[MSL]

When the "bubble" bursts here in Toronto/Canada, the Americans will have their turn at being smirk at us for being smirk at them...our banks and government are just better liars or we're bigger dumbjasses

I was living in the US during their bubble and moved here just as the US was peaking. They are very different situations with very different rules for how housing is purchased and mortgaged. So I don't expect things will burst here in quite the same way.

Back to the insanity...

[eddie1960]

When the "bubble" bursts here in Toronto/Canada, the Americans will have their turn at being smirk at us for being smirk at them...our banks and government are just better liars or we're bigger dumbjasses

I don't think the bubble will burst the same way. we have a lot more regulatory control, and anyone below 20% is carrying CMHC insurance which will offset defaults. Definitely I can see a market correction in Toronto (and Vancouver) and have been saying that for several years But every year i am dumbfounded. Personally I could never afford to buy a first house now. the market passed me a long time back, but somehow people are still managing (Low interest rate stability certainly has helped people manage)
The rest of the country is no where near as crazy as the GTA and Vancouver, so a country wide plummet and defaults like happened in the US is highly unlikely. The US had next to no regulatory control on the system in comparison and were selling loans that would never get approved here. We've had corrections over the years (Some that seemed pretty dramatic at the time - when my house had hit a value of close to $300000 there was a market correction and it dropped theoretically to about $200000, some people definitely walked away from mortgages then....but CMHC covered the losses on the insured ones- most of them since people who had the 25% down that would have avoided CMHC at the time weren't as willing to walk away since the loss would be entirely theirs

[farhagh]

Anyone who believes a 40+ year old lens is unused without visual proof, a complete documented history and a sworn testimonial by some late night hawker of sharp knives and exercise gadgets is the idiot.

I do not wish to own a 40 y.o. lens which is never used; think about it!

[eddie1960]

I do not wish to own a 40 y.o. lens which is never used; think about it!

No kidding, have fun dissembling that old lens and doing a CLA to replace the hardened grease

[RioRico]

@RioRico - I'm envious, but not so much the prices you get but the low shipping costs.

I (now) almost only buy in USA or China, just for the low shipping. No more pricey packages from UK or Ukraine! Much of what I sell for higher prices goes overseas, often at not-so-low shipping costs. I sold a lens for US$100 but shipping to Thailand was about US$40. I sold an old denim jacket for US$30 but shipping to Belarus was US$35! And don't even ask about the Kenwood shortwave receiver that went to Toronto...