toronto realty blog

Top Five: Blog Posts Of 2020!

Opinion

19 minute read

December 14, 2020

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

I specifically didn’t post new content on Friday because I knew you’d all need to be fresh, eager, and well-rested this morning in order to power through this week’s blogs.

Those long-term readers among you will recall the length of these “year-end” blog posts.

What started as one post many years ago spawned into two.

And what may have been a “Top Ten” list at one point or another has been reduced to a top five.

Brevity has never been my strong suit, but in this case, I feel my verbose nature is a blessing.

It’s the end of the year!  We have so much to comb through on Toronto Realty Blog in 2020!

How in the world can I describe my “Top Five Blog Posts” in less than three times the length of the average blog post? 🙂

That was equal parts sarcasm and truth, if that’s not a paradox.

So for those newer readers, here’s what lays ahead…

I do not write TRB over the December holidays, and although you might feel it’s a welcome break for me, I’m really, really not good without my routine.

Case in point: I do the same two features to end the year on TRB, every December.

Today, I’ll recount my “Top Five Blog Posts” for you, and on Wednesday, I’ll give you the “Top Five Real Estate Stories,” all of which were chosen by me.

In future, perhaps we can set up some sort of voting system.  Wouldn’t that be novel!  But for now, you’ll have to accept my subjectivity and bias, and simply trust that I’m the right person to not only identify five of 140 blog posts from the last year, but also determine what the five largest stories in real estate were in 2020.

So without further adieu, let me present to you: my top five TRB posts from the year that was 2020…

 


 

#5) “Capital Gains Tax On Primary Residence Is Coming”

August 6th, 2020

This blog post produced 129 comments, which was the second-most in 2020.

If you haven’t heard me bitch about taxation, then you haven’t been reading Toronto Realty Blog long enough.

There’s that saying that goes, “There are only two certainties in life: death and taxes.”  Well, the one certainty with TRB is that every year, you will get at least one epic rant – sometimes even a Friday Rant, about a new form of tax that’s being floated, and how much I hate it.

This past weekend, I got “into it” with a guy in my fantasy football pool about taxes.  Of all the things to discuss on a fantasy football pool chat board, taxes is likely the last thing you’d expect.  He contended that higher-income earners need to pay more in taxes, and it set me off.

I asked, “Is 54% not enough?”  To which he responded, “54% of what?  LOL.  Math has never been my strong suit.”

LOL.  Sure.

Here’s somebody suggesting that taxes need to be raised, without even understanding taxation, tax rates, or who is taxed what amount.

I further explained that “Those who pay 54% of their income, which is more than half, are also paying 13% in sales tax on any purchase they make from after-tax dollars, not to mention property taxes on their houses, social security contributions, gasoline taxes, alcohol tax, eco-taxes, licensing taxes, natural resource taxes, and oh yeah – land transfer tax.

His response?

“LOL.  People that have more should give more.  It’s only fair.”

Why do I even bother?

I won’t even get into the concept of “fair” in 2020, or how what’s fair is determined by ensuring that we have enough tax money to pay for what’s “necessary,” since the concept of “necessary” takes on a whole new meaning in today’s world.

But bottom line: I do think we are taxed far too much, and I do think that many taxes feign a benefit other than simply raising revenue.

Case in point, last week, the idea of a vacancy tax was floated in Toronto, since a report came out of British Columbia that a foreign buyer’s tax is a “game-changer.”  As a result, tax enthusiasts everywhere are floating the idea of more taxes, all in the name of doing right by the general public.

You know how I feel about these types of taxes, right?  The eco-taxes that are supposed to help the environment?  They don’t.  We know they don’t.  Charging somebody an extra $3 on the purchase of printer ink, because there’s an assumption that they’re disposing of their previous printer ink, doesn’t make people purchase less ink.  Same goes for car tires, since it won’t make people drive cars with no tires…

Well, the “vacant home tax,” which is supposed to stop people from keeping homes vacant, but likely won’t, is actually being celebrated in some circles.

Here’s the headline last week in Better Dwelling:

 

Right.

“…..after bleeding millennials for years.”

