All Forum Posts by: Doug P.

@Henry Moore What kind of deals are you looking for?

@Roy N. That's very true. I don't know why our prices aren't effected more by our proximity to Toronto. We certainly have plenty of commuters and lots of people selling in Toronto and buying here.

Oh well, I'll take it :)

@Roy N. Wow! It's nice to be in a market that putters along at a more reasonable (perhaps even...sustainable?) pace. Kitchener-Waterloo is only up 2.6% for the same period.

 Oooh do tell! I've never been out East. I thought you guys always get 10 feet of snow and a foot of ice every winter LOL :D

Vancouver is no doubt priced the way is is because it's incredibly beautiful and offers the best year-round climate of anywhere in Canada. In short, it's THE most desirable place to live in the country for most people.

Other than that, there are so many factors that make one place more popular than another that's almost impossible to quantify. The Niagara region of Ontario is a lovely area (probably the next best climate after Vancouver) and yet the population is fairly low and real estate is relatively cheap.

As another example my hometown, Waterloo, has had nearly 25 years of rising prices but we're still doing far better than the largest cities for affordability. Household income is $108k but prices are about $360k (all housing).

You can throw those affordability rankings right out the window when you have some immigrant families willing to live 20 members to a 2 bedroom apartment with at least 10 adults among them all with full-time jobs and/or running businesses. In that scenario prices can go up another 500%+ before it actually becomes unaffordable for that family.

And those are the only people who can afford to live in a number of the apartment/condos that are going up here in Waterloo, where rent for a 1 bedroom starts at $2,600 + utilities. We're also seeing a bunch of high rise condos going up with NO amenities (no gym, no pool, not even parking.)

Don't know about Canada as a whole or other parts of the country, but here in Kitchener-Waterloo it's a mix. Nearly our entire population are either immigrants or first-generation Canadians. So you have immigrants working across the board in every industry and vertically through all levels of management.

@Anthony Gayden There are cheap houses in Canada if you know where to look:

http://www.realtor.ca/Residential/Single-Family/15...

Of course, finding a tenant or buyer for them is another story!

@Okeoma M. The very first one. But that's because I found a motivated seller and solved his problem.

It's hard to find a deal by looking at the house first. You should focus on finding a motivated seller first. Let me illustrate:

Your current approach:

Step 1: Look at 100 houses
Step 2: Make offers on 10
Step 3: Maybe get a counter offer from 1 motivated seller

Compared to the approach of virtually all successful investors which looks like this:

Step 1: Find 100 motivated sellers
Step 2: Create solutions for their specific problems
Step 3: Qualify the properties and probably buy at least 50% of them

@Joel Owens Although that's true, you and I both know most brokers will not press the issue if they can't prove they were the procuring cause. Placing liens or taking clients to court isn't generally good for public relations.

I can see that being more likely in the commercial market where the commissions are so much bigger. But I generally only buy below average priced homes.