Dave said: HPI is not a valuation or affordability metric, which is what you seem to suggest it can be used for. But the index records the transaction of homes in terms of value and frequency of the trade. Homes can only be sold or bought if 1, Price is acceptable to both parties 2, Affordability factor to mortage the place 3, Appropriate financing is available The index reflects upon this because the final price is really what the buyer is able to afford to pay. What you are after is the rise in the instrinsic value of homes. You are treating a home like it has a book to price value and a price to earnings ratio. Sadly, a home is not like a stock. Warren Buffet and Charles Schwab had both said that the intrinsic value of homes… Read more »

Patriotz, I think everybody needs to realize that our civil law is not based on the same system as the Americans do. I think many of you had been seeing too many Judge Judy soap operas. You see, lawsuits are common in the US of A because unless it is a federal case, its rule of law is based on the Napoleonic Code. Whereas, our legal system is based on the English Common Law. People, please don't mix American justice in Canadian courts. They are not the same. The privacy act is there to protect all of us from possible cases of privacy invasion. You can try cases even without having the preceeding event occur, because it has been legislated into law. Whereas with the Americans, it prohibits ex post facto laws that apply to events that occurred before them.… Read more »

*ONLY* in B.C. have I ever heard denigrating comments about renters.

Because deep down inside, owners know that only an endless supply of greater fools will support their dreams of lifelong wealth. Once people stop playing the game, i.e. are content to be renters, it's all over.

This is getting ridculous. Flippers in Trouble is just an homage to the originals in California. For those of us who have predicted the end of this mess for some time, it was a sight to see the first 10% price drops on these blogs. Reality so slowly and surely sinking in. Now 40% price drops are a dime a dozen, and the VHB's Oprah moment have long come and gone. But here it is business as usual. It seems as our resident mortgage broker/pumper/shill/stooge tries to discredit this site by: a. Playing definition with the term "fliper" b. Attacking the legality of the site. Who cares. It is what it is. All it is showing to date are reductions in asking prices. Where will it go from here? Don't know for sure, but blogs like VFIT will give us… Read more »

regarding the legal debate: It is demonstrably provable that the seller is having 'trouble' selling for the original asking price or they wouldn't have dropped said asking price. The information listed is all public -the 'privacy' argument is just smokescreen.

If the goal of listing a property for sale, or dropping the asking price is to generate interest and actually sell the property the point could be made that sites like 'flippers in trouble' highlight properties where the seller is motivated, providing a valuable service to both the buyer and seller.

April 2008 Case-Shiller numbers are out.

Dave: would luv to hear your spin on this

YVR will be visiting this station in about 2 years

may as well start preparing for the downturn now

don't buy now, you will be sorry if you do

In other news, the April 2008 Case-Shiller numbers are out. Seattle is now down 6.6% since its peak in July 2007.

Actually, Seattle went up about a half percent between March and April.

I think all of you are nuts. The real estate market in Vancouver is top notch. Vancouverites are the saviest real estate owners in the world. There is no way I repeat no way that prices are going down. This IS the best place on earth you rental trash.

Case Shiller Index shows a 15.3% decline in RE prices in April.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&a…

Chris Hurst (sp?) on Global this morning was talking about how US RE prices dropped back to 2004 prices with millions of Americans owing more than their homes are worth.

The RE woes in the US are far from over. Good thing we're not in the US, eh?

My concern with the VFIT site is that, our privacy laws are quite strict and quite often enforced.

WHAT privacy? ALL information on the site is not only in the public domain but previously advertised by the seller on the MLS. An MLS listing is a public solicitation for bids.

And again, "flipper" is just a slang term for an RE investor. There is NFW anyone is going to be able to make a successful claim against any user of that term. People use far more offensive language on this blog and elsewhere and we all know it.

In other news, the April 2008 Case-Shiller numbers are out. Seattle is now down 6.6% since its peak in July 2007. San Diego, the west coast city that peaked first in June 2006, is now down 28%.

Am I the only one here who thinks "Browntown" has a thing for nuts?

Patriotz, I know Phil and Garth have retained lawyers on an advisory role, simply because the nature of their business. Mr. Turner could have been sued by countless of thousands of Nortel investors when he was pumping for Dynamic Funds Inc. He claimed he's an investment advisor, but in fact he was not. He's was a business writer, but he made sure in his seminars that he implied that he was. I did not like his business practice, but he is working with the laws. My concern with the VFIT site is that, our privacy laws are quite strict and quite often enforced. The advantage of our privacy laws is that, its enforcement is completely paid for by us, the tax payers. An individual can simply file a complaint to the privacy commissioner stating the obvious facts, the invasion of… Read more »

But misrepresentation and negligence are well-established in law. Sellers (and realtors) have to be able to stand behind their claims. Correct, they have to stand behind their claims, which are material representations pertaining to the property for sale. But stuff like "everyone wants to move/retire here", "the rich immigrants are coming", "buy now before it's too late", etc. are not claims about the property for sale. They are just "salesman's puffery" in legal jargon. Just like sellers of collectibles, and unlike securities dealers, realtors are not legally proscribed from making implied claims about the future value of the goods for sale. As for the VFIT site, there is nothing on the site except the location of the property and its listing history – just the facts, as Sgt. Friday would say. The idea that anyone would have a claim for… Read more »

Good luck nailing whoever owns the flipper blog. I bet the host of that blog is in the US.

Per the BOC's prediction today: "Soft landing seen for Canada's Housing Market", It seems from the comments that there is not alot of agreement. In fact some are quite classic.

http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/story/RTG…

Nor does a buyer have any grounds for seeking damages from a seller for the usual babble such as “everyone wants to live here”, etc. That’s just part of the game.

Not correct. Information in a listing that a buyer relies in when deciding to make a purchase is actionable. Not saying it happens at lot. Nor am i suggesting it's easy to pursue or that the payoff is worth the effort. But misrepresentation and negligence are well-established in law. Sellers (and realtors) have to be able to stand behind their claims.

Dave rules. Ban scary Dave.

LIVE BLOGCAST Lots of properties owners and lots of rental building owners are serving eviction notice to their tenents renovating their units,buildings,and increasing the rents by $300-700 more. bloggers source tell this is happening more frequently in the westside and mount pleasant area. 'flip it or don't,'buy it or don't,'sell it or don't,rent it or not but "Vancouver housing prices countinue to climb 8% this year and 5% next year.Buying is being recomended by experts because interest rates are low." with the initial arrival of $100 cheque per adult from carbon tax-all of sudden realtors phone start ringing on high volumes.showing will be on high volume from tomorrow fear for two quarter of negative growth suppose to end next week but time has changed without any damage now yellow people wanted to go green before it's too late. "Vancouver,B.C. countinue… Read more »

Calling somebody a flipper and saying they are in financial trouble could undermine their ability to command the highest price for their house (i.e. damages may be incurred). So is calling a property an overpriced POS or pointing out that it has a ridiculous price/rent, which is what people on this board do all the time. In fact the whole point of this and other bear blogs is to educate people that current prices are ridiculous and have to come down. Are the sellers going to sue Garth Turner too? Go read his book or his blog if you want to see blunt language. The very fact that the seller has had to reduce the listing price means that he is having "trouble". Or is that too hard for you to understand? Nobody has the right to sell anything for… Read more »