I always love headlines like this, and that’s because I’m a cynic.

From “vacancy tax” to “bleeding millennials for years.”

If this were a “connect the dots” picture, it would look something like this:

For the record, I already wrote about the idea of a potential Toronto vacancy tax back in 2019:

“The Friday Rant: Vacancy Property Tax Is NOT The Answer”

128 comments just go to show how fiery people get about taxes.

So when I wrote the August 6th blog post about the capital gains tax, it came as no surprise that the readers responded with even more comments than before.

The tax-free capital gain on a primary residence in Canada is sacred, in my opinion.  It’s not to be touched.  Not now, not after all these years, not after people have lived their entire lives planning on the exemption remaining.  This is the holy grail of tax law in our country.  This is it.  In a country where we are taxed to death, this is our only reprieve.

To institute a tax on capital gains now is just throwing in the towel.  We may as well hand over everything to the government and let them run our personal finances, as well as the country’s.

Thankfully, I’m not the only one with this opinion, although I do feel I’m in the minority.

The best opinion I saw on taxation and housing in 2020 came through this Financial Post article:

August 5th, 2020: “Government Is Why Housing In Canada Is Unaffordable And More Taxes Won’t Help”

Opinion: A home equity tax would be the but the latest example of politicians using housing as their personal ATM

Preaching to the converted.

Amen.

We talked a lot about the intersection of taxation and real estate on TRB in 2020, but it was this blog about the potential of taxing capital gains that spearheaded the most conversation.

If you really want to be informed as well as entertained, read the comments that accompanied the blog post.  There’s some dynamite insight there.

 


#4) “The Friday Rant: The Care Bear Stare”

July 10th, 2020

Only 48 comments on a blog that I thought would get more attention, but some readers were simply at a loss for words.

As I’ve told you many times before, I’m a cynic, and I’m a realist with a tendency of looking at things rationally and logically.  I find it very easy to let things go, where others might not, and I get over things quickly.  What I’m typically not are spiteful and vengeful.

But then again, I’m not really an “I told you so” type of guy, and on July 8th, 2020, I wrote, “Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!”

This wasn’t an “I told you so” as much as a “Thomas told you so,” since it was blog-reader Thomas who correctly predicted that the average home price in June would surpass that of February, despite the pandemic, despite the economic downturn, and despite market onlookers and TRB-readers alike suggesting that it would take years or decades for the Toronto real estate market to recover.

“Winner, Winner” had an element of gloating to it, no doubt about it.  But it was also congratulatory, and not self-congratulatory, since it was Thomas, not I, that came up with the accurate prediction.

I’d say the self-congratulations came later on in the week, when I got really frustrated and penned “The Care Bear Stare,” but that post also demonstrated that I am, in fact, capable of spite.

To drive home the point, I used a really nice photo of actual care bears as the feature picture on TRB.

I was licensed to sell real estate in the summer of 2004, but I was working with a developer in 2003 while completing my real estate courses.  From 2003 onward, I started to hear people talk about a “market crash,” and it hasn’t stopped since.  Seventeen years and counting.  If there’s one constant in my life, it’s not that I’m going to wake up every day, go to sleep every night, or even that I’ll see my own reflection when I look in the mirror, but rather that there will ALWAYS be people out there calling for the Toronto real estate market to crash.

My frustration doesn’t stem from self-interest wherein I need to fan the flames of a hot market in order to make a living.  I’ve always maintained that I’ll sell real estate in any market, whether it’s up, down, or sideways.  My frustration stems from what I perceive to the two most common sources of a bearish outlook on real estate: 1) jealousy, 2) ulterior motives

April 22nd, 2020, I wrote, “The Real Estate Raindance”

In this post, I took noted real estate bear, Hilliard MacBeth to task for his constant predictions that the “housing bubble” is going to burst, even though he’s been wrong for a decade.

My rudimentary analogy involving the rain:

“It’s going to rain,” says David, on Monday morning.  “We should say inside.”

The people remain inside, but it doesn’t rain.

“It’s going to rain,” says David, now on Tuesday morning.  “We should say inside.”

Yet again, the people remain inside, but the rain doesn’t come.

