Residents of cold-weather places have made the Valley their winter home for years. These so-called “snowbirds” tend to come from places like Minnesota, Illinois or the Dakotas.
There are also a lot of snowbirds from Canada, but as Laurie Lavine, a dual American-Canadian citizen and Valley realtor, explains, that number is dropping a bit.
Lavine says part of that is due to the currency exchange — the Canadian dollar is weaker than the American one. And higher interest rates also play a role, he says. New reporting from the New York Times and others also says the U.S. will start requiring Canadian visitors to register with American immigration officials if they come here and stay for more than 30 days.
But Lavine says there’s something else going on. He says working with Canadian buyers and sellers accounts for about three-quarters of his business. Lavine joined The Show to discuss, before the reporting on the registration requirement, if he’s seeing Canadian homeowners in the Valley trying to get out of this market and sell their homes.
Full conversation
LAURIE LEVINE: Well, yes. And, you know, I have to say that I’ve been seeing that constantly throughout the 16 years. Canadians are coming and going. Their needs can change. You know, ones that have been down here a long time, they’ve done all the Arizona day trips, driven out to the coast on everything that they wanted to do here.
And maybe they’re thinking that they’d like to do other things, like traveling Europe or going to the Dominican Republic or going to Hawaii. So we’ve always got Canadians coming and going, but there’s a kind of a unique phenomenon that’s happening right now, coupled with the currency exchange.
We’re also getting Canadians that are offended, feeling bullied, by the current administration with the threat of tariffs and with the endless talking about sovereignty. You know, Canada, Canadians don’t want to be talked about as being the 51st state. You know, they’re proud of their country and they have no and no intentions on becoming part of America.
Canadians and Americans have been best friends for generations. But in terms of, you know, of being annexed into the country, that’s not something that’s up for discussion.
MARK BRODIE: So I’m curious about whether you see this as sort of, a continuation or maybe a part of some of what we’ve seen in other contexts. For example, there was the Four Nations Face-Off hockey tournament where Canadians were booing the American national anthem. We’ve seen, you know, other kinds of, you know, people holding up signs and things like that. Do you see this as sort of all part of the same thing?
LEVINE: Yes. That is a direct result of the same thing, you know, because the current administration is constantly referring to the prime minister of Canada as being the governor. Yeah so people are finding that offensive. And it’s just, you know, part of an ongoing conversation referring to Canada as the 51st state.
Now, Canadians love Americans, but they’re not too fond of the current administration right now. And I shouldn’t say all of them, but definitely the overwhelming majority of them. So out of the 10 listings that I have right now with Canadians, seven out of 10 of those are leaving for the reasons that we’ve just been discussing, you know, fatigue from the currency exchange. But the way that they’re feeling bullied is the last straw that broke the camel’s back. And I know I’m not alone as a realtor that specializes in working with Canadians.
BRODIE: So I was going to ask you if you were seeing that the folks who are who are buying their homes here, if it was more of a sort of a financial, a practical issue with the currency exchange or more of a sort of an emotional philosophical concern with the current administration, it sounds like there’s a combination of both. Is that a fair assessment?
LEVINE: Yes, that’s a very fair assessment. Yeah. So with the current, you know, political climate just being, you know, enough to say, OK, that’s it, we’re doing it, we’re going to sell. And some of them are saying, well, we might come back, but for now we’re just, you know, not not sure of what’s going to happen.
See, many of them are concerned that in addition to the threat of all these tariffs that are one day they’re on, one day they’re off. But in addition to that, they have fears that the current administration might want to place some kind of extra tax on them or their property, you know, being nonresidents, non-citizens. So it’s all three of those things.
BRODIE: Well, you led to my next question, which is, you know, whether you’ve got the sense from talking to some of your clients that, you know, any of these folks might be willing to come back at some point, maybe, if not as homeowners as, you know, maybe, you know, several months at a, at a time, visitors at some point, either in a new administration or if this current administration stops talking about potential annexation and tariffs?
LEVINE: Actually, pretty much all of them are planning and coming back, other than the ones that have reached an age where health insurance is too expensive. So once you get up to that 75-80 range, and that accounts for two of the three that I, that I currently have listed, have different reasons for selling.
But everyone that I’ve sold the house to here and that is passed out, they all plan on coming back. They absolutely love Arizona. They love Americans, you know, Americans and Canadians to be best friends for you know, many generations. And, and that leads me to make a couple more comments in this regard.
A lot of our neighbors that know that we also have Canadian friends have come over to us and apologized, and we’re running into this all the time. We’re actually currently in our motorhome in an RV park that’s filled with Canadians and Americans from cold weather places like Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Michigan and elsewhere. And they’re all coming over here apologizing to us, you know, for what’s going on. And they feel they feel just awful. And they want us to know that it’s not Americans that are feeling this way. It’s just something that’s going on with our political climate. And don’t worry, it’s going to, you know, it’ll disappear. It’s not going to be this way forever.
And I’ve also heard reports, more than one actually, of Canadians dining out and restaurant owners or servers finding out that they’re Canadians. And not only apologizing, but comping their bill wouldn’t take payment from them because I feel so bad for Canadians.
BRODIE: How are Canadians reconciling, as you referenced, people coming up in and apologizing or saying, hey, it’s not it’s not us. It’s just something political. When, you know, some of these same people probably voted for the person who is in power right now, who is making all these statements and policy decisions, like, how do you kind of reconcile that?
LEVINE: That’s a little bit of both. People that identify as independents, Republicans and Democrats are apologizing to us. They’re feeling bad for Canadians because you know, we hear it all the time, You Canadians are the friendliest people that we’ve ever met. It’s and you’re always saying sorry about something and there’s nothing to be sorry about.
And, and actually the properties that they, that they put on the market, you know, they’re, they’re selling, you know, fairly quickly if they’re priced appropriately because, you know, they’re, they’re not living in the, you know, 12 months of the year. They’re part-time homes and, you know, and they’re spending a lot of money locally to make their homes look attractive.
And so you know, it’s it will have a little bit of a definite impact on, on our local economy if all the Canadians decide to cash out and leave because they spend a lot of money here improving their properties and going out for entertainment and dining, and and my bank account can attest to that, too. First of all, down here we’re spending lots.
BRODIE: So how big of a topic of conversation is this among Canadians? Both, I guess here in the Valley and elsewhere, in terms of should we stay or should we go?
LEVINE: It’s very commonplace. And actually we’ve been trying to talk out some of our talk, you know, to convince some of our friends that are purchased down here that are thinking of selling. We’re trying to talk them out of it.
Canadians love Americans, and they hope to be loved back. There’s just they’re they’re, you know, feeling threatened and and quite frankly, they’re more than just concerned, they’re scared. So, please don’t hold it against Canadians for them. They’re selling out and know that most of them will be coming back to visit and just renting the VRBOs. You know, to further enjoy this beautiful state that we’re in and enjoy the people that live here. Just like we did.
BRODIE: All right, Laurie, thank you so much for the conversation, I appreciate it.
LEVINE: My pleasure. Mark, thanks for having me on.
BRODIE: Laurie Levine is a real estate agent with Arizona Premier Realty Homes and Land.
KJZZ’s The Show transcripts are created on deadline. This text is edited for length and clarity, and may not be in its final form. The authoritative record of KJZZ’s programming is the audio record.
