No disagreements there Soroosh jaan, but it's like that everywhere. A psychology or political science degree is pretty useless for 90% of the people that complete it anywhere in the world. kids are dumb (present company excluded, but the question is should we put them down that useless path and on top of it expect them to sell themselves to pay for that useless education? Surely some blame must go to the system.
LMFAO - what's this country coming to?! 
Canadian Mennonite ties to Mexican drug cartels years in the making!!!
Canadian Mennonite ties to Mexican drug cartels years in the making!!!
yeah but the Income in Quebec is much much lower and that's why it makes Montreal one of the most expensive city in North America.
http://digitaljournal.com/article/278074
http://digitaljournal.com/article/278074
Average price of a detached home almost $1.0 million in the 416 area code now!!!
Toronto house price jumps 10% in April
Toronto house price jumps 10% in April
I am not surprised at the price of detached homes. There are barely any available in the core of the city and if you want a new one you have to commute at least 4 hours per day!!!! Additinally if you do buy a home in a reasonable neighborhood in Toronto you still have to put in another 100 k to renovate and upgrade. Granted if you have 1 million to buy a home, another 100k might not be an issue.
What I don't understand is the ridiculous price of condos in Toronto.
What I don't understand is the ridiculous price of condos in Toronto.
Who is buying at these prices? I don't know anyone around me who can afford these $2 - $3 million houses in North York. Almost all North York houses (minus the dumps and older ones) are now above $1.5 million.
Heck, I'm supposed to be among the top 5% earners in this country and I cannot for the life of me understand how I could afford these prices even if I came up with the down payment!!!!
What the fuck is going on here?
Heck, I'm supposed to be among the top 5% earners in this country and I cannot for the life of me understand how I could afford these prices even if I came up with the down payment!!!!
What the fuck is going on here?
I honestly don't know bro. The monthly cost to carry a $1 million home is $5500 a month with a 10% down payment @ 3.09% interest rate and including property taxes, hydro, maintenance, etc. That means you need a $110k salary a year just to pay for your AVERAGE detached house. Now, this average is for the whole 416 area including Scarborough and Etobickoke - in reality $1 million will barely get you a tear me upper in good areas.
Add all the other expenses and you need a combined income of more than $200k to live in an AVERAGE house in this city. Median total household income in Toronto is only $70k, so either everyone's cheating on their taxes, it's all foreign buyers, or people are mortgaging themselves to death after selling their previous home. Either way, I don't know how much longer this can keep up.
The good news for those of us who own a home and want to retire soon to somewhere inexpensive is that these prices will get us there faster!
Add all the other expenses and you need a combined income of more than $200k to live in an AVERAGE house in this city. Median total household income in Toronto is only $70k, so either everyone's cheating on their taxes, it's all foreign buyers, or people are mortgaging themselves to death after selling their previous home. Either way, I don't know how much longer this can keep up.
The good news for those of us who own a home and want to retire soon to somewhere inexpensive is that these prices will get us there faster!
Well, cheating on taxes is a given. So let's assume the average income is $80K.
Bank regulations are also present (they're not giving mortgages to just anybody) so to afford a $1 million mortgage (very common), a combined income of $170,000 is needed at a minimum. That means all these houses selling for over a million (almost all houses in North York), must have an income more than twice the average of the city and all buyers are readily coming up with a $100K-$200K down payment every day, all year long!
I know about the lifestyle of maybe 200-300 people in this city (like everyone else). Many of them single-income families. Not a single one makes anywhere close to $170K/year. Except for 5-6 of them (who are well off), not a single one of them could readily come up with $100-$200K of down payment.
So what is going on?!!
Either some banks are silently giving away million dollar mortgages to deadbeats or we've got 5-6 people cosigning mortgages at the same time. I suspect it's the latter.
So it's becoming a game of "how many people can you get to cosign with you". This has got Asian culture written all over it.
Bank regulations are also present (they're not giving mortgages to just anybody) so to afford a $1 million mortgage (very common), a combined income of $170,000 is needed at a minimum. That means all these houses selling for over a million (almost all houses in North York), must have an income more than twice the average of the city and all buyers are readily coming up with a $100K-$200K down payment every day, all year long!
I know about the lifestyle of maybe 200-300 people in this city (like everyone else). Many of them single-income families. Not a single one makes anywhere close to $170K/year. Except for 5-6 of them (who are well off), not a single one of them could readily come up with $100-$200K of down payment.
So what is going on?!!
Either some banks are silently giving away million dollar mortgages to deadbeats or we've got 5-6 people cosigning mortgages at the same time. I suspect it's the latter.
So it's becoming a game of "how many people can you get to cosign with you". This has got Asian culture written all over it.
