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Local blogs in Vancouver Magazine

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BDK posted a link to this article in Vancouver Magazine titled ‘sitting out‘ which shines some light on the hidden world of real estate bears and bulls that lurk online in the lower mainland.

Its quite a good article, outlining the basic points that go back and forth on both sides of the Vancouver boom/bust argument and profiling a local couple that recently sold:

In 2002 Felicity Stone and Jim Patton stumbled onto the real-estate mother lode, trading up from a house in rural Langley to a thoughtfully designed home on two acres in the Elgin Chantrell area of South Surrey. Patton, a communications consultant, and Stone, who works in public relations, were happy to pour work and money into the place, expecting to live there the rest of their lives. Then their outlook began to change. Much as they loved the 1962 gem, they also saw what nearby property was selling for. In August 2007 they decided to list, and by November they’d accepted $1.616 million—a 240 percent increase from the $475,000 they’d paid a half-decade earlier. Now they’re renting a house in the Bayridge area of West Van, paying $2,500 a month while they watch the market and wait for prices to drop.

They even link to several of your favorite blogs (VancouverCondo.info included) – my only complaint is they seem to have munged up the link to this site and they left out three interesting and useful sites which I’ll link to here:

Paul Boenisch and his amazing REBGV statistics

Mohicans analysis at langley-financial-planning

and the interesting new Vancouver RE anecdote archive

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Tony Danza

Let’s say USA is first choice for the world to invest but they have external,internal problems.When Americans are investing in Vancouver,B.C. it’s easy to assume that “world will follow the rule of thumb”. Hello Realtard, just wanted to let you know that Canada and Vancouver are the USA's bitch and so are you. If the USA "have external,internal problems" then so does Canada only much worse. If you didn't spend your whole day looking at the inside of you ass you might have time to look back on Canada's history and see that when the USA is hurting Canada gets hurt much worse. Welcome to Canada you assclown. One question, what evidence do you have of Americans investing in Vancouver? Americans can't even hold on to their own homes and you think they're investing in Vancouver at record low exchange… Read more »

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Tony Danza

Can you guess which poster I am there?

I know I know! Are you Cornholio? Second guess: SweetHomeKilla?

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scrawl

World has changed since than people likes to live peaceful life

So in your mind people only recently decided they wanted to live a 'peaceful life', and Vancouver is the only peaceful place on earth?

Wow, you should really get out more.

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blueskies

” Vancouver is a final destination for Canadian people from with in provinces”.

as i said earlier:

Vancouver, the last place on earth

scary enough i'm agreeing with krssh2…..

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bdk

I was in Sydney NSW in 2003 and talked to a couple who had just bought an additional unit in Potts Point. Which is similar to the West End. The guy was quite intelligent and confidently told me that since the Olympics the prices had gone up 14% per year. When I went back in November 2006 he did not mention their additional property and I've read that the prices had not done much. This is despite being one of the nicest cities in the world with a great climate, lots of high paying jobs,major tourism, immigration, very few down and out homeless people walking the streets and (drum roll please) THEY HAD THE OLYMPICS!!!!!!!! They also offer a safe place for "Beauty,Weather and Universal language brings Sydney to a best alternate compare to European and Asian countries and compare… Read more »

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scrawl

Vancouver is the handgun capitol of canada as well as having the highest property crime rate in North America – that said its still a nice city, but have you actually been to any other city? It sounds like you are basing your opinion of the world on sensationalist bad news in the media. This reminds me of friends and family that live in small town BC – they don't understand how I can live in this city because they're experience of it is through the evening news, they think people are constantly getting shot and disasters are happening all the time. Try traveling a bit before you proclaim this place the greatest place on earth and a safe investment. This is the wild west, full of speculators and con-men. Its a beautiful city, but there are better, and there… Read more »

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Krrish2

The Pope, World has changed since than people likes to live peaceful life,There are lots of problem in European countries and UK to keep multicultural standard in chain,American Borders are very tight since long time people who don't like to sit on their bank balance those people always look for safe investments. Let's say USA is first choice for the world to invest but they have external,internal problems.When Americans are investing in Vancouver,B.C. it's easy to assume that "world will follow the rule of thumb". When Interest rates are low that's mean you are not paying the burden to the banks what you are paying is a cost of your place to live. "Population has always grown up"yes that's true,Then the point is how many parking lots are left to construct that gives stress to develop more land,the biggest ever… Read more »

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admin

Krrish our population has always grown, why didn't that stop any of the previous market corrections (or crashes)? You know that we had more growth through the nineties than we have since then right?

Construction costs and interest rates are always changing, since when are those good long-term indicators of a markets health?

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admin

I don't necessarily agree that this article is underwhelming – rather than pose an argument or point of view it does a fairly good job of touching on the key points of both sides of the boom/bust argument.

Remember that journalism is all about what happened, not an accurate predictor of what will happen. Take a look at changes in US articles between 2005 and now. Everything was booming and the articles reflected that – now its common to see reports of an expected 25% drop in house prices there.

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admin

VHB! Thanks – I recall a few articles all about you, seems you haven't managed to fully escape the limelight.

Coco – don't worry too much about the specifics, its not my real name anyways 🙂 Hope you're having a better day.

Punface – good point, I've added that option to the poll.

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Drachen

Krrish

If you REALLY want Vancouver to be the best place on earth I'm afraid you're going to have to leave.

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Krrish2

"After all, the population continues to grow, land remains scarce, construction costs escalate, and affordability is actually improving, thanks to dropping interest rates. And wouldn’t you know it, despite all the bad news south of the border, Statistics Canada released figures in mid-February showing B.C. employment at a historic high".

This article is a lesson for the bears

"Everywhere has problems. Vancouver’s are minor and vastly outweighed by its strengths. Livability is still excellent compared to almost anywhere else".

They just need to add few more lines Like:"The best ever r.e.eclipse"Vancouver B.C.The best place on earth"-Mind It.

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ex-vancouverite

a bit underwhelming.

Underwhelming. Good word. That sums it up.

A few of us have been watching this debacle unfold for at least a couple years. But by Vancouver standards, this 'news' article is considered to be cutting-edge commentary.

I guess that's the best we can do.

Underwhelming, indeed.

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Clarke

An interesting article, but anyone thinking the worst case scenario is a 10% price drop is definitely using rose coloured bifocals….

The fact that the mainstream is even giving this some credence, as well as the comments about the vulnerability of the condo market is certainly different, but still a bit underwhelming.

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punface

Missing in the survey options was all of the interesting information and analysis provided by the bloggers and the comments!

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coco

S/B "The Pope"

I have had a rough day.

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Coco

Pope,

Thanks, nice to see you have not forgotten about me.

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VHB

although – they should point out that I hang out here and other places around the bubblesphere too. I even post on CR now and then, but I don't use 'VHB' there since that name wouldn't mean much to a USian audience. Can you guess which poster I am there?

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VHB

I liked the part where they remember me. Ah shucks. Congrats on your MSM shout out, Pope!

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admin

..Oh yes, and even though its not strictly related to local real estate the fantastic coco news blog is an excellent round up of economic news, because after all, sometimes real estate markets and economics are related!

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