“I know it’s going to rain,” says David on Wednesday.  “Let’s remain inside, shall we?”

The rain never comes.

In fact, David continues to usher people inside on Thursday and Friday, each morning, saying “It’s going to rain,” but even as the sun shines, and other people are merrily out and about, the people continue listening to David, and stay inside.

This remains the case through Saturday, and into Sunday afternoon, when David sees the rain begin.

“See?” says an energized David, pointing to the rain outside.  “I told you it was going to rain.”

This is how market bears have acted for two decades.

With an average home price of $300,000, they suggest the market is going to crash.

The average home price increases over time to $900,000.

Then the average home price drops to $800,000.

The bear says, “See?  I told you the market would collapse!”

I’ve long maintained that many of the most recognizable real estate bears have ulterior motives, ie. Hilliard MacBeth and Garth Turner, who have both made a living from selling fear and doom, either by writing books, flogging wares on their websites, or selling other investment vehicles.  And that last point is important: both Garth Turner and Hilliard MacBeth ran financial services companies, neither of which would benefit from people buying real estate.

There’s no shortage of real estate bears who have ulterior motives, but I actually think the larger reason for bearishness is simple jealousy.

In the “Care Bear Stare” blog post, I coined the term perma-bear, referring to people who are, always have been, and always will be bearish on the market.  No matter the time, place, or market conditions, their outlook remains the same.

From my July blog post:

In my mind, perma-bears come in three forms:

1) People who can’t afford to buy what they want, and become bearish out of spite.
2) People who didn’t act, have regret, and are in denial – thus also becoming bearish out of spite.
3) People who can’t look up from the textbook long enough to see what’s actually happening.

Don’t ever underestimate what jealousy can do.

It can have unimaginable consequences.

Now, combine jealousy with regret, and potential financial losses, and is it any wonder many people are perma-bears?

Through the late 2000’s, I met so many people that couldn’t afford what they wanted, and instead of making compromises, they began to convince themselves that the real estate market was going to drop, and they’d just wait it out.  Imagine the would-be condo buyer, looking at $325,000 for a 1-bed, 1-bath at King & Sherbourne who is told by her father, or co-worker, or reads in the newspaper that the market is going to drop – and now that’s a $595,000 condo?

How do you get over that?

You don’t.  At least, most people don’t.  I’ve seen a handful of people say, “I was wrong, let’s move forward,” but it’s not really in our genetic makeup to do so.  As a result, many market bears are simply people who didn’t act when they would have, or could have, and this is how they sleep at night.

Others are bearish because they’ll never be able to get into the market, and they start to talk about what’s “fair.”  That’s my favourite word to hate in 2020, since it’s lost all meaning, and is impossible to define.  But so many of the perma-bears out there are just people who are aware that they’ll never break into the market, or get into the property type or location that they desire, so they hate the market and its participants.  Merely mention “Toronto real estate” and you’ll get an earful about how it’s over-valued, the crash is coming, real estate agents should be shot, and anything else they can spit out before you (hopefully) stop listening.

Then you’ve got the intellectuals!  All theory, no practice.

Remember this line from Good Will Hunting:

“So if I asked you about art, you’d probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life’s work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right?  But I’ll bet you can’t tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel.  You’ve never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that”

Tell me that you see the parallel here, right?

For years, I heard perma-bears talk about debt-to-income ratio and how the current levels would result in a severe downturn in the real estate market, or use some other antiquated metric, when all the while, they just needed to get out of their chair, walk around downtown Toronto, and see what was going on.  Check out an open house, walk through a neighbourhood under development, or talk to some people out there looking to buy.

There are a lot of brilliant morons out there.  People who, for all their education, hard work, and theoretical knowledge, know absolutely nothing about what’s actually happening in the real world.

Some of the big-name economists, economic advisers, financial analysts, and so-called market gurus fit this description.

And when they write about the market downturn that’s been coming, every year, for twenty years, there are a lot of people (those described above) who are ready to listen.

Combine “The Real Estate Raindance” with “Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner,” and then throw in “The Care Bear Stare,” and yeah, I suppose you could say I was a little spiteful after all was said and done…

 


#3) “Monday Morning Quarterback: Home Ownership Sucks” & “Shame!”

January 20th, 2020 & January 17th, 2020

With 71 comments between the two posts, these early-2020 blogs introduced us to a concept that I think is only beginning to gain momentum: shaming home-owners.

Consider these two posts to be the chick and the egg, since the “Shame” blog came first, and was referring to the outgoing head of CMHC, Evan Siddall, trying to shame us all for wanting to own homes, and the “Home Ownership Sucks” blog came thereafter, but actually contained an article by Jennifer Keesmat that was published first.

Bottom line: as more and more people fail to own a home to their liking, it will only further result in shaming those who do.

This is the way society functions in 2020, after all.  No longer do we laud people for accomplishments, but rather we seek to tear them down.

Let me explain by using, not a childish example, but one from my childhood…

When I was in grade school, we still obtained letter-grades for our work.  In Grade-Six, I worked my tail off on our science project on rocks because we were told that any project receiving a grade of “A” would be displayed in the hallway of the school on a dedicated bulletin board.  I didn’t just get an “A,” but rather an A+.  I aspired to achieve, in part, because of the recognition, but also because succeeding and working hard was celebrated.

Years later, after multiple changes to public school curriculum, letter-grades and celebrating achievement were done away with as the new school of thinking was: if we celebrate the children who achieve “A’s,” then how will the children achieving B’s, C’s, and D’s feel?

The long-time readers have heard this from me before on may occasions, and you may have actually heard that exact same story about my Grade Six science project!

But whether I’m a broken record or an old man yelling at clouds, I refuse to back down on this.  Celebrating success and achievement should inspire students to achieve!  Instead, we have found ourselves in a race to the bottom, placating the lowest common denominator, and this fire that began in our schools has now fanned throughout the rest of society.

When I read that article, “Homeowner Alert: Feeling Any Shame Yet?” I was incensed.

There’s no reason for a homeowner to feel shame.  No more than a person for being in good health, or a person for having a good job.

Jealousy can’t be the reason to remove existing pillars of society, no matter how bad the “have not’s” feel.

And the worst part about this article?

The charge was being led by Evan Siddall, who was the head of the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation.  Was, as in past-tense, since he was leaving the position, and leaving as a very disliked individual too.

His quotes were laughable, coming from an extremely wealthy individual who lives in a nice house:

“Our ‘dream of home ownership’ is static and regressive.  We need to call out the glorification of home ownership for the regressive canard that it is.”

I couldn’t get over it.

We may as well have the Minister of Health tell us, “Eating your greens is an old-fashioned way of thinking.  Milk no longer does a body good.”

Forget the hypocrisy that exists in the individual that’s saying this, because that’s a whole other story.  But how about the simple idea that home ownership is bad?  Or something we shouldn’t aspire to?

There are times and places where this makes sense, sure.  People shouldn’t make poor financial decisions based on a “dream.”  But that’s not what Mr. Siddall was saying.

Nor, was that what Jennifer Keesmat had written in her op-ed from 2019 that I finally found a place for on TRB in January of 2020.

That second blog post, the one I called, “Monday Morning Quarterback: Home Ownership Sucks” took Ms. Keesmat to task for her champagne socialism, given she lives in a detached house at Yonge & Eglinton but is writing opinion pieces on “the hoary myths of home ownership.”

Her piece is full of more “what if” statements than you’d find in mind of a 4-year-old on a sugar-high!

It’s fantasy!

How dare she write a piece in the well-read Globe & Mail, self-glorifying for fantastic ideas without any potential for implementation, all while sitting on the sidelines and sipping champagne.

I’d love to see Ms. Keesmat sell her home and move into the same German apartment complex that she raves about in her piece.

Only then could she, along with Evan Siddall, and others, successfully SHAME the rest of us for owning homes.

Shame has become such a huge part of society.

The term “cancel culture” or simply the verb “cancel” have become so prevalent, and while some don’t believe these things exist (a friend of mine is adamant that “cancel culture” is a myth), I think they’re on the rise.

