On this day 25 years ago a five-year mortgage cost 13.75%. Seriously. And that was an improvement from where it had been a few months earlier. Discuss that with your basement-dwelling, condo-lusting Millennial spawn over dinner tonight. They’ll think you’re a scaremongering old fossil.
I mention this because RBC did, sort of. The bank’s latest non-affordability report says Vancouver’s insane (we knew that) while buyers in Toronto are “approaching 1990” conditions. That means it’s almost as hard for folks to buy digs in 416 today as it was back when Linda Ronstadt could still wear Levis.
Of course high rates aren’t the problem now. Five-year, fixed-rate mortgages are available everywhere in the 2.5% range. The problem is price. In 1990 the average Toronto house traded for $255,020. Ten years later the same house was worth less – $243,255 – because rates stayed high. By 2010 it had mushroomed, to $431,276, as our current era of cheap money began. Today the GTA average is $609,236, and rates have bottomed.
Logic then dictates the negative correlation between house prices and the cost of money is bad news for the next decade, as we head towards rate normalization. (The US Fed kicks this off in the next few weeks.) It also means when RBC uses a word like “risky” regarding home ownership, this is probably the time to be doing anything with your money except buying a house – at least in the bubble markets.
Well, here’s Ed. I include his note to prove that even the 1%ers among us can sometimes lose their way. Fortunately, they all read this pathetic, free blog. It’s a cult thing.
“You don’t seem to have a shortage of these emails,” he says, “but thought I would throw my hat into the ring. Here’s my story…”
So Ed took my advice and sold his McMansion plus six rental properties in BC, and now has $3.5 million, “in a fully diversified GT-style portfolio” managed by two smart guys he pays 1% to. In his late fifties, he earns $200,000, rents for $2,300 a month and is starting to mull retirement. “We might buy in a couple of years when the current lease runs out, maybe a 20-year house, leaving feet first.”
So why is Ed writing, other than to piss off all the little socialist, Norway-loving, Millennial underachievers who stumble in here by mistake just because Stephen Harper hates me? Family, of course.
“Our son earns $100,000 a year and our daughter-in-law has a classic case of house horniness, which is somewhat reined in by her husband, by watching their investment portfolio of $250,000 grow, and by reading GreaterFool.
“So here’s the question. Part of the reason for the current situation is that my wife and I have been (I think) diligent about not cultivating a sense of entitlement – either in our own or our kids’ lives. Of course we can afford to lend/give significant $ to our kids to give them a leg up in the housing market (and want to) but feel that in order to be productive and useful to society we (all) need to be a bit “hungry” as well. Where’s the balance? Any ideas as to how much, when, etc.?”
First the legal stuff: there are no restrictions in Canada on gifting money or property to your adult children. We have no gift tax (unlike in the US) so none of this money will be hung on them as income nor any investment proceeds considered capital gains. You’re free to slide your adult kids all the cash they need to max out their TFSAs, for example, with all the tax-free gains going to them. Or you can hand over your real estate without attribution or consequence, for that matter.
But should you?
First, there’s the incentive argument. Gifting a million bucks (or half that) to your kid so he can move his family into a luxe house is not exactly an exercise in building character. This is not akin to handing over equity in the family business, of course, or even cutting your adult son into half-ownership of your scallop boat. It’s simple, unadorned largesse delinked from financial merit.
Second, Ed, why would you finance a real estate purchase for your horny DIL when you yourself have decided this is an abysmal time to be invested in property and a great time to be on the sidelines? How’s it doing them any favours to grab an asset with a precarious future?
Third, does the kid really need it? Just because he’s your seed? After all, the couple seem to be doing fine in terms of income and savings. Perhaps the best path is to leave them with their own accomplishments and rhythm, instead of blowing it up with parental moolah.
Finally, is there nothing better to do with money you don’t need than give it to someone who doesn’t deserve? How about saving homeless donkeys? Or those poor Syrian refugees throwing babies over barbed wire fences? The mutts in the local shelter? The humanity on the Lower East Side? Terry Fox?
Dammit, Ed. Now I’m all misty and altruistic. Kills me.
228 comments ↓
Over the last 35 years, the economic growth necessary to increase living standards, increase wealth and manage growing inequality has been based increasingly on rising borrowings and financial rather than real engineering. There was reliance on debt-driven consumption. It resulted in global trade and investment imbalances, such as that between China and the US or Germany and the rest of Europe.
Why we need to lie to ourselves about the state of the economy
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/satyajit-das-column-20150825-gj7bcy.html
I am a socialist OVER achiever…basically someone with money socked away who has a conscience.
Why are folks like me so hard to find here?
Government policies give incentive to leverage in a house purchase, in addition subsidise buyers with zero interest rates that override markets rates and effectively are form of theft from savers.
There are no capital gains on primary residence purchases.
To have fairness:
1. We need all CMHC guarantees to be made void and all mortgages transferred back to the banks so they can take responsibility for their ‘responsible and high landing standards’ loans as they surely take care of their profits.
2. Have one time windfall tax of 30-50 % on all house appreciations in the last 15 years payable in instalments in 10 years,
While waiting for this I choose to pay legally my taxes somewhere else, by moving out.
Canada is in BIG, BIG trouble. I would not want to be heavily leveraged to that country.
So tired of your damned sense of entitlement!
And pick up your damned dog poop, too!!
In the ’60’s, my girlfriend and her husband (newly-weds) were LENT money for a down payment on a house from his grandfather. He paid it back monthly by putting money into a savings account (good interest back then) and paying his grandfather a yearly lump sum with interest. They learned about the value of saving, and now, in their ’60’s, are laughing all the way to the bank.
I don’t think it hurts to help out, as long as it is a loan and not a gift.
So you saw that show on the Donkey Rescue Santuary too huh? Lovable annoying buggers.
#2 Love my Kia
because “having a conscience” doesn’t involve the initiation of force for most people…
typical socialist hyper-rationalization.
you are the most dangerous of people.
Dear Ed : do not give your kids money for a house. This may alleviate your conscience about Boomers having it so good but you will not be doing them any favours. They need to find out what it takes to work for a down payment and hopefully by then sanity will have returned to the market.
Ahhh,rich people problems…
In divorce ex daughter in law will get 1/2?
There is one thing about money you can always give it away.
Chose wisely !
Oil $48
I guess we should mention the $10 bounce in less than a week.
We’d be all over a $10 drop in a week
Give me an example of “normalized” rates.
I am NOT the guy you want to ask about altruistic enterprises.
A kid whose parents put him on the market for adoption at 6 months… thank goodness there was a decent childless couple (one of whom was a year ‘too old’ to adopt, but got the rules waived)…how that was done I can only guess, ‘cash’ comes to mind… Anyway that was then, this is now.
I grew up, got $10 grand was my ‘inheritance.’ Made it work, along with a good work ethic.
Now nearly 64 married to wife #1. Kid 40 basically a parasite. Is he ‘worthy’ of inheritance? I’m thinning not so much, maybe the equivalent of that 1975 $10 grand I got.
We ALL have to make it on our own, with our own smarts, and the consequences of our parents decisions, as wells our own. Sorry, but history DOES impact you -learn it.
As for what’s left (if anything) well, the kid will get something worthy of his effort. Little effort – little reward.
There are LOTS of other places, from the kids who didn’t have a choice, to the dogs, and cats in the same boat. I just will not leave it to a government likely to piss it away, like the tax dollars year after year. Past performance is no guarantee of future results, they say, but it IS a dam good CLUE!!
That’s why I have a will, and a trust, healthcare power of attorney, and a wife I can trust should I hit room temperature first.
How you leave, what you leave, and to whom is entirely your business.
Just please, don’t leave your loved ones a mess.
#2
“I am a socialist OVER achiever…basically someone with money socked away who has a conscience.”
Why do you assume that only socialists have a ‘conscience’?
Have you ever considered that people who do not share your economic views might be just as well-intentioned?
This sort of staggering ignorance is typical of modern ‘progressives’, who vilify anyone who does not share their beliefs in a massively interventionist state that compels people to act in the ‘right’ manner.
If you’re considering helping the kids, wait until they have children of their own.
Offering to max out their RESP at $2500 per child is a reasonable and generous way to support their future goals — and you’ll feel warm and fuzzy knowing you’re supporting your grandkids as they aspire to higher education when their time comes.
Yabutwhatabout … a divorce between the son and his flame … then what? Chip in for legal fees too?
If we see 13% interest rates again in my lifetime we will be in BIG trouble. I bought my first place in 1991 with mortgage rates around there. The market was pretty quiet back then.
A guy in his late 50’s, who has maybe 25 years left to live, is sitting on $3.5 mil and ‘mulling’ retirement?…..when he could quit his job tomorrow and probably have difficulty spending $140,000 per year for the rest of his life?
1st world problems. You can’t make this stuff up.
#14 Trojan House
6 + % in Canada.
It’s not quite clear why Garth constantly associates the centre left with poor people looking for hand outs.
It’s often the outer suburbs and rural ridings that vote conservative across this great land, against their own financial best interests. This is not where the middle upper class live.
Indeed, the areas that often benefit most from this conservative govts policies (TFSA, home Reno credits, reduction in higher end income tax rates) are urban centres, who votes liberal or (God forbid) NDP.
And the millennials reference is neither here nor there. They do not vote in enough numbers to sway an election.
#8 saskatoon on 08.31.15 at 6:46 pm
because “having a conscience” doesn’t involve the initiation of force for most people…typical socialist hyper-rationalization. you are the most dangerous of people.
I am trolly miffed, troll. A couple of weeks ago, I was the most dangerous of people!
#2 Love my Kia
We’re around. Mind you I view myself as more of a Greenalist Neoliberal Conservatarian.
“So why is Ed writing, other than to piss off all the little socialist, Norway-loving, Millennial underachievers who stumble in here by mistake just because Stephen Harper hates me? Family, of course.”
Chestnuts like this make my day. Lolz.
