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January 7th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Arit:
re Square Footage:
I recall there was (or once was) a company which offered a service to literally calculateand nail down a given residence to the sq. ft.
There main forte’ was legal based, ie a lot of people were buying units advertised at ” X ” sq. ft…but found out it was not as advertised. Complicated layouts can make this a bit of a challenge. They used the info to build “breach of contract” etc. cases if need be.
If not mistaken the square footage is traditionally measured from the outside of the building, so in essence tha actual liviing space is much less ( due to wall thickness etc.)
BTW :
My Dad is an immigrant,and he said there is no such thing as a stupid question…the wisest people ask questions and the rest pretend or think they know.
January 7th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Lily pad:
Oops: According to what you say, I misunderstood reapaul’s link. They do not mention floors there.
Regards,
arit
January 7th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
@realpaul:
Hi realpaul:
IF I understand your link correctly, THEN two houses with the same foot print but one is only one floor and the other is three floors – DO have the same square footage.
Regarding defensive wall and ammunition: People mocked me when I insisted that my house will be bulletproof, but then again, they never had a need for a bulletproof house.
Maybe I’ll trade you my extensive (modesty aside, relevant) security knowledge for your extensive building knowledge. Weaponry is my middle name.
Regards,
arit
January 7th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
@arit:
Arit: The square footage is measured by the area (Length X Width). If you have a 10 ft. X 10 ft. room the square footage is 100 square feet.
If you have two floors each of 1500 square feet the total square footage of the home would be 3000 square feet.
The way that mls (at least in BC) describes the size of a house in the “finished” square feet. So if the basement is unfinished the square footage of the aforementioned house would be reported as 1500, not 3000 even though the house is actually 3000 sq. ft. Other provinces and countries do not necessarily follow the same procedure, you need to check the procedures of the mls or real estate database.
Some countries use square meter, which is basically 1/10 of the square footage number when calculated.
Here is a conversion program, which you are undoubtedly familiar with:
http://www.escapeartist.com/Co....._Feet.html
January 7th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
@arit:
howzabout this for you, a template and all
http://homebuying.about.com/od.....ootage.htm
January 7th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
@arit: Thanks for the offer, if I’m not too busy in 2016 building a defensive wall around my property and loading ammunition I’ll make some noise about being available.
January 7th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
@The Pope: I like it!
January 7th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
@betamax:
testing
January 7th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
#86 I told you so:
This is a paid for publicist writing on behalf of ‘The Big Boobster” not the Big Doofus’ writing himself. This is ad space which has been purchased in BC buisness mag by ” The Dog Face Loser” , not a publishers intrest in Boobie’s POV.
If you pay them they will print any drivel you may wish to puke up yourself.
No-Lympics wrote a very good post of how Bobby ( the lisping fairy ) Rennie was trying to re-write his legacy and manage his failed reputation.
I think No-Lympics hit the nail right on the head. Maybe you could clip that section and repost it.
Bob ( the biggest dipshit in town ) Rennie is having a hard time sleeping at night after going out on the town and having people throw shit at him, get in his face and call him an asshole publicly in events and smaller spaces.
Boo Hoo, Boobster , you’re not fooling anyone with these puff pieces..
January 7th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
@The Pope: Cool feature, thx!
January 7th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
WBWUCR
“If your house has a 1500sf footprint and a terra cotta roof, that’s maybe 2500 sf of roof with a ton of ridges and valleys”
Could you, or someone else, explain to the dumb immigrant how is the square footage of a house measured? If I have two houses with the same foot print but one is only one floor and the other is three floors – do they have the same “square footage”?
Realpaul:
Do you do consulting work? Can I hire you at 100$/hr for a few hours in 2016? Am I too cheap? OK, 200$…
Regards
arit
January 7th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
NEW FEATURE! The problem with replying to post numbers is that they can change if a comment is released from moderation. This should fix that problem:
To reply directly to a post just click the light grey arrow to the right of the posters name. This will automatically bring you to the comment box and create a clickable hotlink to the original comment with their name. This should make it a lot easier to tell which replies are to which comment.
Please vote this comment up so other readers are aware of this new feature.
January 7th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
@Whybuywhenucanrent?: Great links!
