SlowJoe wrote: ↑Thu Sep 08, 2022 2:24 pm

GMJS-CEO wrote: ↑Thu Sep 08, 2022 7:11 am
Something seems off, not sure where you are living if you can’t get a house as a millionaire. I live in what I consider a good area and the neighboring towns are nice as well (top school districts and low crime). I’m not a millionaire and don’t need to be to live here. Maybe pick another town besides the one with all the multimillionaires?

I'm from East Canada.

The house I was in as a child was around $360k. Now it's $3.2 million, same exact house and it's not even a posh neighbourhood either. West Canada is even worse.

2 bd. condos are DOUBLE that now (some in the $800-900k range).

If I move to the total ghetto I can find a pile for around half a million plus, but that's going to be a neighbourhood with transients lurking on street corners and bus stops.

If I go even all the way to the north (say the Yukon near Alaska where there's no people), houses are still $700k plus and rising.

I honestly have no idea where I'd even attempt to be able to live if I had to go back now, you simply can't afford anything these days.

Even if I had all my money saved up from Cambodia over the years, I'd not be able to buy a house back "home". It's simply not possible.

maybe i am just skeptical but i just dont believe this and with a quick Duck duck go search
https://www.point2homes.com/CA/Real-Est ... treal.html


241 Fairway, Beaconsfield, Montreal, Quebec
5 bedroom 878,000 CAD US $667,000
https://www.point2homes.com/CA/Real-Est ... treal.html
Doesn't appear to be in a ghetto

does seem like many pricy thou, what are wages there?
nobody in the west buys a house outright, Unless ur a multimillionaire

my daughters 3+ bedroom, 3 bath, large living /dining room, den, 2 car garage, large lot on a dead end street 2 hours north of SF CA was only $485,000

Montreal/Quebec is a totally different country in many respects. Different government, taxation, laws even, and if you're an Anglophone it's a lot harder to live in without French as a first language. It's also ice cold for 6 months of the year.

Just look at Toronto or Vancouver home prices, or the Yukon. And it doesn't have to be Metro Toronto or Vancouver either, just look at places like Abbotsford or Mississisauga or Milton or Burnaby or even Vancouver Island places like Victoria, Nanaimo or anywhere that most Canadians come from.

First house that shows up from my hometown on the same website

https://www.point2homes.com/CA/Home-For ... 49757.html



Lot info
40.00ft x 130.00ft

3 bd 2 bath

$1,299,900 CAD ($989,885 USD)

***

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Thu Sep 08, 2022 3:56 pm
does seem like many pricy thou, what are wages there?
nobody in the west buys a house outright, Unless ur a multimillionaire

Wages are pretty shit in my view, I work in trades (mechanic work) and if I am lucky to get a good position (managerial and steady work), I'm probably looking at $4k CAD takehome ($6.5k before taxes) a month.

There are some places like the oil fields where you can live on site in the trailer as a mechanic on call and make $10k a month ($7.8k USD before taxes), but that's about as great as it sounds. Living in a trailer all day and waiting for a job to come by. You also need your own truck and lots of tools to get started.

And your last sentence I agree with, which is my point from the beginning. No one buys a house outright. So my question is, what is the freaking point of living there then if you can't own anything and there's really little hope of any upward mobility?

SlowJoe wrote: ↑Wed Sep 07, 2022 6:45 pm I hate to say this again, but I still haven't seen a response to my biggest concern about the West and moving back. The rapidly rising cost of living.
[...]
I'm genuinely curious if I'm missing something here, because it seems like everything that gets brought up about what is "good" about the west is not sustainable in the least bit, and while you may not think Cambodia is the best country in a lot of respects, it's at least livable and survivable for most classes of people.

Inflation is worldwide, not just in the west. Have you not noticed creeping process here, along with diminishing portions? Not sure why you mention this as being an issue.
I also wonder why you think parks are not sustainable? What’s not sustainable about pedestrianized streets? The only thing that’s not sustainable is Phnom Penh’s road system and lack of proper urbanization.
The “West” is also a pretty broad term as the countries which fit the bill are extremely diverse. Portugal is dirt cheap, Luxembourg isn’t, Manhattan is expensive, Wyoming isn’t… You get my drift. Where are you from that’s so horrible at the moment?
Tons of things in Cambodia are overpriced. All these online sellers sell garbage off Alibaba for high markups, and good quality imported stuff for similar markups. I was literally just looking at a phone in Nika phone shop. It’s $360 here and $270 on Amazon… Countless things here in virtually all supermarkets or import stores (SuperDuper, Thai Huot, HomeTop) are pricey as hell and/or horrible quality. A random example: two or three yogurt options here. Over there: 20m of yogurt filled aisles in every supermarket. You want fat Greek high protein Greek yogurt for $4/750ml? You got it!

So pricing is always subjective, as it really depends where you spend your money. I noticed chicken was super expensive there for whatever reason. Some outings were comparatively super pricey, and others were cheap.

I find it surprising you mention cars, given that they’re double the price here when new, and anywhere from 2-6X the price when used. How is that a good thing? Sure, you can get a daelim, but people cycle a lot in the west. It’s the cheapest option and only not possible if you’ve got severely rough winters.

I feel like your idea that there’s no future in the west is just based on media misrepresentations. A bit like how there’s supposedly a huge divide between left and right, when in reality people are fine when you talk to them, and it’s not like anyone argues about shit like that outside of a few academic circles and online circl-jerks. Online platforms just make it appear as if there are huge issues, when in fact most aren’t bothered by all that shit in the first place.

