[Xort]

"That means Canadians owe nearly $1.64 for every $1 in disposable income they earn in a year."

That's not that much.

Have a disposable income of 20,000 a year and you owe 32,000. So like one new vehicle.

[Zipperfish]

Xort Xort:

"That means Canadians owe nearly $1.64 for every $1 in disposable income they earn in a year."

That's not that much.

Have a disposable income of 20,000 a year and you owe 32,000. So like one new vehicle.

I disagree therefore you're an idiot.

[Robair]

Harsh!

[ShepherdsDog]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Xort Xort:

"That means Canadians owe nearly $1.64 for every $1 in disposable income they earn in a year."

That's not that much.

Have a disposable income of 20,000 a year and you owe 32,000. So like one new vehicle.

I disagree therefore you're an idiot.

Hey, he likely thinks $20K a year is big money

[Gunnair]

Curtman Curtman:

I went from a $60,000 fixer-upper in the west end (The war zone) to a $300K Sunny St. James location. We need to upsize for the new addition. It's not turning out to be easy.

$300,000 on my Island gets you 2 acres and a tent at low tide.

Not so much 12 hours later.

[Gunnair]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Xort Xort:

"That means Canadians owe nearly $1.64 for every $1 in disposable income they earn in a year."

That's not that much.

Have a disposable income of 20,000 a year and you owe 32,000. So like one new vehicle.

I disagree therefore you're an idiot.

[andyt]

Curtman Curtman:

martin14 martin14:

Can't wait for the Christmas numbers to com in.

Seriously, who the hell is taking on more debt these days?

People should be clearing it as fast as possible, things still aren't getting better in the ROW.

How can you purchase a house today, now that prices have gone up 300% from 10 years ago without taking on a huge debt?

This amount doesn't include mortgages - just credit cards etc. It also doesn't consider assets, which average out to 200K per Canadian. Many Canadians are fine with this much debt as long as the housing bubble doesn't burst. In that case, look out.

This is a sign of the stagnation of incomes, people trying to keep up their lifestyle by borrowing. Last step before the crash.

[Freakinoldguy]

Gunnair Gunnair:

Curtman Curtman:

I went from a $60,000 fixer-upper in the west end (The war zone) to a $300K Sunny St. James location. We need to upsize for the new addition. It's not turning out to be easy.

$300,000 on my Island gets you 2 acres and a tent at low tide.

Not so much 12 hours later.

Or, you could get a long extension cord and live in one of the Horne Lake Caves. Cheap at half the cost and your neighbour gets to pay for your excessive share of Crispie Clucks new Family First Hydro Electric self sufficiency plan.

[Gunnair]

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

Gunnair Gunnair:

Curtman Curtman:

I went from a $60,000 fixer-upper in the west end (The war zone) to a $300K Sunny St. James location. We need to upsize for the new addition. It's not turning out to be easy.

$300,000 on my Island gets you 2 acres and a tent at low tide.

Not so much 12 hours later.

Or, you could get a long extension cord and live in one of the Horne Lake Caves. Cheap at half the cost and your neighbour gets to pay for your excessive share of Crispie Clucks new Family First Hydro Electric self sufficiency plan.

You dropping your secrets here is ungood, Lord High Admiral. What happened to that Presidential Suite on the MV Quinsam we bought you?

[Jabberwalker]

$1:

Many Canadians are fine with this much debt as long as the housing bubble doesn't burst. In that case, look out.

The central bankers have been warning us for some time now that it is, in fact, a bubble and that it will burst sooner or later. Yes, they've been saying it for years. That doesn't mean that it is not a real phenomenon. When I look around this town (Oakville) and see all of the in-fill McMansions going up, two Mercs in every driveway ... some of these people are genuinely wealthy but a whole lot of them must be mortgaged up the yin-yang. I'm not one of those and I'm trying to position myself for some bargain hunting when the house of cards collapse. The Bank of Canada is scared skinny of raising interest rates because they will set it off.

[CanadianJeff]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Curtman Curtman:

How can you purchase a house today, now that prices have gone up 300% from 10 years ago without taking on a huge debt?

Lower your expectations and buy something you can afford to pay off in 10-15 years.

Or have patience and buy when the market comes down if everything is way too high. I'm actually waiting for the market to crash a bit and prices to come down before buying. There's a huge bubble that's been forming awhile in Saskatoon. Mark my words the bubble may just pop this summer.

[westmanguy]

If the bubble ever bursts in the Lower Mainland, I would take out a huge mortgage in a second. It would be destined without a doubt to rebound, and that would be a once in a lifetime opportunity.

My parents sold their house off in Manitoba in 2010 and while they could afford something out here (south of the Fraser) if they wanted to, the market is just too insane and they plan to rent until things ease out a bit.

I don't know. If the Asian investment trickled off and there was a minor bust here, I think I'd be okay going into big debt to possibly reap the advantage of making a big profit of flipping it after an inevitable rebound. But I don't know if Vancouver will actually ever have a bust.

[fifeboy]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Curtman Curtman:

How can you purchase a house today, now that prices have gone up 300% from 10 years ago without taking on a huge debt?

Lower your expectations and buy something you can afford to pay off in 10-15 years.

Now that is good advice! Only problem with that is so few people WANT a smaller home. Everyone is plugged into the giant house on a street of other (identical) giant houses in a neighbourhood of identical streets at the end of a long, congested drive to work. Rant finished...gonna take a nap....

[fifeboy]

CanadianJeff CanadianJeff:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Curtman Curtman:

How can you purchase a house today, now that prices have gone up 300% from 10 years ago without taking on a huge debt?

Lower your expectations and buy something you can afford to pay off in 10-15 years.

Or have patience and buy when the market comes down if everything is way too high. I'm actually waiting for the market to crash a bit and prices to come down before buying. There's a huge bubble that's been forming awhile in Saskatoon. Mark my words the bubble may just pop this summer.

Right you are. Not too long ago someone earning anything over min. wage could afford a home in Saskatoon . We bought our condo just before prices went up and were lucky. Now our home is worth at least 3 times what we paid, but all that does is insure that none of my kids will be able to afford a home.

[westmanguy]

fifeboy fifeboy:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Curtman Curtman:

How can you purchase a house today, now that prices have gone up 300% from 10 years ago without taking on a huge debt?

Lower your expectations and buy something you can afford to pay off in 10-15 years.

Now that is good advice! Only problem with that is so few people WANT a smaller home. Everyone is plugged into the giant house on a street of other (identical) giant houses in a neighbourhood of identical streets at the end of a long, congested drive to work. Rant finished...gonna take a nap....

That point is bang on. And a lot of my people my age (21) I find are finally changing their expectations for the future. People don't expect to buy and grow up in the same two story-2 garage suburban homes their parents provided them with growing up. Multi-style strata complexes are quite big in my area in the Lower Mainland. A mix of studios, apartments, townhouses, suites, etc. to accommodate many different lifestyles.

My goals are a modest studio for when I move out of my parents place next summer, and I'm accepting reality that I'm likely going to have to live south of the Fraser in Richmond/Surrey to afford to have my own studio with rent costs. I don't want to live in a shoebox just to be downtown.

Then as a career picks up and if I get married and have kids, I would be seek out a townhouse style living. I like my parents place right now. Its a 2 floor 1,800 square feet townhouse part of an apartment complex with a ground level spacious deck for a BBQ. That's all I would ever need. I don't need these damn mega houses. Not worth the debt in my opinion.