“I have homes in Canada and the US. Here in Florida there was a massive “correction” which led to total bankruptcy of a lot of people, huge losses by banks and a huge mess. I am not too sympathetic with people who borrow over their heads but Canada is far better off as it is than here. Fortunately both my houses were bought with cash I actually worked for and saved so I have a paper loss in Florida but still have a home. Others are not so lucky.”
– Skitty commenting at G&M, January 12, 2013 10:45 AM
This individual is not leveraged, and it seems they will be able to sit tight through any price fluctuation, if they wish.
But we know there are Canadians who have used HELOCs against their Canadian properties to buy US RE, and we wonder how many will be pushed to the brink by the very large price drops we anticipate in Canadian RE.
– vreaa
Vancouver Real Estate Anecdote Archive 
At some point to manage risk in response to aggregate declining home values the banks will begin canceling or clawing back limits on existing HELOC’s and people will be shocked. It will have little or nothing to do with creditworthiness of the borrower and all about risk based on a secured asset value underlying the loan. My take is another year or two of decline and this starts.
Judging by curent BC and Canadian household debt levels it would appear that we may in fact not be better off than Florida. Our sky-high debt to income clearly indicates that the number of unlevered owners here is exceedingly low.
I know five people… that have done HELOC’s with Recreation Property in B.C…. that has since frozen or dropped in value.
Silver
Other people’s or your own money, fellow must be running a loose ship to lend money to himself.
Sooo, his/her real estate investment is better because they paid cash?
A loss is a loss, thankfully they aren’t leveraged!
I’m not too sympathetic to idiots who “fortunately” buy with cash, opportunity costs are usually ignored.