Why not to buy in Florida...yet

Got a few emails to elaborate why I think buying in Florida is crap. Here is a great analysis by Ryan Swift see here ...a whole set of people in Florida will have their mortgages reset to a higher interest rate with negative equity (over 30%). This doesn't even count the shadow inventory where most subdivisions have a few abandoned houses that the bank hasn't got to.

Why do I think they're over priced? Because savvy real estate agents build relationships with the banks to get them at a discounted priced which they will then flip off to Canadians at a higher price. Watch for the poop storm to continue

Competition Bureau VS MLS - What each side is doing

Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) feel they've bent over backwards by offering the following:

- Giving clients access to market their property on MLS without having to hire an agent for the entire period of time the home is listed.
- The individual real estate boards can make their own rules how consumers can list using the MLS

The Competition Bureau says this is not good enough, they want:
- Real estate agents to give consumer more options when selling their home for clients
- A uniform strategy across all boards across Canada (easier to monitor and police)
- More options to sellers when having a buyers agent approach them with clients


The Competition Bureau is an independent law enforcement agency that contributes to the prosperity of Canadians by protecting and promoting competitive markets and enabling informed consumer choice.

Next step, it looks like the Competition Bureau will take CREA to the Competition Tribunal to come to some sort of resolution


My view: 50/50

On one had, there are already so many crappy agents out there who barely know to write a listing, how much worse will it come when you get non-professional people preparing listings and handling negotiations.

On the other hand, it does make things cheaper for me when I decide to sell a property.

Number One Bloor

Baker is back at for a second time marketing the site of the famous one bloor fiasco. This time Great Gulf will be behind it with a slightly new name and really toned down: Number One Bloor

How is the site remembered?

-Agents will remember the $100 brochure package the developer was giving out and the long cold nights
- Media will remember the great story of people lining up for days with round the clock roll calls
-U of T Students will remember they were paid $2000 to line up - still no word on how much Cerebal Palsy John and Johnny five were paid.
- Investors will remember people blasting their emails trying to flip the condo for $10,000 more than the purchase price within the 10 day cooling off period

Check out the video From the Toronto Star here

Will Baker recover from pissing off the Toronto Asian Agents to sell out Number One Bloor as fast as they did X2 (read about the fiasco here). Probably

Analysis of Bankrupticies in Canada

Surprise, the number of people going insolvent is up about 35,000 people (up 28.6%). At last check, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada, there are 151,712 total insolvencies by consumers in Canada, as a percentage of the population (33,504,700) this is about 0.005%.

Lets look at the top towns:

1. Calgary +74% (to a total of 3,755 people or 0.003% of its population)
2. Kelowna +57.3% (to a total of 744 people or 0.004% of its population)
   
3. Edmonton +53.5% (to a total of 3,860 people or 0.003% of its population)
4. Thunder Bay +47.1& (to a total of 600 people or 0.005% of its population)
5. Vancouver +42.6% (to a total of 5,985 people or 0.002% of its population)

Toronto is up 34.4% (to a total of 25 653 people or 0.005% of its population).


Just in case you wondered, check out the bankruptcy numbers for the US here

The fun landlords have to deal with when a tenant leaves

I can't tell you the fun I've had to deal with after a tenant vacates a property. I've had dirty diapers, one year old kitty litter, and more rotten food that I care to look.


Probably the worst thing was the ashes of my tenant's husband (he was a great guy...I really didn't want to be that close to him).

I wish I took pictures of all the heroics I've dealt with, maybe someday I'll have a laugh, but right now..I'm just not over it.

So I'll post some pictures so potential real estate investors could see what we landlords deal with.


It was like this for 3 weeks:


You think this could cover up for the lost rent?


How nice of them, they thought you might need some of this:


Every landlord must know how to hang drywall, just in case you have one those super cats:


Ok, I could understand moving the bed scratched the wall, but how did the spit get there?: