LoveCanada

Empirical means statistically verifiable verifiable by observation not just an theory. I dont what part of that is hard for you to understand. The stats dont lie.

Heres another: Average house price in AB: 495,000. Average house price in ON: 852,000. Not hard to see why people are moving.

There isn't really a petro boom this time either. Oil and gas is doing fine but its not going crazy and booming like it was 20 years ago. We actually have fairly high unemployment of 7% considering the mass influx, but thats not stopping people from coming here. They're coming because ON and BC are completely unaffordable now and AB has some great advantages not the least of which is no provincial sales tax.

The "affordable housing crisis" in AB is no different than the "affordable housing crisis" across Canada. And the fact is that housing outside our two major centers is quite a bit BETTER than most provinces. My friend just bought a house for 199k last year in a mid size town here and I just got very lucky and bought one two days ago as a rental in a small rural town for 65k. You cant get much more affordable than a 2 bedroom house with a massive lot for 65k ANYWHERE in Canada.

And our landlord tenant laws are quite fair. Yes there are some distinct advantages for landlords compared to ON but we also have plenty of cases of LL's being taken to the RTDRS and getting judgments against them too. All in all its a pretty balanced system. If it wasn't people would be flooding OUT of AB to other provinces. They're not. People moving here with a net interprovincial increase for the last few years means empirically that renters see this is a better place to live.

Check out the net interprovincial migration stats: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1710002201 We import nearly as many new people as Ontario does except we're a province of 5 million and they are 16 million, so proportionally our immigration is the highest in Canada, three times higher than Ontario. People dont move for WORSE housing conditions.

You're talking about rent manipulation by a corporate landlord. Those of us 'mom and pop' landlords have no desire to get people in a place and then jack the rate only to have to replace them again the next year. Stability, even if rent is slightly below market rent, is FAR more desirable and much more beneficial financially. Tenants moving out incurs our biggest expenses and costs, so no one wants to make that happen and one month of a unit sitting empty waiting for a new tenant easily wipes out any increase in rent so we generally avoid that as much as possible.

There's a happy medium where both tenant and landlord are happy and I find that to be when rents are 50 to 80 under fair market rent. If tenants know they're getting a decent deal and that moving is likely to not only cost them moving costs PLUS higher rent, they'll stay around, which works for both of us. Through in some advantages like allowing pets with no additional fees and they'll stay a LONG time.

It doesnt get abused because you can post a 24 hr notice but there's a very good chance it will get ignored which means you still have to go to RTDRS to get an actual court order for eviction which isn't likely to happen in less than two weeks at best. But its still far faster than ON's LTB by a mile.

It obviously and empirically is. We dont have a housing crisis in Alberta. Our landlord tenant board actually works. And we dont have renoviction issues that need legislation to fix. Rents are MUCH more reasonable than Ontario. And we have had a massive influx of new residents from ON and BC, the two provinces with strong rent control, because our system is far better for both tenants and landlords.

Whether you sell it or not, that doesnt change the fact that you have invested a great deal of money into it, therefore it is an investment. Its status in your life has nothing to do with whether you plan on making a profit on it or not, its merely the definition of investing money.

Its crazy what people can do in a moment of rage. I grew up in a small prairie town that had nearly zero violence and then one day a guy decided to cut down some very old oak trees that were a windbreak for a rural property. The tree owner argued with him but he insisted he had permission to remove them. The owner, a normally very gentle guy, went in the house got his gun and shot the tree cutter to death. He did years in the penitentiary for it. Good church going man who destroyed his own life and caused his family a great deal of grief over 5 minutes of uncontrolled rage.

We definitely are. We dont need the press or the BofC to tell us when we are, we can see the signs - car prices are starting to drop. 'Toys' like motorcycles and boats arent selling or are selling for far less than they were last year and there is a flood of them on the market. Fast food places have started to advertise 'value priced' meals again in the $5 and $6 range instead of the $15 they've been gouging us for since covid. The thrift stores are busier than ever. People are actually buying groceries at the Dollar Store. Food banks are overwhelmed. The recession is here, they just dont want to say the 'r' word.

I saw some of the clips (cause I havent sailed the high seas in awhile) but what I saw was in the category of "holy shit, I cant believe they did that" in their mockery of Trump. I mean its one thing to insinuate President Small Hands is, uh, tiny where it matters, but a very realistic looking Dirty Don with his miniature manhood was hilariously over the edge. Incredibly brave considering Mr. Micro loves to sue anyone or everyone who offends his overblown ego, but I think the boys know that in the court of public opinion a suit against a very popular comedy team isn't going to go well for Donnie.

Between this episode and Powell cutting him off at the knees in a live interview, the Orange Turd hasn't had a very good week. I dont think even the lovely Ms Leavitt can save his ass this time.

Anything you put thousands of dollars of your own money into is an investment - collector cars, crypto, artwork, gold, your Star Wars collection, and housing. Whether those are a GOOD investment or not is another question, but its definitely an investment.

I agree however the problem becomes 'what is corporate ownership'? I have some LL friends who own three houses who have formed a corporation but its just a single owner. I have some that own a rental however they manage them through a broker who does all the management and maintenance for a share of the rent and any capital gains. Then there are the guys who form a corporation with a few other guys so they can buy an apartment block but without those three friends pooling their money it would likely be owned by an international company.

I think the delineation is that single family homes should not be owned by corporations that have more than 4 shareholders with a set financial limit. If you want to buy a 16 unit apartment with three friends, go for it. But if you're Blackrock with billions of dollars and 155 million shares then you have no business buying ANY residential housing.