Want to buy a house which is guaranteed to be cheaper than similar houses on the market?
Option 1: Buy the former house of a murderer.
Eg. Paul Bernardo for example. The notorious serial killer.
The house shown on the right is 57 Bayview Drive in Port Dalhousie.
It is Paul Bernardo's former house. It was purchased and torn down, with a new building being built on the lot that looks very different.
Or here is another example...
Option 2: Buy a house where the former owners were murdered by the mafia.
Barry and Honey Sherman were murdered by members of the Rizzuto crime family in their North York home. Their bodies were found near their basement swimming pool with their necks tied by belts to a railing.
The property (shown below) was later purchased for relatively cheap, the buildings torn down and the new buildings erected, but if the new owners had been fine with swimming in the pool where they had been murdered (I know it sounds creepy) they could have just let it be. Or just get rid of the pool and just have a really large rec room or garage in the basement.
Tear Down, Build Fresh?
Now you may be noticing a trend here.
The new buyers typically always end up tearing the old house down and building a brand new home.
They might keep the foundation, but if the murders happened in the basement the foundation will likely be destroyed too and a new foundation will be built.
Which means the property is ripe for people looking to renovate a building and then flip the property as an investment. Especially if a decent amount of time has passed and the property no longer looks like the previous building.
The video below is of a mousetrap that humanely catches mice. But what if you could build a larger scale version that catches raccoons?
Raccoons are a serious problem in many parts of Toronto, often due to a lack of natural predators that eat raccoons. The closest thing to predators in Toronto is traffic, as testified by the sheer number of raccoons that get hit and killed on Toronto streets every year.
Like the impromptu memorial for a dead raccoon that popped up within hours and went viral in July 2015. Proof that Torontonians truly care about its wildlife, even if they did it a bit jokingly (I think the cigarette in the raccoons paw was a bit of an overkill). Shown below:
A friend of mine who lives near York University even feeds her raccoons. She lives near a ravine so she has tonnes of raccoons in the neighbourhood. Even within her home she is a bit of an animal fanatic, having a rabbit, cats, mice, and pet spiders. The raccoons to her are just one more thing worth feeding.
I should note however that feeding wild animals can be dangerous. If they lose their sense of fear of humans, they are no longer afraid of humans and can become either dangerous or a nuisance.
Toronto's raccoons for example have, for the most part retained some of their fear of humans, but others are quite brazen and friendly - but friendly doesn't mean they are not dangerous if provoked.
If you own a home and you are having a problem with raccoons being a nuisance (and possibly even attacking your dog or cat or children) then you need to have those animals removed.
Many people in Toronto believe that raccoons should be simply be killed, that this is the simplest / quickest / most permanent solution to the raccoon problem in Toronto. Some people attempt to do this by leaving rat poison, anti-freeze or dishwasher detergent in places where the raccoons frequent and the raccoons eat/drink the poisonous materials and later die.
However deadly traps and poisons are banned in Toronto. As is shooting them with firearms.
"Current Ministry of Natural Resources guidelines state that
using body gripping traps or placing poison could result in
criminal charges and/or provincial charges with fines up $5,000.'
The firing of guns in Toronto is illegal.
Placing poison out to kill animals could result in criminal
charges."
It is important to note that raccoons are wildlife, and as such are protected. They can only be trapped humanely and then transported (preferably outside of the city). Vermin on the other hand (mice, rats, cockroaches, wasps, insects, etc) can be killed outright.
Derick McChesney of SWAT Wildlife
So over the past few decades there has evolved a special ambassador to
animals; the modern wildlife removal technician is a licensed wild
animal whisperer who safeguards these creatures' lives and the lives
of their young families with every house call. He or she protects
the animal's rights just as much as he works to seal the house and
keep the homeowner or business owner's property safe.
Last month Life as a Human did a story on Derick that took the form
of a very insightful and informative ride along as Derick completed
three missions helping home owners and safeguarding raccoons. You can see how he found a nest of baby raccoons in a rental apartment.
Raccoons often like hiding in high places. Hence the ladder.
