News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 02, 2020
 8.7K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
 40K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
 4.9K     0 

I only see this happening if the American economy brings our economy down. The banks and other lending institutions here have been very conservative with their loans. ARM's are not going to be much of an issue here which is what is killing the US financial and housing markets right now.
 
Chuck, i understand your point. I am not scraping by and i do plan to stay here a while and lock in at a favourable fixed rate within the next year. I am however worried about the market price of my house going down.


Investor, so what are you saying? Our demographics justify a 500K+ median house price in Toronto and a 300K townhouse in Vaughan?


Conrad Black, other than CIBC i think all our banks have been very responsible, i remember going into TD Bank with my wife with a combined income of 110K and only being offered a mortgage of 230K at most. In the States people with that income are being offered 1 million dollar mortgages. I am also worried about their economy affecting ours. There was an article a couple weeks back in the Star about the decoupling/divorce between our economy and theirs, the author had modest concerns but i am convinced that it could be much worse, especially if they go in to a huge recession. I should look into some history and find out how we are affect by their recessions.
 
Investor, so what are you saying? Our demographics justify a 500K+ median house price in Toronto and a 300K townhouse in Vaughan?

As someone else previously stated, if you can afford to own without stretching your budget and have relatively long term residency plans then you shouldn't care one way or another. Just don't try and time the market.
 
Harper discusses 2008

This sounds grim. It's partly related to the US economy

YEAR-END INTERVIEW

Canada faces 'challenging' 2008, PM says

Economy, climate change and Afghanistan will top agenda, Harper says

Dec 20, 2007 05:00 PM
Tonda MacCharles and Bruce Campion-Smith
Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA – Economic uncertainty in the United States and the “bite†expected once greenhouse gas cuts take effect will “challenge†the Canadian economy in the coming year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says.

Although the country’s economic “fundamentals†are sound, Harper volunteered a warning for the year ahead in an interview with the Toronto Star this week.

He said the minority Conservatives will not offer big spending measures in a budget this spring, but will rather seek to cushion the economy from any shocks.

“There remains very serious economic uncertainty in the United States and in other parts of the world, and it’s impossible for me to see how Canada can be entirely immune from those developments,†he said in the interview at 24 Sussex.

“We will have very much a stand-pat fiscal stance focused on stability, focused on paying down debt, which is what families and businesses do when they face a period of some uncertainty,†he said.

Harper said Canadians may not anticipate the “shock†that mandated reductions in greenhouse gases will bring, once they begin to take effect this year. While the government has offered incentives for industry to use “technology opportunities†to meet targets, he said, “the fact of the matter is it will cost.â€

He began his session with the Star with an overview, saying Canadians feel “pretty good and secure†about the economy and national unity. The country is “united,†separatism on the wane, and unemployment at its lowest in 30 years.

But he made clear that the government’s view is the coming year will be “more challenging.â€

“This government will be very cautious when it comes to fiscal actions . . . As I said, we’ve taken our tax measures for the budget . . . this government will not be throwing billions of dollars around in the spring,†Harper said.

The prime minister defended his government’s actions at the climate change conference in Bali and said it’s imperative other countries accept mandatory emission caps if greenhouse gases are to be reduced.

“We’re going to have targets anyway. Our view is that we’ve got to get some other countries in on this. What’s coming out of Bali is interesting, you got a bit of a consensus but there’s a lot of chest-thumping and not very many countries willing to actually reduce emissions. That’s the reality.â€

As for Afghanistan, Harper said he is looking to the panel he appointed, led by former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley, to lay out “viable†options for Canada's mission there.

But the prime minister said that Canada accepted its Kandahar mission with no promises that other countries would take its place.

Parliament will vote on any decisions about the future mission, said Harper. But he repeated his preference that Canada not abandon the war-torn country prematurely.

Harper also suggested that Canadians don’t want a public inquiry into the Mulroney-Schreiber affair, which he emphasized had nothing to do with his government.

He said it is “almost a certainty†the government will accept the recommendatios of lawyer and academic David Johnston on the issue, however, because “we don’t want to adjudicate this ourselves.â€
 
But Harry is looking at 4 projects in Hamilton at this time. How could he be so wrong? :)

Harry's name is now officially attached to my favorite Hamilton project, as of this morning! Damn, this going to be SOOOOOO fun!

Got it from the SPP forum...

----------------
Developer talks about Lister and Connaught
Dec, 21 2007 - 7:00 AM

HAMILTON (AM900 CHML) - We will hear more details about the possible sale of two stalled developments in downtown Hamilton, the Lister Block and the Royal Connaught Hotel.
Toronto developer Harry Stinson has had preliminary discussions about buying the buildings.

He's been described as the condo king of Toronto, and he'll join Bill Kelly on CHML following the news at 11 o'clock this morning.
-----------------

Talk about stepping into shit. He's in my world now boys! The guys have needed a washed up front-man for their scamming (oops, meant 'investing') since that ex-priest stopped working as well. GREAT CHOICE!!

