News About Properties

Canadians nervous about buying U.S. real estate

While sunshine states such as Florida and Arizona have long enticed Canadians to purchase their winter retreats in warmer-weather American cities, the uncertainty clouding the U.S. housing market now has many Canadians favouring properties north of the border. And the mountain resort of Canmore is a “coveted recreational destination,” says a report released today by Royal LePage.

In fact, 36 per cent of Canadians who own a winter recreational property or who are considering purchasing one cite they are more inclined to buy a property in Canada than in the U.S. because of the economic uncertainty plaguing our southern neighbours, says the 2008 Royal LePage Winter Recreational Property Report.

The report says Canmore’s ideal location on the eastern slopes of the Rockies surrounded by the mountains and a multitude of recreational activities “continue to make the area a coveted recreational destination.”

Path to wealth is through real estate holdings

Sorry, folks, this is not a get-rich-quick book. Still, you may be richer than you think, write authors Catherine McBreen and George Walper Jr. in Get Rich, Stay Rich, Pass It On.

More than 7 million American households today claim total assets of a million dollars or more. But it’s far more likely that “You’re among a group we call the mass affluent, people whose total assets add up to anywhere between $100,000 and $1 million, not including their primary residence,” according to the authors.

McBreen and Walper are managing director and president, respectively, of Spectrem Group, a research and consulting company that has been studying the affluent since 1991.

Each year, the firm surveys more than 5,000 millionaire and megamillionaire (more than $5 million in assets, not including primary residence) households. The firm monitors investment habits, how assets are allocated and the attitudes and perceptions that go into those decisions.