Questions for Canadians

[dragon1952]

Hey hosers!
My wife and I are thinking about a Canadian retirement. Can someone explain how the mortgages work up there?
I see stuff like 10 yr closed and 25 yr closed...what do they mean? Don't they have 30yr mortgages? What are property taxes like, etc, etc.
Thanks! :D

[PolkWannabie]

Make sure you understand the implications of the Health Care ?! industry up north before you move ...

[Shizelbs]

Yeah, make you, you know, live by the border eh. Just in case, like, you wanna see the doctor.

[dragon1952]

Like it can be any worse than here as far as health care :p
Here it's like 'sorry....you're on your own buddy!'
Or, 'Ooops....we were supposed to remove the mole.....not the whole arm!?!'
Or...'Now where did I leave the scalpel...Oh well , well get it next time we open him up'
Or...'Dammit...where's my bottle of Gin...you KNOW I can't operate without a drink first!'
Or...'That'll be $937 for your 30 day supply of medicine'

Give me a frickin' break

Besides...this will make up for any deficiency. Show me where you can something at this price in the good ole U.S. of Bush!
http://bc4sale.ca/tour/b2620/

Also besides....My retirement dollar is worth $1.32C up there.

[dcarlson]

The only thing I would question is how a U.S. citizen would actually get coverage. Our health care system is still pretty damn good.

If you like the great outdoors, give her. I live in Northern Ontario and highly value nature and what it has to offer. Not only the beauty but also the experience it brings along with it. B.C. on a lake is a place I would love to settle to for retirement. :D

[dorokusai]

DCarlson likes to listen to his stereo, naked wrapped in a bear hide...that's what I hear on the grapevine that is...those Canadians are a strange lot.

[dcarlson]

Originally posted by dorokusai
DCarlson likes to listen to his stereo, naked wrapped in a bear hide...that's what I hear on the grapevine that is...those Canadians are a strange lot.

:D :D

[PolkWannabie]

Originally posted by dragon1952
Besides...this will make up for any deficiency. Show me where you can something at this price in the good ole U.S. of Bush!
http://bc4sale.ca/tour/b2620/

I know, real estate prices have just become unbelievable in the last 3+ years

Originally posted by dcarlson
If you like the great outdoors, give her. I live in Northern Ontario and highly value nature and what it has to offer. Not only the beauty but also the experience it brings along with it. B.C. on a lake is a place I would love to settle to for retirement. :D

Agreed ... I've vacationed several times in B.C. & Alberta ... spectacular scenery. (Glacier / Waterton), Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, YoHo, Jasper etc.

[dragon1952]

DCarlson likes to listen to his stereo, naked wrapped in a bear hide...that's what I hear on the grapevine that is...those Canadians are a strange lot.

LOL!!! I'm not quite that adventurous! :D

[dragon1952]

I know, real estate prices have just become unbelievable in the last 3+ years

I hear ya! Which is good and bad. Good if you own a home, bad if you don't!
I should be able to take my equity and buy a place outright up there
If I need major medical care I'm still covered down here and I can get prescriptions over the internet. I never get sick anyway....now my wife's another story
She doesn't really get sick....just seems to have every allergy and minor ailment in the world.

BTW, the price for the house in that link is in Canadian I believe!

[PolkWannabie]

I was being sarcastic about real estate prices in the last few years ...

If your old enough to be nearing retirement age I think you'd agree that prices the last few years have risen more closely to the average percentage then way on the high side of what they've done in some other years over the last 20-30.

[dragon1952]

Not out here bud.....your comment was correct.....10-20% per year easy! :D

[PolkWannabie]

Yes ... here too ... but do you remember the years following Carter's high interest rates where for 2 or 3 years 30% was closer to reality.