I have a few friends that are builders, one of them is focusing exclusively in the Earl Haig (Yonge/Sheppard/Bayview/Finch) area and he sold both of his last two houses to Chinese buyers. The last one for $2.3 million and they bought it for their 22 year old son - five bedroom house! The other one just renovated and sold a house just outside that perimeter for over $1.6 million and the people who bought it both had high ranking positions in the financial industry. Until a few years ago when the Rial dropped, there were of course a lot of Iranian buyers as well and that market has never dried up, even if it slowed a bit. Then you have the Russians, etc. etc. Overall, there's definitely a lot of first time foreign buyers driving up prices and in the long term, I think the Toronto market will be similar to London UK.
Another thing we have to remember is that non first time buyers are NOT saving up for their down payment. They're getting the majority of that money from the principle in their existing home. So, let's say you own an average home outside the city @ $750k and buy a better than average home inside the city @ $1.25N not to have to commute as much. You're really increasing your mortgage by $500k only, which is only $2400 more a month - something's that's manageable for a two income household. There's also renting the basement and reducing your mortgage that way, inheritance as the pre boom generation kicks the bucket or monetary gifts as the boom generation moves into condos, etc.
All in all though, I agree with you, prices are completely out of line with incomes - the houses are not affordable and it looks like sooner or later something's gotta give . I was saying that since 2002 and finally gave up and bought in 2006, but I have one friend who's still holding on to that belief and I was still telling him to throw in the towel in 2010, but despite being the GM at a good company he held out - now everything's 40% more. This thing seems to have no ceiling.
Another thing we have to remember is that non first time buyers are NOT saving up for their down payment. They're getting the majority of that money from the principle in their existing home. So, let's say you own an average home outside the city @ $750k and buy a better than average home inside the city @ $1.25N not to have to commute as much. You're really increasing your mortgage by $500k only, which is only $2400 more a month - something's that's manageable for a two income household. There's also renting the basement and reducing your mortgage that way, inheritance as the pre boom generation kicks the bucket or monetary gifts as the boom generation moves into condos, etc.
All in all though, I agree with you, prices are completely out of line with incomes - the houses are not affordable and it looks like sooner or later something's gotta give . I was saying that since 2002 and finally gave up and bought in 2006, but I have one friend who's still holding on to that belief and I was still telling him to throw in the towel in 2010, but despite being the GM at a good company he held out - now everything's 40% more. This thing seems to have no ceiling.
I've bought and sold multiple properties in Toronto myself. Despite the lucrative increases (which made me good money), I must say the entire thing is highly overrated. The fees, commissions and taxes eat up your potential profit in big chunks. The Land Transfer Tax for example has got to be the biggest scam in history.
I pre-purchased a brand new house (before it was even built) and they slapped me with a $14,000 land transfer tax that had to be paid in cash (can't be added to mortgage). I asked whose land was it that was getting transferred to my ownership? and they said "The government's"!!!
And then there's the energy costs. You're basically at the mercy of Hydro and Gas monopolies and they sure love using their powers! 40% increases in energy costs have become the norm now. They just wake up one day and decide, "yeah we're not making enough money so let's fuck the clients", and BAM! You're stuck with the bill.
I got tired of it all. I'm probably going to get lured back into this house of cards again, but I wish there was a decent way to beat it.
I pre-purchased a brand new house (before it was even built) and they slapped me with a $14,000 land transfer tax that had to be paid in cash (can't be added to mortgage). I asked whose land was it that was getting transferred to my ownership? and they said "The government's"!!!
And then there's the energy costs. You're basically at the mercy of Hydro and Gas monopolies and they sure love using their powers! 40% increases in energy costs have become the norm now. They just wake up one day and decide, "yeah we're not making enough money so let's fuck the clients", and BAM! You're stuck with the bill.
I got tired of it all. I'm probably going to get lured back into this house of cards again, but I wish there was a decent way to beat it.
The idiots are at it again!
An $80 million Ontario election to be held on the day of World Cup opening! We already have a laughable participation rate and 3 parties that love the idea of holding an election every week just to fuck with everybody's time and money.
Here comes another minority government (liberal probably) that will simply sit and collect the checks until another $80 million election (fundraiser) is needed for their weekend golfing trips.
Ontario is pathetic.
An $80 million Ontario election to be held on the day of World Cup opening! We already have a laughable participation rate and 3 parties that love the idea of holding an election every week just to fuck with everybody's time and money.
Here comes another minority government (liberal probably) that will simply sit and collect the checks until another $80 million election (fundraiser) is needed for their weekend golfing trips.
Ontario is pathetic.
ontario/canadian politics has to be the most boring, unintersting of anywhere in the world, but thats the beauty of canada! there is really not much to stress and fight about
having said that and i really dont know who is who and before i go back down to US, i make sure i vote for agha reza moridi. he is a good guy and he is eyranian, thast good enough for me, i saw him too today made friends with him. I wanted to joke and say your mandate again is not recognizing norouz as a national holiday again is it?