Personal Finance

More than 500,000 Canadians now own Florida property

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  • May 4th, 2013 9:14 pm
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Deal Addict
Feb 15, 2013
2445 posts
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Renters crushed by housing costs

For renters in America, housing is usually the hungriest of the bunch. Ideally, it would gobble up one-third of the pie –– anymore than that, and you likely wouldn't have enough to feed the rest.

Unfortunately, one in four working renters watched housing devour more than half of their paycheck pie in 2011, according to the latest Housing Landscape Report from the Center for Housing Policy. The report analyzed the period between 2008 and 2011, when the rate of renters putting more than half their income toward housing jumped nearly 4%.


Renters Crushed by Housing Costs | Business Insider
Deal Addict
Nov 24, 2004
4664 posts
1242 upvotes
Toronto
Rickson9 wrote: Renters crushed by housing costs

Unfortunately, one in four working renters watched housing devour more than half of their paycheck pie in 2011, according to the latest Housing Landscape Report from the Center for Housing Policy. The report analyzed the period between 2008 and 2011, when the rate of renters putting more than half their income toward housing jumped nearly 4%.

Renters Crushed by Housing Costs | Business Insider
As the article points out, this is due to increasing rents conflated with decreasing incomes.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Dec 14, 2006
3385 posts
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Montreal
We have an house in Florida, Cocoa Beach to be exact.
We can't rent it (strict rules) but we didn't buy it to rent it out anyway.
We take our vacations there, love it.
I was there at the 32$ price error at dell.ca day AND at the 150$ off price error at fs.ca
RFD price error moto: "Buy now, think later." -Ahzuz
Deal Addict
Nov 26, 2004
4462 posts
4127 upvotes
Mark77 wrote: Yeah at record low interest rates. Let's see how it works out, buying an asset class that is clearly in overcapacity and is supported with debt, when credit starts to really tighten up.
Like Laptop Tech pointed out, I'm not sure if you really understand what's happening in the states. In many markets, there are only 1-2 months of inventories, and most of the purchases are done with CASH as banks are still very tight with their lending. Regardless of the credit score of an individual, there is virtually zero lending for Condos developments in the Sunbelt. Also, there are very little lending happening to "Aliens", investors, or people with marginal credits regardless of the type of housing they are purchasing.

If anything, it should be the other way around where banks would start to loosen their lending standards. There should be a number of previous home owners returning to the markets as the foreclosure and short sale drops off from their credit file.

Using REAL numbers, it is still cheaper to own than to rent in the US. Properties value is still at 50% of its peak in many places in Florida and other sunbelt cities. Besides, it is still very early in the game for speculators as they are only now starting to enter the market en mass, which will further fuel the growth in prices.
Deal Expert
Oct 7, 2010
15536 posts
5790 upvotes
Not worth it to buy properties in Florida. Foreigners all get taxed to death when they ever sell, so there is no point. Florida is not an economic center in the states, the prices will stay low there forever. The US will never be the same after that financial meltdown. Not to mention, since the land in Florida is unstable, soon or later it will be swallowed up by the ocean. :)
Deal Addict
Nov 26, 2004
4462 posts
4127 upvotes
laptop-tech wrote: Typical Mitz77 math you mean... overstate expenses, argue with real owners about their own costs, twist information to fit his own views.
May be he has done a whole lot more research and his numbers are better than the numbers being collected at investment firms led by Blackstone Group LP, Colony Capital and American Homes 4 Rent.

These guys are dropping approximately $8-billion collectively to buying homes and renting them out across the US, I would think they would have done their homework prior.
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Jan 28, 2008
1387 posts
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spike1128 wrote: Not worth it to buy properties in Florida. Foreigners all get taxed to death when they ever sell, so there is no point. Florida is not an economic center in the states, the prices will stay low there forever. The US will never be the same after that financial meltdown. Not to mention, since the land in Florida is unstable, soon or later it will be swallowed up by the ocean. :)
Do you know what the rules are for taxes? They aren't that bad - there is leg work but you arn't taxes to death as people always say.