Touchy subject today. Ed is ok whatever he decides. His kid, who knows. That being said I know Boomers who have screwed themselves out of a decent retirement by helping their entitled adult parasites. I don’t understand how these adults can screw their parents over, and see nothing wrong with it. Oh well, not my problem, as I always put my own Freedom First.
If Mr. Ed can’t avoid it and wants to help his son buy a house, I recommend a smallish gift of $20K-$50K conditional on a house purchase. (Be prepared to do the same for any siblings.) And make sure that this remains part of the son’s share if the couple separates and the house is sold.
The amount will probably not mean the difference between buying and not buying, but might help reduce the payments.
(MSF is a worthy charity, fwiw.)
“Finally, is there nothing better to do with money you don’t need than give it to someone who doesn’t deserve? How about saving homeless donkeys? Or those poor Syrian refugees throwing babies over barbed wire fences? The mutts in the local shelter? The humanity on the Lower East Side? Terry Fox?”
Exactly! Well said.
Spend your hard-earned money on causes that will likely benefit others & other causes tremendously. Let the kids fend for themselves a bit and watch them grow into well-rounded adults whom will treasure their own accomplishments and thus develop a sense of pride and self-reliance that they in turn will hopefully impart on their own kids. As parents this is the best we can do for them. That’s what my parents did with me and I will remain grateful to them until I kick the bucket. Hopefully I’ve done the same with my 18 yo who’s off to university. Time will tell.
Maybe the DIL’s mommy and daddy should step up…..
Almost every example of largesse provided to offspring/relatives/friends without any sacrifice by them seems to result whatever bauble purchased being unappreciated.
People who work, scrimp, and sacrifice to get what they want build character and confidence.
Sold all RE and invested it in paper assets. Diversified, of course, but diversified among more paper (promissory notes).
They better love their daughter in law as they’re giving her a 50% gift given the fragility of marriages today.
Is pointing that out termed as “hating women”?
“In divorce ex daughter in law will get 1/2?”
Maybe not if you set it up as a formal loan to your son.
Formal loan agreement, clearly stated terms, yearly interest charge (.5%?) which has been paid yearly to you by cheque, loan settlement instructions on your untimely death, and all of that other CYA loan stuff.
See a lawyer to set up. Not a big deal considering the downside risk of the spouse walking away with 1/2 of the loan because she left when your son didn’t fold the towels correctly.
All debts have to be paid before the division of assets. That includes your son’s loan payable to you.
As I said, see a lawyer. Our lawyer wisely covered this issue of loans to adult children as part of our Will and Powers of Attorney consultation. Vital info. for all parents.
Imma let you finish, Garth, but first lemme jes say hey to all my canajun fans!!
Gonna sweep that Hairper dude outta office and forget all this Norway shi$, Kanyeda is gonna be as cool as south Chicago!!
#11 Turner Nation makes a good point. Don’t put a target on sons back / emasculate son..let him do his heavy lifting..never stop a good man from working a wise man once said to me..it’ll be worth it in the end.
I come from German stock where you come up with your own down payment. Asking for a down makes you worthy of being lashed to a tree and getting shot by your regiment as underachieving WW2 German soldiers were.
That being said, I know what it’s like to struggle but what good is all that dough doing Dad if he cannot ever spend it and then cede it to a 60ish kid.
Give him a token $50k to ease the monthly nut–that’s the monthly payment, not male anatomy for all the puritans reading this.
Nora,
Yeah to MSF. One of the few causes I give to.
And don’t forget to consider what happens to the money if they don’t have a pre-nupt.
> millennial “underachievers”
That sort of inflammatory self-righteous rhetoric is something I’d expect your old boss Stephen to say (behind close doors, ofc)
And hey, since we’re talking about merit, it’s awesome that you brought up the lack of gift/inheritance taxes. I’m sure that building a permanent, trans-generational 21st century version of the landed gentry would serve our country well. After all, what is Canada without more Rogers and Irvings, instead of those non-contributors that mop the floors and serve the fries, am I right?
Interestingly, pops makes 200k and junior 100k. I’m sure the two things are not related. After all, 100k jobs grow on trees, anyone who doesn’t make that is just an “underachiever”, right Garth? Those dirty “socialist” economists who now report that by far the strongest predictor of someone’s average income over their life is the average income of pops over his life. We don’t need to address their criticism, we just attack the character of the person, even when we know nothing about them. Say, what do you think of Thomas Piketty, Garth?
Snark aside, there are a lot of people who toil in awful conditions for a lot less than 100k to keep us living the life we are. That building with the shiny floors that you work in doesn’t clean itself at night. The garbage doesn’t collect itself, the criminals don’t arrest themselves, and your dog doesn’t get to see the vet without all the boring, dull work done by administrative staff beforehand. Electricians, carpenters and plumbers drill into asbestos-soaked old buildings every day to make sure your electricity is uninterrupted and your toilet flushes every time. I’m not surprised that as a Conservative, you see this work as beneath you and reserved solely for “underachievers”. After all, none of these occupations reach 100k a year, except for maybe a cop pulling in lots of overtime, and even then that’s only possible because of those damn unions. Grrrrr. Since you’re a Conservative, I’m not surprised you have such a sneering attitude and are so intentionally inflammatory, but I am disappointed. It’s rather un-Canadian.
As for the person seeking advice for his son today, forget about it. Junior put a ring on it and now he’s on a leash. He will buy a house, with or without pop’s largesse. As for sense of entitlement? The train has left on that long time ago. If a part time millennial “underachiever” working the shelves at the mall for 11 bucks an hour feels entitled to all kinds of stuff (while proudly calling themselves middle class), I doubt young Mr. Hundred-grand thinks of himself as deserving any less.
Junior will probably be in your office in about 20 to 25 years, with about the same net worth he has now (250k), most of it in a house by then, and freaking out about retirement. How close am I to the mark, Garth? It’s not like this is a new story. History repeats itself.
I wish my parents would just gift me their TFSA room.
I take it gladly. Even pay for it.
#15 Retired Boomer – WI on 08.31.15 at 7:01 pm
How does a financially astute guy like you end up spawning a “parasite”?
I have an enabler Boomer parent who demanded that I be a parasite until I had enough of that crap and left.
He should buy a Harley.
Used to be the social contract was, you took care of your family & when you got too old to do for yourself your family in turn took care of you. That however was back in the day when the stay at home wife was on tap to do the heavy lifting in the taking care department. Today, lots of people have little or no immediate family, yet have made plans to gift their estate to some one or some cause – nothing to stop Mr. Ed & his spouse from doing the same if they want to.
On this day, 25 years ago, oil went up the same amount in 72 hours as it did Thursday to Monday this week.
20%
Look it up.
#10 For those about to flop… on 08.31.15 at 6:51 pm
Ahhh,rich people problems…
********************
^ the only trickle down we’ll ever see
Does Ed drive a Hummer?
#2 Love my Kia on 08.31.15 at 6:36 pm
I am a socialist OVER achiever…basically someone with money socked away who has a conscience.
==========================
Back before the 80’s, there were many wealthy conservatives with a conscience who supported community development and charities with their time and dollars. They just didn’t talk about it.
I remember a law firm my staff at CRA audited where the lawyers weren’t allowed to contribute to RRSP’s because the senior partner believed that “a gentleman pays his taxes”. Generally people who had fought for Canada saw it as a heritage to be cherished rather than a fatted calf. We’re a bit short of gentlemen these days but hopefully we’re not totally reliant on champagne socialists.
STOP calling him Mr. Ed.
There is ONLY one Mr Ed.
https://youtu.be/y_PZPpWTRTU
The balance? Give them $1 for every $2 they save (not borrow) for a downpayment. That’s enough to substantially help, but they need to do some heavy lifting, too.
And consider structuring it as a loan, as mentioned above, unless you like your daughter-in-law enough to gift her half that money in a divorce (which could happen for any reason, but there may be scenarios where you aren’t so happy she’s keeping half that money.) This general advice applies whether your kid is married to a man or woman.
Ed, you’d be helping your kid more by staying out of it, completely. A greater gift is self-sufficiency, whether it’s easy or not. The only really good reason to give the cash is if you want to do one of those despicable things where you use it as handcuffs to create dependency and control your kid, DIL, their lives, how they raise their kids, etc. You don’t sound like that’s your goal, so hands off may be the best approach.
@37 GGF- Good points, all.
Someone has to dig the ditches, serve the food, and keep the lights on. They deserve a decent living too.
You thesis is incorrect.
If low interest rates are causing this boom, then Thunder Bay, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, and Montreal should see it. They are treading water at best.
Only Vancouver and Toronto are powering ahead.
In the bubble cities low rates are maintaining a boom that has dissipated in many other markets – which would be real estate disasters otherwise. — Garth
AAAAAAA horse is a horse of course of course.
Horse walks into a bar. Bartender says “Hey, why the long face”?
Q: What do you call a promiscious pony?
A: A Little Whorse
Q: Why did the horse cross the road?
A: Because somebody shouted hay!
Q: What do you call a scary female horse?
A: A nightmare!
Are you a horse? Yay or neigh?
Q: What is the best type of story to tell a runaway horse?
A: A tale of WHOA!
Q: Where do horses go when they’re sick?
A: The horsepital!
I got a MILLION OF EM!
#2 Love my Kia
We’re lurkers.
Had a job once in Tumbler Ridge BC, mining coal. Lived with a hippie for next to nothing. We’d partake of the BC crops and talk economics / politics. “Why do you read BC Report” I’d ask. “You gotta know what their thinking,” he’d reply. He was totally right, I mean correct.
I’ll say it again. Yes RE in canada will more or less keep it price in canadian dollars, but the relative value of the canadian dollar is heading into the .30s to the USD. That’s the choice TPTB are faced with – either widespread default and bankruptcy or a revaluation of the CAD. There’s no easy out and why it’s not plain as day to everyone is something i don’t understand. I have an interesting story….
In the mid 80s I had a chance to meet one of my former managers from Hughes Aircraft Ground Systems Group, where i did some work on the NORAD project upgrade. They had placed an office in Vancouver, as they were doing a lot of work in China and it was much easier to get Chinese officials into Canada than the US. I’m sure his compensation package easily covered the luxury estate he had purchased in White Rock. But I remember him saying “you never make anything in RE here, you just get a nominal increase and lose it all with the declining currency”. Now thirty years later…….
