1 East Van house sold last week
This info courtesy of Larry Yatkowsky of Yattermatters.com – Out of the 1015 listings for detached single family homes for sale in East Vancouver for the week of August 18th – 25th only one sold. 340 (one third) of those listings had their asking price reduced. Things just aren’t moving like they used to.
Larry has all the info and a graph of the weekly data on his website along with these thoughts on the current market:
Vancouver East is in parallel with other areas of the general Vancouver market. With one third of the listings reducing their prices and only one sale resulting indicates that a continued price reduction strategy will be required in order to attract more buyers. Affordability continues as an issue.
The lack of sales should be a strong wake up call to sellers. Continue sharpening your pencil to reduce your asking price.
UPDATE: Larry’s numbers are being disputed by a number of people, but there’s not a consistent number of sales reported. Is this due to different methods of filtering results for SFH sales in the MLS?
flip this claims there were four sales in this time period. Paul B says in the last ten days there have been 34 sales, while tjwappraiser says MLXexchange shows 3 sales since August 21st.
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jrochest Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
He had one (1) West Side sale, as well. And zero (0) in Kits.
I like the pumpkinitis post, as well.
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bebby Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Overheard today: “Well I finally got an offer on my North Vancouver condo. They low-balled me. 25K below my listing price, but I’m not going to let it go for that”. Listed for 269 in June, reduced to 249 two weeks ago, offer came in at 225 and seller has said 247 is the lowest she’ll go.
I even mentioned to her that the markets are changing and she said “I’ve let things go to cheaply before. I’m not making the same mistake again”.
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gah Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
“I’ve let things go to cheaply before. I’m not making the same mistake again”.
Yeah, she’s making a completely different mistake this time.
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pinocchio123 Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
“I’ve let things go to cheaply before. I’m not making the same mistake again”.
In that case I guess it’s a keeper!
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goldilock Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Come on now..Vancouver is different.
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James Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
A friend of mine turned down over asking for a house she owns (and lives in) because she didn’t like it being subject to sale of the buyer’s home. I was completely shocked when I heard this. Completely shocked. I had no idea someone could be that stupid. Over the asking price. She had found a complete moron of a buyer and turned them down. Her rational was that the house would be off the market and what if the buyer flaked out.
Correct me if I’m wrong but if you’ve got an accepted offer with conditions your house can still be on the market right?
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john Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
The BC Liberals are the ones who created the best place on earth. They will defeat the NDP without question. I was on the phone with the Premier yesterday and he was pretty upbeat. He’s talking to some rich asians about some condos he owns in Hawaii. Carol called me yesterday too and said she’s depressed and lonely. No time for the beach today though.
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Anonymous Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
James, if it’s sold it’s sold. You can accept a backup offer, but in this market there aren’t going to be too many backup offers, let alone one offer. I wouldn’t recommend anyone accept an offer condtional to the sale of the purchasrs property. In fact when we sold our place in May, we turned down two offers that were subject to sale. Glad we did, their places are still for sale. So if they were to accept the offer, and wait for the others house to sell and it doesn’t sell, then they have to relist later on and the market could have gone down even more.
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james Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Wouldn’t it make sense to accept a conditional offer and keep trying to sell?
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kabloona Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
I once sold a townhouse conditional to purchasing another (detached) property. Of course, this was back in 1996…..
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jesse Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
“I wouldn’t recommend anyone accept an offer condtional to the sale of the purchasrs property.”
Yet people still do. Are they idiots? I doubt it. Probably they have a different view of how likely the unconditional miracle just around the corner really is.
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jesse Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
I don’t doubt the numbers but maybe another Realtor (like PaulB maybe) can confirm the numbers Larry publishes? Nothing against him only all data should undergo peer review before being cited
It could be possible that sales are just not being recorded.
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David Grant Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
I saw his results for Kits as well:
I’m following a few houses in Kits and many haven’t reduced their price in the last month. Take the first 3 for example. I added them on July 22nd and they haven’t even budged.
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Real Estate Bull Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
1 house sold; I guess this is a clear indication of the market preparing itself for a soft landing.
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jesse Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
“I’m following a few houses in Kits and many haven’t reduced their price in the last month.”
If they are following the advice of a Realtor one of my family members is dealing with, the market will pick up again in September so just keep the price stiff and wait for the buyers.
There has only been one year of the past 10 when August sales have been lower than September. But what does the data have to do with it.
