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Real estate board cancels conference

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The headline is ‘sales drop forces realtors to cancel 09 conference‘.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) held a version of the conference in the spring, but in a letter to prospective attendees and exhibitors, board president Dave Watt said a careful review of its sponsorship model led the executive to postpone the next edition until 2010.

“With REBGV members and prospective sponsors/exhi-bitors currently facing economic challenges, we believe forgoing the 2009 edition of our event is a prudent and responsible measure at this time,” Watt said in the e-mail.

When contacted, Watt declined to offer further comment on the cancellation.

Lower Mainland real estate markets hit the down stroke of their cycle this year, which has meant declining sales and falling prices.

Also in the news today, Richmond is the latest area of the lower mainland to see real estate prices drop lower than they were this time last year:

But it could be worse. You could be trying to sell a house on Vancouver’s west side where detached, attached and apartment properties are being sold respectively for 18.5, 19 and 19.6 per cent less than 2007.

Coun. Derek Dang, a Richmond realtor of 23 years, said it was only a matter of time before the city’s real estate bubble burst.

“It’s not that surprising as we were always going to get caught up like the rest of the world,” Dang said.

“Ultimately, we’re all part of the one big worldwide crisis. We’re good, but we’re not immune.

“It’s an international market we’re dealing in these days and when the global financial market gets into trouble it’s bound to affect us.”

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other ted

I hope this gets through as the site is closing. Scullboy thanks for the reply and I loved reading your comments over the last year. Hope you migrate over to condo hype or whatever blog takes over condoinfo

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Dave S.

I can't wait for all the loser 'realtors' who spend their days blogging and haven't sold a damn thing all year to disappear. I love it how the strongest opinions come from people who haven't been in the business two years. LOL. Keep on typing but you'd better go back to that part time job.

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patriotz

BTW median household income in Trail is 43K, compared with 47K in Vamcouver proper.

http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/tre…

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patriotz

Why not Trail?

"2 bdrm home in Columbia Heights with stunning views of the river. It's the perfect time to buy and it's cheaper than rent"

http://www.mls.ca/PropertyResults.aspx?Mode=0&amp…

Pretty hard to have a meltdown from 99K. Ironically Trail is one of the few towns in the Southern Interior with real jobs, and yet it's the cheapest.

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Dan in Calgary

Every city, town and village in southern BC, except Trail, is going to see a meltdown.

Why not Trail? I thought many Trailites had "done pretty well" over the past few years. I have a relative in Castlegar who paid what I thought was an enormous sum for a home last year, and I'll bet Mom and Dad's old house along the river, across from the Smelter, would have fetched a pretty penny last year.

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scullboy

Other Ted: People are brainwashed about all sorts of things. I called my Dad tonight to tell him my first catering engagement was a roaring success. In fact it was so successful I was offered a job on the spot, catering for TV and movies. Seriously! Apparently one of the guests just loved the chanterelles and chevre in phyllo (a recipe I made up the night before I might add), along with the figs in Devon cream and the fresh pesto. I can't accept the job because I'll be in school, but she was clear that I was to call her as soon as I was out of school. Anyway my dad and I were talking about retirement and how the Boomers won't be able to retire at 65. "And do you know why that is?" asked my dad. "Um,… Read more »

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patriotz

"Five or 10 years from now, when the financial crisis has ended and housing prices are up smartly once more, we will look in the rearview mirror and realize that we missed a golden age for first-time home buyers."

Bwahaha. House prices aren't even done falling in the US, and are not going to recover until real incomes start rising again. Good luck with that. And that goes for BC too.

This article is from the NYT but the reporter is not one of the people who have been covering the bust such as Gretchen Morgenstern.

The readers aren't being fooled – look at the comments section.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/business/yourmo…

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bdk

Sure enough rent has hit $1500 in shangri la….

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/apa/950473818.h…

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richard1

#9 thanks for that video. i've never seen it before. i liked this bit

"There are so many condominiums that have been built in this town that nobody lives in.

Their lights are never on.

I mean they weren't even bought with the intention of living in.

Some of them are so small it's like no one would ever want to live in.

Why would you want to buy a condo in this town?"

I almost thought he was talking about vancouver…

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oracle

a new type agent:

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/12/08-6

that's funny and real

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Anonymous

RE: 121

bdk Says:

November 30th, 2008 at 2:14 pm

#120

Your friends have nothing to lose by writing a letter to the landlord asking for a 10% decrease and mentioning they’re considering moving for January 1 or even February 1 (two terrible months to find occupants in the best of times)

If the landlord has any common sense they will reduce it and if they don’t then look around for a 1+den.

Update:

My friends heard from their landlord today. The landlord is unwilling to grant the 10% decrease ($174) but is willing to forego the 2% rental increase ($34) they had planned for March/09.

I guess they will be giving their notice Jan. 1st.

