Canadian Federal Election 44 - Sep 2021

[KevinB]

Our ideal neighborhood was a a 30 minute drive to work.

As those got more expensive, we looked further out. 45-50 minute drive, and no transit now.

As those got more expensive, trying to get something basic is over an hour drive with traffic.

It's better to rent.

Understood - but based on your own admission the situation isn't going to get better anytime soon.
Not sure if you and the Mrs. have kids - but if you do, the drive may be worth it (two reasons - to get away {I kid sort of} but so they ca have a decent quality of life).

A basic house now will at least allow you to sell that to use towards a more ideal home.

 

[Altair]

Understood - but based on your own admission the situation isn't going to get better anytime soon.
Not sure if you and the Mrs. have kids - but if you do, the drive may be worth it (two reasons - to get away {I kid sort of} but so they ca have a decent quality of life).

A basic house now will at least allow you to sell that to use towards a more ideal home.

Its good advice.

We don't know what to do. Wait and see most likely.

What I will stress though is that it's not all because people don't know how to budget or feel entitled to simply be handed a house out of thin air.

Even those who did everything right are simply being priced out.

 

[SupersonicMax]

I don't want to come across as a smart ass, as I am legitimately sorry for your situation.

However the adage Life Sucks, Wear a Helmet comes to mind -- good people get F'd over by life all the time, you do the best with what you can, and you adapt as necessary.

But when « life sucks » for most average people, that’s when intervention is required.

 

[Halifax Tar]

I don't think anyone told me that.

What people did say was work hard, save money, build your credit and when you have done these things long enough home ownership will be the next step.

Those people lied. I might as well have spent recklessly and travelled the world and bought new vehicles and the newest electronics because I have the same chance of buying a house as those folks and had a lot less fun in the past few years than they did.

No one lied. You're just not done working and saving. And maybe you need to reel in your expectations.

Life is a series of obstacles to be overcome.

I don't think one can keep plugging away when house prices are rising faster than I am able to save. Math doesn't work that way. I am actually further away from home ownership today than I was 2 years ago and I have saved more money.

Riddle me that.

Maybe you won't get to own a home. Tough cookies. Make the best of what you have, or dont. It's up to you.

 

[KevinB]

Its good advice.

We don't know what to do. Wait and see most likely.

What I will stress though is that it's not all because people don't know how to budget or feel entitled to simply be handed a house out of thin air.

Even those who did everything right are simply being priced out.

If have a fair amount of friends in the same boat.

Several USG entities packed up from Northern Virginia and moved certain things to places like Texas and Louisiana - which gave those workers a massive break in housing.

My uncle used to work for Shell -- they wholesale abandoned Toronto one year for Calgary - back when Calgary housing was a fraction of TO's

It doesn't sound like that is an option for you, and I wish you luck.

 

[KevinB]

But when « life sucks » for most average people, that’s when intervention is required.

Usually we call that a revolution...

 

[Remius]

I agree

Also agree.

Agreed.

Make sense.

Makes sense.

I do like how people assume people are making bad choices.

I'm about to dump my financials here.

My household income is around 85k.

The wife and I identified the neighborhood we want to live in. Housing price around 350-400k

In order to make the finances work, we made a plan. Save a lot of money. 90k. We we have been putting aside around 10k a year. 4 years into our plan, no vacations, no new vehicles, living rather frugally, we saved around 45k. We had some investments pay off, to the tune of about 20k. So we are thinking we are doing really well. almost there.

Then covid hits and this housing market goes nuts. Suddenly 90k isn't enough. Fine, whats another 20k? Two more years? Fine. Another year passes. Another 15k on top of that? What the hell, fine, the neighborhood we planned on isn't going to work. Lets look outside the city. And whats happening? Right, of course, those prices are now rising faster than we can save as well.

So home ownership for us is pretty much out of the window.

I work for the forces, and my exit job is tied to this geographical location, so I cannot simply move across the country and net a job that pays anywhere near what my exit job is going to pay.

Where exactly did I screw up? What bad choices did I make?

I never said bad choices, just choices, and I specified some of us have different choices but choices just the same.

I don’t know what choices you or your wife made. I have no idea how old you are or what your situation is. So I can’t comment. All I know is that at one point in my life I had to cut cable, home phone, new clothes and change my eating habits and drive a 12 year old car to own my home.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Its good advice.

We don't know what to do. Wait and see most likely.

What I will stress though is that it's not all because people don't know how to budget or feel entitled to simply be handed a house out of thin air.

Even those who did everything right are simply being priced out.

Not to worry. You'll get your house. Trudeau gave us his promises. You can take those to the bank.

