Toronto Real Estate – A World Class City Is Still Surprisingly Affordable

Real Estate in Toronto

First Published Date : April 24, 2010

In a study done in 2010 by the Economist to find the most liveable cities in the world, Toronto ranked in at number four, joining Calgary and Vancouver as the three Canadian cities in the top 10. Toronto joined places like Sidney, Australia and Vienna as places where it is great to live. However, unlike most of the cities on the list, Toronto is not far out of the reach of many individuals. Vancouver is one of the most expensive places in the world to live, but Toronto still has real estate, in prime places like downtown and North York, that is affordable. This means that you can live in a world class city, without having to go into deep debt in order to pay for your new home.

Buying a condo in New York or Paris will cost you a small fortune, but you can get the same type of condo, with an amazing view, in a world-class city like Toronto, for as much as you would pay for a home in the country. That is amazing to think about because you can live in what many consider to be the premier city of Canada (although Vancouver is close on the list) for a decent price.

As of January 2010, Toronto had an average home price of $409,000, only $18,000 more than Calgary but a whopping $229,000 below the highest priced city in Canada; Vancouver.

In terms of the entire world, Toronto has a comparable amount of services, culture and population to many of the greatest cities on the planet, but it ranks 31st in terms of the most expensive cities to live in. So, you have a city that ranks fourth in terms of being the best place on Earth to live, but 31st in terms of price. That is an amazing combination that you should take advantage of if you are going to move anywhere in Canada.

One big plus for Toronto is its surging real estate market. Toronto has out-performed nearly every Canadian city, and most of the American cities, in terms of real estate market recovery. Since April 2008, the average home sales have gone up over 100 percent a month for several months in a row. This not only shows that Toronto is a popular place to live, but that it is weathering the storm of the economic crisis that swept around the world quite nicely.

In terms of neighbourhoods, where you live will depend on how much you end up paying. The most popular neighbourhood in Toronto is Riverdale, which comes with an average home price of just $480,000, quite reasonable for where you are within the city. Riverdale is considered to be one of the trendiest and most artful neighbourhoods in all of Toronto. This just shows how you can get a home in one of the best, if not the best neighbourhood in Toronto, without having to pay more than $500,000. Riverdale itself features several art galleries, film studios and some beautiful homes that are built in the style of Georgian and Victorian architectural style.

Now, if you want to live in what may be the most beautiful part of Toronto, as well as one of the hottest areas for real estate, then you could think about The Beaches. Sitting on the shores of Lake Ontario, you get a lake view property in within the limits of Canada’s biggest city. That is pretty amazing, especially considering that the property price within this area is only around $571,921, more expensive than Riverdale but very reasonable considering the high-class style of this neighbourhood. The beaches has a very colourful history with its residents, which have included from time to time Academy-award winning director Norman Jewison, pianist Glenn Gould, Miley Cyrus, John Candy, Keanu Reeves, Kiefer and Donald Sutherland, as well as Alex Trebek. It is like living in an affordable Beverly Hills within a beautiful city.

The most expensive area of Toronto to live is Leaside, which is where many local celebrities live, and the home prices in this area fall around $650,000. That may seem expensive but it is important to remember that this high price is only slightly higher than the average price of homes in Vancouver. Try buying prime real estate in Paris, London or New York for only $650,000. You will be lucky to get a condo in a rough neighbourhood for that price anywhere but Toronto!

Toronto is a beautiful city to live in. In Toronto, what many call the Center of the Universe, you can live in a world class city for prices that you will not find anywhere. Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York, Vancouver, London, or Paris would never be affordable to the tune of $650,000 in the best neighbourhood in the city. The argument may be made that it’s cheap because it is not a good place to live, but then explain how Toronto can rank fourth in the world for the best places to live? A young family can buy a home in the best neighbourhoods of Toronto, while at the same time being in an area where there are plenty of services, cultural hotspots and more.

If you are going to buy a home in Toronto, look to some of the neighbourhoods that we have mentioned here. They are the best neighbourhoods in the city, yet highly affordable. They feature everything you could want, including some amazing people who call the neighbourhoods home. Not to mention the beautiful homes, the history and the views you get in these neighbourhoods are a bargain at the price you are paying. Anywhere else in the world and you would be paying over $1 million for the homes you get in Toronto for half of that.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the realestateexpedition.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on Apr 24, 2010.

How to Pick the Best Travel Rewards Credit Cards in Canada

Choosing the Best Canadian Travel Rewards Credit Cards

First Published Date : November 5, 2015

Last week I talked about How to Pick Rewards Credit Cards. Today, I will go into further detail for those who are interested in picking travel credit cards.

Before I start, I would like to clarify that this is NOT an article about any particular travel credit cards to pick. I cannot tell you what frequent-flier credit cards, hotel credit cards, proprietary credit cards, or hybrid rewards credit cards you should be using. It’s up to you to decide what cards suit your needs and lifestyle. However, I do have resources in the A Dawn Journal credit card section that you can use to come up with the best options. And don’t just use one site or one top credit card rating article to research. Spend a good amount of time and use various sites before making your decisions.