For those so against sales to foreign speculators, the truth is the service of monery laundering is one of the few lucrative export “earners” canada has left to offer the world, which is where the real problem lies.
they’re, not their.
Ed, give your kids the money.
#48 Bytor the Snow Dog on 08.31.15 at 8:40 pm
@37 GGF- Good points, all.
Someone has to dig the ditches, serve the food, and keep the lights on. They deserve a decent living too.
……
Supply and demand, how hard is it to find someone who knows how to flip a burger. Vs build a fixed income trading system.
It’s not about fairness, supply and demand…
Everybody has a few billionare ideas a few times a year.
Only 1% act on them….
Buy them a lousy house you cheap bastard.
#21 Sheane Wallace on 08.31.15 at 7:05 pm
So anything 6% or above is normal (18 or 19%???) but anything below is abnormal. Interesting.
The average for the last 35 years is about 6.5%. That means there are periods of unusually high rates and unusually low rates that cancel each other out.
There is nothing ‘normal’ about ‘normalization.’ What this teaches us is that the market dictates rates. There are going to be periods of lower interest rates and periods of higher interest rates. It is cyclical – just like the seasons. My point is don’t get fooled by terms.
Debt is Magic?
PB on 08.31.15 at 6:34 pm said:
Over the last 35 years, the economic growth necessary to increase living standards, increase wealth and manage growing inequality has been based increasingly on rising borrowings and financial rather than real engineering. There was reliance on debt-driven consumption. It resulted in global trade and investment imbalances, such as that between China and the US or Germany and the rest of Europe.
**************************************
And I guess you are suggesting this was a bad thing?
This debt seems magic. Hey if it worked for the world, maybe a family can get rich by borrowing from each other?
The reality is that every house, car, bridge, road and morsel of food has been fully paid for by someone on this earth at the moment it is produced. Seems real to me.
Not a dime was borrowed from Mars, after all.
When do you think people will stop borrowing?
And should they?
Gonna be fun watching Garth try to pretend there’s no market crash happening over the next few weeks.
I said a week ago there was more correction coming. Nut no crash. Try to keep up. — Garth
Don’t do it Ed.
No house for the kids until they can fend for themselves.
http://www.macleans.ca/economy/your-essential-reads-on-canadas-economy/
While Canadian consumers have so far helped offset the damage by their seemingly unending willingness to borrow and spend, the resulting debt that households have piled on now represents an economic risk in its own right—particularly if job and wage growth weaken. Moreover, much of that borrowed cash has been sunk into real estate, a relatively non-productive sector of the economy, resulting in home prices that are as much as 63 per cent overvalued, according to Deutsche Bank. No wonder some believe Canada is tiptoeing around the edge of the abyss. “You have a resource economy that’s been blown apart sitting on top of a housing bubble,” says Marc Cohodes, a well-known Wall Street short seller who’s betting against Canadian mortgage lenders. “That’s a toxic mix.”
I love the recent change in spin by the real estate cartel. Now that it is hopeless for them to continue denying prices are softening in certain areas, this fact has been spun into an affordability improvement instead, in the stories they write for our news services. Because it’s always a great time to buy right?
The real estate cartel in Canada are the grand master kings of marketing. Mr Harper should hire some of them for his campaign, they would have him kicking butt in no time.
#38 cecilhenry on 08.31.15 at 7:53 pm
I wish my parents would just gift me their TFSA room. I take it gladly. Even pay for it.
Nothing to stop you from giving them the money to top up their TFSAs. They can even make you their beneficiary.
#11 TurnerNation on 08.31.15 at 6:56 pm
In divorce ex daughter in law will get 1/2?
Hit the nail right on the head.
Make sure the son gets the inheritance before he gets married. Or after the divorce.
Never mind all that Garth. Why DID Linda let herself go?
big anniversary coming up in a few hours
Sept 1 1939
Germany invades Poland
at 5 am!
#31 Bytor the Snow Dog on 08.31.15 at 7:38 pm
They better love their daughter in law as they’re giving her a 50% gift given the fragility of marriages today. Is pointing that out termed as “hating women”?
Nah. Although why would you worry about that kind of thing :-)
http://www.bnn.ca/News/2015/8/31/Toronto-Vancouver-home-prices-to-keep-rising-report.aspx
People in GVRD, are renting out rooms to pay for mortgage. To service a home it takes 90% of income? Is this a home or a life? Living with strangers. It doesn’t look like rates are going up but boy, are we in a precarious situation where people cannot afford their mortgages at these exceptionally low interest rates.
@#50 Shecky Greene
what do 10,000 battered women have in common?
‘they just wouldn’t listen’
Debt and credit are the grease of the economy that facilitate and encourage very real economic activity.
People should be careful what they wish for.
Less debt and more starvation and homelessness is not my idea of a good tradeoff.
It would be the over achiever part. Most socialists are under achievers who want someone else to do the heavy lifting and pay the way. That is socialism. Everyone gets the same regardless of how hard they work. Under achievers and over achievers get the same. Why would anyone but an under achiever want that?
If Canada were currently a socialist country you would have no money socked away now as an over achiever because the government would have taken it and given it to an under achiever. Why not just gift your money to some under achiever and simplify things?
Ed, you drank the koolaid and liquidated your properties. Why do you think your son should NOT live under the same principles? There is a time for buying property and it is NOT now if you are speaking of Toronto area, Vancouver, and Alberta.
I vote for you setting up a loan for a reasonable amount AFTER the housing bubble bursts. NO MANSIONS THOUGH! I believe in character building.
I also liked the suggestion for RESP for future grandchildren.
Affordability … what can you afford to pay every every month for a roof over your head. So, of course interest rates will affect monthly affordability. But it seems like a long climb to 6% in our age of ZIRP, QE, and mega debts.
True story here,
4 years ago my bright eyed child was in first year university (Western). She bought her books, and probably everything between journals to the anything else that was listed on her “recommended” reading list. I tried to tell her that “recommended” is not the same thing as “required”. But apparently what do I know?
$1000 for books all paid for by “moi”. For first year books that she didn’t bother to resell the following year.
Me, well in 1987 my books were bought used, and only the required made it home. All came out of my pocket.
Year 2 for beautiful child began with a discussion. She had come to the harsh reality that not all parents are apparently bequeathing their offspring with loads of money to go school. Discussion was started by her as to how she could contribute….(since summer job had paid handsomely)
I said, well, it would be great if you would pay for your books. We would cover tuition and living expenses.
You know where this is going….
2nd year books cost $0….
End of story.
There you go Ed. I feel like Lucy from Charlie brown in her 5 cent booth….;)
You can ‘loan’ your children as much as you like for 1% and nobody checks on whether they’re paying you back.
And….as your example indicates….the gentleman is ‘making’ $200,000 p/a ( 200000/3500000=5.7%) after paying a 1% ‘( 35,000 compounding quarterly ) management fee….quarterly I assume.
Trouble is…that $200,000 is fictitious…an amalgam of data points gathered over an extended period of time…..not a $200,000 cash income net of principal reduction each and every year. Yes..it is possible to achieve 5.7% return over a fifteen to twenty year period….it is not an annual income.
Actually that’s his employment income, not investment returns. — Garth
In other campaigning news today, just ahead of tomorrow’s negative GDP numbers announcement, Stephen Harper and his band of ReformaCons (not being worthy of bearing the title of true ‘conservatives’) tried desperately to redefine the word ‘Recession’, pleading with voters to believe that only a few sectoral divisions of the economy, those being energy and resources, are currently performing poorly.
When a reporter questioned that Canada had already been reduced to an extraction-based economy, Mr. Harper at only one thing to say:
“Let me be clear, there is no clearer time than right now to show clarity in our clearness.”
Regarding global finances and the stock markets;
This guy named ‘Harry Dent’ really knows his stuff.
If you want to be on the right side of the tracks, not on the wrong side, listen to what he has to say and invest your savings accordingly.
Unfortunately for the world, what he’s saying right now is something I don’t like hearing. Basically he’s saying that the SH!T is about to hit the fan big-time.
But much more recently is his video that explains that the markets are about to begin falling down again, either right now, or in a month from now, and ,,,, well, watch his video, he explains this mess a lot better than I ever could
Harry has written either a book or a newsletter predicting 18 of the last four market downturns. Old. Tired. Wrong. — Garth
https://www.google.ca/search?q=schoolie+motorhome&sa=X&biw=1299&bih=660&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ved=0CCUQsARqFQoTCKGMlqLf1McCFZAPkgodwI4AkQ
If I were Retired Boomer – WI on 08.30.15 at 10:58 pm
Travel the south when its cold.
Dont need a house.
Ed should give everything he owns to his DIL. Then he can start all over from scratch. This will really give his kids an example of how much real character he has and how to build wealth. If it doesn’t work out he can always move into his son’s basement.
RE: #16 james on 08.31.15 at 7:02 pm
#2
“I am a socialist OVER achiever…basically someone with money socked away who has a conscience.”
Why do you assume that only socialists have a ‘conscience’?
Maybe it’s because the usual rant of the right winger heaps disdain upon those less fortunate than themselves. That somehow, if you are poor, it is your own damned fault and you can starve on the street because any “redistribution of wealth” is evil.
Think of what the word “social” in socialism means.
Think of what the word “private” in private enterprise means.
RE: #23 Nora Lenderby on 08.31.15 at 7:10 pm
#8 saskatoon on 08.31.15 at 6:46 pm
…typical socialist hyper-rationalization. you are the most dangerous of people.
I am trolly miffed, troll. A couple of weeks ago, I was the most dangerous of people!
I had hoped that my handle alone would have popped a vessel in saskatoon, but alas, it did not.
