Death, Divorce, Dislocation, DensityDeath - very unfortunate topic, but death creates heirs that will have a lot of items to sort through, so a good option is people clear a house asap to rent or sell, then grab a storage unit so they can "sift through" things slowly over time.. many times NEVER.. and pay the fee instead of being "inconvenienced" to have to go sort through their mothers precious china collection.Same reason the rental increases for SS are crazy vs Apartments.. raise $150 storage rent by $9 a month = 6% rental increase. would you go rent a truck, take a full saturday in the 90 degree heat, hire movers, to move your crap down the street to save $9 a month?

It keeps me very entertained all the way here in Shanghai, China!

@Colleen F.Exactly, there are modern buildings that use drywall imported from china that contain asbestos.

In China, nearly everything is done with cash.

I mov­ed from China about 14yrs ago.

A lot of people dont know international markets so they think Toronto is a local phenomenon, but i just recently realized that real estate price in China and Brazil for example went from dirt cheap to higher than Toronto in the last 10 years, im starting to think anyone with a relative in Canada will now want to buy property in Canada,aka Toronto Vancouver

A lot of Asian cash buyers or turnkey style companies that sell the properties to clients in China.

Even if the average person mostly uses it to play angry birds and the like :)Currently 3d printers are printing concrete houses in china. 3d printing tech, could certainly change the general contractor and home builder markets as it evolves.

The ONLY downside I would see to the deal (even at the counter-offer price), is if there is something going on in the community which will decimate the rental market (e.g. the principle manufacturing plant in Trona is moving to China).  

I'm from WI and living near Beijing, China and my husband and I just bought a rental back in February.