Thanks bdk for the advice.

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patriotz

“we were right to invest when we did, our RE fundamentals were strong, BC was different, it was the RE crash in the rest of the world that dragged us down”.

Yep, sort of like Mussolini claiming it was the Germans who were responsible for losing WWII.

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jesse

Great find, exx. I added Helmut's unfortunate quote to the Wiki of Shame.

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exx

I was just cleaning up my favorites and came across this gem back from March 08. At an asking price of $889,000, the Second World War bungalow in the 3100-block West 10th Avenue in Vancouver seemed like a bargain to realtor Terry Flahiff yesterday. With the average price of a detached home in Greater Vancouver nearing $921,000 last month, Flahiff's listing could be considered a bargain. I hope nobody bought this "bargain", which is easily down $100K already. Helmut Pastrick, chief economist with Credit Union Central of B.C., said it won't be long before the region's average house price breaks the million-dollar mark. "At some point, we are going to see that $921,000 break $1 million — it won't be that far off." Way to cause the market to crash, Helmut. Nick Collier, 59, who is selling the house on… Read more »

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other ted

Just got off the phone with my mom. Told her I was right about real estate. Apparently I am making up that there are declines. In fact now is a good time to buy. And I shouldn't tell people my predictions because I sound nuts.

Yup I honestly can't believe how brainwashed the average vancouver ite is about real estate.

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I have been banned

"When contacted, Watt declined to offer further comment on the cancellation."

Could one of my fellow bears post this on Rob's blog.

On Rob's last thread, he claimed to know Watt, perhaps Rob can contact Mr. Watt for us inquiring minds.

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trackback

[…] Hat tip to Vancouver Condo Info. […]

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Disbelief

Every city, town and village in southern BC, except Trail, is going to see a meltdown.

Asking $1.85 million for a house on a city lot in Revelstoke

I had no idea that revelstoke was such a destination… Must be one of those resort towns like uncle Bob says. I think there must be gooood crack in Revelstoke these days. I think that we can put Regina and Saskatoon on that list of big crash cities also. It is pretty shocking that to buy a house in a sh*t hole town like saskatoon what you need to cough up. It is not just BC and Alberta that are in for a giant step down.

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NO -LYMPICS

Paul:

Good stuff …my compliments …keep it coming!!!

I agree, waves of listngs will come and for various reasons.

Like a tsunami, it strikes in waves and quickly without much warning.

I can foresee one wave based on reasons "X" (ie glut of new product) , maybe a lull many go "whew" its over, then another one comes out of the blue for other reasons "Y"( ie rise in interest rates , can't pay mortgage) then "Z"…etc. etc. .

People will be left punch drunk, given the fiscal and economic etc. body blows from all sorts of different directions.

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read on

Macronomics Says:

December 8th, 2008 at 2:48 pm

Okay, which one of you guys posted this?

You know, a lot of people are really getting killed out there and it’s not nice to mock them.

***************

Oh noes. How sad.

(BTW, wasn't me.)

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Purp

Coun. Derek Dang, a Richmond realtor of 23 years, said it was only a matter of time before the city’s real estate bubble burst.

Wasn't it Yogi Berra who said, "It's tough to make predictions…especially about the future". Much easier to predict the past.

I'd add the corollary that "As a future event becomes more probable, the number of people who knew it all along will grow exponentially"

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paul

#11 there has never been a V shaped recovery in real estate history. The last L shaped recovery was the one between 1992 and 2003. That's right folks, the players in that market had to carry their dogs for ELEVEN years before the recovery began. There was a lot of opportunity cost equity lost in that market adjustment.I would speculate a guess that there won't be as many owners able to hold on for 11 years this time around because of the low equity requirements and the growing number of current upside-down mortgages which will require new second mortgages to requalify to re-up the original first as banks as you know will not finance at zero equity. Ergo, a lot of marginal players will be forced to bail whether they like it or not as opposed to past players who… Read more »

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Macronomics

Okay, which one of you guys posted this?

You know, a lot of people are really getting killed out there and it's not nice to mock them.

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/reo/945494182.h…

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Alexas

A bit different bidding war these days, not so neighbor friendly thou. See MLS: V731997.

"Dare to compare, this great space is priced to sell, $45,000-$109,000 less than the other 2 bedroom units currently for sale in the same building! This spacious and bright 2 bedroom and den NE corner suite is…"

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Kuroame

“It’s not that surprising as we were always going to get caught up like the rest of the world,”

they aren't pumping RE anymore, all they're doing is creating little mantras that RE bubble participants can say to themselves on the way down. Mantras that obsolve them of blame or make them feel like they weren't the victims of a con game.

Now their line is going to be "we were right to invest when we did, our RE fundamentals were strong, BC was different, it was the RE crash in the rest of the world that dragged us down".

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