#64 Bang
If you live in bc, and receive an inheritance the wife is not entitled to any of it if you divorce. So if your married for 30 years and your mother passes away and leaves you 2 million (say to son or daughter) then you get divorced soon after the wife can’t touch any of it! Ask a lawyer if you don’t believe it! When my daughters get married and need a down payment they will get it in a form of an inheritance and it will all be documented and wrote up and will let the future sil know all about it:)
#37 Garth’s Greatest Fan on 08.31.15 at 7:51 pm
And yet on the sunshine list in Toronto this year, here’s a list of 1675 Police constables making over $100k this year. Quite a few of those are over $130k, 9 of them are making over 200k. There are 5200 sworn officers listed in toronto, which means fully 1 in 3 cops on the street are making well over 100k a year. Yes, including the guys who stand next to construction sites all day and occasionally direct traffic. Perhaps police wasn’t the best example for you to pick?
http://news.nationalpost.com/toronto/the-sunshine-list-for-toronto-police-a-full-list-of-officers-making-more-than-100k-per-year
Open letter to millennial… s
Give me a sec, got to switch this retarded keyboard on my phone, the letter M vanished.. I only got it by talking to my phone.
I’ll be back
#76 MSM-Free Zone on 08.31.15 at 9:56 pm
“Let me be clear, there is no clearer time than right now to show clarity in our clearness.”
——————————
I heard something like that to today on the radio clip.
Unbef#ckenlievable.
Plus the Local Con candidates couldn’t be bothered to meet with Ottawa’s mayor for a municipal issues exchange. After a total no show and a 2nd rebook time suitable to the CPC party, only 2 guys showed up with the excuse that their municipal record stands for itself.
Garth, I look forward to your post regarding tomorrow’s GDP numbers.
I see where the Financial Post gets their articles.
There is no gift tax in Canada. Wow. Learn something new everyday. Now people hurry up and tell your parents.
#85 OttawaMike on 08.31.15 at 10:27 pm
RE: #76 MSM-Free Zone on 08.31.15 at 9:56 pm
“Let me be clear, there is no clearer time than right now to show clarity in our clearness.”
——————————
I heard something like that to today on the radio clip.
Unbef#ckenlievable
I’d really like to hear that clip. What station was it on?
Maybe it’s available online?
#66 eddy on 08.31.15 at 9:17 pm
Yes sir. Incredible.
There are usually some good WW2 documentaries that come out around this time.
Actually I saw one on Stalingrad on youtube this morning. It’s nuts what those guys went through. And here I am in my comfortable apartment “upset” about my portfolio being in the red. Laughable. It helped put everything into perspective.
MF
Open letter to millennials.
Thats better.
Kids. You have spent your entire lives being feed tasty bullshit sprinkled with artificial cinamen flavored goo, hiding the shit taste in your favorite cookies.
You all should hunt down your old teachers. Tie them to a stick at Queen’s Park..
Have no fears, I will gladly light the fire… I hate em.. All.
Why, because there stupid ignorant morons.. Not when it comes to as a collective pick my pocket..
They teach obidance, suck uppery, get on all fours, that’s there definition success…
They are frightened of Dyslexia ravaged individuals, and are scared shitless of taking on a Smoking Man.
Being an Entrepreneur is your only hope, but the bastards have scared you to death of that road.
There bosses don’t like competition.. Sadly they have no idea who the bosses are, they’re to stupid…
JD should have a warning labels… Drink this and expect aggressive behavior..
Screw everyone…
#21 Sheane Wallace on 08.31.15 at 7:05 pm
“There is nothing ‘normal’ about ‘normalization.’ What this teaches us is that the market dictates rates. There are going to be periods of lower interest rates and periods of higher interest rates. It is cyclical – just like the seasons. My point is don’t get fooled by terms.”
———————–
The market isn’t dictating rates now. That’s not normal.
House to the east sold in a couple of days. Modest stucco bungalow. House to the west at 995,000 hasn’t sold. Two years of restoration. Heritage type home. Street I visit every couple of weeks, close to the Gorge. One house built, one house nearly finished, third house about half done. All same builder. I wish the Victoria don’t buy now boys and girls would share some information re what is happening. There seem to be a lot of sold signs up but that is only anecdotal and only covers a small area. The builders aren’t reading Garth. Spec houses and condos keep going up. Do they always keep building until the market goes over a cliff? I remember last time that a lot of sub trades went broke. Never got paid for their time or supplies.
Garth,Besides leaving your fortune to your wife and dog do you have any other plans of what to do with your wealth?
I am in a similar boat as you,minus the fortune!
Start a free blog. — Garth
http://stocktwits.com/OpenOutcrier/message/42129886
Poor alberta…they voted NDP.
“That means it’s almost as hard for folks to buy digs in 416 today as it was back when Linda Ronstadt could still wear Levis.”
Should be deleted, sizest, sexist, agest?, not funny and insulting to Linda Ronstadt.
Sizest? — Garth
From my understanding a Market correction is a 10% move in relatively short time.
Looks like we’ve had our correction already.
RE: #23 Nora Lenderby on 08.31.15 at 7:10 pm
#8 saskatoon on 08.31.15 at 6:46 pm
…typical socialist hyper-rationalization. you are the most dangerous of people.
I am trolly miffed, troll. A couple of weeks ago, I was the most dangerous of people!
***************************************
Don’t worry bout Sasky, Nora, ignore him. He inadvertently outed himself as a very young (likely high school kid) idealist last week. He had no clue that car loans from a dealer were cheaper than from the bank, if that gives you any idea.
Oh, millennials and all the young people…
In my opinion any free money mostly will spoil, especially young ones. One doesn’t truly appreciate what comes too easily.
Myself, was born right after 2nd war in ruins of the big city of Poland, blown apart by withdrawing Germans.
Had no father and mother was away whole days trying to get something to eat, mostly to no avail. I was so hungry always that was trying to eat the brown and black bugs crawling slowly on the walls of destroyed room which was our shelter. I remember the awful taste of those bugs. It made me sick so bad that ended in the hospital which saved my life for sure and they gave me a little bit of food when I got better. The next place we lived wasn’t much better with countless fleas (the small blood sucking, jumping bugs which live on dirty dogs mostly, but the place was full of them).
Eventually ended up in an orphanage, which again saved
my life because there was some food. Always very skinny and weak I was subjected to constant abuse by other kids. Yet, somehow I grew up a decent person. Never in my life broke any law or done anything bad.
Working honestly and hard in P. of course had a hard life when most of guys were ‘cutting corners’ and breaking the law to survive in communist regime.
When my daughter was born in july 81 and there was martial low in december the food stores were empty. No milk for the small kid. Then I knew that I had to get out of that Country. I understand for sure the desperate people crowding the borders of Europe and many dying in large numbers trying to get there.
I managed to get to Canada late. I was already 41. One would say too late man. Not for me! Managed to work all the time. Rise 2 kids for decent people. Have a huge respect for Canada for being able to make a living just by an honest, hard work.
Now retired have more time to read and always learn new things.
In my opinion our life should be about a spiritual evolution. It really matters to be a decent person. Never harm anybody. No religion is needed for that either.
Just some compassion, thoughtfulness. Life is so short after all… do something truly good with it.
sizeist
noun
a person who discriminates people or things based on their size
#57 Trojan House
Is that intentional stupidity or you are a government troll?
If market dictated rates they would have been north of 6 %. CAD depreciated over 25 % vs. USD in less then a year, I would not lend you even at 6 %.
Rates are low because they are overridden by BOC, at the expense of the savers, they think that they have the authority to determine the price of money and that is wrong. It is basically up to few government bureaucrats to tell you how much is YOUR MONEY worth vs. you determining that, this clearly shows that whatever you perceive as money is actually coupons.
The problems is that as it works temporarily they are abusing it leveraging and speculating at expense of the savers. There is no such thing as unlimited liquidity in free markets. It is a theft, form of stealing.
Am I the only one who finds the crack about Linda in poor taste?
Victor V on 08.31.15 at 7:03 pm
That would add pressure to the son to have kid/s and significantly change their lifestyle. I would agree on your advice though. Ed gets to see grand kids and grand kids benefit.
#57 Trojan House
Cost of money is determined by the yield and risk from alternative application or investment, while I can make 7 % on stock market and 4-5 % (in bastardized housing and real estate, much more if leveraged) your chance of having my money for less than 6 % is well, zero.
Just converting them to USD would have ‘won’ me 25 % . Well it is not really winning but retaining value in this case as the value of the coupons is reduced by over-lending.
Note that for the idiot governor of BOC is not enough that the CAD dives due to oil prices slump, he wants and talks down the CAD in addition, not to mention decreasing interest rates twice this year alone.
What an idiot!
Son earns 100k a year. They can pay their way to a house or condo while maintaining a good quality life. Think about those working 2-3 min wage jobs getting by just to pay off their mortgage and other stuff. Not much of a financial issue here.
#39 4 A.M. Sunrise
If I had the answer to that one, I would mass-produce it, bottle it, and sell it!!
The kid has zero ambition, zero savings, but no debt that I am aware of, other than a student loan he has had so long, it must be his pet.
So, my thought is…that is looking more, and more like it will be a “little inheritance.”
He is showing me he’s worth it.
Wills can always be amended, too…
#55 Smokey
Supply and demand, how hard is it to find someone who knows how to flip a burger. Vs build a fixed income trading system.
It’s not about fairness, supply and demand…
************************************
That being said, anyone working 40 hours a week should deserve the right to not to live in poverty either.
*Bernie Sanders*
#52 one mil is nothing
Exactly, they are killing the CAD impoverishing millions of retirees on fixed income so the banks and old money in construction and the real estate trolls can make profits in a declining economy. Killing whatever remains of the economy in the process.
Your kids will pay for this folks, not mine.
Not to mention that tanking CAD dollar is causing more ‘assets appreciations’ and taxes on that appreciation, perceived as ‘gains’. And more property taxes. So you pay more in taxes while feeling rich. It is a fraud. Legalized fraud.
Just when you think it can’t get any sillier, clearly there’s clarity in clearness.
It’s Laureeny’s bats. They keep sucking blood from his brain while he’s sleeping.
Oh no you did not Slag the legendary Linda Ronstadt… A terrific person and greatly talented artist to be sure.
