Friday Free-for-All!
It’s open topic time here at VancouverCondo.info, here’s a few stories I’ve noticed this week:
- Homeowners face increasing financially strain
- Harper: Canadian economy in good shape
- Price Hikes starting to hurt
- Foreclosures can be jackpots
- Congresswoman walks away from mortgage
- Oops. I meant ‘forward’ not ‘reply all’!
- Largest ever US house price decline
- Flip this house. Please!
- Florida for sale.
So what are you seeing out there? Post your news, links and anecdotes here and have a great weekend!
May 26th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Sorry – four years worth of pent up frustration crammed into one post – my bad. Apologies.
May 26th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Bubble Lad:
Dude, while I'm with you, you gotta calm down… and I say this with real concern.
One point you bring up that's interesting… you seem to need "BC creds" to live in BC, in order to get a job or apartment…. which I found weird.
Hey Rob A., if you really are moving to Toronto, make sure to tell everyone there that downtown Vancouver is where the action is. After they get through laughing… well they'll laugh some more.
Seriously dude… good luck. You gotta move fast just to keep your feet in TO, and competition for work is crazy fierce. To's actually where all the immigrants who are smart, ambitious and well educated live, and you'll have to compete with all of them.
On the other hand there's way more to do, though admittedly it isn't nearly as pretty.
Good luck buddy… I kind of hope they don't chew you up and spit you out. Then again, I kind of do
May 26th, 2008 at 11:38 am
^LMAO, dude, chill out
Downtown Vancouver is great, it's where the action is.
May 26th, 2008 at 9:20 am
I guess it's all those wonderful cafes three feet away from main thoroughfares like Granville and Broadway where there are cement trucks whizzing by every five seconds and you get to pick the road grit out of your mixed greens that are so great (God knows they can't put them where they belong…BEHIND their business, away from the street, due to the stench of garbage filled dumpsters discarded hypos, and binners rattling through them).
Does anybody who makes those comments ever venture OUT of Vancouver? Or does the entire world consist of Vancouver's West end).
Aside from the scenery, Vancouver is a DUMP. And guess what, nobody who lives here had anything to do with creating the sea and mountains…SO STOP TAKING CREDIT FOR THEM! Vancouver has NO industry (try posting a resume…see how many responses you get from OUTSIDE BC), half an art gallery where the best thing is usually the TRAVELING exhibits, a stock market with training wheels, drivers who routinely run down pedestrians like dogs in the street, a real estate bubble who's bust is going to provide entertainment for years to come, a crime and drug problem so severe that it floats through the papers with barely a mention (and where innocent gas meter readers can get gunned down and nobody bats an eyelid – oh yeah, I forgot, it was a TARGETED SHOOTING- which I guess means the family of innocent bystanders who are killed in a hail of gunfire should remember).
I've been reading all these frigging post by Vancouver boosters, and they are either completely deluded, high, or on the take! Vancouver is a glorified lumber camp at the ass end of the universe! I don't care how many times you and your idiot friends tell each other (insert parrot sound effect here) "It's a world class city!!!!" IT'S NOT!! get over it!!
May 26th, 2008 at 8:25 am
The ratio for the GVRD is 72% owner occupied, not sure what Vancouver proper is it's not broken down, but would be very similiar.
May 26th, 2008 at 8:16 am
re: Vancouver Rental Rates
I remember specifically a few years ago stats being released that half of Vancouver rented and half owned
Not bashing Anonymous – just wondering where you picked up your numbers?
May 26th, 2008 at 8:07 am
"I also thought the razor wire on top of the fences would be a turn-off to potential buyers."
No kidding! And, yes probably $1.4M per… sales slogan goes something like: "Steps away from historic Chinatown"…"equipped with its own secured razor wire fence"
May 26th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Rentha,
Those figures are from b.c.
May 26th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Corner of venables and gore:
Strange place for three houses, but I have seen them hold open houses, and I saw people coming and going.
Not sure what prices they are asking but I'm sure it's high.
I also thought the razor wire on top of the fences would be a turn-off to potential buyers.
May 26th, 2008 at 7:38 am
Anonymous said: 70% people are home owners and 30% people are renting till 2007.There was 2% to 3% percent increse in home ownership btw 05-07.
Are those the Vancouver figures. They look more like the US figures to me. I think we have a lower percentage of owners here.
May 26th, 2008 at 7:22 am
MUG SHOT-WEEK ENDING SALES VS LISTING
"we look like we’re about 30% down in listing volume, and we’re about 30% up in sales volume"-from the best real estate anywhere.
May 26th, 2008 at 6:37 am
I guess with all the competition you’ve got try new things to stand out.
lessee… sign twirlers
this helped prevent the collapse of RE in California
and drove employment levels way up enabling the sign twirlers to purchase their own RE…..
lotsa balloons…. always an attraction
this weekend there were 3 total townhouses for sale (OPEN House on all of them) in our YT building…. never seen that many before…alas no balloons
May 26th, 2008 at 6:26 am
Hey ROb:
I was in downtown Toronto for almost 10 years. I moved about 2 years ago.
Don't worry…. they have lots of restaurants and cafes in Toronto.
May 25th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Wow, what a great weekend in fabulous downtown Vancouver. I am appreciating this city and it's natural beauty more than ever. All my friends downtown think I am crazy for moving to Ontario, they tell me that if you like restaurants and cafes, downtown is the place to be. And I know that they are right
May 25th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Speaking of open houses I saw an interesting twist today on the desperate bid to get attention – There where hand written yellow signs for about 10 blocks along 12th leading to a condo near Arbutus saying weird things like "Got Milk? Buy this home!" and "Massive Curb Appeal!"
Looked like two bored realtors sitting outside the front door of the building when I drove by. Odd gimmick, I can't imagine it would be very effective buy I guess with all the competition you've got try new things to stand out. Heaven know you wouldn't want to simply price reasonably.
May 25th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Anyone know what the story is on those three homes along Gore on the corner of venables? They have been sitting there unfinished for… well…serioulsy, I don't even remember! Months and months now. I remember there were fires there delaying things at one point, but that was long ago now. Why is there no further work going on there?
May 25th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Crazy amounts of open houses out there this weekend! Between Victoria and Alma it almost looked like two open houses per block!
May 25th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
"If you think inflation is understated, you’re more than welcome to, along with the rest of the world’s investors, go and negotiate a higher interest rate on your treasury bonds."
Jesse:
Trying to negotiate a higher interest rate on treasury bills if futile, what investors are doing is shorting the US dollar, and holding hard goods.
As soon as the Fed signals it will stop the deliberate devaluing of their currency, oil, rocks and gold, will reprice, to reflect the true value (whatever that may be given the global slowdown).
You don’t want to own a spec condo in Alberta, and you get screwed if you have a 40yr mortgage in Vancouver.
May 25th, 2008 at 10:40 am
"but let’s keep in mind, that every regular Joe on the street knows, CPI is as fraudulent as a loaded dice."
Wrong. We know exactly what it is. Maybe you think there's a global conspiracy to misinterpret the CPI and hold bond rates down? That's not fraud, that's brilliant salesmanship and influence. If you think inflation is understated, you're more than welcome to, along with the rest of the world's investors, go and negotiate a higher interest rate on your treasury bonds.