Homeownership:

• Help young Canadians afford a down payment faster by introducing a tax-free First Home Savings Account that would allow Canadians under 40 to save up to $40,000 toward their first home and withdraw it tax-free to put toward their purchase, with no requirement to repay it.
• Double the first-time homebuyers tax credit from $5,000 to $10,000 — an incentive that would help buyers with the many closing costs that come with buying property.
• To reduce mortgage costs, a Liberal-led government would force the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to reduce mortgage insurance rates by 25% — a $6,100 annual savings for the average household.
• For those ready to buy, Trudeau said the Liberals would “make sure the process is fair and transparent” by creating a Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights that would ban measures like blind bidding, which would require home sellers to disclose competing offers on their properties.
• Impose a ban on new foreign ownership for the next two years and expand the upcoming tax on vacant and underused housing owned by non-resident and non-Canadians to include foreign-owned vacant land within large urban areas.
• Impose an “anti-flipping tax” on residential properties, which would require that properties either be held for at least 12 months or face taxes — a move intended to reduce speculative demand in the marketplace and help cool excessive price growth.

Build more homes:

• To help with supply, Trudeau said the Liberals plan to build, preserve, or repair 1.4 million affordable homes in four years.
• The Liberals’ housing plan also includes a Housing Accelerator Fund, which would make $4 billion available to help large cities speed up their housing plans, targeting 100,000 new middle-class homes by 2024-2025.
• The party also promised $2.7 billion over four years to build or repair more affordable homes, money to convert empty office space into housing, a multigenerational home renovation tax credit to offset the costs of adding a secondary unit to a home.

 

[Remius]

Crime or reported Crime?
I've done enough ride alongs with various Big City Departments both in Canada and down here - and I know that crime does not equal reported crimes.

Just going off stats across the country.

 

[lenaitch]

I was always of the belief that you don't acquire something until you can afford it, and that includes kids, but do truly feel sorry for the folks who have been caught up in the recent market silliness that has surrounded Covid. Whether the prices stick remains to be seen.

I'm not exactly sure what the federal government can realistically do to impact housing costs in any meaningful way. Tweaking tax laws just clips around the edges. Provincial and municipal governments can have more impact since they control land use planning, zoning, etc. as well as transit development. The big problem in the Toronto area, and I assume Vancouver, is supply. Folks stuck in a small condo, working form home, with kids, decided they needed the space offered by a single family home, and there was more demand than listings. At the same time, advocates and planners call for more density to reduce sprawl. Toronto has been a hot market for a while, Covid made it worse.

Among the younger generation of city dwellers, some are honestly committed (or resigned to) the downtown condo-dwelling, non-vehicle owning, transit-using lifestyle. Others bemoan the fact that they can't find a job with their arts degree and moving north of Bloor St. is akin to the tundra. The concept of leaving friends, family, favourite bistro or club for a well-paying job in a new community is foreign to them.

 

[lenaitch]

Not to worry. You'll get your house. Trudeau gave us his promises. You can take those to the bank.

Homeownership:

• Help young Canadians afford a down payment faster by introducing a tax-free First Home Savings Account that would allow Canadians under 40 to save up to $40,000 toward their first home and withdraw it tax-free to put toward their purchase, with no requirement to repay it.
• Double the first-time homebuyers tax credit from $5,000 to $10,000 — an incentive that would help buyers with the many closing costs that come with buying property.
• To reduce mortgage costs, a Liberal-led government would force the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to reduce mortgage insurance rates by 25% — a $6,100 annual savings for the average household.
• For those ready to buy, Trudeau said the Liberals would “make sure the process is fair and transparent” by creating a Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights that would ban measures like blind bidding, which would require home sellers to disclose competing offers on their properties.
• Impose a ban on new foreign ownership for the next two years and expand the upcoming tax on vacant and underused housing owned by non-resident and non-Canadians to include foreign-owned vacant land within large urban areas.
• Impose an “anti-flipping tax” on residential properties, which would require that properties either be held for at least 12 months or face taxes — a move intended to reduce speculative demand in the marketplace and help cool excessive price growth.

Build more homes:

• To help with supply, Trudeau said the Liberals plan to build, preserve, or repair 1.4 million affordable homes in four years.
• The Liberals’ housing plan also includes a Housing Accelerator Fund, which would make $4 billion available to help large cities speed up their housing plans, targeting 100,000 new middle-class homes by 2024-2025.
• The party also promised $2.7 billion over four years to build or repair more affordable homes, money to convert empty office space into housing, a multigenerational home renovation tax credit to offset the costs of adding a secondary unit to a home.

Like many other planks in the platforms of the parties in this last election, many of the promises touch on provincial jurisdiction. Shovelling money out the door always runs up against provinces saying 'just give us the money and we'll figure out what the spend it on.

How does a First Home Savings Account differ from a TFSA. Have folks looking for their first home maxed-out their TSFAs and RSPs? From what I have read, investment options aren't the problem.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Trudeau gave us his promises. You can take those to the bank.

Absolutely.



Hero of the party MP George Chahal, only Liberal to win a seat in blue Calgary.

Liberal Calgary MP allegedly caught on camera nicking opponent's flyer

Campaign manager claims newly-elected Calgary-Skyview MP George Chahal removed the flyer because it contained 'incorrect polling location'

torontosun.com

 

[ballz]

Like many other planks in the platforms of the parties in this last election, many of the promises touch on provincial jurisdiction. Shovelling money out the door always runs up against provinces saying 'just give us the money and we'll figure out what the spend it on.