#98 Love my Kia
of course, this is a logical fallacy:
ad hominem.
typical tactic of the unhinged left-wing nutcase.
and, by the way, the question was in relation to USED cars.
no wonder you need the nanny state!
Shawn # 70,
“Debt and credit are the grease of the economy that facilitate and encourage very real economic activity. People should be careful what they wish for.”
—————————————————–
Agree 100%.
I think Ontario is falling into recession, or at least consumers seem to be feeling that way.
I use 2 personal gauges of consumer sentiment to figure out if consumers are in a spending mood or not. The first is to check out how many RED sale stickers there are on things in Canadian Tire stores, stickers with 50% or more OFF their usual prices. I go into Canadian Tire stores now and it is hard to NOT find something that is 50% off. My guess is that the Canadian Tire chain will soon be going bankrupt.
The second is how long it takes for a certified low-mileage $5,000 to $8,000 used Civic or Corolla to sell. Usually those things sell in less than a month after being listed. Now, 3 months later and all 8 that I was tracking are still for sale, no takers.
So from those 2 things, I would say that we are already in the beginning stages of a recession. Home sales should start to dramatically slow down very soon, with prices starting to cave 2 years later.
It has been a long time coming, but I would say that by spring 2017 we should see the end of Canada’s housing bubble.
Re: #97 Joe2.0 on 08.31.15 at 11:27 pm
Good luck with that one…
for me, the one percenters are nameless and faceless asshats that hide from the public
the real shadow government
I don’t know how or why one would want to be included on that list
#96 Ms. X
“…not funny and insulting to Linda Ronstadt”
——————————
Garth should have reference Grace Slick instead.
There’s a lady that can take a joke.
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children….
#91 Smoking Man on 08.31.15 at 10:48 pm
Open letter to millennials.
===
Cigarettes and tiny liquor bottles
Just what you’d expect inside her new Balenciaga
Viral mess, turned dreams into an empire
Self-made success, now she rolls with Rockafellas
Survival of the richest, the city’s ours until the fall
They’re Monaco and Hamptons bound
But we don’t feel like outsiders at all
We are the new Americana
High on legal marijuana
Raised on Biggie and Nirvana
We are the new Americana
Young James Dean, some say he looks just like his father
But he could never love somebody’s daughter
Football team loved more than just the game
So he vowed to be his husband at the altar
Survival of the richest, the city’s ours until the fall
They’re Monaco and Hamptons bound
But we don’t feel like outsiders at all
We are the new Americana
High on legal marijuana
Raised on Biggie and Nirvana
We are the new Americana
We know very well who we are
So we hold it down when summer starts
What kind of dough have you been spending?
What kind of bubblegum have you been blowing lately?
We are the new Americana
High on legal marijuana
Raised on Biggie and Nirvana
We are the new Americana
We are the new Americana (we know very well)
High on legal marijuana (who we are)
Raised on Biggie and Nirvana (so we hold it down)
We are the new Americana
“Ed took my advice and sold his McMansion plus six rental properties in BC, and now has $3.5 million, “in a fully diversified GT-style portfolio”
THIS IS WHY HOUSES ARE UNAFFORDABLE. Too many guys like Ed owning 7 properties.
This is what you call wealth disparity. One guy owning 7 properties, so many others not able to afford anything, but must rent. THIS is why we need the NDP, to tax the living SH*T out of guys like this.
Etiquette says don’t talk about religion, politics and sex. Although, on a first date, sex might be brought up. Add real estate to the list. The judgementalness of renters vs owners is quite apparent. But a date can go south or jepordize a future date if one person supports the current RE and another disagrees. RE is so polarizing, it has for some people, become a dealbreaker :(
#96 Ms. X
Touchy touchy. Ms. X, getting a little heavy, don’t you think?
Missed last week sales?
Round 2 starts in 5 hours.
Good luck all.
If RBC raise rates, millions of people will be screwed as their monthly mortgage payments will increase.
They will never do it, not in the next 20 years. We’re all living in Japan now. Even if somebody decides they need to do it, like I said, millions of people will be screwed, so they will just vote in someone different.
In fact, if you think mortgages can’t go lower, you are wrong. In Europe, they are handing out mortgages at 0.8-1.5% and with EURIBOR rates being negative, people actually expect even that to go down.
Ms X @96
“That means it’s almost as hard for folks to buy digs in 416 today as it was back when Linda Ronstadt could still wear Levis.”
Should be deleted, sizest, sexist, agest?, not funny and insulting to Linda Ronstadt.
Sizest? — Garth
I believe the correct term is stoutist
Now we are redefining what recession is:
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/news/harper-sidesteps-conservative-law%E2%80%99s-definition-of-recession-on-eve-of-gdp-data/ar-AAdOmoZ?ocid=mailsignoutmd
#123 BDY SKTN at 4:11AM “Missed last week’s sale? Round 2 starts in 5 hours.”
The recent DJIA “dead cat bounce” has very quickly retraced app half of the preceding decline. (Fast mkts. “Amazing” that some online brokers were overwhelmed by traffic. More interesting: the steep drops in some ETFs.)
More importantly, the DJIA has clearly topped. As to how far how fast its correction? Who knows.
The SPX is sitting at the mid-point of its recent uptrend channel. I wouldn’t take anything for granted.
Bothers me that the overnight Chinese PMI data is already being loudly blamed for today’s stock futures drops. Who, pray tell, would not have expected poor numbers out of China?
Not referencing GT’s rule of Seven (this plan returns 7% on av over 777 years) (as long as you re-balance every 7 minutes) . . . the Buy-the-Dippers, if they rush into this cavernous store to grab sales, might meet up with a mess of professional pickpockets . . .
Stay home.
Translation: you learned absolutely nothing last week. — Garth
As we all worry about the economy, Putin is in the process of dumping the USD.. That from RT just a few hours ago..
Now if that don’t concern you, Russia has just landed some fighter jets in Damascus, and is sending in troops to back Assad. .
Seems ISS is winning.. Now the tin foil money knows ISS is a force disguised as anti west, when in fact it was created to take down Damascus after the fail a few years ago of prison gas attacks.
So now that Russia will bomb to smithereens the ISS bad guys, who are in fact secret good guys..
What will Harpo or Obumer say, how will MSM cover the up coming fight…
Long Oil my fellow puppies… Long Oil.
It’s going to be an interesting day for the markets.
The 10% correction is behind us.
We are now entering the painful deleveraging period.
Another one of those days. Let the moaning begin. — Garth
# 16 James
What #2 Love my Kia was pointing out is that every time someone on this blog mentions a fair minimum wage, or the importance of a social safety net, or points out that there are millions of hard working Canadians who are struggling to keep their heads above water many followers of this blog respond by referring to compassion as stupidity, idealistic, stupid, theft, support for the lazy, a drag on the economy etc. etc.
Individuals like myself who sincerely believe that the long-term interests of Canada are best served by sharing our ‘common wealth’ in a more equitable manner are not interested in vilifying anyone. My concern is that the ‘massively interventionist state’ you referred seems focused on interventions that benefit Canadians that own houses, have accumulated wealth and are looking for ways to protect and enhance this wealth. I get that the majority of Canadians are homeowners and gainfully employed but compassion for the minority is the very essence of a Democracy.
If you examine the majority of jobs created in Canada over the past three years you will find that the ‘average’ gross wage was less than $3,200/month. Take home pay of $2,500/month would leave a maximum of $1,000/month to secure accommodation. Clearly this blog is not overly concerned about this audience.
The majority of the 280,000 new citizens welcomed to Canada each year require accommodation they can afford. Contributors to this blog who resist the need for affordable housing appear selfish. Before criticizing the equitable sharing of ‘common wealth’ in 2015 I would suggest a review of the billions of dollars channeled through the National Housing Act between 1950 and 1995 to assist current Canadian homeowners. Now that was a ‘massive intervention’
Garth has told me several times that his blog is investment based not socially based. I contribute to this blog because I share Garth’s support for a balanced approach and believe that compassion for the less fortunate is an important component of balance. If that makes me ‘dangerous’ to ‘Saskatoon’ so be it.
Markets looking UGLY right now this morning. The dead cat bounce is over. Now we begin a period of ratcheting downwards over months. US employment ‘growth’ is mostly substandard service jobs and nothing else. Canada is in huge trouble and will be in a plunge within just a few months.
Heading into the next depression…….
“It’s simple, unadorned largesse delinked from financial merit.”
Let them sweat and earn it, and if they’re successful, after a few decades, then gift it to them. Handing over hard-earned equity to a “house horny”, luxe-entitled DIL is an epic fiscal tragedy. Plus, odds are that, after 30 or so years, it is likely the marriage is solid and half of your gift won’t just walk off into the sunset after a divorce.
Don’t do it! Wait.
Long oil
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4696268,00.html
So funny, the commies in Alberta, shutting down pipe lines.. For no good reason.
Russia risking thermo nukes to preserve there pipelines..
How did things get so upside down and retarded here you ask..
My money is on elementary, and high-school teachers who made AL Gores bullshit show a rock star a few years back…
@ #128 Smoking Man on 09.01.15 at 7:50 am
You’re absolutely right about that one.
I asked myself the other day – what reason to stockpile oil? There’s only ONE reason and that’s to prepare for war.
The MSM is a propaganda machine so one can automatically discount what they say. MSM says there’s a ‘glut’ and ‘oh, isn’t it unfortunate it’s hurting so many people?’ Real world experience vis a vis the law of supply and demand says that if there were an honest ‘glut’ then prices at the pumps would reflect it. But prices at the pumps are still high all over North America at least.
Not to mention, also, that tightening the screws on households via consumer inflation and unemployment helps provide a ready soldier class.
We’re in for a war fairly soon. None of the party leaders will stop it – perhaps one of them will help us through it more than the others and increasingly I’m thinking that it might be the one who ‘isn’t ready.’
#2 Love my Kia
I am a socialist OVER achiever…basically someone with money socked away who has a conscience.
Why are folks like me so hard to find here?
