COVID and the housing market | Page 35 | GTAMotorcycle.com

COVID and the housing market

Your talking about the one in the article posted a few pages back right? I’m bored and got curious so I searched the realtor name and had the house number from the picture in the article to find the old listing.

So it’s the 3rd semi to sell on that street since December. $620 December, $675 January, $801 6 days ago.

The most recent sale looks to have the most updates. Also 4 bathrooms (the comparables were 2 and 3 bath) 2 of which look to be built as accessible bathrooms. This might of had big appeal to potential buyers.

I’m not trying to justify the price. I wouldn’t pay $800 for a semi in Kitchener but the article is misleading, it makes it sound like the place sold $300 over its value and leaves out key details.

+1

I looked into that house too and I think it needed a lot of work and the person got lucky when they flipped it

source: HouseSigma - Toronto Real Estate Sold Price and Home Valuation

Back in 2019 the ad said, "Attention investors and renovators!!!! ......"
 
Where do I move to in 2022?
A boat? There's enough room for a bike, and you, no mortgage/rent, bonus points if you can work remote
 
I don't have money for a boat lol

Trailer home ?

I was surprised by how affordable boats are(we're not talking a billionaires yacht here)
compared to a house and a mortgage, they're down right peanuts

The problem with trailer homes is the same with homes, the land that makes up most of the value
and a trailer you cant travel around with or use to escape the brilliant canadian weather
 
Boat is cheaper than a house , but trust me, mine is 10K a year for care and feeding, they are really reasonable to buy, like the guy that gives you the first hit of crack for free....
and VERY few ever went up in value . edit; none ever went up in value
I do work remotely in the summer from there, however its a two block drive from the house to the dock so it doesn't really count.
 
Boat is cheaper than a house , but trust me, mine is 10K a year for care and feeding, they are really reasonable to buy, like the guy that gives you the first hit of crack for free....
and VERY few ever went up in value . edit; none ever went up in value
I do work remotely in the summer from there, however its a two block drive from the house to the dock so it doesn't really count.
A friend made money on every big boat he owned (32 to 55'). A little patience on buying and a hell of a lot of luck on selling. One had an injector die after sale which was close to $30K for the new owner to fix (engines under floor, to get injector out, floor had to come out), one had a heat exchanger freeze and break open which would have been a $20K bill but insurance paid, the next owner of that boat had a pod die (I don't even want to think about that bill, probably close to six figures).
 
A friend made money on every big boat he owned (32 to 55'). A little patience on buying and a hell of a lot of luck on selling. One had an injector die after sale which was close to $30K for the new owner to fix (engines under floor, to get injector out, floor had to come out), one had a heat exchanger freeze and break open which would have been a $20K bill but insurance paid, the next owner of that boat had a pod die (I don't even want to think about that bill, probably close to six figures).

There was a manufacturer that had a problem with leaky gas tanks in their older aft cabin power boats. Out hull kicking one day we were in their showroom and asked how the problem would be treated if it recurred.

Basically cut out the bottom of the boat, R&R the tank and re-glass.

Since the problem typically happened when the boat was double digit aged it wouldn't be a problem for the first owner. The manufacturer builds boats for the first owner, not the second.

Our last cruiser was a traditional express. Maintenance was simple.
 
They are out there but the barrier of entry is kinda high unless you are OK with 20/hr general labour.

Guelph has the massive Linamar Corp
Cambridge and Paris has Tigercat International
KW has ultra mfg, teledyne dalsa etc

But good luck new grads

The scary part is understanding how much money some corporations have.

In the early 1980's GM spent massively in Oshawa and threw it away over the years

P&G in Hamilton spent a bundle on a new cafeteria, entrance, tank farm and a few years later started to shut everything down. They changed their production model. The site is now a parking lot. Contaminated soil shipped to eastern Ontario.

Mortal minds can't imagine flushing away all that money. Big business can because they will not die of old age like us.
 
One company I worked for was bought out by a massive US Corp. They put a crap load of cash into us, pretended to give a ****, and then let a customer walk away from a 30M order with no penalty. Then they brought in milling equipment worth 20M into our plant and promptly started procedures to shut us down.
Gave the manager a 50M bank account and let him travel the world to shut down all outstanding contracts.
$200k/each for all the managers left at the very end to shut the doors. I wasn’t one lol.

