The Canadian Real Estate market........

+1 Very impressive!

 

He's the Donald Trump of the North!

Kokino's is right...you must sacrifice and stick with your investment, then sell when the time is right.

Flipping houses is not the greatest profit, holding them for a few years, then attracting the right buyer can make you more money.

 

True, but in the frenzy of the Calgary RE market, flippers could make good quick money and flip several houses in a short period of time.

 

Yes, and have you been in one of those building lately? They are war zones! I won't work in them, cockroaches, bullet holes, dirty walls, filthy apartments. You can't leave equipment in the apartments, it'll be gone in a second. Even the high end rentals are falling apart. You want to raise kids in that kind of enviornment? Better to buy a simple house or condo and get a room mate. I bought a simple house. The key is to buy something YOU CAN AFFORD!. All these wanna be's buying huge houses on little down...better to have a smaller house that if hard times come you won't lose your shirt. It's called living within your means. What happens if interest rates go up? All these poser's won't be able to afford the interest let alone the principal.

 

+ 1
Well said Jay.

 

Waterfront property is always more desirable. Good choice for a condo location.

 

Calgary waterfront? I thought Calgary was in the middle of the mountains.....please fill me in.

 

There's a small river (Bow River). Check Google Earth. Doesn't appear to be navigable though (I see no boats on it...).

 

"Buy land, they're not making it anymore”
Mark Twain

"Owning a home is a keystone of wealth.. both financial affluence and emotional security."
Suze Orman

“The only difference between a cult and a religion is the amount of real estate they own”
Frank Zappa

My favourite qoute is "With real estate you never pay too much. You only buy too soon." I can't remember who said this but its very true.

In real estate the real money is made when everyone thinks the ship is sinking. In reality the ship never sinks and when things get better the guy with the most chutzpah will be grinning from ear to f****** ear.

 

The ship has sank big-time in the US!

And no one is grinning from ear to f'n ear!

 

Don't worry, there are plenty grinning from ear to f'n ear! The people who shouldn't have been in the house they were in the first place (over-extended) may not be happy, but there are plenty of people grinning about that

 

Sorry dude, but I am. Bought a place I otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford.

 

Thats great.

I was talking about the people who lost their homes and savings on the credit collapse, they are the ones who aren't grinning.

If you had the money in the bank, you are able to pick up properties for 1/2 price now. (Like you did).

 

Which was the point of mrfissa's original post that you quoted... there a TONS of opportunities to make money on RE when the majority have to jump ship (right now). Of course not if you're the one being foreclosed on, but that was obvious.

 

Classic case of making money when things are going down and when they are going up. This is old but very true news! Just gotta have a good eye.

 

Vasco and starboy thanks for the kind words, I'm very grateful it worked out for me.

Calgary has two rivers flowing through it Bow River (Not small, during the runoff if you get caught in it with no life jacket good luck coming out alive) and Elbow (Small but great for floating). They do permit small fishing boats on certain sections but believe it's limited b/c there are a few fresh water resevoirs which need to be kept clean.

We're not really in the rockies either, East of the city it's flat and the mountains start about 40kms west of Calgary.

http://www.waterfrontcalgary.com/ this is the spot I just bought in, it has a nice picture on the opening page of DT Calgary and the Bow River.

 

Local newspaper here this morning saying that property has doubled in price in the last 6 years and the market is hotter than ever...So Qc City is grinning from ear to f'n ear!

 

That used to be the location of my cheap parking spot....a few blocks from dt and affordable. Now the lots are charging up to $28/day. It's going to be a nice area, especially with Eau Claire being redone too.

 

Information like this, in isolation, isn't valueable or statistically relevant. Yes, from an all time high in July of 2007, average sales prices are down. However, the numbers quoted do not adjust for the high number of >$1 million homes (59) sold during that month.

Here is a clip from a Herald article...

"Following the peak last July, the average sale price for single-family homes dropped in the fall: $485,914 in August, $470,888 in September, $452,254 in October, $462,134 in November, and $444,769 in December. For the first half of this year average MLS prices were $455,297 in January, $471,696 in February, $475,513 in March, $474,564 in April, $479,564 in May and $473,774 in June."

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/calgarybusiness/story.html?id=4b545b9c-abc7-4e00-b7d3-929117c64edf

In looking at these numbers, average sale prices increased by 4.8% from October to June of this year. Of course, these numbers don't give a complete picture.

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital. ~Aaron Levenstein

My point wasn't that you were wrong about housing values being cyclical. I was just pointing out the many misrepresentations you made.

 

If you look at what Calgary house price have done since 2001 then you can appreciate why they are coming down. It is not an indicator of what is happening or going to happen through out Canada.

 

I believe current house values in Calgary are significantly overpriced. I suspect there will be a big correction over the next couple of years. However, I won't come here saying "I was right and everyone else was wrong".

 

The downfall of the Midtown towers was due to an incompetent developer, not the housing market. My guess is a REAL developer will buy the project and re-market it at market rates.

This is no different than the hair dresser I referred to earlier in this thread. Just another example of someone (this time a developer) getting in over their heads thinking they can "play realestate".