What I am going to discuss today is what features and options you need to be aware of before committing to any travel rewards cards. It might look simple on the surface, but there many things you need to be aware of and credit card companies will not provide you this information in black and white, unless you know what to look for and how to look for it.

Travel Rewards Credit Cards for Initial Sign-Up Bonuses

When you want travel credit cards solely for the hefty initial sign-up bonuses for free flights, free hotel nights, and so on, you don’t need to worry about what features the cards are missing because it’s likely you will cancel these cards in a year before the annual fee kicks in. Don’t forget to meet all the requirements for free flights or nights; usually certain amounts have to be spent in 3 months.

Travel Rewards Credit Cards for Ongoing Benefits

If you are holding on to travel credit cards for the benefits they are providing year after year and not using them for daily transactions, you don’t need to worry about missing any features because you use these cards for only one benefit.

Example: I don’t mind keeping the Marriott Rewards Visa Card and paying the $120 annual fee (although I don’t charge anything on this) because this card gives me a free night at Marriott every year, which I value more than $120. Another example: I don’t use my WestJet World Elite MasterCard, but I don’t mind paying the $99 annual fee because it gives me a companion flight (and free checked baggage) anywhere in Canada and the US for $100 every year, which I value at about $500 to $700.

Travel Rewards Credit Cards for Daily Transactions

Regardless of what kinds of travel cards you use, make sure you are getting maximum returns on each dollar and never settle for any credit cards that only give you 1 point (1% return) per dollar. For example, some credit cards will give you 4 points (or 4% return) on grocery, gas, and pharmacy purchases, but will only give you 1 point on all other purchases, including travel. Example: Scotiabank Gold American Express Card.

So what you can do is use one credit card for grocery shopping and another credit card (that gives you more than 1 point) on everything else. Example: BMO World Elite MasterCard gives 2 points on everything. If you do not want more than one card for daily transactions, pick one card that provides 2 (or more) points for everything. So avoid any cards that offer only one point for daily uses.

Also, make sure the cards you are picking for day-to-day needs give you a hefty sign-up bonus as well.

Travel Rewards Credit Cards for Travel Purchases

You have to be extra careful when you are using credit cards to buy plane tickets or hotels, as your trip should have full insurance coverage. Here is my list of coverage that I must have for my trip and I will only use a credit card that provides all these.

– Emergency Medical Insurance

– Travel Accident Insurance

– Trip Cancellation Insurance

– Trip Interruption Insurance

– Flight Delay Insurance

– Lost Luggage

– Hotel/Motel Burglary

– Auto Rental Theft and Collision/Loss Damage Insurance

I don’t mind if I don’t have Lost Luggage and Hotel/Motel Burglary insurance, but everything else is a must for my trip.

Another thing you need to be aware of is your card’s insurance provider. Stick to a credit card where the insurance provider is a reputable one and there are not many complaints when it comes to obtaining insurance benefits. Lots of credit cards offer a full suite of insurances, but the providers make it very difficult to claim and collect benefits when the time comes to do so. I discussed more on this here.

Travel Rewards Cards that Come With Personal Assistant

Do not settle for a travel credit card that does not provide you concierge service. Visa Infinite cards come with Visa’s own concierge service. Other cards usually provide concierge service through a third party or the card company’s own concierge service team.

Concierge service is a free service that is like having your own personal assistant at your disposal 24/7. Concierge service can do basically anything you can think of that you might need help with. Some of them are:

– finding and booking air, hotel, cruise, and restaurant reservations

– finding that hard-to-find concert ticket

– research for you something you need to find out

– help you when you are lost or in trouble in a foreign country

– sending flowers to someone on your behalf

– and much more

I use concierge service vigorously. In the last 6 months I used them to make me a list of all hotels with rates facing ocean in Myrtle Beach, providing me with a report on Las Vegas (what to see + do), and I even called them when I was in Niagara Falls to find me the closest movie theatre. The point is that this is a unique feature your credit card offers and you should take advantage of it.

Currently 3 of my credit cards offer concierge services from 3 different providers. However, Visa’s concierge is very reputable and possibly the best on earth. This is simply their wide coverage across the globe and they know how to deal with a situation in any country. I would not mind paying a $120 annual fee on one credit card just to have Visa concierge, if I don’t use that card for anything else.

How About Annual Fees

If you are looking for all the benefits and features a credit card offers, the fees are indispensable. A no-fee card is not going to offer you anything we talked about so far. So the way you approach fees is that you need to make sure your benefits surpass the total of all the fees you are paying.

My total spending on fees from all credit cards comes to about $700 – $800 annually. However, my benefits exceed well beyond $800. So this $800 is not actually a spending, but it’s an investment that provides me more returns.