There’s a few of us, lurking in the shadows…kinda like Leafs’ fans. Gettin’ harder to find than a 40 goal scorer…and a goalie…and…
Anyway, recent developments in central AB aren’t all consigned to press conferences detailing the appalling state of our financial deficits…got a letter from my landlords today offering a $200/mt rent DECREASE for signing a 6 mt lease! (they’re a mid-sized REIT with around 5K doorknobs) I’m assuming they might be privy to a wee bit more info than myself about the
current state of provincial monetary outlook, so this is probably another indicator of heavy weather ahead this winter…haha
It’s possible that they realized rents were too high, & decided to allow their tenants more room to top up the TFSA, but I doubt it.
Regardless, it will give the wife & I a bit more room to continue investing in our future. I’ve also noticed a few more houses up for rent this last couple months…tho I won’t pay any attention until the “no pets, no partiers, no smoking” qualifiers get dropped. THAT will be a sure sign that things are getting tight!
If things do slow down, I may have some time to get to know a few of the new tenants around here…most of them seem to be young, unsmiling, shoe-gazers with no pets & no party instincts; but they sure smoke a lot. And I think one of them is a Flames’ fan…
#114 Waterloo Resident on 09.01.15 at 1:40 am
Yeah, but aren’t those 50% off stickers on products whose prices have been inflated beyond reason? The prices of some consumer goods that I closely track are at all-time highs. If we’re supposed to be in hard times, I don’t know what’s holding these prices up. Is this “stagflation”? Maybe merchants have found a way to cut costs so that they can still make their profit targets while moving fewer units out the door. I guess this is what they mean by “bottom line exceeds expectations, but there’s no top line growth”. A doomer will argue that it’s all credit holding these prices up. In that case, I guess I’m just sitting around waiting for a credit bubble (fueled by low interest rates?) to pop. If we’re doing this badly, prices should be where they were in 2009. Maybe I’m early on my call.
Is there such a timing like mony msrt or payday loan index?
( 4 new “stores” on my daily driving route, business seems to be booming…)
#134 gut check
– what reason to stockpile oil? There’s only ONE reason and that’s to prepare for war.
We’re in for a war fairly soon.
————————————————————
You are so right. The signs are all around the world.
There will be whole regiments of migrants as well as internal defectors inside western countries where way too many know how badly they are being screwed by their own society and they say, “what the hell.”
Usually the rich bastards get the poor to fight and die for them.
This time it will be more and more the poor killing off the rich, in their own countries as well as overseas.
Good luck to the 1%.
You just left this blog. Forever. — Garth
Hello recession. We’ve been expecting you.
Mr Poloz is looking at cutting rates again? How did that work out last time? Kinda like peeing in the wind? Cmon guys can’t you think of something a little more creative?
#128 Smoking Man on 09.01.15 at 7:50 am
You are right on Smokey.
Ask any Syrian citizen if they preferred the status quo of the regime or the mess now. Funny how Assad’s dad was OK for all those years, when Jr. boy dared to stand up to Israel and the US–time for regime change.
Power, roads, bridges and other infrastructure all destroyed. Millions of refugees creating a crisis in Europe. Antiquities destroyed and lost forever.
One of the most telling photos was the plumber’s F250 truck from Texas made into an ISIS anti aircraft gunner and nobody knows how that truck got from Texas to Syria?
A special place in Hell for the Psychopaths from the west that orchestrate these crisis. In credit to the Harperites, they did warn this would happen.
http://www.canada.com/Canada+warned+world+arming+Syrian+rebels+would+lead+civil/7940278/story.html
From Canada’s ambassador:
http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/syria%E2%80%99s-president-assad-why-is-anyone-surprised-by-brian-j-davis-canadian-ambassador-to-syria-2003-2006/
@119: If you haven’t already, check out the whole album with the song you quoted (Halsey’s “Badlands” album). It just came out and is surprisingly good as far as pop music aimed at the youth demographic goes. Nice dark basslines throughout.
Canada in recession, Harpers vote bribes and means to avert a technical recession that is the “Baby Bonus Cheques” reminiscent of Pierre Trudeau didn’t work.
Here is the truck:
WTF?
Ed, no mention is made about your pension. I think if you have NO pension, you are going to need all your money compounding for you in your retirement years. Especially if you are considering retiring early.
#130 Llewelyn.
It’s good and just to be passionate and careing for the underpriviledged, just don’t take my ability to choose where I contribute my wealth towards that end through government taxation, with the exception of basic and vital necessities for all.
Ed has a right to spend the wealth he has accumulated in any way he wishes. Personally, I’d leave his kids alone and not ruin a good thing they got going.
As for #2 KIA lover and his socialist conscience, how do you take anyone seriously who loves an underengineered, low performance, weird looking, granny driven, plain, flabby assed applience?
Garth, love the Linda Ronstadt reference. I don’t think we’d have the Eagles if it wasn’t for her.
Don’t gift out large sums now. Wait for a decade or two, see how your investments are holding up.
Re 133 Smoking Man on 09.01.15 at 8:25 am
The real reason was short covering as so many traders trade by the month. Note the huge gain on the Friday. Friday is usually the day they cover when Monday is the last business day of the month. You should know that by now.
Been in the market for late 2011 doing a couch potato ETF portfolio (30 year + horizon), experienced my first downturn last week. Didn’t freak out, didn’t sell, sticking to the plan. Felt good
More “correction” coming today folks …. sure wish you don’t have to sell now to pay the bills.
You are increasingly embarrassing. — Garth
#148 Tony on 09.01.15 at 9:08 am
Re 133 Smoking Man on 09.01.15 at 8:25 am
The real reason was short covering as so many traders trade by the month. Note the huge gain on the Friday. Friday is usually the day they cover when Monday is the last business day of the month. You should know that by now.
……..
Who cares, Building a Bomb Shelter
#69 Soupy Sales on 08.31.15 at 9:27 pm
What do the world’s 10,000 biggest assholes have in common?
They found humour in your joke.
Nobody on Greater fool likes Mark so God is punishing us by making the stock market plummet.
#65 Yuus bin Haad on 08.31.15 at 9:17 pm
Linda Rondstadt has Parkinsons Disease
http://tinyurl.com/mhuqksb
Maybe we should do a poll, “how many blog dawgs can still wear their Levi’s from the 70’s?” Fortunately, mine still fit but wouldn’t want to wear them anywhere.
The reference was to 1990, not 1970. If you wear jeans you owned 45 years ago you’re probably an anorexic hoarder. — Garth
#114 Waterloo Resident
#136 4 AM Sunrise
“Yeah, but aren’t those 50% off stickers on products whose prices have been inflated beyond reason?”
**********************
Sort of. Canadian Tire is a high-low retailer as opposed the Walmart everyday low.
Different pricing strategies.
Ed shows us why some people are better off than others (leaving arguments about banksters aside).
The best gift he could give is the knowledge that got him into such a comfortable position. A large gift of money now could easily be squandered without adding value. Worse, it could help them land in even more negative equity than they could otherwise manage on their own.
My grandfather had a good alternative solution, albeit not for those in the SM camp. He set up an educational trust for his descendants, which helped quite a few of my relatives start their careers.
#99 Ted on 08.31.15 at 11:49 pm
Oh, millennials and all the young people…
In my opinion any free money mostly will spoil, especially young ones. One doesn’t truly appreciate what comes too easily.
Myself, was born right after 2nd war in ruins of the big city of Poland, blown apart by withdrawing Germans.
…Have a huge respect for Canada for being able to make a living just by an honest, hard work.
Now retired have more time to read and always learn new things.
In my opinion our life should be about a spiritual evolution. It really matters to be a decent person. Never harm anybody. No religion is needed for that either.
Just some compassion, thoughtfulness. Life is so short after all… do something truly good with it.
This is the wisest thing I have read for a while. As you say your history is reflected in present day events. An example of how history, politics, economics, and geography get subordinated to psychology.
Stopping this is what education is meant to be about, imo.
one mil is nothing ….For those so against sales to foreign speculators
http://www.tax-news.com/news/NZ_Consults_On_Property_Withholding_Tax_For_Offshore_Sellers____69031.html
Poor baby. Sell your house to her and she’ll wash your car for a year.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/house-hunters-make-personal-pleas-in-hot-markets-1.3209873?cmp=rss
Any sympathie here? Has a million dollars and can’t find a house.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/house-hunters-make-personal-pleas-in-hot-markets-1.3209873
I go into Canadian Tire stores now and it is hard to NOT find something that is 50% off. My guess is that the Canadian Tire chain will soon be going bankrupt.
___________________
Are you new in Canada?
Your guess, and logic is way off.
I usually wait for 60 to 70% for most hand and power tools. It has been the same for the 25 years I’ve been going and likely long before that.
Better find a new indicator.
Standing question: Do you know anyone who is r.. ,
Julia, #160
How can this woman not find a house for one million in Pickering, Ajax, Whitby? Something smells fishy here. $500,000 would do it in these areas. Garth’s sleuths should get on this story. Something’s up?
#160 Julia on 09.01.15 at 10:47 am
Any sympathie here? Has a million dollars and can’t find a house.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/house-hunters-make-personal-pleas-in-hot-markets-1.3209873
———————————-
The legacy of Mr. Harper, in a country and city with s..tty economy people can’t find a home for a million confetti (aka CAD).
That’s it folks, you CAD costs only 1/millionth of a crappy house in city with no economy/if lucky to find one.
And Mr. Harper is promoting increase in RRSP withdrawals for house purchases from 25 k to 35 k. How stupider would this get?
Garth, is there really a way to kick this guy out of the conservatives? Or he is really the party?
I am continually fascinated by the Boomers’ preoccupation with my insignificant generation and our completely unique sense of entitlement. My theory of the week is that it has to do with misplaced guilt over not leaving a better world for their children the way their parents did for them.
Please don’t be salty. We know free love and the moon landing are harder to improve on than the depression and WW2. Hey, at least you could have blown up the world but chose not to, right? Besides, lord knows I won’t want to feel obligated to provide a better world for my own children if I’m so blessed.