Social media controls us, and not the other way around.  But the fact that we, collectively, are responsible for its content, is a statement in irony.  Because I don’t believe we control ourselves.

See something you don’t like?  Cancel it.  Hear something you don’t agree with?  Cancel it.  No matter the accuracy, fairness, origin, just act – don’t think!  And if your voice isn’t loud enough, find others like you, and shout louder!

“I don’t own a house, and it’s not fair, so nobody should,” shouts the shamer.

This movement is gaining momentum, and these two articles from early-2020 are a great example.

No matter the fact that an individual may do well in school, work hard, get a job, save money, take on a mortgage, take a risk, and then work harder to pay the bank.  If the angry, jealous mob doesn’t like their rung on the housing ladder, they’re going to let those higher up know about it!

If you remember one part of this blog post as we head into next year, remember this: home ownership shaming is only beginning.

 


 

#2) “Coronavirus & Real Estate: FAQ”

March 20th, 2020

This blog post produced 185 comments, which is the yearly-high, and is actually the second-most in the history of TRB (for those interested, there were 205 comments on 2017’s “Predictions For The Fall Market”)

Perhaps what stands out at me in this blog post isn’t so much the content, but rather the reaction.

185 comments, second-most all time; this has to mean something.

Combined with the timing of this post, as it was merely three days after the Ontario government declared a state of emergency, this is a blog that stood out in my mind even before I sat down to sift through all the posts in 2020 and draw up this list.

I don’t like that most of the blogs on this list, and as you’ll see on Wednesday – the “Top Five Stories” as well, are all affected in some way by the COVID-19 pandemic.  But then when you really think about it, how can they not be?  2020 was a year that will forever be defined by the pandemic.  For those of you of one or two generations beyond mine, when you think “1972,” I’m sure the Summit Series comes to mind.  I was born in 1980, and even I associate “1972” with the Canada vs. Russia hockey tournament that gave us Paul Henderson’s goal, and a grainy video clip that has been replayed millions of times since.  Those of another era might think “2000” and think “Millennium.”  In the same fashion, sorry to say, whether it’s next year or in fifty years, “2020” will always immediately be followed by thoughts or words that read “the pandemic.”

As I’ll explain in Wednesday’s post, the pandemic came upon us very slowly, and looking back on it now, perhaps we can say that we were unprepared, and caught off guard, even though maybe, just maybe, we shouldn’t have been.

And as I’ll explain in Wednesday’s post, I was reviewing eight offers on a condo listing on Monday, March 16th, as though the world was normal, and here we were, merely four days later, doing an FAQ blog about this novel virus.

That week was two extremes.  We went from setting real estate records to predicting the end of the world.

And on the Friday of that week, I published this blog post.

There were three things I wanted to discuss, all of which were burning holes in our collective heads:

1) Showings
2) Clauses
3) Condo Rules & Regs

Oh sure – we’re used to wearing masks everywhere we go now, but can you imagine the questions surrounding real estate viewings back in March?

At first, we figured the market would just cease to exist.  But as the days wore on, we saw new listings coming onto the market and we realized that some people needed to sell.  They simply had no choice in the matter, having already bought a property.

Then along came all the disclosure forms (many still exist today in a modified form), the rules and processes for showings, and the new real estate landscape within which we would work, and it was exhausting to say the least.

I was amazed at how quickly brokerages adapted to the new world order and came up with both the disclosure forms as well as the clauses to insert into agreements.

This was the clause that every brokerage tried to force upon their agents:

In the event that either party is unable to perform their obligations under the terms of this Agreement due to events reasonably viewed as related to the furtherance of public health causes or the containment of exposure to the COVID-19 virus, where one or more of the parties, the community at large or a portion thereof shall be kept from engaging in business activities due to bank closures, Ontario government services closures, business closures, public health emergencies, quarantines or self-isolation of one or more of the parties, their legal representatives, or their Realtors or mortgage brokers, the parties’ responsibilities hereunder shall remain in full force and effect, and the closing date herein shall be extended to the date that is 14 days after resolution of the event triggering this clause, Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays excluded, or such earlier date as the parties may agree to.

