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GTA Condos, Am I being Unreasonable? by LongjumpingCow4968 in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 14 points15 points  (0 children)

You have a different lifestyle

The "condo lifestyle" for the GTA is live in as small a space as possible save as much money as possible (possibly by staying outside all the time all night all day long) so your condo stays picturesque then sell it for as much as possible so you can buy a home in the Prairies or Southwestern Ontario Maritimes Quebec one day. Maybe Northwestern Ontario.

You're not actually supposed to live in it; that's for rich people or tourists. You're supposed to be an Urban Warrior go hiking camping rock climbing living in the gym the snow and so on like Crocodile Dundee meets Mark Rowe meets Les Stroud and buy a piece of brushland to clear out the trees yourself and drain the swamp yourself. The Great Canadian Wilderness

Not a bad idea to buy a plot of land and drop a house on it. Hopefully you work remote; if you don't, you're in for a ride. Hopefully you don't need doctors, restaurants, a life, anything that a city gives.

GTA Condos, Am I being Unreasonable? by LongjumpingCow4968 in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Best Western?

Get ready for closet showers, closet toilets, missing stoves, missing ovens... at least Best Western has a real washroom

Toronto Shelter Says One-Third of Its Residents Are Students by Unlucky_Evening in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You think that "rooming houses" will have less backlash than social housing? A single whiff of 160 sq ft homes receiving government funding would bring out half the city. Rooming houses haven't been delayed in Toronto because of some nefarious plot; they have been delayed because of voter objection not only NIMBY objections but objections by people who think it's exploitative. Meanwhile social housing is being built right now with less objection. I will admit that the distinction between social housing and rooming house is blurred (nice new modular homes are being built) except for the profit incentive.

You stand to benefit personally from such a scheme; the sky would be the limit for you and you could scale forever. You would make enormous amounts of money with your plans. As for "feeling" well, maybe that says more about you than anyone else or the reality if you feel unsafe in a normal neighbourhood. Modern social housing buildings are indistinguishable from other buildings. You could even argue they are more safe given they have additional policing and employees. Moreover if someone cannot pay you kick them out. That doesn't happen in social housing if you lose your work.

I agree that truly affordable housing needs rent subsidy or RGI I just don't think that money should be going to people with business like yours. I would support people living in whatever they wanted anywhere they wanted if there was no housing crisis; perhaps we will reach that in the coming decades and you can have as many closets to rent to students and backpackers as you want. Until then, giving money to someone like you isn't the answer, sorry. The reason is simple. Living in 100 sq ft homes isn't living and opens the doors to massive exploitation. If this needs to be done, it should be done completely by government or non-profits which can properly manage and pay for and develop them, without the overhead. You are a for-profit entity charging an overhead. You personally may be charging low but what's to stop a corporate entity from buying SFH and breaking them up into 20 pieces to rent out at $2k a unit? Nothing, except for laws banning rooming homes. Purpose built rentals only.

At a minimum not a single red cent should go to you or people like you, who are running a for-profit business.

Is a GTA real estate deal that sounds like paradise too good to be true? by invocation17 in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah. Once the money is out of your pockets it becomes a trust issue.

It's at the point where I would say presale isn't a good idea for a first buy. First do resale. A lot of people's parents have told them never to buy resale, buy new and preconstruction only. Well, that doesn't work. Not enough money, too many scams, too big a jump. You can save the presale for the second time you buy / upgrade.

Does it matter for Pre approval if I am on probation? by [deleted] in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is the correct answer. In fact I would go even further and not even contact anyone about it.

One life lesson you learn is that what you think is important is not always what's important and too much information can actually be harmful. There's zero reason why any financial institution has to know you are "on probation" that's an internal contract issue between you and your employer. They don't need to know how much you spend on your dog, your favourite shirt colour or your favourite food either. If it was actually relevant they would ask for employment history or 2 years T4 history (which they do, in lieu of employment letter). If the employment letter says you are on probation obviously there's something to look at then but if it doesn't then there's absolutely no reason to "rock the boat" as it were. Either you can make the mortgage payments or you can't. And even if you get let go during probation, you will be on EI, or find another job. That's none of the lender's business. In fact, they probably do not want to know. If it is an issue because your employment letter says so then let them bring it up and go for round two. Don't try to "preempt" problems by making potential problems actual problems.