#120 BC Guy
You do realize anything done to “hurt” the rich also hurts your ability to become “rich” right? You may not have a desire to own rental property’s but the same holds true for any business. Hard to reverse those rules that makes success harder. Maybe though you’ve accepted flipping burgers is your lifelong future?? Hope you get a living wage and never gain any ambition.
OttawaMike on 09.01.15 at 8:58 am
Under Assad Sr there were the two wars (67 and 73). Under Jr, the southern border with Israel, and Syria, were relatively calm. You had it backwards.
Also nice of you to neglect to mention the Saudis and Iranians and who they are supporting but it’s okay I get it, they don’t fit into your little conspiracy theory/anti western tirade.
Mf
Why all the beating around the bush re Linda’s R’s particularly padded posterior .
Sizeist? Stoutist? Wtf.
She is FAT. Most likely from eating too much and lack of exercise , same as anyone else.
Saying she is fat the plain 100% truth. Offended? The truth hurts sometimes. Tough for you. Maybe someone needs more veggies and a daily walk.
Canada currently in recession, by definition.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/09/01/us-canada-economy-idINKCN0R13S620150901
#130 Llewelyn
“compassion for the minority is the very essence of a Democracy”
actually, democracy is the exact opposite of this.
consequently, whatever argument you were attempting to make is invalid.
$50 billion/year AB budget. Yeah baby. It was $40 billion a couple of years ago. We are going down in flames and taking ROC with us. well at least we aren’t as bad a wynnetario.
Standing question when the opportunity arises to ask it:
Do you know anyone who is rich, and do you know how they got that way?
Contradictions
Many people think that the rich are getting richer and this is not fair.
At the same time they want higher interest rates.
High interest rates would benefit the rich the most. (burp!)
Low interest rates can (when debt is used properly) transfer wealth from the rich to the middle class.
#99 Ted
In my opinion our life should be about a spiritual evolution. It really matters to be a decent person. Never harm anybody. No religion is needed for that either.
Just some compassion, thoughtfulness. Life is so short after all… do something truly good with it.
Thanks for sharing that.
It would be very beneficial for many to read and understand the words you wrote in your entire post. Where you came from might not be too far different from where we are going if we don’t collectively change our ways, and our thought patterns.
It doesn’t seem to be different this time.
Hopefully it is.
#141 OttawaMike
One of the most telling photos was the plumber’s F250 truck from Texas made into an ISIS anti aircraft gunner and nobody knows how that truck got from Texas to Syria?
A special place in Hell for the Psychopaths from the west that orchestrate these crisis.
Ahh yes, I know the truck you are talking about. Funny how it didn’t get more coverage on CNBC, CNN, or FOX news. Everyone should know the story and perhaps the NSA, DHA, and all those other tentacles of government abuse and control should be looking into how that truck got there.
Nope, nothing, crickets.
To top it all off that the poor plumber was getting death threats from Joe six pack for supporting ISIS. The average North American has been so dumbed down that they do not think. They know what they are told, and the government has a tight grip on what they are told. They will definitely not be told that the CIA and governments from the west (See Harper Regime) have rather close connections to ISIS or ISIL or whatever they want to call their pet war project.
Plumbers don’t ship their old F-250’s to Syria to make a sale. That type of deal takes serious connections and resources, but no morals.
Things are messy
Don’t know what happened to above link.
This is the one…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlDDpt65Tuo
#161 bdy sktn
I hear you. For many years the rug merchants of Vancouver have offered 60 to 70% discounts on all stock.
That $7000 hand-woven 8×10′ Baluchi can be yours for a mere $2100. And there’s even some room to move on that.
I don’t know how they manage to stay afloat but they’re always wide open for business seven days a week. You’ve got to admire that kind of pluck in these hard times.
I have a friend who’s a contractor. His business has been slowing down, so he and his partner want to work on their own and are looking to flip a house in Oakville. They already identified a potential candidate, old junk cost close to a million. They want to tear it down and build a new one from scratch. In their estimates the cost of a new one will be around $700k, they hope to sell it for over $2M.
He asked me what I think about it lol..
Rule 48 instilled again today by NYSE.
The markets are not free they are broken.
They are manipulated, I would of made way more money shorting if they operated freely.
It’s a joke.
Boomers live through the luckiest economy in history, throwing darts at charts and making windfall returns, getting paid exorbant salaries with actual job secruity and unions fighting for them, purchase houses for peanuts only to see them increase in value 10-fold, all the while selling out future generations with debt, wars, policies that favor the rich, and ruining the environment… then question whether or not they should help out their own children?
You greedy, disgusting, pompous a-holes.
Help a generation out that desperately needs it.
We are silently begging for it and you know it.
#167 Mf on 09.01.15 at 11:24 am
Not sure what your point is. Iran is not beholden to the US so of course they are supporting the regime.
Saudis do what they are told by USA lest they have their arms shipments cut off and potentially get “liberated”.
So it all fits into my theory. Assad even showed up in Paris and was declared an asset. Now he is the great Satan as France takes a leading role to topple him. What went wrong?
Conocophillips just laid off 400 in Calgary.
Another load of homes coming on the market in 6 months or so.
#120 BC Guy on 09.01.15 at 2:33 am
“Ed took my advice and sold his McMansion plus six rental properties in BC, and now has $3.5 million, “in a fully diversified GT-style portfolio”
THIS IS WHY HOUSES ARE UNAFFORDABLE. Too many guys like Ed owning 7 properties.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sorry BC Guy but don’t you get it.
Do you not remember so many posters coming this blog and boasting that their landlords are subsidizing their rent.
Ed was one of those saintly men. A man of means who took great pride in being able to say that he was subsidizing the rents of 7 properties so that 7 families could get a leg up.
BC Guy, you come here to bash a man like Ed?
You disgust me.
400 salaried employees let go from Penn West.
Layoffs hitting small businessess in Red Deer.
6 Billion NDP Alberta deficit and all they can do is 1) blame PC’s and 2) protect civil servant cushy jobs.
Not good on the Praries.
So, just wondering …. which market is up today?
“Do you know anyone who is rich, and do you know how they got that way?”
Um, most rich people got that way by providing others with something widely useful ….
Sheane Wallace # all of em,
Dude, might I suggest you open your mind, a we bit.
It’s 2015, but you keep believing and demanding the system function like its 1970.
I offer you a link to insights (our reality) that 98% of the population has never heard of (advantage) to help you wrap your head around how things really work and all your concerned with is the speakers lack of knowledge (and I doubt very much, she’s wrong) on Weimar Germany?
Your call to impose more taxes on home owners, displays you missed the boat and are pissed about it.
Why do you want to tax anyone, more. Is there too many $’s in the economy? Wage inflation a concern? If you understood MMT, you’d realize it’s just not necessary, especially right now.
It’s all about perception.
I should disclose In 2007, I too saw dark clouds on the horizon and took defensive measures. I bought physical Maples in Gold/Silver and held them till after the peak before dumping, so I can relate to what your thinking. I still hold a small quantity of Silver for piece of mind.
I also believe in sound money, but the reality is, what we’ve got, is what we’ve got. The game is in play (your life) and bitching from the sidelines about it’s unfairness is just wasted energy.
Garth avocates buying the dip,well how did that work out for you last time?,here’s another chance…
This correction has a ways to go yet,look out bellow!
I advocate building a balanced, diversified portfolio, then ignoring people like you. — Garth
Wee bit.
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/homeandproperty/house-hunters-make-personal-pleas-in-hot-markets/ar-AAdPd9t?li=AA54rW
#180 OttawaMike on 09.01.15 at 12:56 pm
“Not sure what your point is. Iran is not beholden to the US so of course they are supporting the regime.
Saudis do what they are told by USA lest they have their arms shipments cut off and potentially get “liberated”.
So it all fits into my theory. Assad even showed up in Paris and was declared an asset. Now he is the great Satan as France takes a leading role to topple him. What went wrong?”
My point is you didn’t mention Saudi Arabia or Iran in your original post. You did it because you wanted it to look like the west -sorry the US/Israel- was solely responsible for the conflict (and probably every other war in the world). How typical.
Also typical of you to enjoy the comforts of the western world while proclaiming how evil it is.
MF
#174 SWL1976 on 09.01.15 at 11:43 am
Okay I got it. So what you are saying is that you are the only one who knows for sure that what the CNBC, CNN, Fox news, The NSA, The DHA and The CIA are saying is a lie?
Where did you find out this information? Are you some sort of double agent like Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in the MIB?
One last question/request: Is it possible to find out from your sources when the powers that be will finally engineer the housing crash here in the GTA? Lots of people here wondering. Thanks.
MF
From G&M: Offshore buyers driving Canada’s luxury home market.
Are you still in denial that the foreign buyers are responsible for this bubble Mr Turner?
#170 Saskatoon
Democracy – “a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.”
Canada is a social democracy where even political parties that represent citizens that have acquired substantial wealth introduces and supports legislation that transfer benefits to less fortunate citizens without conditions.
You seem to be promoting a Plutocracy – “an elite or ruling class of people whose power derives from their wealth”
It is a great system for the very wealthy but I suspect membership in this elite group is just a tad above your pay grade.
Best to remember that the finger you seem to enjoy showing to the less fortunate can be vry fickle.
MF
Also typical of you to enjoy the comforts of the western world while proclaiming how evil it is.
—–+—+———-
Go back and reread my posts. I praised the Cons for recognizing the new quagmire.
Do you really believe that the general populace has any control over the. 1% that manipulate geopolitics to feed the military-industrial complex? The Dick Cheneys?
I for one, am not selling ….
Canada officially in recession
“1000 layoffs in Calgary today” is the word around town.
400 from PennWest
400-500 from Conoco
50ish from Shell(?)
Unknown number from Chevron.
https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/3j7w0l/canada_officially_in_recession/
#91 Smoking Man on 08.31.15 at 10:48 pm
So here you are, making a living day trading for the past decade using algorithms and programs designed by computer engineering grads and you are complaining about how dumb they were for learning how to create those programs?
Laughable.
MF
Nope… it’s different in Canada.. we’ll never be affected by ANYTHING when it comes to housing prices.