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Not Likely Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I have access to MLS and I’m seeing a lot more than 1 sale coming through over the last week in East Vancouver. And I’m not seeing anywhere near 340 price reductions over the last week.
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M- Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Jesse: a realtor-friend of my wife’s is taking basically the same track– things are bad now, but once everything expires in August, there won’t be many places on the market in September, and it’s gonna heat right up again. “Buy now while you can get some amazing deals!”
…Now, August’s sales are going to be worse than Dec/Jan’s sales were. It’s almost hard to imagine sales being worse next month than they have been this month… But oh boy, is it coming!
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jesse Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
“there won’t be many places on the market in September, and it’s gonna heat right up again.”
Another WTF moment. Fewer listings are a result of high sales, not the other way around.
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condomad Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Check out this listing – V717401 in Grandview. There’s an open house this weekend and the realtor has made a comment “last showing, the sellers are taking it off the market”.. oh no! Lets all dash there tonight. By the looks of it, it won’t be sold this weekend either. It’s listed for $389,000.
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John Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Thanks for the tip I’ll go have a look. What a wonderful opportunity to get in on a great investment. Great time to buy in the best place on earth. The olympics are a short time away.
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Real Estate Bull Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
My theory is that all the buyers went to China for the Olympics, but they will be coming back in droves, and places like the one Grandview will generate multiple offers from all the rich jet set international investors who recognize that Vancouver is the best place on earth, and with the USA to the south, the North Pole to the north, the Pacific to the west, and PEI to the east, we are land locked and quickly running out of land.
And we all know it’s good to buy land, they don’t make anymore of it, and that is why there has never been a real estate crash in Vancouver, or Kelowna, or Victoria.
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Anonymous Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Yup, my friend is listed and his realtor is talking the same talk, September will pick up again and he will sell. Nothing happening now, but in September the buyers will show!
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Vansanity Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Not Likely – Are you looking at all properties or detached single homes? If the latter, what are your numbers, share them, I’m curious.
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John Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Why is this so hard to believe? September will make spring 2007 look like a joke. It’s going to be a feeding frenzy of buying as all the rich asians come back from Bejing. They’ll be spending like mad.
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flip this Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Just checking MLS (have access to the realtor MLS), Aug 18-25 (inclusive) were FOUR sales of SFH in all of East Van. Four. Three reduced their prices yet still sold well, well under list. One increased their price yet still sold under original price. As of today (27th) there are 1018 SFH for sale on the eastside. Using 4 sales a week (16 per month) and 1018 SFH for sale, that gives us SIXTY THREE months supply. Over five years. Beautiful.
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stagnate Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
september will be a month to watch, if fall sales are 70-90% of 07 numbers the market will likely stagnate at about 10% below peak. if sales continue at 40-60% there will be further drops. fall sales can be projected by the sales numbers of weeks 2 and 3 of september. if september sales are weak there is no reason why they would pick up in october. no point predicting at this time, we’ll know a month from now.
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Anonymous Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
I went to the grandview listing on MLS. on computer that is. I havent bothered looking at MLS for 4 years, when I figured it was nuts. Why waste my time?
There is no freaking way that I would shell out near 1/2 million for a 2 br apartment. What the drugs are they on?
I think I rather invest in the pharmaceutical company.
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Vansanity Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Thanks for the breakdown flip this!
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jesse Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
What does a “New Price” on a for sale sign mean? I haven’t seen that term before this summer. Does that mean the property’s priced like new?
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stagnate Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
the “new price” gig is kind of fun to watch, sort of the same concept as when you go to the mall and everything is on sale in the clothing stores. confusion marketing.
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Anonymous Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
I have no clue why anyone will buy right now. One sale is one sale too many. In a market that is free falling, why would anyone pay anything more than 30% less than asking?
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Bizznitch Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Funny to watch all these games the realtors play, in order to try prevent the market from diving. Good luck to them. heh
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anne.w. Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 12:30 am
I know people who are buying. One is a young couple with “easy come easy go” money from selling a previous property. They figure since they plan to live in the condo long-term, it’s okay if it decreases a bit in value in the short-term. The fellow was keen to wait out some correction, but the girl was feeling nest-y and baby-nursery-anxious.
I’m learning to keep my opinions to myself. Down the road when they are slapping themselves for being so silly I don’t want them to feel angry at me for not being more convincing. It’s better to just shrug and play dumb. “Well I guess things might go down… after the Olympics, right?” is what I say.