Thanks for posting those and sorry about the moderation hold-up. Just so everyone knows the spam filter holds any comment with more than two links, and your safest bet is to have only one link per comment.
I know this is inconvenient, but if you saw the spam that its keeping out of the comment section you’d understand why I keep it this way.
January 7th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
#77 VBOOM2 If you are asking us (me) to stop referancing historical facts or pointing out the obvious for the sake of a better mangaged future propagada campaign by you, no can do senor. The truth is just the truth , warts and all, deal with it.
Wasn’t there a scene in that 60′s movie ‘Soylent Green’ where you could choose to opt out of the ugly reality by electing to die ( they would kill you while a nice movie about pleasent things was shown)and you would become food
( soylent green) for the desperate masses.
I think that the developer community ( realtards, REBGV etc) thinks of us as food and would like us to turn our lives ( money) over to them for thier own benefit.
Sticking your head in the sand is not going to save the jobs of your family and friends you have referanced in past postings. If you find yourself in a bad position….move, thats more appropriate to the circumstance.
January 7th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Just when we thought that we had ran out of RE topics for this blog…..Here is Bob Rennie promoting affordable housing for Vancouver.
http://www.bcbusinessonline.ca.....own-divide
Is it just me or is there a change in his attitude? Guys I think we have done it. We turned him away from the dark side of the RE force.
January 7th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
RealPaul:
Post # 78
Ya had me fooled…I though you were under 25 LOL
One day someone will spill the bean on how so much sh*t got built and passed
Some family members have a 20 + year old condo .
The entire building is now undergoing a “leaky condo” restoration.
However, there was a delay in permits.
Family told me that their Stratas’ Lawyers were in discussion with the City Lawyers.
Apparently ( and not the first time I have heard of this ) , in boom times, the inspectors may not even do a proper inspection…they are too busy , will ” trust” the workmanship and simply sign off on it.
Apparently the discussion between the lawyers revolved around original flaws that should have been caught by the inspectors, which the City feared would become evident as the restoration proceeded . Not sure how it got resolved.
That’s the probelm in boom times…prices rise and quality suffers. Builders run and buyers get shafted . Gov’ts and their minions are the worst pimps in boom times.
I have a neighbour who sued the City on a similar case…(septic tank system failed) In court , it was revealed the City inspector did a drive by and signed off, never even stepped on the property.
I am sure there are P-L-E-N-T-Y of other similar horror stories
Any other professional would be sanctioned and their license suspended.
Oh I forgot , it’s the Gov’t, that’s DIFFERENT.
January 7th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
realpaul #65: My point about the McMansions was that they are a world wide phenomenon, not particular to BC. That’s all.
January 7th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
realpaul #78: My posting #76 was for Whybuywhenucanrent (aka Whybuy)’s posting #68 in which it was stated that the links weren’t coming through on VCI. Sorry for any confusion
January 7th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
#80
Classic THX
January 7th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
From post # 73
QUOTE:
“If I still can’t sell 10 apartments, I’ll drink 10 bottles of melamine.” –the MSN signature of a sales director of a Beijing-based real estate company.
Is this the new contemporary version of ” Hari – Kari ” ?
How big are the bottles ? One Gallon?, Barrel ?
From Wikipedia
” Ingestion of melamine may lead to reproductive damage, or bladder or kidney stones, which can lead to bladder cancer.[15][19][20][21][22]”
Reproductive damage?
Realturd is a genetic thing passed down , isn’t it?
So…Melamine can’t be all THAT bad .
January 7th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Village Realtor/Specuvestor/Economist college
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
January 7th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
#76 HUH?
January 7th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
It can happen anywhere including here. Houses for $1000.00
http://money.cnn.com/video/#/v.....e.cnnmoney
#71 you’re quite right. In the 1991 market those McMansion prices ( From 1.2 Mill down to 650K) peaked and crashed within months (of the final completion of my last 3 projects in Richmond Broadmoor area). I was there just FYI for the new real estate promoters.
The prices stayed at 1991 levels until 2002 and then slowly crept back up but have never recovered to the 1.2 mill level. The fact is that they became functionally obselete as time passed ( a decade) and newbie owners sat on them making payments waiting to recover losses. Many now are rooming houses. But in all fairness renting rooms in your house is very common to the culture in HK and China.
