[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

It's not Sliver's fault for wanting a second house. Or the oligarch's for wanting a yacht. Its that our system is at a historic high for being permissive to these things, and those with wealth are pulling away at the expense of the majority of people. Home ownership rates are dropping, but second home ownership is rising.

I hate the inequity in the world. Not much I can do about earth, but let's talk Canada/Alberta/Canmore here.

At a basic level and looking at just properties in Canmore, yeah, I have a second place there. Did I earn that life perk? Absolutely not. I don't think anybody with second-home money earns it. The reason for that is my labour isn't so unique and valuable that I should be in a financial position that allows this, frankly. I'm the most reluctant second-home owner ever. I don't think I deserve it, I'm uncomfortable with the inequity of life and I know if I have more it's largely because somebody else has less.

Okay, well what to do about that. In my case, there are a couple issues I toss around in my head:

1. I own a small business. If I pay my staff $1, I'm going to want, say $0.25 in my own pocket, which is my profit on their labour. That just sucks. It's exploitive and I have to look these people in the eye everyday. Why do I get that extra profit and they don't? It's gross. (I have had to endure losses, too, btw, while I continue to pay them, so my ownership isn't without risk).

A problem, though, is I have capital tied up in this business that I need to make work for me and my family. I have to set some of my discomfort aside and do what's best for my loved ones and, I guess, myself, too. I could sell the business and invest that capital into the stock market, but then that exploitation is still happening in all the businesses I now own shares in. Only difference is I'm now at football-field's length from having to look the exploited in the eyes. And I know the random employees at all these companies cannot be treated with as much care as I treat my staff, so I'm not sure moving my capital in this way is actually helping anything except hiding exploitation from my own eyes.

2. How do I have capital in the first place? That pat-on-the-back answer is I'm a saver and have lived pretty frugally for decades. I've liked financial planning since I was in my late teens (growing up poor and seeing your single mom cry when the furnace conked out in -30 with no money or means to fix it will motivate you to not go through that again).

Probably the main driver, though, is I'm an orphan now. My mom and dad (and brother, for that matter) are all dead. I'm the only one left of my original four. When your parents die, they generally leave what they have to their kids. That's me. Wasn't bazillions, but was enough to get my foot in the door of owning a small business (started at 20%) and buying more and more over the past 18 years to the point two years ago where I now own 100% of my company. For an idea of the size of this seed money, I could have taken 12-18 months off and bought a Honda Civic. That would have been it, but it was enough to start to build something and I'm well aware not everyone has that opportunity.

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I'd say all people with a second-home budget have had a combination of financial luck (I don't consider it completely lucky my entire family is dead, of course. A condo in Canmore means nothing to me compared to the thought of having my family still), the goal (if you don't work and plan toward something like this it won't just fall into your lap regardless of your financial circumstances unless you're, like, a decamillionaire or something) and a dash of hard work. The financial luck is the biggest thing, though. People don't get wealthy because they're so awesome, although many think that's the case. It just isn't, though.

So what now, then? Should I donate what I have to charity and become a monk? I'm 46, have two kids entering a difficult-to-navigate and unpredictable future. I don't have "retire at 46" money, nor would I want to retire even if I could. I want to be a contributive member of society. I complain about working, but really, I would feel like a total deadbeat if I didn't work at my age and I don't think that would be good for my mental health.

Okay, so that's where I'm coming from, but I have to insert my feelings and thoughts on all this into the world and country in which I live. We're capitalists. We're free. If you have money you can buy things. A second home is a bit flashy so easy to pick on. I get it and it's not crazy; however, I think the issue people have (and, in fairness, generally recognize) is with the system and not the individual. And I don't see a better system out there, either, which is the other issue. Communism doesn't work and I don't think any of us would want that, anyway.

Where is that money spent more ethically? I like and appreciate bizaro86's comment:

Originally Posted by bizaro86

This is sort of an interesting point. Travel is totally my thing, and I'm probably close to the carrying costs on a place in Canmore in travel per year in terms of cost. Is me spending a bunch of money taking trips to Australia, Hawaii, and Disney World better than Sliver owning a place in Canmore to chill? That seems like a hard argument. I'm not sure how you would equate carbon emissions from flying all over to habitat destruction from one new condo, but the international travel doesn't seem obviously better to me and I'm biased in favor of it. More of his money is in Canada which is probably better for the economy here.

What would help things? First, I'm 100% supportive - and vote for parties closest to sharing this ideal - of increased taxes. I railed against lowering business taxes under UCP and even quit my membership in CFIB (Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses) over their pushing for - and support of - this measure that took revenue out of public hands that could have helped those less fortunate than profitable business owners (I say profitable because, of course, you're only taxed on your profits).