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matt Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 1:32 am
Not that I’m denying that it’s time for a drastic correction, but haven’t we reached the traditional point in the year at which real estate sales are slow anyway?
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patriotz Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 2:05 am
I wouldn’t recommend anyone accept an offer condtional to the sale of the purchasrs property
Except for entry-level properties or purchasers with lots of cash, who know they are in the driver’s seat and are going to lowball hard, conditional offers are the only offers sellers are going to get in this market.
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Matt Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 2:10 am
Off topic – A great overview on the sub-prime crisis in the US: http://www.thislife.org/Radio_.....sched=1242
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pinocchio123 Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 7:46 am
matt Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 1:32 am
“Not that I’m denying that it’s time for a drastic correction, but haven’t we reached the traditional point in the year at which real estate sales are slow anyway?”
Sure, but the numbers look drastic not just in absolute terms, but (especially) in comparison to previous years…
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james Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Yeah I play dumb too. I got put on the spot last weekend when the wife said to friends that we’re not buying anytime soon because of my bearish ways. Everyone wanted to know what I thought was going to happen. Everyone there is in massive mortgage debt and were patiently waiting for my grand poo bah opinion. I said I don’t know what’s going to happen. Then they all parroted the spin from a month ago about the fluffy landing and how great this place is.
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depresso Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 9:59 am
China’s Olympic Sized Bust
Thank God, it’s different in Vancouver.
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VanTOVan Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 9:59 am
I find this puzzling:
“Ritchie to handle auction of Pender Harbour lots”
http://tinyurl.com/6yqrqo
They’ve sold 10 of 28 lots.
Why would they hold an unreserved auction (of 5 lots) when they’re still marketing 13 other lots?
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paulb Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 10:19 am
For Van East in the last 10 days I have:
196 New listings
75 sales (34 SFH)
126 Price changes
I have no idea what 1 sale stuff is about.
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jesse Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Results of the peer review are not encouraging.
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umdesch4 Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Thanks Paul. While I was thinking the ‘one sale’ thing could be true, I was waiting for you to chime in on it before quoting it as fact.
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Patiently Waiting Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 11:16 am
A few days ago, I pointed out the problem with Yatter Matters numbers on RE Talks, stating they didn’t seem to reflect PaulB’s numbers. I didn’t make a big deal because I figured it was an error, and waited for YM to edit or remove his posts. Oh well, looks like a prank to get us bears in a tizzy.
I actually believed the Westside post, but had doubts about the his next post on East Van. There is still some life there.
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Thums up2 Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Is Larry Yatkowsky a realtor?Yeah?Nope?
What about paul b?
Aren’t these most of losers on the forum called bears and realtors?
Well slow sales are good for the BULLS on the board and huge dissappointment for realtors and bears so keep on chirping while rob a will be,Lhao?
What might scare the bears?
I believe this is what a great concern for bears $5800 / 2br – Furnished 2 bedroom + Den PostingID: 816692859.
and what might scare the realtors?
slow sales require realtors job.
Anyway smart buyers and fool sellers will be countinue to save some of realtors what but about bears?
Buy now before?????
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tjwappraiser Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 11:28 am
What is your source Paulb?
As at 11:20AM on August 28, 2008, the results from MLXchange are as follows:
Since August 21, 2008 there have been THREE sales of detached residential property in the entire East Vancouver area.
V719451 sold for $522k after being listed for 569k
V709711 sold for 600k after being listed for 679.9k
V728884 sold for 708k after being listed for 735k
There are currently 1,022 ACTIVE listings of detached residential property in the East Vancouver area and believe me, there have been more price reductions then increases in these active listings.
For what it’s worth, I am an industrial and commercial real estate appraiser and pulled the above numbers via the “pro” interface for MLX.
Cheers
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john Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Amazing anything sold during the glorious Olympic games. Every rich asian investor was busy partying in Beijing. Now that they’ve finished buying up hoardes of condos in China they’re all coming back to shop around some more in Vancouver. Don’t worry next month is going to be huge. I just came back from the beach and it’s beautiful out there today. A little cloudy but still nice enough for rich asian. They have a whole new appreciation for Vancouver after being in Beijing for a while.
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Patiently Waiting Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 11:58 am
SATV=YM?
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paulb Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
46
I am a Realtor with access to the MLX. If I look back over the last 7 days including the weekend (hotsheets) I get 40 sales reported from the board. 18 of which are SFH. I also get 1023 detached homes currently active.
