Canadians bought more U.S. real estate than almost anyone else!

July 26, 2017 — Steve Garganis

From April 2016 to March 2017 Canadians spent $19billion buying U.S. properties, according to the U.S. National Association of Realtors.

Put another way, Canada was only behind China for all foreign purchases of U.S. real estate in 2016.   That’s an incredible stat that deserves more attention.

And what’s not been talked about is where Canadians are getting the money to buy these U.S. properties.  It isn’t so easy for a Canadian to borrow money from US Bank.  So, instead, Canadians are borrowing in Canada by refinancing the mortgage on their house, or getting a secured line of credit.  This is called leveraging.  Borrowing to invest isn’t a bad thing.  Most Financial Planners and advisor promote this.

THE STATS SHOW WE CANADIANS ARE SAVVY INVESTORS

Yet, all we keep hearing about is how Canadians are borrowing and spending like foolish children. And that’s just not true.  Here’s some numbers from 2016 …

Read the rest of this entry »

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Housing bubble is coming… again?

April 15, 2017 — Steve Garganis

You’ve seen them before.. but they went silent for a few years.  I’m talking about the housing bears.  The pessimists that say house prices are too high and will crash.  A housing bubble.

Are they right?  Maybe.  But here’s the thing.  We’ve been hearing that house prices are too high for over a decade.  One of the more vocal pessimists is David Madani, Economist for Capital Economics.

HOUSING BUBBLE?

Madani was on BNN this past week saying we are in a ‘Full blown housing bubble’.   Hmmm, that sounds familiar.  Let me think… when did I hear that before?  Oh, that’s right, 2011.   He said, we could see house prices drop by 25% in 2011.  And he was completely wrong. (hope you didn’t listen to him). Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Mortgage News, Real Estate news, Real Estate Trends. Tags: , , , , , , , . 1 Comment »

Panic buying? When will the housing market slow down?

February 28, 2017 — Steve Garganis

 

hot-housing-marketHouses selling over asking price is becoming the norm, these days.  Kinda crazy.  Sometimes a house is just listed under market value to attract a frenzy of buyers. An old tactic that has worked well in larger urban markets.  Today, that tactic is being used in smaller communities, too.

What’s unclear is if this selling tactic is contributing to houses selling for more than they’re worth.  And what is a home worth, anyway?   I always thought a house was worth what someone was willing to pay in the open market.  That’s still true in most cases, today.

When I see reports of houses selling for $100k, $200k and $300k over asking, it makes me wonder.  How long will this market last?  Will it crash?  And if so, when?   It’s hard to make forecasts and I can’t see into the future, but let’s examine this a little.

WHEN WILL THE HOUSING MARKET CRASH? Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Rate forecast, Real Estate news, Real Estate Trends. Tags: , , , , , . 4 Comments »

Trump’s George Ross says Canada’s Housing market is undervalued….

May 27, 2015 — Steve Garganis

George RossGeorge Ross is Donald Trump’s Executive VP.  He’s Trump’s senior advisor and has worked with Trump for 30 years.   You’ve probably seen him on TV on ‘The Apprentice’.   This week, he was quoted as saying Canada’s real estate market is undervalued, not overvalued.    That’s quite the opposite of what the so-called experts have been saying for 8 or 9 years.  (by the way, where are those experts now?)

If you listen to his interview, he makes some good points.   Office properties have more upward potential than residential properties.  But the residential market follows the Office or commercial market.   He also says that buying a house for a quick flip isn’t a good strategy.    It may sound good on the TV shows, but it’s a risky game to play.   Mr. Ross says more fortunes have been lost in real estate than have been made.   Read the rest of this entry »

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Darryl Sittler made his fortune in real estate, not hockey.

April 14, 2014 — Steve Garganis

RRSP home buyers planLast week, I had the privilege of attending REIN’s (Real Estate Investment Network) monthly workshop.  One of my childhood idols was a guest speaker.  I’m talking about Darryl Sittler, the former captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs.   In case you haven’t heard of REIN, let me share some details about this group of professionals.

REIN is a group of real estate investors that get together to network and share valuable information that affects real estate in Canada.   The leader of the group is Don Campbell.   If you haven’t heard of him, you should.  His approach to buying investment properties has proven to be very sound and profitable.  His “top ten best cities to invest” is legendary. Read the rest of this entry »

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Rising personal debt levels.. but how about rising asset levels?

September 17, 2013 — Steve Garganis

net worthEver notice how all economic news is bad?  Seriously, when was the last time you heard Canadians were doing well, financially?   Even when we came out of the October 2008 U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis (notice I’m very specific about the cause of that recession) with flying colours, we kept seeing the same negative messages about how lucky we were to come out of this as strong as we did.

But here we are, 5 years later (hard to believe it’s been 5 years) and all we keep hearing and reading is how the economy is fragile… the housing bubble is coming… personal debt levels are at record highs…  housing affordability index has increased (this measures how much of your income is used for housing)…   This all sounds terrible and depressing.. maybe we should sell everything, move to another country and herd sheep? Read the rest of this entry »

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Mortgage rates hit all-time lows….it all adds up to record savings too.

May 10, 2013 — Steve Garganis

graph trend downMortgage rates are still low… In fact, they are at record lows…  5 year fixed rates for qualify products can be found at 2.89%… some No Frills products are at 2.79% (stay away from these products)..   Put another way, for every $100,000 of mortgage you borrower, your payment is $468/mth.

Compare this with the average 5 year fixed rate for the past 25 years being over 7.00% and you have huge potential savings.  That same $100,000 mortgage would cost you $700/mth… That’s a $232/mth difference.  No wonder more Canadians are buying homes, buying rental properties or tapping into their equity to invest. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Money saving tips, Mortgage News, Mortgage Tips. Tags: , , , , , . Leave a Comment »
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