth looking at:
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000161461
Phantom liquidity that was rocketing higher courtesy of levered traders toying with world markets over the past several months is now being flushed!!!
Caesar and F are in a bit of trouble, as both are idiots because Canada has a resource based economy, but they never saw it coming called deflation of assets and a worldwide adjustment in demand. Mr. Turner saw it coming in spades, and the next tragedy about to unfold will be Real Estate all across Canada, and unless a miracle takes place there will be hell to pay with a train wreck, and for those in Alberta take cover, as things have changed from a boom to a bust, so say a prayer.
KRUGMAN: Gold Bugs Are Really Annoying, They Don’t Have A Clue, And They’ve Made Things Worse
http://www.businessinsider.com/krugman-gold-bugs-are-really-annoying-and-the-actually-dont-have-a-clue-2013-4#ixzz2QYskJ2Os
He looks and sounds just like you G….
I stand corrected in my last post regarding convertible Canadian bank preferreds. I did some quick research and could not find a recent cdn bank preferred with a conversion clause to common shares. The only clauses I noted were redemption at issue price or dividend rate resets at predetermined dates. Well, at least I learned a few things today.
And now the next “terrorist” false flag attacks begin in Boston. Must be Iran (NOT) time to invade again…..
Over the last month the DJT are down over 6% from their peak, not a correction, a one month blood letting.
Can you say DEFLATION?
The correction in 2011 was 20%. Last year 11%. This year new highs. Don’t get too worked up. — Garth
There’s two ways to split a log..
There’s two sides of every trade..
David Mcalvany on why gold and silver is pulliing back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uWrUDBvtBI&feature=player_embedded
Ops 6 hurt, first reports out where wrong, forex lesson 102 never hold a position when some wacko blows up a bomb. Instantly 4k in the hole..
Why are people so fkd…… Blowing up shit…. What is wrong with the world….
More realtor interest peddling by the Globe & Mail:
“Are you sick of renting? Check out our new Home Buying site”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/mortgages/home-buying/are-you-sick-of-renting-check-out-our-new-home-buying-site/article11209576
Yes, it’s the thing I’ve warned about, while metalheads screamed ‘hyperinflation.’ The stock market will be fine. — Garth
Yup, stock market down 2% in one day.. sure is fine…
Worry about your yellow stuff. — Garth
More Bay St. layoffs today. Sell side.
TSX is junk.
Oh well off to Cowtown for a few days. Will watch for Kandos.
AK,
Why hurry. Once Gold finds the bottom, it will flatline for another 50 years. :-)
—————————————–
Agreed. This is the intent. Drop gold enough to scare most of the Cattle (me too?) out of the market for a good long time, because they can’t raise rates like 1980.
Things have changed though.
A lot more information is available to the masses than 33 years ago. If central banks keep accumulating, regardless of the value, that’s secure enough for some buyers. The reduced price just becomes a buying opp.
It’s Garth’s, rebalancing in action!
No hurry, as I’m not buying.
#257 Julie on 04.15.13 at 3:33 pm
And now the next “terrorist” false flag attacks begin in Boston. Must be Iran (NOT) time to invade again…..
=====================================
Right on…..smell a rat.
Just heard about it on the radio, watching the news now.
If you follow 9/11….the MSM etc. is in on it….pretty soon they will have the case solved with suspects…its so pathetically scripted.
#240 Ralph Cramdown
Thanks for the info. Don’t get BNN on my antenna. Probably better not to. I beleive this was the video?
http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip905765
Um Yeah, Well you have to understand, most likely, its a bit uncertain, but where optimistic………. OK if you say so?
More concerned about another trip to the Shouldice centre due to the uncontrollable laughter watching that video. Cheers.
CBCNews….the authority on repeating what they have been told to say….
Home prices tick higher despite sales slump
Prices inch 2.5% higher in March from year earlier, CREA reports
248 Canadian Watchdog
http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2013/04/what-does-paul-ryan-not-understand-about-reserve-banking.html#more-5178
—-
the release by icij…..
HENRY: Right. This is not a random sample of the world’s offshore haven clients. This came from two corporate registry service providers in–one of them in the BVI, another one from Singapore. So most Americans would not be using Singapore or Tortola for their offshore companies and trusts, let alone their bank accounts. As we saw in the UBS case, you know, that was a big Swiss bank, the largest Swiss bank, coming directly to the United States and recruiting very wealthy clients to go directly to Switzerland with their secret stashes abroad. So, you know, many Americans would bank more directly with banks in other countries rather than putting money in BDI or Singapore. So I don’t think it’s a random sample. We still have 4,000 American names that turned up on this list just for those two havens. And there’s about 73, 75 offshore havens on the planet, so this should be looked upon as just, you know, relatively small sample of the total population. But it is evidence that the estimates we’ve been making for the size and growth of this industry have some firm support at the investigative level.
