Cross Border Pro

Huge investing Opportunity in the U.S.

Canadians have a huge investing opportunity in the U.S. right now.  Many Canadians think about owning a second home in the U.S. or perhaps an investment property.  It is very possible that there has never been a better time for a Canadian to buy in the States then right now. Many markets that Canadians tend to gravitate towards like the Southwestern U.S. or Florida are really struggling right now and prices have come down significantly on real estate in those areas.  I have heard of price drops of 20% or greater.  Combine slumping prices with a strengthening Canadian dollar and Canadians are in a very good position to invest.  Canadians actually have greater buying power right now in the U.S. then Americans do in their own market. If you figure that the U.S. real estate market will recover at some point and if you believe that the U.S. dollar will at some point return to being stronger than the Canadian dollar, a Canadian could be looking at huge returns on an investment made in the U.S. right now. There have been recent articles talking about builders in the U.S. throwing in pools and leases on luxury cars just to sell some of their inventory.  In some new communities builders have rows of finished houses sitting unsold and you can negotiate very favourable pricing.  So why aren't more Canadians looking to invest in the U.S?  There are some factors like increased hassle at the border.  I think the main factor right now is that the Canadian market is booming and there are so many current opportunities in the Canadian market that most investors just simply don't have the time to look at longer-term opportunistic buying in the U.S.  Another factor is that the commercial market in the U.S. has remained relatively strong so those opportunistic buys are not in larger investment properties.  But, for a Canadian looking for a vacation home or maybe a couple of rental houses there are huge opportunities right now.

Importing Car to Canada

When we moved to Canada we imported our cars with us from the U.S. My brother-in-law was so intrigued by this that I later helped him import a used car to Canada from the U.S. At this time the savings was a few thousand dollars on a $15,000 car.  Now with the strength of the Canadian dollar the price difference has become ridiculous. I was looking (just for fun) at an Audi S4.  The list price in Canada is $71,000cdn.  The list price in the U.S. is $49,000usd.  A $22,000 price difference!!  Now if you factor in the exchange rate that price difference is getting close to $25,000.  The exchange rate almost makes it possible to buy the car at par and have the exchange rate pay your taxes.  It is amazing though that as much as I have looked at importing a car to Canada the hassle and time involved really makes me think twice.  I know that some manufacturers will cancel a warranty if the car is exported from the U.S.  And some manufacturers are offering incentives like no charge maintenance for four years that most likely would not transfer.  Still it is hard to ignore the price difference.  Many in Canada are really starting to question the Canadian pricing and why it does not come down.  One problem in the car business is all the leases in place with residual values in the contract. What happens if you have leased a car for four years and want to buy it for the residual value at the end of the lease and the car manufacturer has decreased prices by 10% on new models of the car you have.  Good luck negotiating that one.  Has anyone else had experience importing cars to Canada?