Ovaltine

then don't buy real estate, its that simple. i don't know why asian are so into real estate investment, the population explosion is over, even if you think there is explosion from india and africa, the more population will likely create more chaos aka war, in turn real estate may drop significantly or remain stagnant. real estate developers and parents are usually feeding the media frenzy by telling their kids to buy houses or condo as investment. pretty dumb imho

Ovaltine

stock market, find a good dividend stock wait for recession or depression, get the stock 50% off, buy it, let it sit for 10+ years.

Ovaltine

To put money in stock and wait for 10 years, still risky. But to buy a housing as investment and als ...
FiChai 發表於 2011-1-29 21:20

didn't i mentioned the real estate stat is based on population explosion of the baby boomers? you can't just say its a guarantee gain just because you look at the last 30 years of peaceful human history. do you really think the next 30 years gonna be the same as the last in the midst of global warming, overpopulation and disparity between rich and poor? i think chinese people buying real estate, they call it "get on car". this get on car thing is really herd mentality, i don't want to say its positive or not because i can't read the future, but words of caution is explained above.

my parents, my relatives all have rental properties as investment, its basically our family business, if you calculate the return per year based on the value of the current housing price is about 6% after all maintenance and bull**** from tenants, so its not really that fun to be a landlord. i can make 6% easily through stock market or just deposit+ i can pull out whenever i want. i got place to live in already, so i don't have to worry for a long time.

Ovaltine

Of course I know. But to compare to put money in stock market vs real estate, both for a 10 year te ...
FiChai 發表於 2011-1-29 22:35

i know what u mean, this is also the chinese saying "without money, you still have a shelter" another one of those saying embedded into our culture.  its like advertisement for the real estate developers. how many houses do you really need for your family? one.

Ovaltine

Based on stat (not me), invest in real estate for a 10 YEAR TERM (NOT 1 or 2 YEAR SHORT TERM) is ALM ...
FiChai 發表於 2011-1-30 09:55

real estate is not safe at all, with so much economic uncertainty looming. it seems like the economy is rebounding, but lots of countries are going bankrupt, social unrest all over the world due to rising food prices and stagnant salary. population on earth will grow and grow until a tipping point, the next 30 years, we will either keep growing which means rising food prices, or war outbreak from poorer countries such as egypt and north korea. do you really think real estate prices will rise in an all out war? really depends if Canada is gonna be in combat. but i sure rather invest in stock market as I can pull out the money in a few days, but real estate will take couple months.

Ovaltine

i am not saying not buy real estate, i just  want people to understand, if you can't afford it, its okay to not buy it and use the money to invest on other things such as stock market or etf, which may have higher return. also if u have a house to live in already, i just don't see a point in buying another one, especially in lower mainland. my situation is probably different, i live a pretty nomadic lifestyle, so i probably don't need to buy properties to tie me down.

vancouver home prices are way over priced, i don't see why people are still planning to buy with little income, this really ties them down financially, and it will close doors of opportunity for them during their most efficient years in the workforce. they might have a chance to buy a business, or invest in some stocks but they can't because the mortgage is tying them down. i mean its atleast 15 years, so i beg all you to think twice, is there a better waY to grow the money elsewhere? christ, buy real esate in northern bc, or oregon. those are good deals, but definitely not in lower mainland.