thanks everyone for the great information!
OK, so I've clearly missed the best time to buy, but like people who bought Google months after the IPO, even if Canada has been booming for some time, it's still going to grow a lot more once the economics on the oil sands are figured out.
I spent a lot of my youth (76-82) in MN in places like those beautiful pictures above! Wow that brings back memories. Camp F.I.S.H., Fishing Instructional Seminar Headquarters in Walker, MN. Still have the "most fish filleted" trophy. good with a knife as a tot. then there was this backwater where casting out a white spinnerbait, the Northern's would jump and grab it a foot or two out of the water.
Anyway, I've never been one to plan my future, but turning 40 in 8 days, and realizing I'll hit 120 max before sleeping with the worms, I think I've only got 50-60 years of truly useful life left. Next Summer/Winter I should be able to buy my first home here. And by home I mean a 3 car, 2 story garage and huge kitchen with maybe a cot and a garden hose thrown in as amenities.
Buying Canadian would be an investment and a vacation spot, so anything on a lake in the middle of nowhere would be perfect. But then Montreal does have the best bagels in the world, so that must be taken into consideration as well.
Early 2009 would be when I could seriously consider.
Just musing for now, but thank you again. great stuff as always from Pelican OT!