Comments on: High returns or security

By: Warren

Warren — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:59:37 +0000

Aleks, Please provide a link with the amount of these cost overruns.

Current score: 0 (to vote for this comment, please visit the site)

By: Aleks

Aleks — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:54:28 +0000

The skytrain won't disappear, but neither will the debt from cost overruns.

Current score: 0 (to vote for this comment, please visit the site)

By: umdesch4

umdesch4 — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:58:36 +0000

-b Too true. A friend at work is going through this now. He bought a new place, and it was delayed over a year. When he finally got to the walkthrough last week, there were a ton of problems...wrong colours, cracked tiles, chipped bathroom sink, heavy floor damage, etc. I guess I was thinking more of infrastructure. High property value means high taxes, which means stuff like the new skytrain line, etc. Those things won't all go away once the correction comes.

Current score: 0 (to vote for this comment, please visit the site)

By: digi

digi — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:51:07 +0000

Speculation encourages a construction boom, increasing supply and making future prices and rents more competitive. Just look at all the articles out of the states about developers selling houses with 'two for one' deals, renters having tons of empty places to choose from at reduced rent, or 'foreclosure bus' tours. Using up future demand today just means better deals once the speculators are wrung out.

Current score: 0 (to vote for this comment, please visit the site)

By: -b

-b — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:50:46 +0000

... blueray is an improvement but the new condos suck.

Current score: 0 (to vote for this comment, please visit the site)

By: umdesch4

umdesch4 — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:13:05 +0000

Actually, I understand the sentiment of that article linked above. It's very much like "early adopters" of technology. Of course it never really works out for the early adopter, as they get stuck with a piece of obsolete hardware they paid way too much for (HD-DVD, anyone?), but their willingness to throw money at this stuff benefits the industry as a whole. I hope that's a decent analogy...

Current score: 0 (to vote for this comment, please visit the site)

By: blueskies

blueskies — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:02:47 +0000

craigslist word search "desperate" http://tinyurl.com/6r8bo8 interesting!

Current score: 0 (to vote for this comment, please visit the site)

By: Brittanny Spears

Brittanny Spears — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:39:49 +0000

Bubble sheeple people herds ran the market up the hill, now they have changed direction. Always the same. You would think it would change, but it never does. I think it is because the fundamental psychology of human behavior has not evolved much in the last 100 years or so.

Current score: 0 (to vote for this comment, please visit the site)

By: Drachen

Drachen — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:30:49 +0000

Jesse Well none of it really makes much sense. It's kind of like saying it's great when your arm gets amputated because you get to try out the wonderful new prosthetics these days! It's looking at the positive side of a bad thing but ignoring the bad side. I'm quite certain the positives of the housing bubble will not outweigh the bad, except perhaps if governments finally decide that the boom/bust culture needs better regulation.

Current score: 0 (to vote for this comment, please visit the site)

By: jesse

jesse — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:42:08 +0000

"entrepreneurs can tap into the legions of users who were coaxed into the market during the bubble" Yeah. How do I tap into those owners with negative equity exactly?

Current score: 0 (to vote for this comment, please visit the site)