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Friday Free-for-all! (spooky edition)

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189 Comments

Alright, you made it to the end of the week.  Here’s our news round-up to kick off the discussion:

–Vancouver Condo Info Wiki!
–Falling BC house prices a reality check
-CBC map of halted Vancouver condo projects
-Vancouver: Cracks appearing in condo land
-Mish: An American view of the Vancouver Market
-BC retail sales continue downward trend
–Don’t worry, be happy!
–Positive news alleviates housing market fear
-Signs of a US housing market bottom?
–Fed rate cut may have little impact

So what are you seeing out there?  Post your news, anecdotes and links here and have an excellent weekend!

note: any conversation on Vancouver, real estate or economics is allowed, please keep it civilized. When posting articles please only quote pertinent points and link to the original instead of pasting the entire article here. Pasting a link will automatically create a clickable hot-link. Thanks!

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jesse

Agent Will usually has GVREB stats out very quickly after they are released.

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Human778

Does anyone have access to the Oct numbers for Vancouver?

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Potato Hat

Given the existance of real estate bubbles in a couple hundred markets around the world, I would suggest there's nothing terribly unique about Bob Rennie.

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NO -LYMPICS

Re: Pre -sales It may have been Grace Kwok first,maybe someone can find who was "Ground Zero" party re: Pre Sale, but Rennie got into it big time. When I first heard about pre-sales, I thought WTF ? people are buying a pig in a poke ! Up till then, I think most parties would never buy sight unseen…and wanted to kick the tires of what they were actually purchasing. After pre-sales took off, they had no choice but to buy a pig in a poke, it became the norm. It appears that the banks were more interested in pre-sales with minimum $$$ down than a completed structure with say 25 % of the buyer's own $$$ down. In hindsight, the pre-sale things was doomed to implode, or lead to a glut on the market. The media would have TV… Read more »

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bdk

"Yes, I started doing pre-sale back in 1984. I was the first person to bring this idea to Vancouver. It was a difficult education for the local people" Grace Kwok

** She might not be pleased to take credit for this today.

She brought the idea over from Asia.

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bdk

"If Rennie never existed, I wonder if the industry would still have invented him or one like him? I think the roots to this mess can be traced to the pre-sale format Rennie seemed to have imported in the early 1990’s , which he noted in a previous article Sept. 2008 ( which I posted a while back)."

Didn't Grace Kwok (qaka the condo queen before Rennie came along) take the concept of the pre sale and bring it to Vancouver in 1988?

She was doing pre sales before Rennie came along for sure, she even did one in Hong Kong and pissed a lot of Vancouverites off after it sold out without any opportunity for Vancouver buyers to buy (It was in Fairview, 20 years ago).

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betamax

If Rennie never existed, I wonder if the industry would still have invented him or one like him?

Of course; he's a one-trick pony in a bubble market, anyone else could have sufficed.

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blueskies

when the bank appraisers come on site to appraise the property they are saying that the property is worth $40 -$50000 less than what they were originally purchased for 12 months ago

this is not surprising CDN banks are now more cautious than previous

the money they lend out cost them more and is harder to get, they won't just hand it out to any ol' condo buyer…..

my offer on the Holland St house would be $appraisal/2 or around $650K subject to inspection…..

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NO -LYMPICS

BMO is running a funny TV ad The scene opens with a couple and their realtor. The realtor says, " $5,000 M-O-R-E and its YOURS " ! Then another person comes in and says " don't forget about the Property Purchase Tax ",..another talks about the cost of renovations ,….and a few more people pop into the scene to mention other costs that will be incurred if they complete the deal. The realtors are spewing the same old " PLAN B " mantra ,I have heard the same basic crap in past whenever RE market collapses. Whenever the market tanks there must be something they read out of their standard realtor handbook to try to either build consumer confidence or alleviate consumer fears. In my view, Rennie being deemed the Condo King having sold $2 Billion in Real Estate shows… Read more »

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Drachen

BB

There are two kinds of reporters. Those who get out there and ask tough questions work diligently to investigate and create a new story.

Then there are those who take press releases and re-word them in their own words.

Both kinds get paid the same. I'll let you guess which kind wrote the article you're referencing (I'd be willing to bet he never even talked to Rennie)

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buff_butler

"If your client is not motivated to sell or for any reason [the property] is overpriced, take the home off the market until February and we'll sit down and have some clarity," he suggests.