Call me a cynic, but common sense would have been sufficient, no?

I felt, at the time, that this simply gave buyers an “out” in case they didn’t want to proceed.  Then again, there were lawyers out there talking about how the pandemic was an “act of God” and that there was already a boiler-plate clause in the Standard Forms that addressed this.

Grey areas and subjectivity combined with spirited lawyers make for a bad combination!

I had a few agents tell me that their client was “speaking to his lawyer,” as though they really thought there was a way to get out of a transaction.  Again, call me a cynic, but unless somebody wanted to spend two years working through the court system, these deals were all going to close as scheduled.

When it came to how condominiums were going to address showings during a pandemic, it was truly the great unknown.  The condominiums, property managers, and condo boards themselves didn’t even know what they could and couldn’t do, but they didn’t seem to care.  Many made up rules as they went along, and despite trying to clarify this in the “FAQ” blog post, it didn’t help.  The rules were changing and evolving as we went along, and I learned pretty quickly that if you made a little noise, you could get what you wanted, while others were left to abide by the hasilty-contrived, often-illegal rules that condominium corporations enacted.

The 185 comments on this blog were a myriad of “nothing to see here” and “the sky is falling,” but therein laid the problem.  Nobody knew anything!  And as time went on, comments rolled in, and discussion resulted, it only seemed to exacerbate an already confusing real estate landscape.

There was no shortage of COVID-themed blog posts after this one, including several in the coming weeks that were all about the market and COVID.

But this was the first.

And in this pandemic, you always remember the beginning…

 


#1) “A Real Estate Conversation With My Father” & “A Real Estate Conversation With My Mother”

April 3rd, 2020 & April 10th, 2020

56 comments and 40 comments respectively.

This is where my bias is showing, clearly.

But is it possible to put together a list of my top blog posts, without demonstrating bias?

Last night, I re-read these and tried to do so through the eyes of the average real estate onlooker.  If Chris, or Kyle, or Appraiser wrote a blog post interviewing their mother and father, would I find it interesting?  Well, yes, I would.  But that’s because I work in real estate, and I find just about anything real estate related to be interesting.  But were these blog posts “the best” in my mind, and my mind only?  Or is it possible that others enjoyed the history, the experiences, and the personalities?

Even my own family found these to have peaks and valleys.

During the summer – back when COVID cases were low, and we actually got to spend time with my brother’s family, we were up at their cottage for a weekend and my sister-in-law said, “Dave, I loved the blog post where you interviewed Carole!  She’s so funny!  That line about her 1970’s real estate agent – ‘that stupid bitch,’ that was just priceless!”

I was so happy!  The smile on my sister-in-law’s face when she said this, it made my work feel so worthwhile!

“And the one with my dad?  Did you read that?” I asked, eagerly.

“Oh, yeah, not so much,” she said.  “I lost Jim somewhere around 1982, I think…”

Some of my readers come to Toronto Realty Blog to look at the funny MLS photos.  Some want to hear stories from the trenches.  Others are interested in the market statistics blog, and skip over anything elementary.  Every reader spends more or less time on one theme or another, and every reader has a different interest level for this post or that post.

Even my own family is no different, as I learned my sister-in-law was playing favourites with Jim versus Carole and their real estate tales.

Back in April, I had very little to write about on TRB.

Consider that, as I’ll explain in more detail in Wednesday’s blog, there wasn’t much happening in the real estate market, and my stories on TRB are based on my experiences in the field.  In the first and second weeks of April when these two blog posts were written, I was coming into the office every day, wearing a thick hooded-sweatshirt, with my dog, Bella, as my companion, without a whole lot of purpose.  The world was seemingly falling apart, I had no listings, and no buyers were active.  And I still had to write 2,000 words, three times per week, and film a 30-minute video too.

For those that remember March and April vividly, you’ll recall my video interviews with Tony Della Sciucca, Ben Rabidoux, and John Pasalis.  Taking questions from the readers for loved/hated economist Ben Rabodioux, and Lord God himself, John Pasalis?  What an incredible idea!  But while these may have seemed like new, creative, or innovative features at the, they were actually borne out of a lack of topic about which to write.