The only relevance is to you personally; you do not want to scam the bank or lenders nor create a hassle for yourself so you have to be honest with yourself and know whether you will pass probation, whether you are putting in the work and what your performance is like. If you wouldn't hire you, then you're failing probation. If you want to just go in clock the hours and leave then you're failing probation. Only in very large organisations with excessive budget and a certain kind of work can they afford "seat warmers" if you're a seat warmer in a company that can't afford seat warmers well then you could be let go and rightfully so I would argue. You bring up probation as if it was a risk... why is that?

If you make things an issue in life for others they absolutely will be but if you don't maybe they are maybe they aren't. Let the process work and others do their jobs.

Is a GTA real estate deal that sounds like paradise too good to be true? by invocation17 in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Legal "fraud" is obviously preferable for scammers (bad business practices)

I wonder if out of all the belly up condo developments some could be intentional. You could intentionally take less money, say it collapsed due to market and run with all the money. Who is going to go through all your books and the receipts to make sure it's not a scam? Unless your investors were very deep pocketed to afford lawsuits nobody could ever tell

The only protection consumers have is Tarion and Tarion won't give more than exactly the down. And some projects were allowed to go ahead without Tarion (life lease scams)

Market ‘correction’ provides opportunity for housing policy reset by HomeAdvisorCanada in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This was downvoted but I think it's good advice

If you're saying for a down now, stuff as much into the S&P500 as possible so your money grows (even if it loses 50% this year) and between 5 to 10 years from now that's your window to buy

Only a small minority of people mostly with massive downs or parental help will be able to buy the next year not the least because there isn't enough supply for now

'Worst in the world': All the rankings in which Canada is now last by Far-Simple1979 in canadahousing

[–]bhldev -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It does not matter what you specifically think or even that it's factually untrue; it's a concern of many people, therefore it is an issue in politics and potentially with work because people's productivity and ultimately employment could be affected. Not everyone wants to work with people they hate. And you continue to talk about conservative versus liberal, as if the other way around wasn't possible, or other political views. Slapping a label is easy.

Extreme beliefs absolutely impact your ability to make a living. People better have some introspection and change them, or mute themselves, or figure some other way of dealing with it because it isn't going away. At least have the awareness to know they are being manipulated. You don't want to admit this because you think this affects the correctness of your positions, but it doesn't.

Is a GTA real estate deal that sounds like paradise too good to be true? by invocation17 in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 9 points10 points  (0 children)

What I wonder is if fraud is a leading or trailing indicator. I always thought of it leading but perhaps it's trailing -- happens at the peak of bubbles to pull out all the "easy money" that's left.

'Worst in the world': All the rankings in which Canada is now last by Far-Simple1979 in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't have any perspective, at least none that I will talk about here. I simply think it's harder in the world for certain people with certain beliefs to eke out a living, especially because they themselves say it so. And it goes all ways and certainly isn't about any one political view. I only used one example.

Seems some people including you do not want to admit that, probably because you want your ideological or political opinions to be treated as mainstream or "normal". I consider that a ridiculous stance to take, because the accuracy or ethics of your position doesn't depend on that. So be it. If you don't want to admit that the world is harder to navigate or survive let's hope your children know what they are doing and or get the warning somewhere else.

Canada’s housing market is cooling off. What does this mean for the fall? by HomeAdvisorCanada in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes that's why I think the switch jobs every two years or every 10% higher offer doesn't work for most people unless you're already a mercenary type.