Most small businesses are a part of CFIB and they advocate for small-business interests through lobbying efforts. They're quite powerful. With that membership, I used to pay lower fees on credit card transactions, payroll processing and several other benefits. This stand costs me several hundred dollars a month, but I refuse to be associated with an organization that pushes for lower taxes on businesses (they should be higher) and fewer employee rights (there should be more). I'm the only small business owner I know making this stand, but I'm going on years doing this and am out thousands of dollars due to my protest. Money well spent, IMO.

I also think there should be punitive tax brackets at certain income levels. Say, anything over, like, $5 million/year is taxed at 95%. Over $4 million/year is taxed at 80%. Over $2.5 million/year is taxed at 65%. Over $1.5 million/year is taxed at 55%. Whatever the numbers and percentages are, you get the idea. Nobody's value is so high that they are entitled to the huge numbers that are contributing to this growing inequality. It's absurd, entitled and greedy that we've allowed things to get so unfair. Bothers me to no end.

That - in my view - is how we wrangle this all in and start building back up our middle class and give people something more in life to look forward to than a weekend where they can run around looking for the best sales on groceries to prep for the next week of toil. If you are bothered by the fact that I own a second home I hope to hell you're voting for parties that want to raise taxes. Let's knock high earners back down to earth and use that to improve the lives of the vast majority of people.

Now, to the second home specifically: Build more houses. This is just a supply thing. I have enough money to two houses. Okay. Well, I didn't kick out some poor family and make them sleep in a cardboard box wearing potato sacks FFS. We have all the land and building materials we could ever want in Canada. There's no shortage of anything. There are great and efficient ways to make pre-fabricated houses that should be used. Increased government tax revenue could even subsidize these buildings. I'm enjoying my life. I actually get less enjoyment than I would like, though, knowing the challenges others face (I faced them myself most of my life). I want more people to have more security.

What is stopping increased supply of houses? Well, in Canmore specifically, NIMBYs. Fuzz - a great guy, I think we'd all agree - has a very typical Canmore attitude. 'It was better when it was just me and mine there, and now everyone has ruined it.' Sorry, but that's everywhere that isn't on a Biff-Tannen Back to the Future II downward death spiral. If you aren't progressing as town/city, you are regressing. Plus, not sure about the rest of you, but I thought Canmore was pretty ####ty from a tourist/vacation area perspective in the 80s and early 90s. Like, there's a reason we all drove right past it and went to Banff. Canmore sucked. Now it's rad and things are more expensive.

Is housing tight in Canmore? Yes, because it is now a vacation destination. In vacation towns - every single one of them - real estate is expensive and living conditions for lower-wage inhabitants adapts. When I lived in Lake Louise there were seven of us in a two-bathroom unit, sharing bedrooms and it was smaller than my current vacation home. That's vacation-town living for the service industry and low earners. Works fine for the transient population that's in for a couple years and then back to Australia or wherever.

What about the middle class permanent Canmore residents? The people working for the town, the foreman at a landscaping company, the teacher...they should be able to live, too, and have a home, right? Did I scoop out a home from underneath them? No, in spite of what a typical Canmore person will tell you. Build more. I support that. They don't.

And it always goes back to this for me: if you think Canmore is too crowded then move out. I don't think it's too crowded. I like Canmore in 2023 a billion times more than Canmore in 1993. I wouldn't want to spend my time there in 1993. I would love to live there full time in 2023. If you think it's too crowded, then move away and STFU. What gives you the right to dictate how Canmore should be and what it should be? Because you called dibs? Because you were here first? I'm at three years with property there - some people have lived there less time than me. Should my voice be louder than theirs because of that? Fk that. Nobody is above anybody and Canmore locals should stop fkn acting like they're in a different class with more valuable input than me. It's NIMBYism, it's selfishness, it's gatekeeping and it's rude.

And on homeownership in general again...some solutions are:

• Ban on Air BnBs. We have hotels for that.
• Build more. (NIMBYs need to STFU or GTFO).
• Change our concept of what an acceptable home is. (pre-fab assembly-line houses seem like a no-brainer here. It's not like your Toyota Corolla is built as a one-off onsite...it's built on a line). Building from scratch onsite is asinine.
• Higher taxes on the rich so they just have less money to toss around.
• We need to lower house prices. How can that be done? A good start would be a cap on realtors' rates. Their minimal efforts are increasing the cost of a $500,000 home by $17,000. It's preposterous and their fee is totally out of whack with their value. We're all paying way too much because of that one industry. Maybe increased interest rates would help, although that should have been done years ago.

If people want a second home, though, let's build more. If you want a second car, we build you another car. You want to replace your perfectly good phone with a new phone? You buy it and another gets built. That doesn't mean there's now somebody walking around out there without a phone.

It's not true that buying a second home has to mean somebody else doesn't get a house of their own. We can build more. The government can subsidize or mandate x percentage of pre-fab/lower cost homes in new developments. Don't look at me, though. I want to be part of the solution. Fuzz and his ilk - while maybe well intentioned? - are part of the problem.