I had to get creative not just to keep TRB from running stale with non-stop COVID talk, but also to keep it up and running!

So when blog reader Jimbo asked a random question one day in response to a comment I had made about my father’s real estate experience thirty years ago, I decided to answer it.  I called my dad, we got to talking, and the next thing I knew, I had an idea for a blog post!

You guys don’t get it.

You could never understand.

I’ve written almost 3,000 blog posts.  I have said everything there is to say.  I have covered every topic.

Except, that, I haven’t.

Because every week, I find something new to write about.  And every time I think to myself, “I have nothing to write about.  That’s it.   I’ll never come up with another idea,” I suddenly fall ass-backwards into another 2,000 word post.

In April, the ideas had completely dried up.  There was no activity in the real estate market, and we were all operating at reduced mental capacities due to the pandemic.  So when the idea came along to “interview” my father about his real estate experiences, I thought it would make for a fun post.

For those who haven’t read it, here’s a random section:

David: “So how did you come up with that number: $261,000?”

Dad: “I was stoned.”

David: “You were what?”

Dad laughs.

Dad: “It was 1981, I used to smoke dope every night back then.  So I was totally stoned, and I overpaid.”

My mom read the blog post, and she said it had brought back some memories for her.

She also said she had remembered some parts differently, and added a few insights of her own.

Well, low-and-behold, here was “Part II” of the feature!  An interview with Mom now too!

I’ll be honest, I’ve read these posts a dozen times each.

I love my mother and father to the moon and back, and they’re both very special people in my life.  One of my crowning achievements at 40-years-old are the respective relationships I have forged as an adult with these two people, really, and truly.

So I can’t possibly think of a more fitting choice for “Number One” on this list.

 


 

Phew!

That may have come in slightly under the expected word-count, although with every successive keystroke herein, that falls by the wayside.

In past years, I’ve had to whittle down a dozen or more posts on the short-list to come up with five.  But this year, I literally came up with five after the first run-through of the year’s posts, and I honestly don’t know which post would bump one of these five, or which of the five I’d bump.

I’m all ears if you have a favourite, or one that you feel deserves a shout-out.

While we’re at it, I’m also happy to listen to ideas for 2021, whether it’s topics, new themes, or existing themes that should get more attention.

Stay tuned for Wednesday’s “Top Five: Real Estate Stories Of 2020”

Written By David Fleming

David Fleming is the author of Toronto Realty Blog, founded in 2007. He combined his passion for writing and real estate to create a space for honest information and two-way communication in a complex and dynamic market. David is a licensed Broker and the Broker of Record for Bosley – Toronto Realty Group

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15 Comments

  1. Jenn

    at 8:28 am

    Great list, David! I got through my whole morning coffee reading it! But your best post wasn’t on this list. It’s this one:

    https://torontorealtyblog.com/blog/a-son-is-born/

    Where you announced that you named your son after a toy soldier! LOL! That was my favourite of 2020 hands down.

  2. Chris

    at 8:33 am

    “ …since a report came out of British Columbia that a foreign buyer’s tax is a “game-changer.”

    This article, while it does mention the vacant home and foreign buyers taxes, is primarily discussing BC’s new beneficial ownership registry, and how its impact on tax evasion and money laundering will be a “game changer”.

    “It’s game over. It’s huge,” Mr. Kurland says. “It means you can’t hide international capital in B.C. real estate. And it’s about gosh darn time, because there were so many players who benefitted from being blind … including individuals who were able to hide capital, to hide profits from the tax authorities of Canada and their home countries.”

    According to the province, the Land Owner Transparency Registry, which came into effect on Nov. 30, is the first in the world to require ownership disclosure of land that is owned by corporations, partners and trustees – also known as beneficial ownership.“

  3. Ed

    at 9:22 am

    “I’ve written almost 3,000 blog posts. I have said everything there is to say. ”
    /////////////

    You could do what Garth does, just keep recycling 3 or 4 themes and be a dick to everyone.

    By the way I love the anecdotes the most.

  4. Appraiser

    at 6:36 am

    Latest mid-month TRREB MLS sales data from LG:

    “The GTA’s housing market is accelerating towards the year end finish line.