Alberta just got kicked in the pooper today! 900 homes coming up for sale!!
Fresh wave of layoffs hits oilpatch, with PennWest, ConocoPhillips cutting 900 jobs
http://bit.ly/1fTwDew
“From G&M: Offshore buyers driving Canada’s luxury home market. “
Perhaps so, but the ‘luxury home market’ is only a small fraction of the overall housing stock in Canada. The average person in Canada does not own a ‘luxury home’, but rather owns a home that has probably depreciated in the past 2 years on account of diminishing credit availability.
“One last question/request: Is it possible to find out from your sources when the powers that be will finally engineer the housing crash here in the GTA? Lots of people here wondering. Thanks.”
Housing has spent the past few years declining in the GTA/GVR on account of the rising cost of/decreasing availability of credit (Budget 2013, where Flaherty cracked down on expansion at the CMHC, marked the high point for Canadian housing!). The numbers are only being propped up, at this point, in those cities, on account of the sales mix having shifted so dramatically to the higher end.
“High interest rates would benefit the rich the most. (burp!)”
Doubtful. Most of today’s “rich” are rich because they loaded up on interest-rate sensitive assets (or careers) which moved in their favour. Whether it be long-term bonds (ie: the US financial sector), the healthcare sector (largely financed by low-cost government borrowing), real estate, tech sector, etc.
Rising interest rates would destroy a lot of that wealth which was thus derived. Yes high(er) interest rate would make certain people wealthy, but it would likely be a whole different set of actors. Long-term intergenerational wealth is quite rare historically speaking because investors/families become married to certain paradigms and simply won’t change at market inflection points.
“now has $3.5 million”
———————————-
Listen up Ed…here is the best advise your gonna get today.
Dudes really start kicking off at 60, so do whatever…the hell…you want.
People don’t like it, F-em.
#186 Blacksheep on 09.01.15 at 1:37 pm
———————
‘Don’t judge rashly’ said the Bible.
Fully aware of the rules of the game and playing it (the game) accordingly.
Ignorance is not always a virtue, sometimes it is a sin.
#194 OttawaMike on 09.01.15 at 2:23 pm
Fair enough.
I do think that in large enough numbers, the general populace does have some pull yes. What I don’t agree with is the idea that there are an extreme minority that are controlling everything. The world is far too large and most events just happen because they happen.
MF
#199 Mark on 09.01.15 at 2:36 pm
I don’t know man. Anecdotally speaking houses here in the GTA are selling at break neck speed and for high prices. They may have stopped rising at such a high speed but I don’t see any declines yet.
MF
#193 Llewelyn
democracy is majority rule at the expense of the minority…
it even says this a little farther down in the definition you cut and paste from the internet.
in other words, democracy never functions to protect the minority.
perhaps you are thinking of a “republic”…
or you’re just dumb.
Louise Yamada says:
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/01/the-bull-market-is-over-louise-yamada.html
Heard an interesting ad on the Calgary radio today. It was imploring people who are considering selling their homes today for “far less then they are actually worth” to instead sign them over to a property management company who would then rent them out. Then the owners could wait to sell in the future when “prices have recovered.”
Because everybody knows, house prices and stock markets only ever go up.
It’s a theme I see cropping up a lot now. I know people who are buying second and third rental homes at today’s cheap rates purely so they can rent them out. The idea being that the property is cash flow positive because the rent is more than mortgage, providing a supposed 10% return on investment.
#19 S.Bby on 08.31.15 at 7:03 pm
If we see 13% interest rates again in my lifetime we will be in BIG trouble. I bought my first place in 1991 with mortgage rates around there. The market was pretty quiet back then.
When we had mortgages I remember being happy when we “blended” from 12.5% to 11% great day that was…..
#91 Smoking Man on 08.31.15 at 10:48 pm
Open letter to millennials.
Thats better.
Kids. You have spent your entire lives being feed tasty bullshit sprinkled with artificial cinamen flavored goo, hiding the shit taste in your favorite cookies.
You all should hunt down your old teachers. Tie them to a stick at Queen’s Park..
……………………………………………..
As grade school teacher, mother, wife and educated Invester I have say you are one sick person. After making the mistake of clicking on your name and seeing your blog & smoking man twitter feed I will definitely skip past you. Your supposed literary skills are only bound for the likes of playboy.
So are we going to find out which industry (you alluded to few days back) is on a verge of collapse?
When it rolls over. — Garth
MissStaken on 09.01.15 at 3:25 pm
Give the old alcoholic a chance. He’s part of the 1%ers. For every 99 thoughts he scribes, 1 real gem comes along.
#160 Julia on 09.01.15 at 10:47 am
Any sympathie here? Has a million dollars and can’t find a house.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/house-hunters-make-personal-pleas-in-hot-markets-1.3209873
———
Doesn’t anybody else see the stupidity in this article? She is employed in the (creative) film industry, has a million cash, and wants to advertise on a cardboard box like a real homeless person!? I’m sure the refugees from Syria and Lebanon can readily identify with this hapless house-poor Canadian family.
Then in the end she purchases a million dollar fixer, out of sheer frustration. What does she have in her head, porridge? Why not move? Why not rent elsewhere, and invest the mil? Porridge, I tell you.
#203 MF
#199 Mark on 09.01.15 at 2:36 pm
“I don’t know man. Anecdotally speaking houses here in the GTA are selling at break neck speed and for high prices. They may have stopped rising at such a high speed but I don’t see any declines yet.
MF”
****************
Anecdotally in our neighborhood in Toronto, we are getting hand written notes in our mailbox and people knocking looking to buy in our neighbourhood.
There is very little inventory.
Other friends of ours in the west end of the GTA are moving into their new house, even though their current house has not yet sold.
These are the 5th (or 6th?) that we know of to have upgraded this year but the 1st ones to have not sold before moving in.
# 209,
There is no industry ready to roll over, save and except for mini-exploratory miners. That’s not an industry. That is a small casino alley.
“$50 billion/year AB budget. Yeah baby. It was $40 billion a couple of years ago. We are going down in flames and taking ROC with us. well at least we aren’t as bad a wynnetario.
Wynne Liberals on the attack with more massive tax hikes on fee’s and fines. Isn’t that what Trudeau is proposing? Way to go Liberal voters…..lets race to the bottom….a dark place where Canadians are poor and tax strapped and civil servants and unions thrive….yay
As grade school teacher, mother, wife and educated Invester
________
Thx for the giggle.
You trash sm for his spelling, while using his poor spelling.
Do you spell ‘least’ as ‘leased’ too?
Priceless!
Hint: misspelled words have a red line underneath.
#191 MF
#174 SWL1976
Okay I got it. So what you are saying is that you are the only one who knows for sure that what the CNBC, CNN, Fox news, The NSA, The DHA and The CIA are saying is a lie?
Hardly. There are plenty of people who know and understand what is going on. In fact anyone who looks at the facts without prejudice or having their programming get in the way will also see clearly. However, most simply cannot fathom this reality and quickly resort to their default settings.
You seem quite naive to the way the world actually works. Yes there is a small group of people, who I now refer to as ‘the real crazies’ who do call the shots on most every major geopolitical event that happens in our lives. Some events are directly caused by them, some are more random, but they will also never let a crisis go to waste.
Ever wonder why there is always a solution given to the crisis before it is even thoroughly examined?
Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance – Albert Einstein
I suggest you take a closer look things, as they are not quite what they seem
How to Get Rich
#185 young & foolish on 09.01.15 at 1:15 pm responded to me as follows:
“Do you know anyone who is rich, and do you know how they got that way?”
Um, most rich people got that way by providing others with something widely useful ….
*************************************
Agreed, essentially they provided a value far greater than the cost of their own living in some manner then spent less than earned.
#215 Top Invester bdysktrn on 09.01.15 at 3:56 pm
————————–
For the record leased doesn’t come up with a red line as it is recognized as correct spelling. And SM has admitted he is an on-line persona, he very well could be a pimply-faced teenager for all we know. He has also admitted to spelling words incorrectly on purpose. Believe what you want….
yeah, cause domestic violence is SO FUNNY. Good one leaving that in, Garth.
#69 Soupy Sales on 08.31.15 at 9:27 pm
@#50 Shecky Greene
what do 10,000 battered women have in common?
‘they just wouldn’t listen’
“Your supposed literary skills are only bound for the likes of playboy.” – MissStaken
“Playboy Magazine’s Top Contributing Writers”
…”…of the most influencial writers to contribute to the magazine’s success, including, Joseph Heller, Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Margaret Atwood, Haruki Murakami, Normal Mailer, Ray Bradbury, Jack Kerouac, and Kurt Vonnegut.”…
@ #219 DM in C
I saw it too.. was hoping that maybe there was a rational explanation for it? Checked but didn’t see where it could have been taken any other way than a straight up degradation of women and a bully move to try and instigate the usual frat house psychological rape culture.
Hey DM in C, don’t take my name in vain, I had nothing to do with Soupy’s joke.
My joke woulda been more classy, something like this:
“What do 10,000 battered women have in common?
They would make a really thick layer cake.”
I got a million of em!
@220 gut check
Really? Poor taste yes, but “degradation of women and a bully move to try and instigate the usual frat house psychological rape culture”?
Victim much?
Afterwards.. canadian bonds armaghedon baby
@ #69 Soupy Sales
what do 10,000 battered women have in common?
‘they just wouldn’t listen’
Hey big man…why don’t you try leaving your Mom’s basement and actually talking to a real women or is that too much for ya. Before you start beakin’ off from the safety of that dark basement, I am a man and what you wrote is pure chickenshit!
@ Garth. I have read your blog off and on for quite a while I always thought you were a bit of a windbag but to say that you moderate this board and let that one slide is !$#@%! pathetic.
#38 cecilhenry
borrow their TFSA room, and make sure you are the beneficiary,POA and trustee. I have borrowed my kids. 1 has bought me out, and another getting close.
BCE is on sale today
slick
And give me back my damned debit card, too!!
http://www.thestar.com/business/2015/09/02/adults-kids-draining-their-parents-bank-accounts.html