[dragon1952]

Here's a quote:
"San Diego is again the nation's second-most expensive place to buy a house. But the average there, up from $410,900 to $472,600, is rapidly approaching that of its sister city in Northern California. That's a gain of more than $71,000 in just 12 months, folks."
I'll take that any day! :p

[PolkWannabie]

Yep ... I hate to give up that kind of appreciation before I'm really ready to at which point I'd like to have a summer home in northern Montana or soutern Alberta and a winter home in Arizona.

[brettw22]

Originally posted by PolkWannabie
Yep ... I hate to give up that kind of appreciation before I'm really ready to at which point I'd like to have a summer home in northern Montana or soutern Alberta and a winter home in Arizona.

As long as you're not on the decrepit way of things in terms of driving abilities, snowbirds are welcome :D

Just stay away from Sun City....those senior citizens are bonin each other on the golf courses out there at night.....

[PolkWannabie]

LOL ... I still like my cars with capabilities of 0-60 in the close to 4 second range ... and the places in AZ I've been to a steering wheel isn't needed most of the time so top end is a good thing too ...

[dragon1952]

There's some nice twisties coming in to Tuscon from the east on I-10. ;)

We've also talked about having 2 places...one in the US and one in Canada. Probably not CA though.....too expensive. My wife's from Missouri/Arkansas and it's cheap there but I couldn't take it for more than a few months a year.....too many freakin' bugs! But British Columbia looks just awesome to me. I just don't see how you could beat it.

[brettw22]

If you're driving the freeways out here, just be prepared to be hit. I know this can be said of anywhere, but the drivers out here are frightening. I have 4 corners of my car scratched because of other people. 2 of them my car was parked and I came out to see it had been rubbed up against......fu#kers....lol

[dcarlson]

Just be carefull of the moose.

[dcarlson]

Yikes.

[dragon1952]

Damn! I don't see how anyone could have survived that!
I think about the worst you'd have to worry about in AZ is iguanas! :)

[dcarlson]

I received these pics in an email and it said the lucky woman only had a broken wrist and needed a good bath.

[brettw22]

Originally posted by dragon1952
I think about the worst you'd have to worry about in AZ is iguanas! :)

Nope......non-licensed illegals and seniors........it's BRUTAL out here.....lol

[danger boy]

i hit a deer on sat coming back from Reno. i was pissing nails aftewards. ticked me off so bad. now i have to get the car fixed.

hit on the right front bumper. blew out the headlight. and bent the hood, and right front panel. passengers side front door won't open anymore. damn four legged creatures, stay off the freakin' road.

[brettw22]

I killed one of those lil bastards with my camaro danger......did you at least kill the bastard for damaging your car?

[north51]

Dragon,

I can't really answer the housing costs in BC, as I live on the East Coast of Canada. If the mortgage says ten year closed, that means that you are locked in at that interest rate for 10 years, even though the mortgage may be longer (usually 20 or 25 years, not 30 here). With the property tax, it depends on what size city you live in (or if it's a rural area) . I live in a city of 350,000 people, and my property tax is about 1.25% of the assessed value of my house. If you move to Vancouver, expect house prices of $300,000+.

[dragon1952]

Thanks bud!
That's $300,000 Canadian, right?
And what's the advantage/disadvantage of locking in for only 5 or 10 years? Sounds like a crapshoot to me
Do interest rates fluctuate much? How about appreciation/depreciation? I know it probably differs from Province to Province. And what has the history been like lately with the exchange rate? Sorry for all the questions!
Thanks again! dragon

[danger boy]

Originally posted by brettw22
I killed one of those lil bastards with my camaro danger......did you at least kill the bastard for damaging your car?

he took it in the hind end pretty good. i'm sure he's not running in front of any more cars.



thing is.... 5 miles down the road.. there was another one.. then i saw two more just standing by the side of the road. they are everywhere!!

[PolkWannabie]

Adjustable rate mortages are of course a double edged sword and these days rates world wide more or less move together so if you have a feel for US interest rates than the same movements could be expected in Canada.

As far as the history of exchange rates go ... see the attached chart ... As you can see the US Dollar has been dropping against most major currencies for some time.