    Low-rise sales are up 56% so far in Dec over last year with less than 1 month of inventory.

    Condo sales have also surged, up 34% over last year with just over 2 months of inventory.”

    https://twitter.com/JohnPasalis

    1. Appraiser

      at 6:39 am

      P.S. Snooze…’ya lose.

      1. J G

        at 9:59 am

        Just like how you RE bulls lost out on stock recovery this year?

        S&P up 14% year-to-date even after a 40% drop in Feb-Mar. Anyone with a half-brain could have made at least 30% return, except if your money is tied up with an investment condo.

        Now you want to tease us about the condo market that’s (maybe) decelerating the price decline?

        1. Chris

          at 10:48 am

          Per Housesigma, December 2020 416 Condo Median Price is currently $610,000, -1.3% from $618,100 last month, and -8.3% from $665,000 in December 2019.

          Meanwhile, VBAL is up 7.05% (not including dividends) from this time last year, with no maintenance expense/fees, no property taxes, no insurance costs, very little effort required, and an MER of only 0.25%. Could have snoozed with a dead-easy portfolio, and wound up just fine.

          1. Fearless Freep

            at 4:34 pm

            Chris, since when have you become a JG surrogate stock market plumper? Anything to piss off Appraiser?

          2. Chris

            at 5:10 pm

            VBAL is an ETF that holds a huge number of stocks and bonds, in a 60/40 ratio, allowing anyone to easily build a balanced portfolio for a very low fee.

            While J G is pumping individual tech stocks, and appraiser is pumping downtown Toronto condos, what I’m pumping is a balanced portfolio.

            Though, I suppose when I check-up on how the stock market has done since appraiser’s “bull trap” call, that’s a little poke in the eye to him.

          3. J G

            at 8:39 pm

            1) Appraisers posts way more than me, he’s probably retired while I still have young kids.

            2) I don’t pump individual stocks, I gave young people a better perspective on what they can do with their capital (buying RE is not the only option). ETF should should be the core of most peoples portfolio.

            3) The stocks I do mention are all mega caps that have clearly outperformed the Toronto RE (Apple, Amazon, Tesla, etc.) over long periods, these are part of most index funds anyway.

  5. Moira W

    at 2:15 pm

    Hi Dave,
    I enjoyed the interviews with your parents, I had not read them until now. They must be very proud of you and so flattered to have their stories told.
    Wonderful work this year, thank you for the entertainment!
    Merry Christmas!
    M.

  6. Old Planner

    at 3:42 pm

    This very good post reminds us all a feature of Toronto civic life that does not get enough attention, so I will try. The ‘issues’, for anyone watching, are incredibly durable over the years. Deep thinkers pontificate, others debate, commenters vent and then…

    Nothing. Incredibly, life (and commerce and government) goes on as before. Well or badly.

    I’ll spare you evidence beyond urging recognition of the tiny, incremental, symbolic character of anything that actually occurs in response to published angst on those well-worn ‘issues’.

    Toronto authority – and that is a wide-ranging term – prefers Toronto as it is, or often as it was yesterday. None of its official publication-worthies have suffered directly from maintaining that posture, while claiming rhetoric of change/reform/more/less or we should really bury the Gardiner Expressway all the very brightest of new ideas.

    Toronto is what it is, and will be moreso tomorrow. If for any reason you don’t like all that, don’t fantasize about change. Change – it’s ordinary definition – is a very bad word in this context, but I predict we are all safe from it.

  7. Appraiser

    at 5:46 pm

    CREA reports a 32.1% year over year increase in sales for the month November across Canada, along with a 13.8% increase in average price and an 11.6% rise in the HPI. Remarkably, despite the pandemic total sales year to date are 10.5% ahead of 2019.
    https://creastats.crea.ca/en-CA/

    Also CMHC announced today that housing starts are 14.4% ahead of last month running at a seasonally adjusted annualized pace of 246,033, soundly thrashing forecasted expectations of 213,00 starts. https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/data-and-research/publications-and-reports/preliminary-housing-start-data

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