I’m not saying the west is better, it’s just subjective and depends what you prioritize at different stages in your life. I came here in my early 20s and am now on the bad side of 30. There’s a similar pattern with many: people change as they grow older and their priorities change. I’m still staying here for the foreseeable future, but I’m no longer writing off moving away.

Sounds pretty relaxed here, but in some places in Europe the price of electricity has tripled. Smaller suppliers have to close their shops. They can no longer operate their refrigerators. I just won two ring pulls. About half of these cans are free minus the 500riel exchange fee, so the actual price for a cold can of beer here is around 30 cents. And today is a beautiful sunny Sunday.

Cheers

newsgatherer wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 1:40 pm Sounds pretty relaxed here, but in some places in Europe the price of electricity has tripled. Smaller suppliers have to close their shops. They can no longer operate their refrigerators. I just won two ring pulls. About half of these cans are free minus the 500riel exchange fee, so the actual price for a cold can of beer here is around 30 cents. And today is a beautiful sunny Sunday.

Cheers

welcome back after ur initial sign up
u been in hiding the whole time>>>

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 1:11 pm
Inflation is worldwide, not just in the west. Have you not noticed creeping process here, along with diminishing portions? Not sure why you mention this as being an issue.

I'm responding just to this point (not that I'm ignoring the other part of your post because you make some good points), but I'm just saying what I'm running into "on the ground" back "home" for me, which is East Canada. I know it's different in other places, but just for context when I say "west", I mean Canada.

Sorry for all those from other countries, I know it's not the same but I've run into similar accounts from people from various places (Germany, UK, US, etc)

So for me, buying a house in the same town I am from, in a quiet neighbourhood, not many businesses of anything, it's over $1 million CAD ($790k USD approx) for anything more than a dump. My old house is now $3+ million, and it's not a special house in a special part of town.

West Canada is the same, even 3 or 4 hours outside of town is still $1+ million for a house. You can't buy a home anywhere, even up north near Alaska is $750k for a home and there's nothing to do there.

I know you mentioned being subject to a media narrative, but I don't watch media. I just look at the prices, look at the wages I can get, and then do the math. I can never own a home, ever.

It wouldn't be so bad, but you can't rent any cheap places in Canada either. There is no such thing as a $2-300 a month studio, even renting a bedroom is someone's house is over $1,000 a month, so you have nowhere to live to save up money except your car or be homeless, which is why there are so many homeless people these days. It's a massive problem in the streets, and again this isn't media narrative, this is on the ground happenings. I just look with my eyes.

Anyway sorry, my point is, at least in Cambodia I can make my rent working a simple job, have money left over to eat, pay rent, bills and have a bike that I can use.

You can't do that in Toronto or Vancouver, not because the weather (I used to bike in the snow as a kid), but because bike thefts are so rampant now that it's simply not a good solution to transportation, not to mention you have to go so much farther vs. Cambodia.

Near my friend's place (a small town call Surrey), there's groups of people crowdfunding a separate area of "police" just to deal with bike theft gangs and rings because so many bikes get stolen in the Vancouver area. This doesn't hit the news or bother people though, but it's reality.

Sorry, rant off, just saying what I see, not what I read, and what I see is not what I like.

Yeah, an early fan here just never got around to posting much.

Okay, a little cloudier now. Nobody knows the future.

Oh, and on the phone deals, I got an Oppo for $100 32g, as slick as an iPhone it seems.
This is where Khmer24 comes in handy in combination with Telegram and ABA.
You hardly have to go anywhere to find most things you need. They will deliver to your door for $1
With a debit card, you can order directly from China via Alibaba . I only order small items like batteries and headphone pads.
But the quality of these items is great, as good as anything in the West in my opinion.
I can attest to the fact that my camera now lasts longer than it ever did with the original batteries that came with it.

Cheers

newsgatherer wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 2:11 pm

Oh, and on the phone deals, I got an Oppo for $100 32g, as slick as an iPhone it seems.

I don't think the actual price is the issue, but the comparetive price. The same Oppo probably can be had through Amazon for less, and in neighboring Thailand my guess is it's cheaper too even though in Thailand VAT is enforced.

For some reason, markets in Cambodia are extremely inefficient. I just returned from Thailand and notice items here are 10-50% more expensive than in Thailand. The general service level on the other hand is 10-50% worse.

I would think that the import tax of 50% on import good's would not help some super markets.

Kammekor wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 9:25 pm

newsgatherer wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 2:11 pm

Oh, and on the phone deals, I got an Oppo for $100 32g, as slick as an iPhone it seems.

I don't think the actual price is the issue, but the comparetive price. The same Oppo probably can be had through Amazon for less, and in neighboring Thailand my guess is it's cheaper too even though in Thailand VAT is enforced.

For some reason, markets in Cambodia are extremely inefficient. I just returned from Thailand and notice items here are 10-50% more expensive than in Thailand. The general service level on the other hand is 10-50% worse.

That's strange because a couple of years ago I wanted a new Oppo Reno 4 and as I was going to Thailand I thought I would buy it there. However the price was nearly $50 more expensive in Thailand. I asked a guy selling phone in the shop and he said he went to Cambodia and bought phones there, then sneaked them into Thailand and sold them in his shop.