Time for Canadians to buy US property?

I have been browsing housing listings in the Phoenix area for about a year.

With the Canadian dollar being close to par with the US, I am seriously thinking of buying a vacation property. My family and I are flying down next month.

I'd be interested on some opinions as to:

1) If the Canadian dollar keep gaining on the US (for how long)

2) Has the US housing market (Phoenix area specifically) stabalized or will prices keep dropping?

Bounty,

I think CDN is going higher but it's still a good time to buy.  I would put in some low ball offers on any purchase as everyone is still desperate and maybe you are the bottom.

PS: Why would you want to live in Phoenix that place is a shithole I went to ASU.  Maybe Scottsdale but not in Phoenix.

You could buy a Palace in Florida right now for 200k on the beach.

2) Has the US housing market (Phoenix area specifically) stabalized or will prices keep dropping?

a realtor friend of my wife says there have been a load of western Canadians buying winter homes recently here in Las Vegas despite (or maybe because) we are the worst housing market in the country. will probably take years before they see any appreciation with all the inventory available BUT houses that sold in 2005-06 for half a million or more are now selling for 200K

You could buy a Palace in Florida right now for 200k on the beach.

all depends where you want to live. I've lived the the Daytona Beach area of Florida in the early 1970's and Houston,Texas in the late 70's -1980's. TOO humid and the Hurricanes can ruin your whole day. have lived in Las Vegas since 1991 and LOVE it.

I live in Edmonton and i have 2ft of snow on my lawn and i have to shovel and chip ice every few days. If i could retreat to some where warm and golf in the winter while my kids play in a pool that would awsome. Flights from Edm to Phx are cheap and I have several friends who have properties in Queens Creek (45min southeast of Phx).

BountyHunt,

Screw Queen Creek..that is out in the middle of nowhere.

Stick to the general metro area..but if I were looking on the outskirts I would probably look towards Surprise versus Queen Creek, at least you have freeway options out there.

Also avoid Maricopa (city, not the county of course) and Tolleson or anywhere past say 120th West in the West valley.

You can get a great town home very central to town for damn cheap, if I were getting a winter home I would look for a newer town home so you dont have to mess with the maintenance. You swap out maybe a little in SF size, but being in town is so much better than in Queen Creek or other outlying areas.

shit, i am an American and have been considering seeing what all it would take to buy some Canadian land

how much further can our currency's spread from one another?

less then a decade ago i could go to canada with 60k USD and get 90k Canadian,,,,,,what is it today, 60k USD gets you 60k Canadian?


what all would it take for an American to buy land in Canada?

a realtor friend of my wife says there have been a load of western Canadians buying winter homes recently here in Las Vegas despite (or maybe because) we are the worst housing market in the country. will probably take years before they see any appreciation with all the inventory available BUT houses that sold in 2005-06 for half a million or more are now selling for 200K

when you say worst housing market, don't you mean one of the best (for buyers) if prices are down over 50%

Detroit is the worst, btw

and housing in Las Vegas is heading to ZERO

Across the board housing in USA is poised to drop as much as another 33% this year

now that's some affordability

Hey beeasy,

Do you dress up as the grim reaper on the weekends?

I've never known someone so thrilled to see others be ruined under the guise of teaching a lesson. Are you giddy that housing prices might drop like that? I am positively not as it will throw many decent, hard working, honest people into a severe financial quandry. Most people are not greedy, selfish leeches, but listening to a few of you I get the feeling you are happy that this might happen.

Thanks for the feeback.

WSC, I was reluctant to consider an apartment style condo because I heard the condo fees are outrageous. I have viewed some really nice listings IN Phoenix and I am focusing on condos rather than houses now.

Forgive my ignorance but what is an average condo fee (1100sq, 2 bed) and what do they include (heating/cooling/water/cable/wireless internet?)

Thanks

BountyHunt,

Dont go for a condo..

Go for a TOWNHOME.

There are a bunch of developments that have websites to look at, and if you were REALLY serious I would find a rebate commission realtor and have them do some work for you..

As for condo/association fees it depends on what ammenties they give you..so if one has a pool and common area, lots of add ons etc then it will cost more than one who does not.

Another benefit of a townhome is you usually get an actual garage, thats a big deal..safety and for extra storage.

Here is a good example-

link

100k for 1600 sf, with a 2 car garage, location isnt bad at all..

This one looks good too-

link

21st Street and Bell ave isnt bad at all..pretty close to Scottsdale and central PHX.

2 car garage, almost 1500 sf and less than 10 yrs old..

Bounty

   My advice is to stay away from ANYTHING that has condo fees. A relator will make it sound not so bad, then 5 years later you will regret it. Being part of a condo association is a joke in my opinion. Threre are many under-lying costs that you will be hit with over time....including possible law suits. It can be a nightmare.

1Iron,

This is a winter home for the guy, the last thing you want is to own a property that you only use part of the year and need to pay for landscaping and watering for 6 months of the year.

Most newer developments have associations down here because of the common greenbelt areas, so if you dont want association fees then you either have to buy a property done by a builder who does not use associations (rare) or buy an older property.

who wouldn't want house prices to drop?  greedy, selfish leeches that are over leveraged to the moon on their shelter?  Anyone looking to buy a house should want prices to drop. Anyone that owns a house and uses it for what it should be, shelter, should want prices to drop because then property taxes won't kill you. (housing doubles every 10 years,,,,,100k,,,200k,,,,400k.  2% property taxes go from 2k a year to 8k a year, good luck having your SS check cover the carrying costs of homeownership once you're free and clear from the bank,,,,,now the gov't has you in a vice. SQUEEZE)

the price of a house should follow inflation, and we are drowning in  inflation, so let the house prices fall, and prices of everything else follow, and MANY MANY more people would benefit then get hurt. How exactly is a decent hard working person going to get hurt by falling house prices?

