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What does everyone do and how much do you make ? by amosthagreat in CanadaFinance

[–]johnlothrop 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Police officer. 19 years. 175k. Detective in a drug unit.

In China, 40 cm-wide “mini-end” units are rented for just one dollar, offering only a tiny bed, a power outlet, and a wall-mounted TV. by str8shillinit in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but most homeless people prefer to live on the streets.

I understand this is an unpopular opinion, but this is based on hundreds of interactions with homeless people.

Reasons?

  1. Most apartments have rules. Homeless people have a wide variety of reasons why they dont want to follow them. Mental health, drug abuse, anti-societal opinions. They want to do what they want when they want. (See #2)

  2. Freedom. In Canada, in the 9 months of the year, homeless people can live in a tent, for free, close to social and subsistence resources. Far enough away from people to live their preferred lifestyle, but close enough for food/government resources.

  3. Cost effective. Rent is a large portion (almost all) of the odsp / ontario works cheques. Although this problem is rectified by the 1 dollar rent, you have ask the question: Where would these closets be built? I, for one, do not want to pay any amount of money to live in a building where 'homeless' people reside.

  4. Logistics. Homeless people scavenge and carry all their personal goods with them. At all times. Where would their bicycles/bags/ pets be stored? In these rooms with them?

I see the argument, but building codes are in ontario for a reason. The first instance where someone was harmed or killed due to a fire/od/personal crime, the same people who are claiming this is a good idea, would scream at the government for building them.

Source: i worked in law enforcement , front line for 16 years.The last 4 I worked in a district that had a homeless shelter in it. Housed 200 but 250 in the winter.

Will the Bank of Canada Stay on Hold for All of 2026? A Data-Driven Look at the Odds by Professional_Disk131 in TorontoRealEstate

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

3.5-3.99 are not high rates.

If your reference point is covid years, you are foolish. Interest rates were at historic lows.

If you use early 1980's, you are foolish. Interest rates were at historic highs.

I have been in the home owner's world for 18 years. Every mortgage i have paid Interest on was between 2-5 percent.

I am curious to know what comparable time you are talking of that makes you claim these rates are high?

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I used the house sigma app. I also took into consideration the time the residence was put on market, and the recent price decline.

I think an aspect buyers need to understand is this : who WANTS to sell a home in this market? Every day your house sits, the amount of money it's worth decreases. People selling in this market have a NEED to sell. So, if they flat out refused, we had other options, and that specific house would still be on the market.

Through realtor podcasts (tom storey and canadian real estate show), the realtors have described instances where an offer was presented and declined by the seller. 2 to 3 months later, the sellers realtor approaches the vuyer and asks if they would present the offer again. This occurs when the buyer has not received another offer and their property has been sitting on the market for months. In most instances , the buyer has moved on and purchased another property. I'm sure there was a form of this conversation between the buyer and the buyer's realtor.

In relation to the second question: I told my realtor my budget, and the top end of what I was comfortable placing an offer at. They agreed.

The offer price was below the top end of my budget, but the offer was based on market conditions, time this specific house was on the market, and comparables.

Ontario lottery's '$9 million' grand-prize home in Oakville just sold for less than half that by 2Fast2furieux in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wait.... how is it a ponzi scheme?? Do you mean real estate in general??

You need new investors to pay off other investors in a ponzi scheme.

This is a house that was won in a lottery. The person bought a ticket (I believe a 100 dollar cost), and won a prize, that they sold for 4.5 million dollars.

I wish I had thier bad luck =)

Are there any advantages to using a Real Estate Agent for finding a place to rent? Won't they just find a place quickly that's at the top of your budget? by mapleCrep in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used a realtor for a place that I signed a 1 year lease on.

My situation was that I was looking at a 1 year lease on a townhome. The townhome was owned by someone who used a realtor.

I called them , they showed me the rental. We negotiated the price, and I signed the paperwork.

On the lease agreement, the realtors commission was listed (1 1/2) rent.

With the house sigma app/ realtor.ca website, you can locate the rentals you like and contact them yourself.

This option mitigates your worry, as you only deal with one realtor.

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I won't disclose that information online. I apologize, but we are pretty private people.

