canadian bubble

[70Degrees]

[quote=svelte]
I would be curious to hear what you have thought of Canadian health care.

Were there long waits?

What did you like? What did you dislike?

I’m not taking sides, just curious.[/quote]

I grew up here, so its hard to compare our health care to any other health care as I don’t know any other. That said ..

I think we have good care. The only waits I ever really hear about are for specialized tests and surgeries for things that aren’t immediately life threatening. If you are dying or something, they’ll get you in. If you have a cold or you got drunk and fell and hit your head, well, you may wait.

My first hand experience on the test side is mixed. I had an issue that got diagnosed as something that wasn’t urgent and hence my tests were scheduled 6 months out. 5 months later it turned out it WAS an urgent issue and I got in for surgery that day and had all the tests I needed within hours. I ended up spending a few weeks in the hospital. It didn’t cost me anything. I did have supplemental employer health insurance, but thats only to cover the upgrade from a shared hospital room to a semi private room – it didn’t change my care level at all.

People don’t go bankrupt because they had to go to the hospital, and people don’t avoid going to the doctor because they can’t afford it. That said, in my case it would have been nice to have the option to pay and get my test sooner.

[briansd1]

It’s interesting to note that universal health care didn’t send Canadians to the poor house.

Look at the transactions of expensive houses in San Diego and you’ll see many Canadians paying cash. A Canadian bought the Frank Sinatra house in Palm Springs.

It’s also interesting to note that well-to-do Chinese from capitalist Hong Kong (where they do have national health care) are flocking to “socialist” Canada.

Canada is attracting capital, not chasing it away because of “socialism”.

[briansd1]

It’s interesting to note that universal health care didn’t send Canadians to the poor house.

Look at the transactions of expensive houses in San Diego and you’ll see many Canadians paying cash. A Canadian bought the Frank Sinatra house in Palm Springs.

It’s also interesting to note that well-to-do Chinese from capitalist Hong Kong (where they do have national health care) are flocking to “socialist” Canada.

Canada is attracting capital, not chasing it away because of “socialism”.

[briansd1]

It’s interesting to note that universal health care didn’t send Canadians to the poor house.

Look at the transactions of expensive houses in San Diego and you’ll see many Canadians paying cash. A Canadian bought the Frank Sinatra house in Palm Springs.

It’s also interesting to note that well-to-do Chinese from capitalist Hong Kong (where they do have national health care) are flocking to “socialist” Canada.

Canada is attracting capital, not chasing it away because of “socialism”.

[briansd1]

It’s interesting to note that universal health care didn’t send Canadians to the poor house.

Look at the transactions of expensive houses in San Diego and you’ll see many Canadians paying cash. A Canadian bought the Frank Sinatra house in Palm Springs.

It’s also interesting to note that well-to-do Chinese from capitalist Hong Kong (where they do have national health care) are flocking to “socialist” Canada.

Canada is attracting capital, not chasing it away because of “socialism”.

[briansd1]

It’s interesting to note that universal health care didn’t send Canadians to the poor house.

Look at the transactions of expensive houses in San Diego and you’ll see many Canadians paying cash. A Canadian bought the Frank Sinatra house in Palm Springs.

It’s also interesting to note that well-to-do Chinese from capitalist Hong Kong (where they do have national health care) are flocking to “socialist” Canada.

Canada is attracting capital, not chasing it away because of “socialism”.

[SanDiegoDave]

Funny patb, you beat me to this.

I was in Toronto most of last week. My wife’s aunts and uncle live there. The suburb they’re in gave me flashbacks to the housing bubble of SoCal. Anything for sale right now is going for higher than asking. They don’t even bother going through the whole offer/counter-offer process on a lot of places. They just open up for “bidding” on a single day, and the sellers take the highest offer.

New subdivisions going up on farmland have hours-long lines of cars to buy up all the lots before they have even broken ground. And the communities are designed like shit. No forethought to any commercial space within a reasonable distance to go buy groceries, take your clothes to the cleaner, get a haircut, stop at the bank. Just block after block of houses. And the detached houses are so close together that most of them have one whole side of the house with no windows. You may as well be living in a townhouse or condo.

The attached townhomes start at $400k and prices go up to about $1-1.5 mil for the McMansions that face a park or golf course. Your typical single-family mid-block, away from busy street, 3-4 bedroom, 2-3 car garage will run in the $800’s.

The only thing that will prevent Canada’s inevitable housing crash from being as bad as the U.S.’s is that they don’t do 30-year fixed rates. (I’m shocked that any bank in the U.S. still does this.) But in Canada, when they eventually jack up interest rates, the banks could still run into a problem of mass foreclosures if enough of these people bought houses with a monthly payment they could just barely afford.

Anyone know how I could “short” the Canadian housing market? Should I short sell the banks? Or is there another route to bet on the downside of this?

[SanDiegoDave]

Funny patb, you beat me to this.

I was in Toronto most of last week. My wife’s aunts and uncle live there. The suburb they’re in gave me flashbacks to the housing bubble of SoCal. Anything for sale right now is going for higher than asking. They don’t even bother going through the whole offer/counter-offer process on a lot of places. They just open up for “bidding” on a single day, and the sellers take the highest offer.