Last Word

Before making your selections on your travel credit cards, spend time researching all the features and benefits. It’s likely you will not find everything you need in one card. But the good thing is you can have as many cards as you like. And there is nothing wrong with paying fees on premium credit cards as long as you can justify the fees for the features, services, and benefits you are receiving from your cards.

Bonus Tip – Same banks have several travel rewards credit cards providing different types of rewards. If you are on good terms with your banks, they will gladly transfer your account from one type to another type without hesitation. This serves you both ways because you don’t need to apply for the other credit card you want from your bank (which saves you one hard credit check) and still can get the sign-up bonus. I always have had success doing this with my banks. You have a better chance if you ask your bank after 2-3 years of using one card. If you ask them every year, there is a good chance they will decline

A Record Number Of Canadians Now Own Their Own Homes

A Nation of Homeowners – Canada

First Published Date : June 23, 2009

In the middle of a worldwide recession, would it surprise you to hear that a record number of Canadians now own their own homes? It would surprise just about anyone, surely? But that is the conclusion from a report by the Bank of Nova Scotia, details of which were reported this week. The caveat to this is that the figures refer to households that owned their own home in 2006 (with the belief that the number increased yet further in 2007) and that the full figures for 2008 will not be known for a couple of years. What is indisputable, however, is that there has been a significant increase in ownership compared with the same figures a decade earlier.

The Scotiabank report states that in 2006  a record high 68.4% of Canadian households were owned by the householder, and that there was reason to believe that the percentage increased in 2007. This was in comparison with figures for 1996 that showed a total of 63.6% of householders owning their own homes. How the figures will be effected by the recession still remains to be seen, as the compilation of the figures from a wide range of sources in a wide range of different jurisdictions takes time. It may well be that there has been some fall-off in the last couple of years as people have sought to cash in the capital locked up in their house and begun renting. However, there is little likelihood that this will have taken the numbers beneath those set a decade ago.

Reasons for this rise in the figures must include the fact that “baby boomers” now make up almost the entirety of the 45-64 age group which is considered the prime house-buying section of society. With the birth numbers having been so elevated in the last 60 years, and the improvements in medical science that have been seen in the intervening period, there are now more people than ever who are ready, willing and financially able to buy a house. Aside from this, however, the numbers have increased for those in other demographics buying houses. this can be put down in large part to the desire for owning assets for the purpose of having something to subsidize a pension. People are saving for their retirement earlier and earlier these days, and using more methods than ever before.

In addition to the headline story of the report, there was also some interesting data to be found in that 9% of Canadian households now own a second property, typically used for the purposes of a holiday, compared to 7% in 1999. How this will have been affected by individuals cashing in on their properties in order to ride out the current recession remains to be seen, and certainly it is unlikely that the numbers will rise as quickly over the next few years. Nonetheless, the changing trend towards home ownership seems to suggest that those who rent their homes will stay in the minority for some time yet.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Canadapersonalfinancewebsite.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on June 23, 2009.

Heading to The Temples of Philae | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 3 (Part 27) 02D20

Philae Temple – The Temple of Isis at Philae | Aswan

Egypt Travel Blog: 10 DAYS Egypt Explorer - Felucca Cruise & Red Sea

We reached a small dock from where we would take a boat to reach the Philae Temple. The dock area had lots of stores selling ornaments, miniature pyramids, temples, statues of Egyptian gods, and much more. Some sellers were on the side of the street displaying their wares on the street.

I liked the whole mini port-like environment there. There were lots of boats docked there, but we headed to our designated boat arranged by the tour company.

These boats are open-air boats with only a shade on top. The engine was nothing fancy. It would accommodate about 15-20 people.

It would take about 15 minutes to reach the island. I saw many other boats passing by filled with tourists. The scenarios along the shore were very pleasant. I saw the shorelines full of rocks and some of them were shaped like small hills.

As we approached the Philae temples on Agilkia Island, the columns and intact walls appeared to rise up out of the water among the large rocks.

I was still contemplating how they moved the whole temples from one island to another (see my previous post).

The dock here was another small one, but looked different because of the surrounding waters. We started to offload from the boat and walked a little bit uphill to reach the entrance of the temples.

2015 Kiplinger's 10 Best States to Retire

Delaware is The Best State to Retire

First Published Date: July 16, 2015

Personal finance magazine Kiplinger recently looked at factors such as affordability, economic health, crime rates and tax laws, etc. among all 50 American states, including the District of Columbia, and rated the top best states to retire in America. Here are the best 10 states:

1. Delaware

2. Florida

3. West Virginia

4. Pennsylvania

5. South Dakota

6. Arizona

7. Hawaii

8. Iowa

9. Kansas

10. Wyoming

Those states that are economically healthy and affordable, along with low crime rates, are favoured by the rankings. If you recall my 2015 America’s Best Places for Retirement by Bankrate, the top ten places were very different than this rating. For example, Delaware and Hawaii were absent and 3 cities from Arizona were among the top. The full Kiplinger report can be viewed here.