Derick also shares wisdom about how to know if animals are living
in a house before you buy the property, which you can read on Josie
Stern's blog below:
"He [Derick McChesney] states, “roughly 15-20% of homes
probably have a mice issue or have once had a wildlife issue. Most
of the time the seller will only do the minimum amount of work to
get rid of the problem and decline the necessary prevention so
they can sell the house and then leave the problem with someone
else." Buyers that do unwittingly purchase animal infested
properties are in for nightmare renovations that can include new
carpets, drywall and total home insulation removal and
replacement."
Which includes your attic. Sometimes also your basement, crawl space, garage, space above the garage, etc.
Chicken wire is surprisingly effective at caging raccoons out of attics.
However if you want to make it more difficult for raccoons to get in and out of your garage, you might want to invest in hiring some garage door installers to install an automatic garage door. It takes only a moment for raccoons to sneak into places they are not meant to be - often in search of food - and the more often they manage to find food means they stick around in the neighbourhood and continue to be a nuisance. Having an automatic garage door that closes when not in use prevents the animals from being afforded the opportunity to do so again and again and again.
More photos of raccoons in Toronto:
I should note that Toronto raccoons don't usually get very big. They're comparatively tiny when compared to the giant raccoons you find in the countryside - some as big as German Shepherds or Chimpanzees. It really depends on how well fed they are. In the countryside they can grow to be quite large.
The one in the photo below is large, but still not as big as the biggest one I have ever seen which was Chimp sized.
In terms of real estate, how does the Canadian election effect home prices?
Well it depends. Are you buying or selling?
If you are thinking of voting for the Conservatives, expect more of the same laissez-faire approach to economics - which means to say the Conservatives like to do nothing unless they absolutely have to.
Remember the recession that started several months ago? Stephen Harper denied it was a recession until economists told him, yes, yes it is a recession. And even after the recession was confirmed Stephen Harper has actively avoided using the word "recession" - because talking about the recession is bad for his re-election campaign. (Instead Harper has been trying to distract people by fear-mongering about Muslims.)
In terms of real estate a recession lowers house prices, so that is good for home buyers, but bad for people looking to sell.
Voting for the Liberals means lower taxes for the middle class, which makes homebuying more affordable - which means prices may end up going higher, which is good for sellers, but more affordability also means the economy is more robust and Canadian homebuyers will be more able to afford that new home. So that is a win-win.
In contrast the Conservatives like to lower taxes for the rich - which they have been doing for 10 years now. This has resulted in the richest Canadians becoming richer, while the middle class has failed to make any progress. The Conservatives had 10 years to lower taxes on the middle class, and they squandered those ten years on partisan politics and betting on oil futures. Thus the rich are now more able to buy property and make themselves richer. Land ownership in Canada has become very skewed towards the rich during the last 10 years, plus foreign ownership of land in Canada has skyrocketed, with much of Canada's oil and mineral reserves being bought up by the Chinese.
Also we should note that the polls show that the best the Conservatives can hope for right now is a minority government, which would be hamstrung by the fact the Liberals, NDP and the Bloc are all refusing to support a minority Conservative government. So even if the Conservatives managed to cling to power, they would be essentially powerless.
In contrast the Liberals are currently poised to seize a possible majority government, which could usher in years of economic benefits for the middle class.
Canada's political system is really about class warfare - squabbling over who should pay more taxes and how much we should spend on social programs.
The Conservatives support the rich, and cut taxes for the rich while cutting social programs that help the middle class and poor.
The Liberals support the middle class, and cut taxes for the middle class, raise taxes on the rich, and use a moderate amount of funding for the social programs.
The NDP support the poor, cut taxes for the poor, raise taxes for the rich and upper-middle class, and spend oodles of money on social programs.
So who you vote for is really a matter of whether you buy, mortgage or rent real estate.
If you are rich, you buy real estate outright. No mortgage. Therefore you should vote Conservative. If you are middle class, you buy real estate with a mortgage and pay it off over time. Therefore you should vote Liberal. If you are poor, you are still renting an apartment, living in your parent's basement, etc. You should vote NDP.
There you go - Canada's political parties explained in real estate terms, in a nutshell.
