Every day 10,000 US homes enter into foreclosure. Millions of Americans now live in tent cities accross the southern states. Millions more couch surf through the homes of family and friends. Fear of forclosure grips the hearts of millions more. Canadians now fly to the sunshine states, where historically speculation drove prices the highest, to scoop up super-low priced properties with their high flying loonie and become speculators themselves. The real estate bubble burst in the US a couple years back. Instead of learning from this experience Canada is now riding the curve powered by the same mentality. Low interest rates, predatory bankers-real estate sellers, corrupt assessors and the delusion of endless growth have driven Canadians into another culture of bubble riders. How sad.
Homes aren't poker chips they're the place we keep our families warm and safe. Homes aren't flipped, chips are. The true value of anything is the cost of the materials and lobour used to build them. Instead of the true value we now accept that the price of a home is its true value plus as much as the market will bare. The difference between these two numbers is what has created the millions of desperate tent city residents in the US.
The true cost of anything and everything is a total of ALL the inputs involved. Hidden costs, like fear and dispair, don't disappear they just get passed on to be paid for by others sometime down the line. These costs never reach the balance sheet now but will in the future in the form of an undereducated population who's fears lead to desperate times and social chaos.