In the end they used our business to write off losses in their other divisions. Fun times.

Manager got a job with corporate to travel the world and rinse and repeat their other businesses.
 
Fine for those that could do it, I could not work more than a month in a Goodyear/Stelco/Toyota plant on a line job. Maybe millwork machine shop, front office, marketing but putting a door on a Carolla every 8 mins? not a chance.
 
The Hatchet Man? he's not putting folks out of work , he's finding efficiencies!!
Yup. The Hatchet Man! His next assignment was in France.

which reminds me I need to touch base with him as he’s one of my PENG references. He was a good guy. Just loved the corporate life.

All the US guys did. Massive salary, stock, house/cars/private schools/bonuses and everything paid for as an expat.

Run a company into the ground, Pat yourselves on the back because it’s the employees fault and then move on to the next project.
 
Yup. The Hatchet Man! His next assignment was in France.

which reminds me I need to touch base with him as he’s one of my PENG references. He was a good guy. Just loved the corporate life.

All the US guys did. Massive salary, stock, house/cars/private schools/bonuses and everything paid for as an expat.

Run a company into the ground, Pat yourselves on the back because it’s the employees fault and then move on to the next project.

Large corporations love psychopaths because they have no consciences. It doesn't bother them to shut down a company and destroy lives.

A psychopath doesn't look like a foaming at the mouth monster because that would show his or her cards. Many will have a life goal and are pleasant as they go about building the image they see for themselves. Cross them and you are marked for life.
 
Fine for those that could do it, I could not work more than a month in a Goodyear/Stelco/Toyota plant on a line job. Maybe millwork machine shop, front office, marketing but putting a door on a Carolla every 8 mins? not a chance.
Unless you have tried it don't entirely knock it. Back in the 90s I was an assembly line welder in a Japanese auto plant (paying for school among other things), also mounted doors and fenders. What was interesting is the plant had many educated career people working there post other successful careers. Business guys, bankers, lawyers, teachers, engineers, etc.

Why? It paid good enough for their situation. Comparably from what they left very little work stress. Never bring your work home. House was paid off and kids were done school so they did not need the money they were making before (and in some cases it was comparable) but not ready to totally retire. No difficult clients to deal with. Pretty much no out of pocket defined benefit pension plan (at the time). Not hard work but you are mobile, not riding a desk, that has health benefits (plus in my case we lined up and did all the exercises in the morning). Show up, do your work, go home...

Yes the work is repetitive but it has some advantages. In a true TQM enviroment the line workers do have some input BTW. As a life long choice it may be a little too much though. When I reach the above situation (house, kids), I would consider the same approach.
 
Unless you have tried it don't entirely knock it. Back in the 90s I was an assembly line welder in a Japanese auto plant (paying for school among other things), also mounted doors and fenders. What was interesting is the plant had many educated career people working there post other successful careers. Business guys, bankers, lawyers, teachers, engineers, etc.

Why? It paid good enough for their situation. Comparably from what they left very little work stress. Never bring your work home. House was paid off and kids were done school so they did not need the money they were making before (and in some cases it was comparable) but not ready to totally retire. No difficult clients to deal with. Pretty much no out of pocket defined benefit pension plan (at the time). Not hard work but you are mobile, not riding a desk, that has health benefits (plus in my case we lined up and did all the exercises in the morning). Show up, do your work, go home...

Yes the work is repetitive but it has some advantages. In a true TQM enviroment the line workers do have some input BTW. As a life long choice it may be a little too much though. When I reach the above situation (house, kids), I would consider the same approach.
If the job is repetitive enough and there is quality control in place you do it in your zombie state while you chat with others. Just out of high school we had to make 10,000 bolt assemblies for a customer. Take a screw, two washers, a nut and screw them together. Put them in a different box. The first day was mind freezing but after that it was a slack job as we talked about anything but what we were doing.

It was a one-off goof up by the company and the easiest fix was to write off a dozen man days.

If that was all one did with their life it wouldn't look good on a resume or in "What did you do Grampa" time.
 
Unless you have tried it don't entirely knock it. Back in the 90s I was an assembly line welder in a Japanese auto plant (paying for school among other things), also mounted doors and fenders. What was interesting is the plant had many educated career people working there post other successful careers. Business guys, bankers, lawyers, teachers, engineers, etc.

