<p>^Same here. Houses in my neighborhood are receiving multiple offers and turning over fast. I hope the same is true next year when I plan to sell mine. A good bidding war could help a lot with my retirement plans. :)</p>
<p>āOur elevator has a phone also. And I think if I got stuck in it, DH would notice.;)ā</p>
<p>If heās like most guys, maybe not until dinner timeā¦</p>
<p>Or when the game is overā¦</p>
<p>Can you get a cell phone signal inside your elevator? If so, charge up a call phone, turn it off, and leave it in there. Cell phones can always make emergency calls even when they arenāt on a plan.</p>
<p>DW and I talk about selling and moving all the time just for the money weād save. But we like our house, and the thought of cleaning 20+ years of stuffā¦ bleh. Havenāt really found anything we like either.</p>
<p>Not to derail the thread, but those stories of the strong real estate markets are interesting. Are we talking primarily about first time homebuyer areas, or a move-up market? In our area, many parts of which are priced out of reach for young people, I donāt sense that things are jumping ahead. Iād say that here, we are still somewhat in the mode that people are being careful about buying big purchases that they donāt necessarily need (which especially includes oversized, elite neighborhood housing). Maybe things are picking up. </p>
<p>My husband renoād his parentsā 1989 condo this spring. They put $45K into it and it sold for over $100K than the pre-reno market eval and for $7K over listing in 3 days. All cash, retired single woman buyer. It is in a nice suburban city, walkable, a good mix of ages, close to medical and shopping. All but medical in walking distance.
A neighbor of ours who is a RE agent, says heās had his best year ever. Inventory is low which fuels demand and price. </p>
<p>Things are going well in our area, inventory down, prices up significantly. But my neighbor put his house up on the market three weeks ago, and I havenāt seen a single person go by (not that Iām watching all the time), but two open houses and I havenāt seen any cars. Makes me wonder. Three story house, lots of stairs, steep driveway. Not a house to retire in, I suppose.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That seems like the type of thing thatās like āYeah, you can make money, if you really know what youāre doing.ā Kind of thing. Not like a āI want to invest my money somewhere, real estate sounds good.ā kind of thing.</p>
<p>Yes, an awful place recently sold as a fixer-upper for list or above, after only one or two open houses. The lot is a good location, but the house had serious foundational and other problems. Our real estate market has never dropped much and is red hot again.</p>
<p>
Around here, that would call for demolishing and building a new house. Unfortunately, I find most of the new houses to be McMansion embarrassments (more Tony Soprano than tasteful).</p>
<p>Our real estate market in Toronto is booming, but then it never really faltered much compared to many areas of the U.S. Last month was the best May on record and the average selling price of a single family, detached home in the city was $943,000. Homes in popular areas of the city usually end up with dozens of bids and are going for substantially over the asking price. Itās truly a sellerās market.</p>
<p>I watch property brothers and love it or list it, which I believe is set in Toronto. How on earth do people afford homes at a million dollars when it doesnāt appear either partner has a high income job. I just wonder if rates are lower or itās longer than a 30 year mortgage, etc.</p>
<p>@eyemamomā , with a reliable safety net, you can buy more. </p>
<p>Also, the Canadian dollar is only 91% of the American dollar. So they need more dollars up there.</p>
<p>Whatever happened to the 2.5x income guideline? Seemed more sensible than 30% of income. I ran a mortgage calculator and what it said we could afford bears no relationship to reality. </p>
<p>@CountingDown, itās a bit like asking a barber if you need a haircut. 
</p>
<p>At current interest rates, 2.5x income gives a mortgage payment of only 12-14% of income. Iām not sure housing has ever been that cheap.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Rates are currently pretty low, and no, no one here is taking 30 year mortgages. Iām not sure that they even still exist in Canada. No one is getting a million dollar mortgage if they canāt qualify with their current income, and, generally speaking, buyers here must have a minimum 20% downpayment for a conventional mortgage.</p>
<p>OK you all got me to thinking/worrying- looked up stair lifts- they will work on our house should we need it - whew - dodged that bullet. there were worries I did not even know I hadā¦ </p>
<p>
Yes, not to derail the current talk of real estate prices, there is a blood test. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, my hometown is once again rocketing out of our retirement price range. Missed by about 7years the right age to buy at the downturn for retirement. Oh well, traffic there is terrible. Sorry Bburner and b</p>