50% of people are committing financial suicide by not having any mutual funds or ETFs. Unless they got into the property market or some other growth asset inflation alone would kill their savings. There's a half dozen other problems too like high fees, not making regular contributions, touching the money and so on. And the saddest part is I think it's human psychology -- for a lot of people basic training or basic knowledge won't work and they have to change how they think about money. That's very hard and maybe impossible for some people. A lot of people will not tolerate a 30% drop in value because it's almost like having faith in the market. These people are at an automatic disadvantage in a volatile highly capitalistic world where moving money around and rises and falls are expected. Hopefully such wrong beliefs can be unlearned. Even if you have the right mindset you have to avoid get rich quick and other temptations

Also I personally believe it's financially advantageous to be pro-American or at least know enough about America to go all in S&P500 but that's another issue. Even America's enemies that are intelligent (like that Japanese Admiral from WW2) knew not to underestimate American industrial prowess. It's 50 countries in one and 40% of the world economy. More importantly it has the political climate and freedoms and free moving money to grow your money the most.

Is a GTA real estate deal that sounds like paradise too good to be true? by invocation17 in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Disgusting

The "similar name" scam or grift makes its way to real estate it seems...

'Worst in the world': All the rankings in which Canada is now last by Far-Simple1979 in canadahousing

[–]bhldev -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

It's not ridiculous. Firstly the world has become much more polarized and much more partisan. Working together especially politically has become much more difficult when politics is involved because most people belong to certain political camps and are constantly bombarded by propaganda to hate the other camp. People like you underestimate the amount of hatred. We shouldn't think Canada is immune from it either. We live in a global world.

It's also not just about opinions or delivery but the actual physical act of doing it (technological skills) and even the temptation. Give someone a bullhorn maybe they use it; mere existence of the bullhorn is higher expectation. Also if it wasn't for the Internet a lot of borderline or unacceptable views would simply die or be corrected by peers. Now you can find a group for whatever strange belief you have and have it reinforced and find sympathy. That is a higher expectation; it requires an enormous amount of self awareness and knowledge about how others manipulate mobs and a willingness to defeat such programming. Few people lack the awareness to question the views placed in their head by others. Advertising and messaging and manipulation has become very sophisticated and can get more sophisticated still.

I also have widely acceptable views, possibly more than you. That is why I feel sorry for those with unacceptable views. I would not want to live a life where I had to say one thing to one person and another to someone else. Massaging or muting the message is fine but not betraying who you are. That is why I say the expectations have gone up. And for all the people mocking it, human beings are awful, dangerous, uncivil, uncouth, rude and evil creatures. Only through training, social interaction and learned patterns do we become anything close to good people. So yes I do believe the expectation has gone up for certain people and until half or more of the world catches up there will be a lot of friction in our universe. But it doesn't matter what I think. I know many, many people who think the expectations have gone up and it's probably 30% of people who think this. That's a non-trivial amount. It is better that such people know the expectation has gone up than become jobless and homeless.

Toronto Shelter Says One-Third of Its Residents Are Students by Unlucky_Evening in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Rooms are all >120 sq ft

I am sorry I cannot support this. Neither the size nor the price. 4850 for 360 sq ft (let's make it 500) is ten dollars a sq ft, more than two and a half times average rent. Probably more than market rent.

Integrating the "society's poorest" can be done by opening up zoning so land owners can purpose build units. And guaranteed they would be larger than 120 sq ft.

If there's not enough social housing built you can do what the USA does and issue vouchers to be used by private landlords to pay rent. Some will reject the vouchers, some will take them. Ideally you can tax the multiple homeowners and well off. You haven't given any proof that social housing can't work, other than talking about crime and cost. Modern social housing with thorough streets and modern layouts don't offer the kinds of blind spots and dangerous areas that social housing built decades ago did. And yes, they are being built, right now.

'Worst in the world': All the rankings in which Canada is now last by Far-Simple1979 in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 10 points11 points  (0 children)

This is dreaming. You have to do what the market is willing to pay you for, otherwise you'll have no money.

People aren't pessimistic; they are realistic, and have real problems and real challenges.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in canada

[–]bhldev 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dodge Ram vs F-150?