How does a First Home Savings Account differ from a TFSA. Have folks looking for their first home maxed-out their TSFAs and RSPs? From what I have read, investment options aren't the problem.

It's not a big advantage over a TFSA, other than really it creates a bigger TFSA for first-time home buyers to start trying to build some savings...

If you're 18 or 19 years old, you don't have much TFSA room, this essentially increases it by $40k of the hop... however, if you're that age, you probably don't have enough income to max out your TFSA room as it is. I guess it allows your parents to help you out more with their own money but again, this only helps those that already have more advantages than your average Joe.

If you're older, say 32, and have $35k in your RRSP and maxed out TFSAs, then you've already got access to ~$100k for a downpayment.

The RRSP HBP was the best tool, but that's already at $35k.... if anything increasing it is the only thing in these types of programs that could make a big difference. But, that's only temporary, it's an early-bird gets the worm again... once the market adjusts to that increased demand and it would very quickly, it would just drive up the housing prices even further.

Perhaps what really needs to be supported is people who want to do new builds / buy new builds from a builder / substantial renovation projects... for example, making them 100% GST-free. This would lead to more decisions to buy new, leading to more companies building, or encourages more people to take the project on themselves. Land obviously causes a huge constraint, they could also probably do away with the GST on new lots. These are all still just tweaks but at least they address the supply side and don't drive up costs even further.

One thing Jen Gerson mentioned, which she admits is political suicide, but perhaps access to subsidized long-term care should be tied to home equity. I think it's worth looking at but not sure how many people going into long-term care have a huge amounts of equity.

 

[OldSolduer]

Not to worry. You'll get your house. Trudeau gave us his promises. You can take those to the bank.

One of his candidates let slip that the LPC were considering capital gains tax on the sale of your primary residence. He was quickly shushed and never spoke of it again.

I think that is one thing you - or the GoC more correctly - can take to the bank.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

I don't think one can keep plugging away when house prices are rising faster than I am able to save. Math doesn't work that way. I am actually further away from home ownership today than I was 2 years ago and I have saved more money.

Riddle me that.

Yet we (as a whole) were stupid enough to elect the same Federal party that allowed that to happen. We are a collective stupid....

 

[Maxman1]

I agree

Also agree.

Agreed.

Make sense.

Makes sense.

I do like how people assume people are making bad choices.

I'm about to dump my financials here.

My household income is around 85k.

The wife and I identified the neighborhood we want to live in. Housing price around 350-400k

In order to make the finances work, we made a plan. Save a lot of money. 90k. We we have been putting aside around 10k a year. 4 years into our plan, no vacations, no new vehicles, living rather frugally, we saved around 45k. We had some investments pay off, to the tune of about 20k. So we are thinking we are doing really well. almost there.

Then covid hits and this housing market goes nuts. Suddenly 90k isn't enough. Fine, whats another 20k? Two more years? Fine. Another year passes. Another 15k on top of that? What the hell, fine, the neighborhood we planned on isn't going to work. Lets look outside the city. And whats happening? Right, of course, those prices are now rising faster than we can save as well.

So home ownership for us is pretty much out of the window.

I work for the forces, and my exit job is tied to this geographical location, so I cannot simply move across the country and net a job that pays anywhere near what my exit job is going to pay.

Where exactly did I screw up? What bad choices did I make?

So no one told you life was going to be this way?

 

[Maxman1]

Instead of subsidizing childcare so that more people can enter or participate in the workforce. We should just put these kids to work directly that way their parents are freed up to participate but we will get the benefit of the greater labour participation of the children and their economic participation and contribution as well. Not only will we save on daycare costs we will be able to cut our education costs substantially as well

 

[lenaitch]

One of his candidates let slip that the LPC were considering capital gains tax on the sale of your primary residence. He was quickly shushed and never spoke of it again.

I think that is one thing you - or the GoC more correctly - can take to the bank.

That would probably be political suicide. Geeze, I don't think even the NDP would propose it. For a lot of folks, their home equity is a big chunk of their retirement nest egg, especially to fund retirement home living and long term care.

 

[Altair]

Yet we (as a whole) were stupid enough to elect the same Federal party that allowed that to happen. We are a collective stupid....

Far too much time is spent looking at the past when we need to look towards the future.

 

[Brad Sallows]

A high-school course isn't needed to teach financial prudence.

1. Use a debit card instead of a credit card.
1a. A credit card is something you get in order to use services that require a credit card (eg. hotel, car rental).
1b. If you have to actually use the credit card, pay it off every month so that you never pay interest.

2. Never use borrowed money to buy stuff that depreciates (eg. cars).
2a. It's OK to borrow to buy a home.
2b. If you do know how to invest, it's OK to borrow to invest (provided earnings > interest).*

3. 10, 10, and 6.
a. Minimum of 10% of gross income into short-term savings (for emergencies and occasional big purchases - car, vacation).
b. Minimum of 10% of gross income into long-term savings (retirement, not to be withdrawn until).
c. 6 months' expenses in a low-risk account. Never to be touched except in case of unemployment.

(Should be 10, 20, and 6 if you want the kind of retirement income a typical public employee pension plan provides.)

*If you don't know much, buy index funds.