GO HAMILTON!!!!! STINSON!!!! STINSON!!!! LMAO!!!
 
I'll be quick, because I don't know how far off topic we're straying...

I listened the Stinson talk and it was a total waste of time. These rumours only buy LIUNA some more time to wriggle around (they're masters at that). Stinson just got some free minutes on the radio to plug himself as a real estate guru, which makes me love him even more. He's the perfect patsy fall guy. :)

If anything gets worked out, I can't wait to see what type of funding scheme they'll try and use on this one.
 
I'll be quick, because I don't know how far off topic we're straying...

I listened the Stinson talk and it was a total waste of time. These rumours only buy LIUNA some more time to wriggle around (they're masters at that). Stinson just got some free minutes on the radio to plug himself as a real estate guru, which makes me love him even more. He's the perfect patsy fall guy. :)

If anything gets worked out, I can't wait to see what type of funding scheme they'll try and use on this one.

Seeing that loser promote another condo development is the equivalent to seeing Conrad Black write a book on how to 'redirect' non-compete payments from the corporate teasure to your personal bank account.

Anyone foolish enough to buy anything from this idiot or worse, lend money to this idiot, deserves what they get.

I would consider hiring him to do insomnia videos- any time I had a sleepless night all I needed to do to alleviate the problem was turn on his ridiculous infomercial and I'd be fast asleep in minutes.

I would actually consider watching a documentary on him though- I'm sure his colorful personality comes through brilliantly on film. Anyone know if Michael Moore is busy these days? He loves a good controversy!
 
His story would make a good documentary. But the story isn't over yet. Perhaps a W5 investigation in 5 or 6 years.
 
I have a confession to make, I don't understand what the credit crunch is. Sadly however I don't really think experts on the subject know either because I would assume their losses are unintentional.

Chuck, I'm not so sure about your comment regarding fixed rates. I've had a variable product for a year and I'm locked in at 0.9 below prime. My monthly payments just went down and 2008 will likely see further downward pressure on interest rates. On the other hand fixed rates have gone up as the banks tighten there lending and there is pressure for them to climb, or at least for banks to cut back on the discount options they are willing to offer below the posted rate. Interest rates will have to go up substantially in 2009,2010 and 2011 to put me in the same or worse position over the course of my term as someone locking in to the less favourable rates available now. However I have the option of reducing my principal at intervals as conditions become more clear beyond 2008. Furthermore the amount of each payment going towards principal is locked in higher in my mortgage product than under a conventional 5 year fixed. At any rate I would never be so foolish as to put myself in a position where the swing of interest rates a few points this way or that would put me in financial straights. The point is that variable products are only a problem if you make them a problem by being foolish.
 
Tricky Ricky, your situation sounds sensible. Rates will go down before they go up, and you will obviously benefit.

Mortgage lending in the U.S. is more of a Wild West scene than it ever has been here. A particularly poor practice is the so-called "teaser rate", where people sign up for a mortgage with an unrealistically low rate for the first year or two. They are told that when the "reset date" arrived, that is, the date on which the rate would go up, they could simply refinance, and that cycle would somehow continue ad infinitum. It falls apart if property values fall, which they have in certain parts of the U.S., particularly the southeast. Lenders won't refinance if the property value is below the amount of the loan.

The other practice in the U.S. which is seldom seen in Canada is that mortgages are "packaged" and sold off by the banks that originated them. They are not kept on the books of the originating lender. These packages of mortgages were considered, unrealistically, to be good investments. It was a major surprise to many lenders when the crunch hit, and no one wanted to buy these packaged securities any more, because they have no idea what they are really worth.

I think it's a good deal more complicated than that, of course. But the two major factors cited above don't really apply in the Canadian mortgage market, and that's why we won't have nearly as much angst as the Americans.
 
His story would make a good documentary. But the story isn't over yet. Perhaps a W5 investigation in 5 or 6 years.

W5? That's the diet Coke of Canadian investigative journalism. The Fifth Estate would eat Harry for dinner.

Even better, get Stevie Cameron to investigate the Toronto condo industry.
 
I have a confession to make, I don't understand what the credit crunch is. Sadly however I don't really think experts on the subject know either because I would assume their losses are unintentional.

Rick, the credit crunch is the proverbial term that describes the virtual meltdown in the financial system across north america. Overzealous lenders originated billions and billions of loan that just were not underwritten with proper scrutiny while rating agencies gave the packaged pools of these loans an undeserved blessing. As a result, it is much, much more difficult for borrowers to obtain financing of any kind- mortgages, car loans, debt for corporate takeovers etc. This has had a softening affect in Canada in the securitization market and is trickling up through the system to prime loans as well. Some Canadian lenders securitize residential mortgages and as a result portfolio lenders had to be more competitive. As a result of the credit crunch they can once again tighten up their lending standards.

As far as fixed or floating, unless you can afford to chance it you should also try and lock in your mortgage rate for as long as possible. People who were smart enough to do so in the earlier part of the decade enjoyed incredibly low mortgage rates while people like yourself have seen the prime rate slowly creep up.
 

Back
Top