As much as it sucks for someone to lose their house, I have little sympathy for people who live that far beyond their means. It’s simple mathematics–eventually the books get balanced. However much money you are going to earn in your life is how much you can spend. If you spend more now you will have less later. If you spend less now you will have more later. Compound interest just magnifies the result.

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I have been thinking about this whole phenomenon of people buying real estate as an investment only. I think the dot com bust is where it started. Investors were left without any confidence in the stock market. People became scared and looked for other investments. Real estate being a tangible one makes sense for the fearful for somewhere to park their money. When the bust happened affordability was not an issue with real estate.

Now we’re at the start of another bust for a number of reasons, mainly saturation of the market and lemming mentality catching up with all the sellers etc. Will the tables reverse from real estate back to stocks? I think it will be something to watch out for.

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They were concerned with the fact that their properties will now lose value, as potential buyers will have more choice and there will be comparing their units to the new ones just completed. Which according to them are nicer and newer and better deal – how unfair.

What I find most striking about it is that they were talking about their homes as merchandise… stuff for sale.
Not something you buy to live in but merely to re-sell at later date with a presumably guaranteed profit.

How can you build strong communities and neighborhoods this way if all you get is sellers competing against sellers and investors looking for quick buck?
Never mind the fact that all these places are essentially gated ghettos with “NO TRESPASSING” signs plastered all over…
Pathetic.

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Who expressed surprise?

Nobody is being indoctrinated by anything.

What a relief. Thanks for clearing that up.

Global culture is produced everywhere, not just in the US.

Hegemony. It ain’t just a river in Egypt.

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I think much of what you’re noticing in the recent personality change here has a lot more to do with bubble mentality than any particular shift in the local culture or psychology.

I noticed the same phenomenon at the end of the tech bubble, everyone who was deeply involved could not stop talking about how they’d made the smartest financial move of all time. I think it’s largely due to fear.

Deep down these people know it’s too good to be true but they so badly want it to be true they talk themselves into believing. Then, to confirm to themselves that they’re being rational they tell their rationalizations to other people, in a bubble so pervasive as this one that talk often gets magnified because it’s often exactly what the other party wants to hear and they repeat it with embellishment.

I suspect the excessive civic pride we’re seeing now will start to get shrill over the next few months but it will start to come from fewer and fewer mouths. In a year or two from now most of the people who are Vancouver’s biggest fans right now will probably be some of it’s biggest detractors. I wouldn’t even be surprised to see a mini-exodus of people who lost their shirts and no longer wish to be reminded of their mistakes.

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Housing Starts and Prices show more signs of housing market “cooling off”

I love the terms that MSM uses: correction, soft landing, cooling off. When the market was going up I heard a lot of: Hot hot hot, robust, skyrocketing, break neck…etc.

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The reason that culture and language grew to be unique in the first place was isolation and the lack of communication between communities.

In the last century, communication barriers have been rapidly dissolving. Why is it a surprise that a more global culture takes hold in young people? If anything it should be expected.

In no way is culture stagnant. Culture has been dynamic throughout the history on mankind. Trying to force a culture onto anybody is an exercise in futility.

Nobody is being indoctrinated by anything. Global culture is produced everywhere, not just in the US.

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Care to comment on this article.

“We are the international finance and business capital of the world, the world’s greatest global financial center, without question,” the mayor (of London) told the assembled crowd.

But in general I would agree that european arrogance tends to be a little more subtle.

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Absolutely, and no offense taken (perhaps by the wankers, but not most here).

The loss of culture is not primarily due to multiculturalism, as a previous poster suggests (though those effects are still felt), but because people, particularly young people, are more influenced and indoctrinated by mass culture (i.e. American culture) than anything local, geographic, ethnic, national.

The recent Canadian proclivity for uncritical boosterism of anything remotely ‘Canadian’ in nature or manufacture may appear eminently patriotic and a sign of our national coming of age. Unfortunately, however, it merely indicates that we have accepted the flawed American model of patriotism and are slavishly aping American behaviour.

Ironically, it is precisely when we mindlessly proclaim empty cliches like “Canada kicks a$$” that we have never been more American.

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in-flipping-credible!

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People in Europe tend not to ‘big-up’ their city, as it makes them sound like an American. Everytime I visit Vancouver, which is every other year, it’s seems to be loosing it’s Canadian identity. This is a little hard to tangibly explain, and it’s more just a feeling I get when I wonder around, but when I first visited Van around 10 years ago it had an identity. Something that felt different – now it seems to be caught up in the homogenous tide of north American cities. This makes me rather sad. Maybe I’m just getting old and nostalgic.

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Summer olympics are held in places like Beijing, London, Sydney, Sydney and LA.
Winter olympics are held in remote whislestops like Lillehammer, Grenoble, and Albertville.

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http://tinyurl.com/goodbyehouse

bought the two-bedroom in the Sobrante Park neighborhood in 1954 for $11,500…………
…………..
The final refinance at the end of 2006 left the family owing $454,000. The monthly payments of $3,362 exceeded the household income of $3,144.

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The Olympics to the rest of the world means the summer Olympics (worldwide attention, on every channel on TV, everyone talks about it at work).

What Vancouverites call the Olympics is called the winter Olympics (mentioned briefly at the end of a sports show, a vague interest in the downhill skiing to see if anyone falls and breaks their neck).

The difference between the two would be like comparing a Stones concert circa 1967, to a Nickleback concert circa 2001. It may mean a lot to you, but no one else really gives a toss.

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Yes there are lots of capital projects. The problem is, for Vancouver, is that they are moving to other parts of the province as the Olympic backlog clears and the other projects put on hold in other regions are queued up. Either construction workers are going to need to migrate or find 2 places to rent — one in Vancouver, the other where the jobs are.

There may not be a province wide construction bust but Vancouver will see a marked decrease in construction spending come 2009.

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London Times:

http://tinyurl.com/olympicswhocares

choice quotes:

“Asking prices for flats around the “Bird’s Nest” national stadium, scene of the Olympics opening ceremony, are said to be down 20%.”

“In Hong Kong, a manufacturers’ group has warned trade leaders that 20,000 factories in southern China — mostly makers of cheap toys and sweatshops turning out plastic junk — will shut up shop by the end of this year.”

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I think this number is under estimated. Considering the small amount that people earn here and housing prices, I would say they should be less than 1/2 of current prices.

I think more are questioning Vancouvers “grandness”.
Also watch out for the Olympic price tag..I dont think I want to pay it. Honestly,how many really give a hoot if someone can run so and so fast? The rest is hype. Think about it: the power of suggestion. Housing market, Olympics. Are you infested with suggestions?

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Thanks for the link.

Belle Puri’s statement at the end of the newsclip is very clear: buy now and it may be worth less!!!

Go for CBC. Now if Global TV or CTV Vancouver could be just as clear on their reporting.

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Here it is: “Housing Drops”, duration 1 minute, on right side of screen.

http://www.cbc.ca/bc/

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Here’s the link to the video. It’s “Housing Drops” in bottom right of the screen, Duration 1 minute.

http://www.cbc.ca/bc/

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