… the spider net
The correction in 2011 was 20%. Last year 11%. This year new highs. Don’t get too worked up. — Garth
S&P500 peak performances during each Fed action
What will it cost the Fed for another levitating leg-up and how effective will it be? All explained in last year's most talked about working paper at Jackson Hole, Ultra Easy Monetary Policy and the Law of Unintended Consequences.
To wit, it works until it doesn't.
I’m still giggling over your gold charts. — Garth
#163 EIT on 04.15.13 at 6:34 am
This is not a gold blog.
—————————————————-
… … BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Here we go again….. another senseless bombing. And we wonder about our problems? We should be so lucky. Enjoy what you have!
#265 Dr. Hoof – Hearted on 04.15.13 at 4:21 pm#257 Julie on 04.15.13 at 3:33 pmAnd now the next “terrorist” false flag attacks begin in Boston. Must be Iran (NOT) time to invade again…..=====================================Right on…..smell a rat.Just heard about it on the radio, watching the news now.If you follow 9/11….the MSM etc. is in on it….pretty soon they will have the case solved with suspects…its so pathetically scripted
……….
At the risk of sounding insensitive I think it was fat people that did it..
I guess I hit my quota for today Garth?
You posted 2 of my 4 comments?
Or maybe you didn’t like me asking you whether you still think we are looking at a 5% correction?
If yes, we are half-way there and I suggested we should all put our party hats on for our meeting with MR. Bernaknaknak in Heaven where the SP500 will take us …
What’s wrong with that? :)
A correction of 5-7% is a blip. The one last year was 11%, and the one the year before 20%. We’ll see. But this is likely not a fundamental event. — Garth
Great time to be Govt employee! No accountability. Property tax hike next year for sure.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Calgary+Transit+overshoots+overtime+budget/8240510/story.html
Calgary Transit doled out $9.3 million in overtime payments in 2011 to operators and other staff, exceeding its overtime budget by 71 per cent, according to a recently released report by the city auditor’s office.
In 2011, three transit operators each racked up $30,000 in overtime, while another 21 earned $20,000. The average overtime paid to LRT and bus drivers was $3,596.
The audit office, which focused primarily on three transit divisions (operators, fleet and facilities), said worker shortages caused mostly by sick days and accident-related absenteeism were “a significant cause for overtime.”
I guess I hit my quota for today Garth?
You posted 2 of my 4 comments?
Or maybe you didn’t like me asking you whether you still think we are looking at a 5% correction?
If yes, we are half-way there and I suggested we should all put our party hats on for our meeting with MR. Bernaknaknak in Heaven where the SP500 will take us …
What’s wrong with that? :)
A correction of 5-7% is a blip. The one last year was 11%, and the one the year before 20%. We’ll see. But this is likely not a fundamental event. — Garth
Now we are getting somewhere.
I agree, 5-7% would be a blip. Hell, for these outrageously overpriced, over bullish markets even 11-20% correction would be a blip.
Where our opinions differ a lot is … on my opinion this will be a fundamental event and not a blip.
I did the responsible thing today…..15 minutes before the bell I was sweeping the floor and lifting off sweet bargoons galore.
Someone earlier mentioned the margin phenomena…right on the money…scuse the pun….but the panic was fed by margin losses…and could continue tommorrow morning on sell orders that didn’t get in before the bell.
Buying in face of blind panic is also counterintuitive….but as long as I have been involved…the right thing to do…..buy very low….and sell incrementally as you expand into refreshed distribution cycles. Suck it up guys……the stock market is not run by social services.
#272 Smoking Man on 04.15.13 at 5:18 pm
At the risk of sounding insensitive I think it was fat people that did it..
====================================
Only Smoking Old Man would blame Santa (or ex – wives) .
Still an no sense plick.
#257 Julie on 04.15.13 at 3:33 pm
And now the next “terrorist” false flag attacks begin in Boston. Must be Iran (NOT) time to invade again…..
————————–
Seriously? People are dead and you’re pushing conspiracy theory? You must be a joy to go to a dinner party with.
Major sell-off happening ?
stocks down
china down
oil down
manufacturing down
housing down
where is the bright spot ?
Hey Garth, I know this isnt a gold blog but whats your take on the drop in price? And possible support levels in the short term? Interesting article here about $1100 price short term
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1342351-what-if-gold-cost-of-production-is-the-next-price-support-level
Wow, just look at those gold stocks; hammered. Garth’s post later tonight might be a classic; looking forward to it.
Support Levels?
Number 280 Ivan Drago asks
Hey Garth, I know this isnt a gold blog but whats your take on the drop in price? And possible support levels in the short term?
***************************
Sorry but support and resistance levels are no more real than the tooth fairy. There are fabrications made up by so called Technical Analysts. Complete nonsense.
