I saw some interesting stories that I thought that I should let you know about right away. Here are some of them:
ONTARIO
APARTMENT RENTAL COSTS
I did a story recently about "Windsor
boasts lowest apartment rental rates in Canada" by Dave Battagello,
Windsor Star, March 15, 2018. As can be
expected, the prices here are very low in comparison with other cities in this
Province and frankly within the entire country. Windsor is right at the bottom of the list.
Here is some additional information which I found very
interesting that shows where the Ontario
cities fit in. Please note that this list deals with cities across Canada, but I
am deleting the non-Ontario ones:
1 Bedroom
|
2 Bedrooms
| ||
Pos.
|
City
|
Price
|
Price
|
2
|
$1,970
|
$2,500
| |
5
|
$1,270
|
$1,530
| |
8
|
$1,100
|
$1,360
| |
8
|
$1,100
|
$1,300
| |
10
|
$1,080
|
$1,240
| |
12
|
$1,050
|
$1,290
| |
13
|
$1,040
|
$1,290
| |
14
|
$1,020
|
$1,360
| |
15
|
$920
|
$1,150
| |
25
|
$710
|
$900
|
You will note that you find, dear reader, the lowest rental
prices in Windsor
in this list.
COMPARATIVE HEALTHCARE ANALYSIS
Although written in 2014, I just saw this very interesting
report about the performance of healthcare around the world. It is "MIRROR,MIRROR ON THE WALL How the Performance of the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally." It was prepared by the Commonwealth Fund
in 2014. In it, 11 countries are
examined.
The reason I am posting it is that it is well-written, even
though done a few years ago. I saw the 2017 report and will deal with that
shortly afterwards. However, to be direct, I am shocked about how badly Canada and the United States perform. I just could
not believe that at all.
In particular, here are some interesting references to Canada that I
found in the 2014 document:
-"Patients in the U.S. have rapid access to specialized
health care services; however, they are less likely to report rapid access to
primary care than people in leading countries in the study. In other countries,
like Canada,
patients have little to no financial burden, but experience wait times for such
specialized services."
-"The United Kingdom ranks first overall, scoring
highest on quality, access, and efficiency…Canada and the U.S. rank tenth and
eleventh, respectively."
-"Among those who had a lab test in the previous two
years, sicker adults in Canada were the most likely to experience delays in
being notified about abnormal results."
-" Patients in the Netherlands, Germany, France, and
Switzerland have rapid access to elective or nonemergency surgery compared with
patients in the U.S. Canada ranks last or near-to-last on most measures of
timeliness of care."
-"Among sicker respondents, those in Canada and the U.S. were most likely to visit the
emergency department for a condition that could have been treated by a regular
doctor had one been available"
I found another version of this document in 2017. Canada
improved but not very much:
-"Other countries that rank near the bottom on overall
performance include France
(10th) and Canada
(9th)"
-"Exhibit 3 illustrates the countries’ overall performance
score. This exhibit makes evident the
markedly lower performance of Canada
(9), France (10), and the United States
(11) compared to the other countries."
-"In contrast, the United
States, France,
and Canada
have larger disparities between lower and higher-income adults. These were
especially large on measures related to financial barriers, such as skipping
needed doctor visits or dental care, forgoing treatments or tests, and not
filling prescriptions because of the cost."
-"U.K.,
Australia, and the Netherlands were nearly always ranked among the
three top countries; the U.S.,
France and Canada were nearly always ranked
among the three bottom countries."
What was written above tells us, dear
reader, that Canada
does not do very well and for quite some time. What can be done to improve the
situation is something that must be considered.
HOUSE SALES IN OUR AREA
I thought this is very interesting:
"Housing sales have been slumping in Windsor in 2018, in part because there are
fewer homes on the market.
According to the Windsor-Essex County Association of
Realtors, residential house sales were down 26.2 per cent in February, compared
to the same time one year ago.
Sales year-to-date are also down by 21.8 per cent over the
first two months of 2017."
Who knows, I might be able to make a lot of money for my
place if I want to sell because I live in Tecumseh:
"the lack of supply but increased demand is leading to
some of the bidding wars seen in the area. He has a list of buyers, especially
in areas like Tecumseh and LaSalle, but not much to show them."
From what I have been able to see so far, my house prices
has gone up a nice sum. However, I do
have a problem. If I want to buy a new place, I'll probably want to get a very
nice house too. My expectation is that such a house's price has also
skyrocketed upwards as well. So how can I afford to buy that? I cannot to be
blunt about it. That may explain why there are not a lot of houses on the
market.
