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 does not rise.

HPI is a good tool to use because it reflects the true pricing of a home that the market fundamentals are willing to pay. You can see clearly that prior to 2006 and after 2000, most Pacific states had their HPIs go as high as 600. But before the year 2000, they were at the lowly 200s. The index showed a significant jump because, people are willing to pay high prices just for the sake of being high. There were no fundamentals attached. Just like, there's no reason to question why a Mercedes Benz is priced higher than a Honda Civic or a Hyundai Accent. If they are all being equal, the index would probably be hovering at the lowly 300 or so. Maybe in another 14 years, it would go up to 400, because it also reflects the fact that inflation does drive up salaries of individuals and that influences the HPI index. That's why in 1980, it was at 100 (base point). At year 2000, it was around 220.

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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. Judges are encouraged to interpret the law, but is prohibited from passing judgement of a legislative value. Whereas, with us, it's almost the opposite. We have legistation about privacy and our judges use precedent cases to judge and convict. They are precedent cases in Canada that had clearly invaded privacy.

You said that all the information on the VFIT is public domain. Well, the number, names and addresses of individuals on the white pages are also in the public domain too. But what we do with those numbers is key to the privacy act doctrine. No company or individuals can use this number and do what they wishes with it without the written consent of an individual.

I have nothing against VFIT. In fact, it might help the sellers sell. But I just like to point out what our laws are.

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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.

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200 mortgage brokers arrested in USA:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7464298.stm

UK housing market down 20% "base case"
http://tinyurl.com/4qbk9m

These days I only hear positive RE comments from trolls on vancouver blogs.

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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 the a heads up.

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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.

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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

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If you feel that way then buy all you can, there's plenty to go around, why don't you have a competition with yourself and see if you can sign a dozen mortgages by the end of the week.

Just one favour to ask though. When you're filing for bankruptcy can you come back here and tell us so we can have a good laugh?

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