Robert Keats, author of The Border Guide was recently interviewed by The Globe & Mail in an article entitled 'Warm vacation wanted - will pay cash'.

Here's an excerpt:

Canadians are still heading south of the border to snap up warm-weather vacation homes, but, unlike other foreign buyers, many snowbirds are now skipping the mortgage process entirely and paying cash for their home away from home....

According to the U.S. National Association of Realtors (NAR), the number of Canadian buyers who used cash to pay for U.S. properties jumped to 81 per cent in 2009 from 47 per cent in 2007. Canadians were also twice as likely as any other foreign buyers to pay in cash. A recent report found that risk-averse Canadian households are sitting on up to $1-trillion in cash and near-cash holdings.