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paulb Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Some of the sales occured in the weeks prior but were posted as sales on the hotsheet in the last 7 days. Of course many sales from this week and last will turn up on the hotsheets in the next few weeks.
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Anonymous Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Guys,
No point arguing. Conclusion is that Vancouver R/E market is in the shithole. Anyone who is considering buying must be crazy. And I mean considering!!!! For those that actually bought, you must be totally nuts!!!!
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tjwappraiser Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Paulb,
If you look at the transaction dates for the 18 detached sales in East Van via the “hotsheets”, you will see that all but 3 occurred prior to August 21, 2008. The 3 that did not were the ones that I listed in my previous post.
In fairness, there are surely sales that have occurred in the last 7 days that have not yet been reported.
The most accurate way to determine market activity is to look backwards several weeks so as to minimize discrepancies resulting from issues of timing / reporting.
As it stands, MLX currently shows 3 sales having *occurred in the last 7 days in East Van, not 18.
The “3″ number will, in all probability, increase as more information continues to flow through the MLX system.
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tjwappraiser Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Paulb
you beat me to the post.
Cheers
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YLTNBoomerang Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I looked at townhouses at Concords latest completion “Coopers Landing” back when they were pre-sales. They were asking $800-$880K however they were marketed as upscale waterfron despite only having a water view corridor (not facing the water) and lacked upgraded kitchens as used to be the case for Concord’s townhouses. I walked away and notice that today, 4 of these townhouses just got dumped on MLS listed by Prompton… looks like a lot of potential buyers walked away and Concord is now trying to flog the units that nobody bought!
v730383 49% over original pre-sale
v730297 44% over original pre-sale
v730288 41% over original pre-sale
v730281 41% over original pre-sale
Good luck Concord, they weren’t a value at the pre-sale price!!!
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anon Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I signed and then recinded on one of those Concord units too. I discovered that the Elsie Roy elementary school featured in their glossy brochure, was in a different catchement area. The kids in the Coopers Pointe neighborhood get schooled at Strathcona. I have young children about to start kindergarten.
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arbitrage Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
There’s nothing wrong with Strathcona.
(i’m biased)
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alexcanuck Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
About the subjects: Would “Subject to none of the other 5 (next year 25) listings in this building which have in hand the identical offer not counter- offering with an even lower price” be a legal and acceptable subject?
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scullboy Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Ok I can’t resist asking….
Thumbs buddy, I know trying to get into your head is like trying to understand why a monkey flings its own dung but here goes:
How, exactly is a slow market good for bulls?
And why, exactly, are sellers stupid? I mean let’s get down to basic commerce. In order for a sale to occur, you need a buyer and a seller. Without someone to sell properties buyers couldn’t purchase.
So why are sellers stupid?
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alexcanuck Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
I think there is a double negative in my subject which could cost me big-time. Just goes to show the value of using a Realtor (with a TM) for your next purchase!
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Thums Is Rob Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
August 28th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Is Larry Yatkowsky a realtor?Yeah?Nope?
What about paul b?
Aren’t these most of losers on the forum called bears and realtors?”
Rob, you should be ashamed of yourself. Posting such acrimonious nonsense, on this blog, I have posted much less offensive observation and you banned me from your blog.
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bdk Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Scullboy, I think i understand what thums/satv/krissh is trying to say:
“Only the stupidest son of a whore would think buying right now is a good idea and if you haven’t sold now then you are as dumb as a realtor”
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scullboy Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
BDK:
Thumbs is a hell of a mystery. I have a theory that maybe he believes if he runs around on blog and tries to get people to buy buy buy then the market will continue to oncrease forever. It doesn’t matter where they buy or what they buy, or even wether it makes sense to buy. I think he thinks as long as people go running around like sheep buying homes, those homes’ values will always increase.
It’s the only theory I can find that fit his stupid posts.
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arit Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Hey, it is a well known fact that every blog must have it’s jester, and a few trolls.
I am waiting for the showup of the hired gun. That should be fun!
Wait until the accusations of “You are being paid to post this, we saw your wanted ad in craigslit, you filthy spy!!!” start flying around here.
Very amusing, it shall be.
Regards,
arit
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John Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Listen here folks. There are a few things which never ever change :
1) The sun always comes up every morning
2) Vancouver is the best place on earth
3) Real estate never goes down
4) The only thing that’s cheaper to rent than own is a hooker
Rich asians know these constants, only fools will not buy in this environment.