Why? It paid good enough for their situation. Comparably from what they left very little work stress. Never bring your work home. House was paid off and kids were done school so they did not need the money they were making before (and in some cases it was comparable) but not ready to totally retire. No difficult clients to deal with. Pretty much no out of pocket defined benefit pension plan (at the time). Not hard work but you are mobile, not riding a desk, that has health benefits (plus in my case we lined up and did all the exercises in the morning). Show up, do your work, go home...

Yes the work is repetitive but it has some advantages. In a true TQM enviroment the line workers do have some input BTW. As a life long choice it may be a little too much though. When I reach the above situation (house, kids), I would consider the same approach.
Amen.

Im front office now but started on the shop floor(metal stamping). Once in awhile I’ll see one of the guys I worked with back in the day and they’ll ask me how my cushy desk job is. I’ve said that once in awhile I miss the days of punching out and forgetting about the job until I punched in again.

Getting calls from senior management on a Saturday night when you’re hosting people is not fun or stress free....
 
Getting calls from senior management on a Saturday night when you’re hosting people is not fun or stress free....
Ya don’t miss those days. Saturday at the cottage ‘MP, it’s the VP....we’re flying to Istanbul tomorrow. Pack your ****.’ At least they bumped me to first class for the inconvenience.

Next job, hiking in Algonquin Park on a Sunday...catch reception...’MP you in Toronto? No....ok how quick can you get to the airport need to fly to India tomorrow. Your tickets in your inbox.’

lots of miles though and would fly home from Istanbul on Thursday only to fly back on Sunday lol. I think I spent 6-8 weeks there. Would’ve been cheaper to just get me an apartment there.
 
Ya don’t miss those days. Saturday at the cottage ‘MP, it’s the VP....we’re flying to Istanbul tomorrow. Pack your ****.’ At least they bumped me to first class for the inconvenience.

Next job, hiking in Algonquin Park on a Sunday...catch reception...’MP you in Toronto? No....ok how quick can you get to the airport need to fly to India tomorrow. Your tickets in your inbox.’

lots of miles though and would fly home from Istanbul on Thursday only to fly back on Sunday lol. I think I spent 6-8 weeks there. Would’ve been cheaper to just get me an apartment there.
We can swapzies.
You can play 20 questions with the General Manager and I’ll fly to exotic places for work and adventure.
 
Ya don’t miss those days. Saturday at the cottage ‘MP, it’s the VP....we’re flying to Istanbul tomorrow. Pack your ****.’ At least they bumped me to first class for the inconvenience.

Next job, hiking in Algonquin Park on a Sunday...catch reception...’MP you in Toronto? No....ok how quick can you get to the airport need to fly to India tomorrow. Your tickets in your inbox.’

lots of miles though and would fly home from Istanbul on Thursday only to fly back on Sunday lol. I think I spent 6-8 weeks there. Would’ve been cheaper to just get me an apartment there.
The thing that I hated about working out of town was I didn't feel like going to a posh restaurant and eating alone so after hours I went to a mall, wandered around and grabbed something to eat from the food court.

The exception was the last day there. I got to the airport early and had a couple of hours to kill and they had a decent restaurant at the time. My manager's eyes just about popped out when he saw the tab for the steak with all the trimmings, appetizer, wine, dessert but then saw all the pizza slice receipts and OKed the expense report.

My FIFO was a five day, typically to Ottawa, and when I got home I wanted a home cooked meal, mashed and meatloaf. My wife who had been cooped up for the week with the little one wanted to get out.
 
We can swapzies.
You can play 20 questions with the General Manager and I’ll fly to exotic places for work and adventure.
LoL that was a long time ago. I’m sure if I called them now I’d probably be able to get the job back. But who knows.

@nobbie48 totally agree. My FIFO was all camp food. When I got home I wanted normal Polish home made foods. Pierogies, cabbage rolls, chicken soup, and whiskey. Wife always wanted to go out and I wanted to stay home. We found a balance that worked.

biggest reason I sold the bike was during my time home I had a large guilt trip because I wanted to go for a ride and take a full day while ignoring the kids and wife for a full day. Ugh. Should’ve kept the bike.
 

Back
Top Bottom