-Rental Income has a withholding tax of 30%, and you get around that by by filing US income taxes with election to pay on net rental income, according to his accountant its the exact same process if you have Stocks in US that pay dividends.
-Selling you pay 10% with holding tax, which gets credit'd back when you do your taxes. BTW capital gains in the US 15%, lower than here.

MY dad has had rentals since 2009, plus his own property. He bought one in Orlando in 2010 and sold in 2011 (too far to look over) and has had zero issues on taxes. He mad gain on his Orlando place of about 22K and paid under $6 in total taxes.

BTW Canadians can get mortgages really easily down there, most of our banks own one down there and can process it for you. My dad doesn't have one but has considered doing a LOC and is zero issue at all. Most people who complain about it never have done it.

My dad bought all his places between $55-$65K, put some money into reno's on rentals (under 5K). And put about 30K into his own place.
Property taxes are under $600 a year, insurance is under $1000 year (including hurricane), property management is $600 a year, lawn maintenance about $1000 year for all 3. One rents for $875 month other $915. He also rents his place when they are not there (but only to friends).

On a side note, he had a Harley up here and was paying $2700 in insurance, down there $325 - now just brings it back with his FL plates on for 3 months.
Deal Addict
Aug 12, 2004
4511 posts
2168 upvotes
Calgary
laptop-tech wrote: Out of those 500 thousand Canadians buying there. How many do you think have a mortgage? As a matter of fact, out of the MILLIONS of foreigners buying property there, how many are getting mortgages? Let's see if you can get this one right...(dont cheat by checking out Wikipedia!!!)... :D
I think that considering that it has now been over 2 days since your post, and Mark77 has been posting actively in other threads, he is intentionally ignoring and avoiding to give an answer to you. Giving a proper answer would contradict a lot of his posts claiming that tons of Canadians are unemployed, and are heavily leveraged in debt. It is much easier to simply ignore the truth behind how 500000 Canadians are buying properties in the US, hope that time causes people to forget the question, so that can continue posting his anti-RE agenda.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jun 26, 2012
1370 posts
142 upvotes
U
How to you register your vehicle in FL if you're not a citizen?
Swarez99 wrote: Do you know what the rules are for taxes? They aren't that bad - there is leg work but you arn't taxes to death as people always say.

-Rental Income has a withholding tax of 30%, and you get around that by by filing US income taxes with election to pay on net rental income, according to his accountant its the exact same process if you have Stocks in US that pay dividends.
-Selling you pay 10% with holding tax, which gets credit'd back when you do your taxes. BTW capital gains in the US 15%, lower than here.

MY dad has had rentals since 2009, plus his own property. He bought one in Orlando in 2010 and sold in 2011 (too far to look over) and has had zero issues on taxes. He mad gain on his Orlando place of about 22K and paid under $6 in total taxes.

BTW Canadians can get mortgages really easily down there, most of our banks own one down there and can process it for you. My dad doesn't have one but has considered doing a LOC and is zero issue at all. Most people who complain about it never have done it.

My dad bought all his places between $55-$65K, put some money into reno's on rentals (under 5K). And put about 30K into his own place.
Property taxes are under $600 a year, insurance is under $1000 year (including hurricane), property management is $600 a year, lawn maintenance about $1000 year for all 3. One rents for $875 month other $915. He also rents his place when they are not there (but only to friends).

On a side note, he had a Harley up here and was paying $2700 in insurance, down there $325 - now just brings it back with his FL plates on for 3 months.
Deal Addict
Oct 4, 2009
3590 posts
2953 upvotes
Montreal
brunes wrote: 6 months minus 1 day!
That only works for a year.
Deal Addict
Jan 28, 2008
1387 posts
58 upvotes
jeremyhalifax88 wrote: How to you register your vehicle in FL if you're not a citizen?
You don't need to be a citizen to register a vehicle, pretty common for snowbirds. Its really just a form. Insurance is tricker to get for Canadians they had to go to Tampa to find someone who would insure it properly. They use there Canadian licenses.

There lawn guy is an illegal and has a car registered/house registered.
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Jun 26, 2012
1370 posts
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U
Thats a good go, would be cool to buy/insure a vehicle in Florida and just rock it out in Halifax.

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