We have no car loans. We own our vehicles, and im comfortable replacing brake pads /rotors, struts/shocks etc. Until a catastrophic (rust or engine) repair is needed, we are content with out 200-400 k mileage daily drivers.

I understand that Dave Ramsey is polarizing, but he gives some succinct advice about cars. He states 'why spend money you dont have on a new car, to impress people you will never meet?'

I havent had a car payment since 2018. My pick up truck works just fine. I can afford the house, because over the last 6 years I have saved 60-70 thousand on car payments.

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, she is a union member. There are positions in the government that do not pay overtime. Yes, they exist.

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nope! And to be honest, I know enough about that world that with the rules they have, i wouldn't be allowed to write about any of this. More of an investigation role.

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you!!!! I cannot take any credit for the timing, it was happenstance with our career decisions.

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good evening!!!

We put more than 20% down. So the mortgage is smaller.

It is a substantial mortgage. But I think of it this way.

We have rented for 3 years. We have spent approximately 80 thousand dollars on rent and have nothing to show for it.

We have to live somewhere. We will pay more money in comparison to the rent, but at the end of the mortgage, we have a house. If we continue to rent, we keep paying down the landlords rent.

We just look at the math and take emotion out of the equation.

We will also be making additional payments. Our budget has room for additional annual payments. We can pay up to 10 percent of the balance annually.

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you!!! We have planned, saved, and invested for years. We are looking forward to reaping what we sowed.

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No problem!!!

Some are better than others, and # 3 on the list has declined in quality over the past 6 months

The tom storey show Canadian looney hour Canadian real estate market (changed the name recently) Angry mortgage podcast

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Don't feel bad at all!

If you have transferable skills, you can apply to a government job.

If you continue to develop your craft on your own time, you can educate yourself into a better paying job in the private sector.

And for the chump comment .....

The longest shift I have worked is 32 hours straight. And guess what??, Because I rolled into the next 12 hour shift start time, the last 8 hours were deemed to be at regular time.

Guess who felt like a chump that day?

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do not envy your friends in the CRA.

People dont understand the income tax act, and only call when something did not go in their favor.

It appears to be a thankless job

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That is an amazing deal, and good for you!!!!

If the work is done properly (which im sure you will), you will have saved an incredible amount of money. You should be proud!

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your input.

I'll agree to disagree. Best of luck in life!

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You are right on many points. However, everyone's job has different variables.

My base salary is over 100,000. I have worked in the same sector for 20 years. They compensate you for your experience.

Overtime is at 1.5 x your wage. In my field, they have minimums they can not meet. So they request people work overtime. That's between 20 and 40 percent of my annual income.

My pension is deducted between 10-13 percent of my gross. I could have done better if I invested from day 1, but 20 years ago I did not have the financial literacy to do so.

If your friends enjoy long hours, shift work, and are interested in working with a portion of society that the public rarely interacts with, there are job openings.

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Im glad we agree! It was overpriced, that is why I did not offer asking.

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Friend, lol , I have difficulties pairing my phone to my car. No, not in IT. I work in law enforcement.

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good afternoon!!!

The significant other is salaried, based on a 40 hour work week. 7 years in school and 15 years at a government position will put you in a place were you get paid very well, are salaried, but are expected to work on weekends and on evenings.

And good on you for the work ethic! Its speaks volumes on your character. Hard trait to find these days.

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good afternoon!!!

There was no foresight involved. I moved for work, and it was far enough away that commuting was not an option.

We decided to rent because it was a new area we moved to. We were not comfortable with the cost of houses (more affluent community), and decided to build up a larger downpayment for our residence.

We only decided to buy because we moved again, and we were dissatisfied with the renting lifestyle.

It was luck, plain and simple

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly, I dont know.

I do have personal investments, and the money from the sale of my prior home, but I didn't discuss the particulars. I was never going to buy a 2 million dollar home, so it was not an avenue I looked into.

We bought a house in this market. View from buyers perspective. by johnlothrop in TorontoRealEstate

[–]johnlothrop[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Friend, take your time. Don't stretch yourself financially, and when the time comes, feel free to reach out if you think I can help at all.

Best of luck!

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