I was a 3rd generation builder ( retired now from the racket) , I hammered nails after school and on weekends when I was six. My point being that we did a lot of the work ourselves with quality in mind, people took pride in that stuff back in the 60′s.
When I was building in the 80′s and 90′s I seldom visted the sites, I never met most of the contractors or the buyers. I was hiring contractors and functionaries who havn’t the least interest in quality, we were more interested in scheduling.
Those structures that were built in that time ( beginning in the 80′s) were all built out of the worst crap and materials that a builder can get away with. This includes the SFH’s, condo’s and concrete in every sub area that were built back then. I saw crap built in the very best areas which was doomed to fail because of the crap material and faulty engineering, and I’m talking multi-million dollar home and mega million high rises. DUH, wonder why they leak now?????
We figured if they would pass inspection that they were ‘good enough’. In the 60′s it would take close to a year to build a house. We’d build a few at a time. In the 80′s it would take 3 months, they were just slapped together. The inspectors, city engineers and architects were idiots and should have been prosecuted for the leaky condo mess on the commercial side and frankly we in the industry were shocked and amused when they slid out the back door unscathed. The city’s lawyers were really on thier game shielding layers of scum from tainting the skirts of the mucky mucks.
But thats a big ‘so what’ in the building community today. Nobody gives a shit about quality, they really don’t. They might say they do in the ads, but thats because the realturds and the ad men haven’t a clue, today is all about decorating the kitchen because thats where the sale is made.
When an experianced builder walks through a site today it’s all he can do to keep from spitting his lunch through his nose it’s so funny and in many case dangerous, but if the inspectors don’t give a shit and the city doesn’t give a shit and the architect signed off then who’s going to give a shit?
The new Canadian Indian builder, the new Canadian Chinese builder, most of these people have never worn lace up shoes for Petes sake, they have zero understanding of mechanics or construction in this country or thier own, it is just a ‘buisness opportunity’subsidized by the temple bank, half the time with grow op money. Have any of you ever been on a construction site in India? YIKES !!!!!
Oh yeah , they’re famous for quality products and food exports. LOL, thats why when buildings fail in China and India the entire structure crumbles into a pile of dust. If you want a quality home built you have to hire a European ( or someone)with a lifelong understanding of this type of structural development. If you have to explain electrical wiring is or what a hot water tank is to a ‘builder’ then maybe you should rethink your contract. I have had this experiance.
In the 60′s a builder put his name on a product and stood by it for generations, by the 80′s I was creating numbered company ( zero liablity entities) and contracting projects to new immigrants for a profit and half the time I never set foot on the land. Most of home owners had never lived in SFH and couldn’t find thier way up a set of stairs, never mind ask how the studs were spaced.
Building Tommorows Ghettos Today, I allways got a laugh from that idea.
Another line I like is from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie where Capt. Jack says in a toast “Take what you can and give nothing back.” This seems to have become the maxim for buisness in Vancouver.
January 7th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Real Paul,
You are safe as long you are in vancouver,It is good for you that you have left that state however all the memories and anecdotals are pasted on your tail,please wipe it off.
Buff Buttler,
Thanks for the link it’s good to learn something from history or anecdotal if one really need to learn specific knowledge but these wall street and usa crisis has been long explained to this forum.What would be better suited info for this forum is an most important issue than wall street collapse,The bottom line conclusion for your post maybe you have heard of “buy within your means” but you have never ever heard of “sell within your means” Maybe you are not buying but do you see that listing are not that much compare to regular period plus add some percentage from numbers of new home it means not too many people are selling either.
Buying and selling is concern for realtors and their board but not for the genral public,As far as fundamental concern those have been proved once look at the peak prices and prices now.
Vancouver housing sector is fundamentally supported but greed never end sellers sell in greed to by at low buyers sit in greed to buy at low that’s what it takes to secrew up fundamental and all of these greed can not be achieved without shreding jobs of your friends or family members,you may enter in market one day but you can’t fit 3 million people in 625,000 homes,When ever you will return back to market you are going to explode the prices again,In respect to fundamental for fellow citizens it is good to sit on one side without greed then appreciation will be rewarded automatically.
