Quote:
Originally Posted by adambomb
Rent and be happy?!  |
The whole concept of renting is that you invest elsewhere that makes financial sense. GVR RE is maintained by nothing but hype (RE boards and current owners, as they all benefit from higher RE) and artificial manipulation (historical low interest rates, CMHC... etc). Few years ago when I had enough money to buy a house, I decided against it and invested in commercial RE in US instead. Today I sit on a positive cashflow that my friend, who bought his place back then can only dream of. Sure he owns 3 houses and they have appreciated 25%, he still works his ass off every month just to make the end meets. Since my properties also increased in value and they are paying for itself plus something for me.
Low interest rate cannot go on forever. It creates high inflation. Sadly, BoC is nothing but political tool now with the news that BoC is considering to allow higher inflation target in exchange of maintaining longer the low interest rate. The longer this continues, the closer it leads us to the steps of Japan.
Japan maintained 0% (or close to it) for the last 2.5 decades, its economy didn't simply boom out of control, rather, it entered a prolonged recession/deflation. And what happened before that? They had record high property prices. The trend of declining property prices didn't stop to about early 2010s. Even then, there wasn't increases... but rather, it stopped declining.
If one can afford comfortably owning a place, by all mean go ahead. But it is not an INVESTMENT. It's simply your shelter. Don't stretch yourself and don't buy into the hype.
For investment, cashflow is still king. And Vancouver is SHITTY at that.