If Tony Robbins and Pitbull come to your town to present you with 'an offer you can't refuse' to buy residential real estate after it's already surged over 200% in the past decade and 30-40% in the last year, that should be all the evidence you need to do the exact opposite. If, however, you're the type of person that doesn't easily pick up on the 'subtle' market cues then here's a couple more reasons to avoid Toronto real estate at all costs.
http://www.macleans.ca/video/iframe/13639244001/VJjIBwmqg/5389510190001
You might also consider some of the details presented in our recent post entitled "Toronto House Price Bubble Goes Nuts."
All that said, for some folks, like 24-year-old Elijah Joseph, no form of admonishment will ever derail their dreams of building a "great big empire"...except, of course, the subsequent spectacular collapse of that "great big empire" which will undoubtedly result in complete financial ruin. Per Maclean's:
If real estate were a religion, Elijah Joseph would be a believer. He is 24-years-old, and he has devoted his future to erecting properties trimmed with 24-carat gold. “I’m looking to build a great big empire,” he says. “There is no doubt. I have a plan. I have a course of action, and right now, I’m kind of looking for a mentor.”
But, as presenters at the 2017 Real Estate Expo in Toronto recently told all the aspiring 'gazillionaires' in the crowd, you can't listen to the naysayers of the world because "fear will kill you"...you just have to develop a 'special' relationship with a local mortgage broker and buy everything in sight with the comfort provided by knowing for a fact that "Toronto has become one of the last safe havens in the world.”
“Fear will kill you. Fear will drown you,” said Daryl King, who is selling properties upwards of $8.8 million throughout the Greater Toronto Area and Ontario. “Just jump in!” chanted Inez Kurdrik, a downtown realtor. On the same panel, Brad Lamb, nicknamed “the condo king,” who has built eight high-rises in Toronto, declared, “Toronto has become one of the last safe havens in the world.”
Luckily, at least one person in the crowd of 15,000 was able to see through the 'small' conflict of interest inherent in a bunch of real estate agencies, developers and banks paying huge dollars to have celebrities whip fans into a real estate buying frenzy.
“This event is a blood-sucking event,” said Clark Lord, a musician and artist who bought tickets solely to see Tony Robbins. “They’re telling everyone [that they can] be a millionaire when we can’t even pay for food.” Lord’s friend, Ivan Rendalic, a lawyer, only went because Lord bought him a ticket. “All this is is a stimulus package,” says Rendalic. “They’re getting high on the hype. They’re refusing the logic. Once people hit a small barrier, they’re f**ked.”
Still, it's pretty difficult to disagree with Mr. Worldwide...