IN shelter you either rent the house or you rent the money to "buy" the house.  I can't say i ever feel sorry for people who make terrible financial decisions based on emotions.  Now as time has passed, some have been dragged under the bus that didn't participate. I feel as bad for them as i do you and i for having our dollar murdered and promises to raise our taxes to fund this nonsense. Most people root for everything to rise in price all the time, as if somehow that can provide prosperity or wealth. I happen to root for stuff to get cheaper, as that benefits anyone that has to pay for said stuff or is looking to buy

do you still not understand the ramifications of housing prices being so high?  If someone loses a house that they could not afford, i believe that they are being done a favor as is the economy. Homedebtorship,,,,,err i mean homeownership is layered with lies. There are 100 million + who rent,,,,,,do you feel sorry for them, that they get a gun put to their head that steals their labor to fund peoples mortgages that cannot afford them?

Before the housing bust, Americans tended to think their homes were their best and most important investments –- a view promoted by Washington policy makers who made home ownership a top priority. Karen Pence, who runs the Federal Reserve’s household and real estate finance research group, argues at the American Economic Association’s meetings this week that homes are actually a terrible investment.

Putting aside the fact that home prices have fallen dramatically, she says several factors make homes a lousy investments:

1. It is an indivisible asset. If you own stocks and bonds and suddenly need a little cash, you can sell some of your stocks or bonds but not all. With a home, on the other hand, “you can’t just slice off your bathroom and sell it on the market.”
2. It is undiversified. You can buy stocks or bonds in industries or countries all over the world. A home is a bet on one single neighborhood.
3. Transaction costs are very high when you buy or sell a home because of real estate agent fees, mortgage fees and moving costs.
4. It is asymmetrically liquid, meaning it’s easy to get money out when home prices are going up. (You just take out a bigger mortgage.) But it’s hard to take money out when prices are going down because refinancing becomes more difficult. Put another way, the leverage that you have in your house with a large mortgage means your investment does well in good times but could be lousy in bad times.
5. It is highly correlated to the job market, meaning that home prices in a neighborhood tend to rise when the job market is improving in the area and fall when the job market is worsening. This means that your main financial asset provides the smallest cushion to you when you might need it most.

Maybe Washington policy makers shouldn’t work so hard to promote ownership with mortgage interest deductions and other federal subsidies to homeowners. Ms. Pence has been a Washington renter for many years. Ironically, though, she says she’s considering buying a house herself. The reason: Her husband wants a dog and wants to start gardening. That means moving out of the apartment.

Ms. Pence emphasized that she was speaking on her own behalf, and not for the Fed.

Wall

  I just here people who own condos bitching about the monthly fees all the time. They go up and up...no cap. Here in my condo building, the fees have gone  from 175 per month to 340 in 8 years. On top of that the new tile roof will cost each unit owner 10,000$$. The building insurance went from !5,000 per year to almost 40,000...another fee increase. Now me, I just rent mine and have had no increases in 8 years, but my landlord tells me everything. This is a 900 sq ft condo worth around 130,000....down from 250,000 2 years ago. He bought this place pre construction for 99000 in 1987. Great location too, right on the golf course, and 1 mile from the gulf beaches. I dont know maybe its alot different out west. I know what you are saying Wall, Im just going by what my landlord and all my neighbors say. Recently its been hard to sell these places, even at 50% off.....why, because of the monthly fees and assessments, Again that's what Im told by my fellow tenants. Many have said to me that they wish they had my deal.

Wall... Those are some good looking town homes thou and a very fair price. Way bigger and nicer than mine. Just love those 2 car garages. Wonder what they would rent for in the winter months... might be another option for ya Bounty.

The current prices (and the Canadian $) make the idea seem too perfect to pass up, but the more I research the less appealing/realistic this idea seems

That being said, here are a couple of listings look good:

I would be able to rent it out to friends/family/co-workers but I would not want to depend on that income.

The $100K mortgage would be decent investment but I would have a hard time justifying the other expenses (condo fees $300/mo, property tax $150/mo, utilities/cable/internet $150+/mo = $600/mo = $7200/yr). Plus every time I went there it would cost me $1200 for flights (4 ppl) plus a car rental.

Even if the property value doubled in 10yrs (100K "profit"), I would still get heavily taxed on my profits and only see around 65K.  Over the 10yrs I would have paid $72K in other expenses (and thats only if my condo fees and other fees did not increase).

Having all of these payments would greatly reduce my available $ that I currently invest in other areas.

If my kids were older and I was closer to retirement I would not hesitate, but for now I don't think it would be a good investment.

I am still taking the family to PHX next month (renting a co-workers place) but it will more of a vacation than a house hunting trip.

Thanks again for all of the advice.

 

Hmmm...links didn't work...

https://search.phoenixhomes.com/resultsarmlsres_109116.cfm?startrow=1&MLSNUMBER=4270328

https://search.phoenixhomes.com/resultsarmlsres_109116.cfm?startrow=1&MLSNUMBER=4236587

 

Condo fee at 300 a month???

 BH