So I'm thinking of buying a condo in Sunalta...

[shermanator]

Anyone here live in that area recently? What's the area like for daily living?
Any cool places in the area to check out (bars, food, shops etc)? Places to avoid?

[ken0042]

Fotze, how many times do we have to tell you- please don't cross post your items for sale into other people's threads!

[4X4]

I used to live in the building on the corner of 11th ave ans 18th st. There was a crack house in the apartment below me. Cops were there two or three times a week. I was pretty glad when they finally evicted the guy.
Other than that, I really liked the neighbourhood. Of course, at the time, I drove a beat up old Ford Ranger with power nothing and primer patches all over it. No reason to break into that.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by fotze

I'd post the same thing if it was the neighborhood I live in, moving to Cochrane is looking better every day.

Until you try to come up the hill to get out of Cochrane and into Calgary on a day like today. Bring your studded tires.

[Titan]

Originally Posted by fotze

Maybe he meant to put this in the confessions thread?

[Nancy]

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/b...se-prices.aspx

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by Nancy

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/b...se-prices.aspx

I fail to see how a 12% drop from peak in the US predicts, a 38% drop in Calgary. thats' even more pessimistic then Clarean

I find it annoying when people try to use the US market to predict Canada, yes there are some of the problems are the same. But the elephant in the US is the subprime mortgages, which aren't nearly the same sort of problem here.

[Kolbe31]

My girlfriend and I have an apartment on 18 st and 12 ave, and it's been okay recently. When she first moved in there, there were crackheads everywhere and even a high speed chase down the alley one night. A couple geniuses decided that they'd shoot some paint balls at our building one day, also. Lately it hasn't been as sketchy, but you know... It's cold. Who knows, once the "crazy" thaws out in the spring perhaps I'll have to endure the whistling of crackheads and the throwing of glassware in the alley. I grew up in Marlborough Park, and even I'm not entirely comfortable with what all goes on. Maybe it's because I always felt safer with HAWCS flying above. Like a night-light with the spinning propellers as my lullaby... But yeah, I guess you just have to take the good with the bad when living inner-city.

As for bars, there's a place called Crush on 12 Ave which is pretty good. And Mile One is just off 10 Ave and 11 St. There's also a pretty good greek restaurant called Pegasus on the corner of 14 St and 11 Ave. There's a Co-op and Safeway close by, and (for us) it's only about a 20 minute walk to the 10 St train station, if you use the c-train.

[ricosuave]

the city is panning (or has planned) a major revitalization of the sunalta area to go with the west lrt expansion.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Dan02

I fail to see how a 12% drop from peak in the US predicts, a 38% drop in Calgary. thats' even more pessimistic then Clarean

I find it annoying when people try to use the US market to predict Canada, yes there are some of the problems are the same. But the elephant in the US is the subprime mortgages, which aren't nearly the same sort of problem here.

Sure, but the US didn't have a huge housing bubble caused by speculation or real estate itself and another bubble in $150/bbl oil. That said, these projections are hugely unscientific.

[Wookie]

Wasn't the peak July 07 anyway? They're saying March 08? Things were dropping long before then and that 455 or 555 was spring or july 07.

[flip]

My sister and her fiance used to live in a condo on the corner of 11th ave and 19st. They used to see a lot of crackheads, prostitutes and the like. They ended up selling their place and moving to Tuscany. The area is supposed to undergo development but she just wasn't comfortable living in such a crummy neighborhood even with her boyfriend.

They didn't have any problems with crime, at least to them, they saw lots though, and lots of sirens at night.

[Cheese]

Wait 6 months to a year...once panic sets in from Oil Patch layoffs house prices will plummet. It'll be a strong buyers market.

[Nancy]

I believe what the National Post did, in the above projections, is say that, post-bubble, most US cities ended up at price levels that were 54% above their 1998 levels. So they took the same 54% increase and applied it to Calgary housing prices from 1998.

There are many US cities that have experienced quite substantial plunges, much more dramatic than the graph shown for the US as a whole. For example, some segments of the San Diego housing market (low end condos, I think) have plunged up to 50% from their peak levels.

We are actually lucky in Calgary that housing prices had peaked quite some time ago. Vancouver prices had continue to rise until this May and held onto those levels through the summer, but are now coming down quite hard. The CMHC is going to end up holding a big, burning bag of smelly and steaming Vancouver mortgages. I fear this will have national ramifications.

[ernie]

Originally Posted by Dan02

I find it annoying when people try to use the US market to predict Canada, yes there are some of the problems are the same. But the elephant in the US is the subprime mortgages, which aren't nearly the same sort of problem here.

Yep. We just bought a house in the states for our pending relocation. It is in an area that typically doesn't have the dramatic price increases or drops so we are sheltered a bit. It is also an area that has very few foreclosures and sub-prime, interest only, etc. mortgages are not abundant.

However, the owners of the house we bought had an interest only mortgage. They priced the house for what they needed to get to cover the mortgage instead of what it was worth. Needless to say they never got what they hoped for and on closing they will have to bring a cheque (i guess that would be check) for about $15k to close out their mortgage. They lived in the house for nearly four years and never paid down a dollar of the principle. We lived in ours for the same length of time and when we close on our house will will be getting a hefty bank account boost...most of which is not due to appreciation.