AnotherDirtyAnglo

I'll readily admit that my situation isn't common. I almost have enough money in my TFSA alone to wipe out my mortgage. But I've easily gained several years worth of interest expense. And while I don't expect that it'll stay that way forever, a drop of more than 10 or 20% is... unlikely.

In fact, you've got me thinking that when my mortgage comes up for renewal in a couple years, I may opt to cash out some savings to wipe out the mortgage, and take another look at early retirement.

Why not just build tiny homes? Built to code, 200sqft, well insulated, power, running water, and phone/internet, close to public transit. A fixed address with access to a social worker and a nurse on site, and the ability to get back up on their feet.

The idea would be to give people something between 'tent' and 'apartment' as transitional housing. Nobody freezes to death, nobody gets caught in the rain and loses everything they own. A community centre for socializing / education / laundry / showers, etc. There's a ton of unused / underutilized lots in most cities - buildings ready for demolition, behind on taxes, and better used to deal with the housing crisis.

This isn't rocket surgery. Someone please take this idea and run with it!

+1 for being cognizant of the fact that interest rates wouldn't stay low forever.

I bought my place near the limit of what I could afford, but always mentally prepared for the idea that my monthly payments could go up by 50%.

The weird irony is that since interest rates crossed over the 5% mark, I was thinking that I needed to start making lump sum payments to knock down the total interest I'd be paying -- but throwing the money into my investments has paid back far, far better... One of my broad-market ETFs is up 25%. A tech ETF is up nearly 50%. I'm considering the idea that it might make sense for me to retire with a mortgage, because the markets are going up enough to cover the monthly payment, and then some.

I've had a 50A unit in a 1BR apartment, and it was fine. Enough heat for showers and for someone to do dishes in the kitchen, or the dishwasher to run. You'd need the larger unit for a home with two showers and four people, but in some use cases, it's really efficient.

Electric hot water tanks are a thing. So are electric tankless systems.

FYI, these are likely the SMR variety -- very quiet, and they run cool, but they're best used as archival drives, and very slow.

When you take short-term rentals off the market, suddenly those homes become available for families. Shocking. The same policy should be replicated across the country. Bravo to BC for doing this first and proving it works.

Developer: "Hey, there's a lot of waterfront land people would like to build their homes and cottages on."

Town: "Yeah, we don't build there because it flooded a hundred years ago."

Developer: "Pfft. A hundred years? Think of all the property taxes you'll be able to collect on these modern luxury waterfront homes."

Town: "Well, since you put it that way..."

If you're building anything under 100m above sea level, you're fucking crazy. My place is around 120m above sea level, and I'm considering selling and moving up to the 250m-500m level.

There's a stupid idea... Ignoring professionals who spend their lives trying to identify and mitigate risk... It's the same reason you never co-sign a loan for anything -- if the bank says someone is at a high risk of default, don't fucking ignore them, and don't sign the paperwork.

When I was a kid, a woman tried this in the first class cabin, but the staff managed to intercept her and force her back into her seat as the plane pulled away from the gate. The story was, that she was terrified of flying, and chose a trans-atlantic flight for her first flight. The worst part was that her husband was sitting beside her and said and did nothing to either stop her, or console her. The flight attendant kicked her off the plane, with her husband, and their child, who was sitting at the back of the plane in the economy section (WTF?).

It's other companies garbage, not mine. ;) I make sure stuff here gets refreshed and donated.

I usually grab old PCs from the loading dock before they go out for recycling. I know that they're not refurbed, they only ever go for disposal. I usually test them out, tidy them up, and throw in any RAM or better CPUs I have lying around. If I don't think I can make a decend PC out of it, I strip it for parts, and tear it down to steel / plastic / wires / boards and take it to the eco centre.