New subdivisions going up on farmland have hours-long lines of cars to buy up all the lots before they have even broken ground. And the communities are designed like shit. No forethought to any commercial space within a reasonable distance to go buy groceries, take your clothes to the cleaner, get a haircut, stop at the bank. Just block after block of houses. And the detached houses are so close together that most of them have one whole side of the house with no windows. You may as well be living in a townhouse or condo.

The attached townhomes start at $400k and prices go up to about $1-1.5 mil for the McMansions that face a park or golf course. Your typical single-family mid-block, away from busy street, 3-4 bedroom, 2-3 car garage will run in the $800’s.

The only thing that will prevent Canada’s inevitable housing crash from being as bad as the U.S.’s is that they don’t do 30-year fixed rates. (I’m shocked that any bank in the U.S. still does this.) But in Canada, when they eventually jack up interest rates, the banks could still run into a problem of mass foreclosures if enough of these people bought houses with a monthly payment they could just barely afford.

Anyone know how I could “short” the Canadian housing market? Should I short sell the banks? Or is there another route to bet on the downside of this?

[SanDiegoDave]

Funny patb, you beat me to this.

I was in Toronto most of last week. My wife’s aunts and uncle live there. The suburb they’re in gave me flashbacks to the housing bubble of SoCal. Anything for sale right now is going for higher than asking. They don’t even bother going through the whole offer/counter-offer process on a lot of places. They just open up for “bidding” on a single day, and the sellers take the highest offer.

New subdivisions going up on farmland have hours-long lines of cars to buy up all the lots before they have even broken ground. And the communities are designed like shit. No forethought to any commercial space within a reasonable distance to go buy groceries, take your clothes to the cleaner, get a haircut, stop at the bank. Just block after block of houses. And the detached houses are so close together that most of them have one whole side of the house with no windows. You may as well be living in a townhouse or condo.

The attached townhomes start at $400k and prices go up to about $1-1.5 mil for the McMansions that face a park or golf course. Your typical single-family mid-block, away from busy street, 3-4 bedroom, 2-3 car garage will run in the $800’s.

The only thing that will prevent Canada’s inevitable housing crash from being as bad as the U.S.’s is that they don’t do 30-year fixed rates. (I’m shocked that any bank in the U.S. still does this.) But in Canada, when they eventually jack up interest rates, the banks could still run into a problem of mass foreclosures if enough of these people bought houses with a monthly payment they could just barely afford.

Anyone know how I could “short” the Canadian housing market? Should I short sell the banks? Or is there another route to bet on the downside of this?

[SanDiegoDave]

Funny patb, you beat me to this.

I was in Toronto most of last week. My wife’s aunts and uncle live there. The suburb they’re in gave me flashbacks to the housing bubble of SoCal. Anything for sale right now is going for higher than asking. They don’t even bother going through the whole offer/counter-offer process on a lot of places. They just open up for “bidding” on a single day, and the sellers take the highest offer.

New subdivisions going up on farmland have hours-long lines of cars to buy up all the lots before they have even broken ground. And the communities are designed like shit. No forethought to any commercial space within a reasonable distance to go buy groceries, take your clothes to the cleaner, get a haircut, stop at the bank. Just block after block of houses. And the detached houses are so close together that most of them have one whole side of the house with no windows. You may as well be living in a townhouse or condo.

The attached townhomes start at $400k and prices go up to about $1-1.5 mil for the McMansions that face a park or golf course. Your typical single-family mid-block, away from busy street, 3-4 bedroom, 2-3 car garage will run in the $800’s.

The only thing that will prevent Canada’s inevitable housing crash from being as bad as the U.S.’s is that they don’t do 30-year fixed rates. (I’m shocked that any bank in the U.S. still does this.) But in Canada, when they eventually jack up interest rates, the banks could still run into a problem of mass foreclosures if enough of these people bought houses with a monthly payment they could just barely afford.

Anyone know how I could “short” the Canadian housing market? Should I short sell the banks? Or is there another route to bet on the downside of this?

[SanDiegoDave]

Funny patb, you beat me to this.

I was in Toronto most of last week. My wife’s aunts and uncle live there. The suburb they’re in gave me flashbacks to the housing bubble of SoCal. Anything for sale right now is going for higher than asking. They don’t even bother going through the whole offer/counter-offer process on a lot of places. They just open up for “bidding” on a single day, and the sellers take the highest offer.

New subdivisions going up on farmland have hours-long lines of cars to buy up all the lots before they have even broken ground. And the communities are designed like shit. No forethought to any commercial space within a reasonable distance to go buy groceries, take your clothes to the cleaner, get a haircut, stop at the bank. Just block after block of houses. And the detached houses are so close together that most of them have one whole side of the house with no windows. You may as well be living in a townhouse or condo.

The attached townhomes start at $400k and prices go up to about $1-1.5 mil for the McMansions that face a park or golf course. Your typical single-family mid-block, away from busy street, 3-4 bedroom, 2-3 car garage will run in the $800’s.

The only thing that will prevent Canada’s inevitable housing crash from being as bad as the U.S.’s is that they don’t do 30-year fixed rates. (I’m shocked that any bank in the U.S. still does this.) But in Canada, when they eventually jack up interest rates, the banks could still run into a problem of mass foreclosures if enough of these people bought houses with a monthly payment they could just barely afford.

Anyone know how I could “short” the Canadian housing market? Should I short sell the banks? Or is there another route to bet on the downside of this?

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