As soon as an advisor utters the words support level or resistance levels or mentions cyclical bear/bull or secular bear/bull you know you are dealing with someone who has absolutely no clue about fundamental values. RUN!
Amerika… Amerika…
‘Big Brother’ mentality ‘has no place in a free society’
“This database has the ability to track students, their educational progress and a vast degree of personal information about every student. This database is run and operated by a company called inBloom, and nine states (Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, North Carolina, Massachusetts) have already uploaded student information into this database,” he said.
http://www.wnd.com/2013/04/homeschoolers-alarmed-by-plans-to-track-students/#oSp1H0oiU6G58aVa.99
Until I sell my condo I have 97% of my net worth in there with the other 3% in silver bullion. 0 savings.
May god help me.
Gold Is Worth $370 An Ounce
Apr 15 2013, 15:55
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1342761-gold-is-worth-370-an-ounce?source=yahoo
#173 Barry in Pickering on 04.15.13 at 8:10 am
Nobody charges you to get out of stocks? You pay cap gains tax on profits to get out of stocks, but no cap gains tax on principal residence.
==============
A couple can stuff $51,000 into their TFSAs and pay no taxes on interest, dividend or capital gains.
In this age of high-ratio mortgages, many people don’t even have fifty grand equity in their principal residence.
Scary stuff in Boston. If I was there I would have grabbed my Rosary beads and run like hell. On second thought, better to leave the Rosary beads behind as alot of good those things did for anybody.
#285 Piccaso
Your buddy should define “Real Dollars”. If he’s talking about central bank notes then “Real Dollars” are 3-5% of the money supply.
Bank-run in 3…2…1 – Go!
There will be no runs on banks. — Garth
#122 Smoking Man on 04.14.13 at 10:47 pm
… I just came up with an amazing invention, do I share this multi million dollar idea… With the world…
I am tempted knowing that no one here will act on it…
But this one is a home run
…
A little too late, Smokes, the Snuggie has already come and gone!
There will be no runs on banks. — Garth
I think you catch my drift.
Nobody answered my question, should I buy a condo downtown with some of my $360k savings? My parents get on my nerves at times and at 28 they believe I’m too young to move out so buying a condo gives me the best of both worlds, moms cooking in the weekdays and party time on the weekends.
My friends say I should buy but I know its in their own vested interest to hang out on the weekends. I want some pro help
Yuck. — Garth
Garth what does it mean when quantitative easing is going towards financials and not goods?
#291 rickRude on 04.15.13 at 7:58 pm
Nobody answered my question, should I buy a condo downtown with some of my $360k savings? My parents get on my nerves at times and at 28 they believe I’m too young to move out so buying a condo gives me the best of both worlds, moms cooking in the weekdays and party time on the weekends.
…
I hope you are joking and not being serious, but if not try growing a pair and move out.
How come a mortgage broker can get a 5 year rate of 2.75%?
Why do you assume nobody stays in the same house for more than 6 years?
rickRude:
easy come, easy go…
#291 rickRude on 04.15.13 at 7:58 pm
Nobody answered my question, should I buy a condo downtown with some of my $360k savings? My parents get on my nerves at times and at 28 they believe I’m too young to move out so buying a condo gives me the best of both worlds, moms cooking in the weekdays and party time on the weekends.
My friends say I should buy but I know its in their own vested interest to hang out on the weekends. I want some pro help
————————-
Grow up and get out of mom and dad’s house. God help you when your parents can’t support you anymore, you won’t know what to do.
To A.K. #170
You know what happened with provincial strip bonds,their yields dropped about 0.23% in 3 weeks like I said they would. If you look year by year they are always lower.Just 3 to 4 years ago they were 5.25% to 4.75% range. Now they are about 3.50% to 3.73% range.
@ #92 guava.ca on 04.14.13 at 9:03 pm
That’s a bargain.
http://www.stylegarage.com/products1/accent-tables/douglas_chunk/douglas-chunk.shtml
you win. that is awesome.
That would go perfectly in some $1M 16ft-wide semi in mid-town.
interesting that it leaks sap, so then you can feel like a real sap for buying a block of wood for $250
Nobody answered my question, should I buy a condo downtown with some of my $360k savings? My parents get on my nerves at times and at 28 they believe I’m too young to move out so buying a condo gives me the best of both worlds, moms cooking in the weekdays and party time on the weekends.
My friends say I should buy but I know its in their own vested interest to hang out on the weekends. I want some pro help
*****
28 and too young to move out??? oy vey, this generation!
… I just came up with an amazing invention, do I share this multi million dollar idea… With the world…
I am tempted knowing that no one here will act on it…
But this one is a home run
*****
Is it a Shamwow?
300 Comments!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I started reading here, it was 50-75 a day…..WOW!
Another day in the red for Barrick. Sometimes, all that glitters is not gold.
http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=ABX.TO&t=5d