If you think the prices within Toronto and Vancouver are skyrocketing, wait til you see the prices for the suburbs - which would normally be considerably cheaper. All of this adds up to an ever-inflating housing bubble in two of Canada's hottest real estate markets.
According to the latest Royal LePage housing report, the cost of homes in the suburbs are surging, eclipsing those of the city core in some cases.
Home prices in the Toronto area climbed 11.3 per cent in the third quarter from a year earlier, to $612,261. In the city proper, the cost was almost $640,000.
The median price of a two-storey Toronto home, is up 17.1 per cent to $961,656. The price of a similar home in nearby Richmond Hill rose 18.6 per cent to $963,561 and in Vaughan by 18 per cent to $842,173.
Vancouver homes are also high, up 17.3 per cent at more than $1.9-million. The corresponding prices in Richmond and Burnaby surged 23.5 and 20.9 per cent, respectively, to about $1.2-million. A two-storey in North Vancouver is $1.3-million, while those in West Vancouver are going for about $2.8-million.
Across Canada, home prices rose 0.6 per cent in September from August, and 5.6 per cent from a year earlier, according to the Teranet-National Bank home price index released yesterday. The index showed that prices climbed 10.4 per cent in Vancouver and 8.6 per cent in Vancouver
"The Vancouver index, at 201.24 in September, is the first to top 200, meaning that prices in that market are slightly more than twice as high as in June 2005."
With respect to these two markets a bubble has been forming for over two decades, with prices reaching dizzying heights - especially in Vancouver. At some point the bubble has to burst and prices will tumble, but to do so there has to be an impetus - something to set it off. A proverbial flea that broke the camel's back.
The 2008-2010 recession wasn't enough to do it. The current 2015 oil-collapse recession plaguing Canada likely won't be enough either, because when you consider that the Canadian dollar has slid dramatically over the past two years, what you realize is that if you measure housing prices in US dollars, the prices haven't really gone up that much.
The Canadian dollar hasn’t been above parity with the U.S. dollar since
Valentine’s Day 2013. Since then it’s dropped at a record-setting pace
of 23 per cent by July 2015.
Now you might think, oh the dollar is down, wouldn't that effect our economy? And you would be right - it does. It boosts our exports because the prices of doing business/buying goods in Canada is now cheaper. It also means the prices of investing in real estate in Canada is now cheaper too (for non-Canadians).
One would wonder if it were possible to take your money you had invested in oil - if you timed it right before the oil prices collapsed - and reinvest in real estate. Then when the oil prices go back up eventually, the price of the Canadian "petro dollar" would rise in value too - which means when you sell the real estate, you've then made a bundle on both the increased value of the real estate, but you've also made a bundle off the fluctuating US-CDN exchange rate. Hypothetically speaking.
Meanwhile Canada has an election coming up very soon...
It is cheaper to build a carport instead of a garage, and in Canada it is arguably also more practical.
Why?
Well, have you ever had to shovel snow out of a driveway just to get the garage door open?
Or is your garage so full of stuff that you park in the driveway anyway and don't actually park your car inside the garage?
That is why. Carports give you the advantage of being able to park your car in the driveway, but still have a roof over top of it so you don't have to shovel the snow so much.
Plus carports never have the problem of junk accumulating in your garage, stuff that rightfully belongs either:
In your basement.
In your attic.
In your recycling bins, because lets face it, a lot of the junk people keep in their garage is really just garbage.
Now I understand some people just love having a garage, but parking in a carport is so much easier and you get many of the benefits of having a garage, but without the cost and certain annoying factors that come with garages. Thus to me a carport makes a great deal of sense just for its convenience.
In the USA carports are more popular in the southern states and near army bases, thanks to the 1950s modernist movement which saw many residential communities built near military bases using the modernist designs, which in turn used carports as part of their designs quite often.
The designs shown above are by Mike Kopecky, who grew up near an army base in Texas and now lives in Toronto. He is the designing houses for a retro-modernist community in Leander Texas, but hopes that developers in Toronto may become inspired to try something similar here in Canada. You can read more about his development in Leander in the Globe and Mail.
Below are some different, interesting and innovative designs for carports. I especially liked the ones with the solar panels and plants.
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