Four kids, one income, no savings, two houses and a rented condo. Jennifer wrote me yesterday from BC asking for help (I get a lot of that lately). They bought a place for $550,000 a year ago, put $60,000 into renos, and are about to list for $800,000, with $600,000 in debt.…

Folks in Toronto, Vancouver, Milton or Lunenburg would be smart to think about Calgary once a day. It’s probably the most American city in Canada. Only fitting then that it would be the leading edge in what’s looking scarily like the early days of a US-style housing meltdown.

Fact is, if you own a house in Cowtown today, and you need to sell it, you’d better be prepared to deal with flinty vultures, or see it veg for a long time.…

I sat in the lobby, on a $5,000 mesh chair and watched a twentysomething in red high tops float across the marble floor on a skateboard. Minutes later I was on a tour. The lounge with the pool table. The server room packed with winking gear as chilled air blew from the floor.…

An almost-30 with fifty thousand in the orange guy’s shorts and a GF “with a ticking clock.” “She grew up in one house and that’s what she wants now,” he said, “and babies.” He puts on a brave face.

A father of three, 55, with a company, “in the yellow zone thanks to this economy.”…