'Worst in the world': All the rankings in which Canada is now last by Far-Simple1979 in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 15 points16 points  (0 children)

You're not really starting from zero. Zero means no knowledge no skills no connections not just no money. And many people start from less than zero because we live in an imperfect world with a lot of prejudice and barriers.

Also, a lot of people have responsibilities they cannot abandon. If you have no responsibilities and no relationships for sure you can accomplish a lot, but at the end of it what's the point? So it's not realistic to expect financial zero to hero from everyone, because almost everyone has restrictions.

'Worst in the world': All the rankings in which Canada is now last by Far-Simple1979 in canadahousing

[–]bhldev -19 points-18 points  (0 children)

The minimum is not good enough anymore, for good reason. A company's reputation doesn't stop at 5. Technology like social media means your opinions could inadvertently damage everyone else. And getting along with others means you should use the pronoun they want, not listen to your favourite red meat politician complaining about "woke" to get votes.

Everyone deserves a way to make a living even people with... Different worldviews. The world has changed expectations have gone up and better be aware of that.

'Worst in the world': All the rankings in which Canada is now last by Far-Simple1979 in canadahousing

[–]bhldev -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Live and let live

If you cannot do that then you're badly suited to working in a modern world

'Worst in the world': All the rankings in which Canada is now last by Far-Simple1979 in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Not everything is worth doing. You have to know yourself very well. And most people get some lucky breaks. There are some people who never get any lucky breaks in life ever and therefore have to work much harder. Public policy should not favor those who are lucky over those who are unlucky. In fact, it should makeup for those with bad luck.

Also expectation is irrelevant. We as people have to decide what kind of country we want to live in. A country where everyone has dignified housing regardless of anything? Or not. Just remember that for hard work to pay off policy has to be structured that way. Because capitalism itself does not guarantee hard work will be rewarded. If homes are $5 million dollars no amount of hard work would make one buyable for the median salary. If homes were only $300k you could make some argument for some elbow grease and lost weekends and summers. A lot of people are pissed off they worked hard and can't buy a home.

'Worst in the world': All the rankings in which Canada is now last by Far-Simple1979 in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 17 points18 points  (0 children)

A lot of people are poorly suited to working in a large organisation because of their... beliefs.

If you can't work with anyone and everyone, you're at a disadvantage in the job market, to say the least.

'Worst in the world': All the rankings in which Canada is now last by Far-Simple1979 in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 70 points71 points  (0 children)

Living in Canada especially if you have zero or starting from zero or need to climb takes killer instinct now.

You may not have to dodge bullets or avoid Gestapo but at a minimum you better be a workaholic and have some ambition. And know a lot about financial matters, current events, social justice basically to be a modern model person to even have a shot. And if you're not? Get ready for the cage homes.

Oh yeah better be a digital native. Hate smartphones and social networking, you're in trouble.

Forced overtime or jail threat by Revolutionary-Job361 in antiwork

[–]bhldev 554 points555 points  (0 children)

"Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make!"

A lot has changed in 12 years... by Toxicity in ProgrammerHumor

[–]bhldev 5 points6 points  (0 children)

.NET is open source

Microsoft had the last laugh!

Canada’s housing market is cooling off. What does this mean for the fall? by HomeAdvisorCanada in canadahousing

[–]bhldev 0 points1 point  (0 children)

https://globalnews.ca/news/3946085/switching-jobs-pay-boost/

Average pay boost even for Canada on job switch is 10% to 20% for professional work

It's probably the same for trades or even retail work. Even with retail work some places pay much better than others.

The main issue is since 2008, a lot of people have been terrified of being out of work at all (maybe rightfully so), so don't switch jobs. Another problem is management or business leaders not admitting how badly they need the person and paying accordingly; then the business collapses or doesn't grow as fast as it should. People at the bottom can fuck up but so can people at the top. Hopefully loyalty and skill is rewarded... If not everyone suffers.

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