1 week Ago By Steven Wilhelm
Some Canadians with U.S. property are jumping ship, while others plan to weather the storm of political jabs and economic uncertainty driven by Canada’s southern neighbour.
In a regular year, it’s about a 50-50 split between Canadians buying and selling U.S. property, according to the owner of Canada to USA, a company that helps Canadians with cross-border needs.
However, this year almost 100 per cent of its clients are selling, according to Miles Zimbaluk, the founder of CEO. They often help clients with real estate and currency exchanges. “Almost nobody’s buying at the moment for multiple reasons,” said Zimbaluk.
A weaker Canadian dollar along with the changing political climate are among the culprits, he believes. With more Canadians selling, Zimbaluk estimates 25 to 30 per cent of his clients claim its purely political. “They would stay if they if they trusted the political environment in the U.
S., but they don’t ..
. so that’s a big reason for people leaving now,” he said. RelatedWhy auto insurance costs could rise due to tariffs and U.
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S. student trips Jump in property listings posted by Canadians in Phoenix In the greater Phoenix area, there’s been a 700 per cent increase in Canadians listing properties for sale between January and March of this year over the same period in 2024. The number doesn’t represent a “mass exodus,” though, being a small fraction of total Canadian property owners on U.
S. soil according to Zimbaluk. Postmedia spoke with several Canadians who own property in the U.
S., many of them in Arizona and others in neighbouring Nevada. Kenny Shaw was initially “rattled” by comments from U.
S. President Donald Trump that Canada should become the 51st state . Shaw lives in Comox, B.
C., and owns a mobile home east of Phoenix, where the snowbird spends several weeks or months each year with his wife. “(Trump) just likes to say these things because he knows it gets reaction from people,” said Shaw.
“It’s all part of a smoke and mirrors routine where he keeps everybody’s attention away from what he’s really doing.” Despite the odd reference from people in the U.S.
about Canada becoming the 51st state, most are pragmatic — or even apologetic on several occasions according to Shaw. “They found out we were Canadian, they apologized for the political climate, they apologized for what their leader was doing, they apologized for what Canadians have been put through,” he said. ‘We’re gonna ride it out .
.. at worst, Trump is four years’ Albertan Donna Phillips sold her Arizona house in March, a decision prompted by the situation in the White House.
“When Trump started talking about the 51st state and redrawing boundaries so that the Great Lakes are in the U.S., and the terminology of economic warfare against Canada and talking about annexation .
.. it made us very angry,” said Phillips.
Snowbirds are very important to the U.S. economy, particularly in Arizona, she adds.
“We do not want to contribute 10 to $15,000 USD a year to their economy, if they’re going to use that kind of language and talk about Canada that way,” said Phillips. “We have no plans to return,” she said. Calgarian Michael Frederick and his wife own a condo in Scottsdale, Ariz.
, where they have spent most winters for a decade. He called the noise Trump has made a “blip” — they have no intention of selling. “If you sell, it’s more sort of based on your own sort of personal circumstances,” said Frederick, noting that some are “really nervous” about the situation.
“We’re gonna ride it out ...
at worst, Trump is four years,” said Frederick. Graham Kinmond lives in Airdrie and has owned a house near Phoenix since 2011. He plans to sell his home come October for personal reasons, but believes Trump is “just being Trump.
” “He’s always been a boisterous, ridiculous negotiator,” said Kinmond. “Right now, he is trying to negotiate a better deal.” Kinmond argues that Canada has taken the “easy route” in relying on the U.
S. as a trading partner. “What Trump has done is probably to Canada’s benefit.
So we start getting our act together (to) do business across the whole world,” said Kinmond. Trump factor ‘the final straw’ among other factors Cheryl Hoste owns a property in Phoenix, where her and her husband will spend weeks or months at a time to avoid Canada’s winters. “We feel safe in the States, and we don’t believe all the negative stuff that’s coming out,” said Hoste, who’s from Calgary.
They golf with people in the U.S., who’d “laugh about the 51st state”, but people would also say sorry.
“Nobody was ever rude to us,” said Hoste. “The Americans were nice to us ..
. there was not an issue.” Although they plan to keep their property, they have heard from others who planned to sell, or already had.
“They were thinking about selling ...
the Canadian dollar’s not very good, and then the Trump factor was the final straw,” Hoste said. Kevin Vaxvick and his wife are “snowbirds in training” from Regina. They spend at least six weeks at their house near Mesa, Ariz.
, every year, and aren’t motivated to sell. “Honestly, we don’t see anything different,” Vaxvick said, while noting that they do see many fellow Canadians selling. “I think there’s an opportunity to make a lot of money right now with the dollar being so low,” he said.
Vaxvick highlighted that US$300,000 is more than C$400,000 and some homes in Arizona have more than tripled in value over the past decade. “The Trump tariffs and the rhetoric back and forth is just one reason,” said Vaxvick. ‘The rhetoric is definitely unsettling for many’ Vaxvick and his wife have friends that are U.
S. citizens, many big Trump supporters. Beyond a “little bit of ribbing” with remarks like “when are you going to join us,” Vaxvick said not much has changed.
“They are starting to kind of realize, like, Trump’s tariffs ...
he tariffs his own people,” he said. When they visited in the fall prior to the U.S.
presidential election, Vaxvick recalls a lot of excitement. After returning more recently, he said “They’re a little quieter this trip.” Tammy Blair and her husband are from near Sylvan Lake, Alta.
, and have owned a house just south of Phoenix for around 10 years. Several people were going to sell, regardless of the political situation according to Blair. “The cost was getting too high, both with the exchange, but their medical insurance to come to the states .
.. so they were aging out and selling anyways,” she said.
“We aren’t selling,” Blair added. “We don’t feel it’s necessary to be chased out of the U.S.
” Zimbaluk, who lives in the U.S. but is still a Canadian citizen, said “I don’t think there’s any realistic chance of Canada and U.
S. being combined at any point.” “The rhetoric is definitely unsettling for many and a couple of my clients have said they’re just unhappy with that .
.. that’s the reason they’re selling.
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