I love it… I wonder *why* February is the magic month that RE will fix itself. I wish the reporter had the guts to ask that.

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Anonymous

In these turbulent economic times, Bob Rennie advises buyers to focus on the fundamentals… http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGA… "You want fundamentals, not hype. Hype is not going to get us through," says Mr. Rennie. …he insists that Vancouverites need only look to the fundamentals for guidance: a rental crisis, a shortage of housing supply on the market, and the 2010 Olympics just around the corner. "…We are a real estate town — real estate is a sport," Mr. Rennie says. "You go to Calgary and it's oil and gas. You go to Toronto, it's business. In Seattle, it's technology. We're real estate … And the world likes us. The world likes to live in Vancouver," he says. "Out of all the markets in North America, this is a wonderful market to be participating in, because we do have the fundamentals." … for investment… Read more »

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Anonymous

$40 -$50000 less than what they were originally purchased for 12 months ago HAAHAHA!

z3– what would that be percentage-wise, please? Thanks.

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Z3

I work for a real estate developer and what is happening now is that when the bank appraisers come on site to appraise the property they are saying that the property is worth $40 -$50000 less than what they were originally purchased for 12 months ago HAAHAHA! (I will probably be out of a job in 6 months)

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Disbelief

This term BEST is in the advertising business a weasel word it doesn't mean anything. If you were to say better than you are saying something is better than something else. The reason this is used is to somehow justify the overpriced overvalued RE that Vancouver has at present. Don't worry soon The bust will take place of best and that will be the end of that.

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Lager not logger

Can anyone define “Best” when it comes to real estate?

Personally, I'd vote for Hawaii, Portugal, Monaco, Paris, NY, Vienna.. Actually this list is getting too long. I'd set Vancouver somewhere around Seattle, Salt Lake City or Cincinnati if I was to sort real estate around the world in terms of best.

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Anonymous

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/reb/900092935.h…

Assessments and Sales by Address 2008

214-22150 48 AVE LANGLEY BC

$227,000 Strata Apartment – Frame

15-35-311-07578270-51

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Keeping an Eye on Th

“Vancouver real estate is the best on earth” Funny, I don’t normally bother to respond to John as he’s just a joker, but this is a common thread in the pusher’s dialogue. Can anyone define “Best” when it comes to real estate? Is “Most Expensive” best? Best P/E ratio (that would get my vote for best)? Worst P/E ratio (this seems to be the criteria used most often by those calling Vancouver the “best”)? Anyone else have suggestions? Drachen: There are two authorities that agree with the "best Real Estate Anywhere, or some such axiom. Maggie is one, and Rob is the other that comes to mind, if you don't believe me, you can take an advantage of the incredible wealth of information they offer on their blogs: http://robchipman.net/blog/ http://www.vancouverreflections.com/ Both of these professionals seem to exhibit superior knowledge. Naturally… Read more »

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Drachen

"Vancouver real estate is the best on earth"

Funny, I don't normally bother to respond to John as he's just a joker, but this is a common thread in the pusher's dialogue. Can anyone define "Best" when it comes to real estate? Is "Most Expensive" best? Best P/E ratio (that would get my vote for best)? Worst P/E ratio (this seems to be the criteria used most often by those calling Vancouver the "best")? Anyone else have suggestions?

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Anonymous

Another sucker who is unable to close

chttp://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/reo/903066059.html

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NO -LYMPICS

john:

Re: Point #2 on your post # 166

So, you are concluding people will be living out of classic pimp mobile's in these uncertain " bubble- go- B-U-S-T " times ?

Now that's mobility !!!

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Anonymous

Well I guess the Holland house is selling at 2006 price. So when it gets to 2004 price (700,000) I might have a look 🙂

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john

Here's some facts for the bears out there:

1) Vancouver real estate is the best on earth and there's no question about this. Even the most bearish basement dweller admits this readily.

2) SUVs and cadillacs are the next big boom and real estate in Vancouver will become a close second to the boom market in luxury SUVs.

3) There's two things in life that give me joy : buying new condos and plastic wrapping all the fixtures so that they're preserved for rich asian buyers AND buying and selling SUVs.

4) I bought a new boat yesterday.

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bdk

My friend looked at one of those houses on Holland and found that they'd built a new roof over the old one and some other mickey mouse stuff that made him walk away. There haven't been too many houses for sale on Holland so it could be the same house.

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