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Friday Free-for-all!

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314 Comments

Friday is here once again, lets do our end of the week news and link round up.  Here’s a few to get the conversation started:

–Vancouver Condo Wiki – supply updates!
–In unstable economy, renovate (don’t buy)
-Vancouver RE boom is over, more declines ahead.
-Vancouver guarantees $100 million for Olympic Village
-When should you start marketing your 2010 rental?
-City gives up 4.3 million in development fees
–Nanaimo hotel becomes election issue
–RRSP participation rates low
–Toronto real estate falls below 2006 levels
–Canadian building permits rise in September
–London Olympic village needs £1 billion bail out.
–Real Estate Downfall (youtube)

So what are you seeing out there? Post your thoughts, news, links and anecdotes 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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bcubbins

Anonymous, don't expect a lot of votes for a post with nothing but a link. If you don't include at least a one-sentence description, a lot of people won't bother clicking the link. At least it wasn't a tinyurl link.

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bcubbins

The tax credit and OAS clawbacks are significant for many retired people.

Not many. The OAS clawback starts at $62.124…If you’re flush enough to be close to that figure in retirement it’s certainly worthwhile using the TFSP to keep under it.

The old age credit gets clawed backed starting at ~30k and is gone by 65k. So I'd aim to keep taxable retirement income below 30k if possible. I don't know what percent of retirees exceed that, but most of us here seem to be good savers and so are likely to have greater than average retirement income from RRSP/TFSA investments.

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NO -LYMPICS

Land Shortage???

Not to worry..the sweatshops in the Far East are working overtime to create more land as we speak !

Next they will breed more Condo purchasers ! (Y'know, dialed into Muir, Jurock, and Pastrick and able to stand in pre-sale line -ups for hours )

They will build Mountains , trees , treehuggers , protestors, BMW's , Rennie's and other peripheral scenery to mimic Vancouver

PS Warning : Watch out for the Melamine in any of the above !!!

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Anonymous

But but but… I thought China was RUNNING OUT OF LAND and it was full of RICH PEOPLE and EVERYONE WANTED TO LIVE THERE and and…

…they had the Olympics!!! However our Olympics will be so much better and prosperous under the beautiful and awe inspiring dome of BC Place, the "Best Dome on Earth"!

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richard

Something interesting from the vancouver sun. about price drops in BC next year.

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richard

Canda housing starts down 3.1%.

Prices up 2.1%.

On the other hand, Circuit City is bankrupt in the US. That kind of counts, because they own The Source here in canada. So there might have to be some impact on their operations here, i would imagine.

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patriotz

The tax credit and OAS clawbacks are significant for many retired people.

Not many. The OAS clawback starts at $62.124 which is almost twice the median full-time employment income in Canada. It's also adjusted for inflation.

If you're flush enough to be close to that figure in retirement it's certainly worthwhile using the TFSP to keep under it.

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Anonymous

Betamax, you aren't paraphrasing the article correctly. Vancouver still gained population in the early 90s. All the data shows is that BC residents had a net outflux from Vancouver into other major population centres. Nothing surprising about that.

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arit

Richmond Rich Renter,

How about Saturday or Sunday night?

If you wish, I would like to talk to you by phone first and give you the details.

We could exchange phone numbers in my site's chat function – just post here an exact time where you can be at http://www.bemecollective.com , and I'll meet you there.

Regards,

arit

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betamax

article from Burnaby NewsLeader stating Vancouver lost 25k people during years 2001 – 2006. So much for real demand:

http://www.bclocalnews.com/greater_vancouver/burn…

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bcubbins

The initial contribution is paid from before-tax income, so your after-tax returns are the same as your gross returns, provided your marginal tax rates are the same at contribution and withdrawl time.

Good point…from a taxation perspective, RRSP and TFSA are equivalent provided the marginal tax rates are the same pre- and post-retirement, AND ignoring the clawbacks of tax credits.

I'd still go TFSA first, then RRSP. The tax credit and OAS clawbacks are significant for many retired people. Plus, being risk averse, I'd rather pay a known tax now than an unknown tax sometime in the future when it's too late to save more.

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betamax

About the guy with “queens english”. Language is important, dont underestimate it. Think George Orwell.

Orwell's essay Politics and the English Language speaks precisely against the idiom used here by "the guy with 'queens english'" — pretentious diction is a tool of pathetic self-aggrandizement rather than communication.

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da mouse

A deep breath.. I guess we all got to purge this weekend. Funny, that baby boomers were attacked. They are soooo bad or are they really? All? Yes, I dont like all boomers, but I dont like all Genexers either or Y's. There are some entitlement issues there too, depending on where they are coming from. I think what makes us come here is to air frustrations, but also to share some truth since the media is not about news/truth/info anymore. I also am painfully aware of the environmental situation of this planet is, of polarization of assets, coroporations, and am suppressing my fear to keep going the best I can. About the guy with "queens english". Language is important, dont underestimate it. Think George Orwell. If we cant convey our thoughts well and clearly, then we have lost contact… Read more »

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NO -LYMPICS

Story: Rise and Fall of the Vancouver Hi Rise

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC….

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Randallbard is a too

If you agree with my handle, give me some props!

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Anonymous

If you knew who I was you would laugh at yourselves.

Please, peeps, get some critical thinking skills! 🙂

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Richmond Rich Renter

Arit,

I'm all for the Richmond Chapter….when's the first meeting?

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Anonymous

You guys are wrong, wrong, wrong. You're nothing but SHEEPLE.

Congratulations. You have NO CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS!!!

Ha Ha. You lose.

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Anonymous

Anon 292: We don't vote you up because you're an idiot. Whether you post as Randallbard or as anon your true nature shines right through. At least this should reassure you that it's not personal. Any anon poster gets treated based on the merit of the post. A few named posters, who have a regular presence here, do get shown a bit of bias, for good or bad depending on their reputation. Most voting is pretty fair to the post itself. I am a regular poster, but will put this in as anon to demonstrate the truth of this.

If you want a gold star you're going to have to earn it! You're not in kindergarten anymore.

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NO -LYMPICS

Re: Post # 255 Interesting article: I like the point about perhaps re-visiting the density, ie Build about 30 – 40 units instead of 300. This " build UP – not out " mantra really set the seeds of the downfall. Under the delusion that the highest density is good and an efficent use of space, they simply ignored the rules of supply and demand. So much product was dumped on the market, a crash is inevitable. However, so many Local Gov'ts have changed their OCP's to allow for hi -density, what happens next ? Developers may play a game of chicken as to who builds first,and carefully monitor the market, and their financing may evolve along the same lines. The irony is that Local Gov'ts will not down zone the land, or else it depreciates the value,(lawsuits?) but in… Read more »

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Randallbard is a too

Now he posts his gold crap anonymously, then whines when they don't get voted for.

What a tool!

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Anonymous

Accurate information on RRSP’s and TSFA’s is out there. Seek and ye shall find.

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Anonymous

People, why did you give Patriotz points for #278 and not me for #283 and #284. You are being sheeple! Don’t be so stupid, ok?

Should be #284 and #285. OK, so I make mistakes sometimes too. 🙂

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Anonymous

Patriotz: #278: you are wrong about the gold. See #283 and #284. We can buy hard gold within our RRSPs now.

People, why did you give Patriotz points for #278 and not me for #283 and #284. You are being sheeple! Don't be so stupid, ok?

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Anonymous

It's over. What was rich Asians and rich Europeans are now poor Asians and poor Europeans because of the stock market crash and global economic downturn.

Now, nobody can afford Vancouver real estate. There is no where to go but down for Vancouver real estate. All hope is lost.

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