January 7th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Whybuy – just make a tinyurl for your links to post them here. You are allowed a maximum of three per post I believe but it is better to include one per post to make sure it comes through.
http://tinyurl.com/
January 7th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
vancouverboom2, “nothing to offer other than misleading information”
Also the downturn started *before* the media started printing negative press.
Despite what you claim as negativity everything that is happening right now is in books layed out in Economics and Finance. All it takes is to open a book to find out what the actual fundimentals are for specific market sectors (or common sense
). The media quote their “fundimentals” but they never explain what they are or why they come to a specific conclusion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securities_Analysis
January 7th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Overseas:
Satyam means truth, but Raju, who resigned as chairman on Wednesday, owned up to creating a tissue of lies
Bangalore: Byrraju Ramalinga Raju, 54, chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd and lover of science fiction works by Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, will be remembered in Indian business history—not the way he would have wanted, as a successful software entrepreneur, but as the perpetrator of the country’s biggest corporate fraud, one that saw his company resort to fiction to burnish its performance.
http://www.livemint.com/2009/0.....and-f.html
January 7th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Is Beijing paving the way for Vancouver’s post Olympic flood of rich people who’ll see us on TV and buy up all of our moldy condos (not)?:
A 50+% decrease in sales leaves much new housing vacant. By the end of December, 2008, the number of salable houses and apartments under construction in Beijing reached 188,031, while finished but unsold houses and apartments totaled 174,290, leaving over 360,000 units on the market. If they are sold at 120,000 a year, the rate in 2007, it will take at least 3 years to sell them all, and that’s if no more are built.
Full article at ChinaStakes: http://www.chinastakes.com/story.aspx?id=949
One can only hope Rennie will take a cue from this Realtard:
“If I still can’t sell 10 apartments, I’ll drink 10 bottles of melamine.” –the MSN signature of a sales director of a Beijing-based real estate company.
January 7th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
No-LYMPICS (66) wrote
“These McMansion/ Monster houses will end up road kill.”
“In a collapsing RE market, my view is a large McMansion becomes a liability, or conversely, its “Improvement”value will depreciate. My guess is that in the next 10 years, the McMansions will be increasingly turned into rooming houses,”
Correct. In 2002 the Asian-style monster houses were selling for only a small premium over lot value. I seriously considered buying one near UBC and turning it into a rooming house (then selling when the market improved), but didn’t.
The thing that will kill the 1990s monster houses is that a lot of them are built with leaky condo technology, and a lot have extremely high operational and repair costs. If your house has a 1500sf footprint and a terra cotta roof, that’s maybe 2500 sf of roof with a ton of ridges and valleys, I’m sure those tiles break once in a while and it costs a couple hundred $ **per tile** to fix them. That and uber-large windows loosing their seal and fogging up, etc., will relegate the 1990s monster houses to the rubbish bin very soon here. Buy one for lot value, rip off the tile roof and replace with asphalt shingles, plug up some of the unnecessarily large windows, and rent as a rooming house or chop up as a tenement house…
WBWUCR?
January 7th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
What IS the bottom?
My definition is when it plateaus for a while and then begins to move in the opposite direction ie UPward (ie the shaft of the hockey stick blade starts to appear ). What will start this “shaft” is anyone’s guess.
Thus, one can only define the bottom in “history- based hindsight”. No one can peg the bottom till after it happens.
In my area, multi -family development property prices literally tripled over the past 4-5 years. My guess is that the value will collapse to at least 1/3 of what they were ratcheted up to ie back to the old pre-boom prices.
Then I will start thinking about the hockey stick graph.
January 7th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
#67 Why not not post them here?
Jobs Apocalypse news
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/.....refer=home
This can’t be good , even for an economic island like BC
January 7th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
#43 vanzee,
Thanks for the link and JD good rant in comment section.
January 7th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Some new charts from myself and chris over on the Chipman blog
I posted this earlier, but its in moderation limbo, so here it is again. Let’s see if it works…
Greater Vancovuer SFH benchmark % YOY (by chris)
Vancouver REBGV benchmark plunges compared with 12 US cities’s Case-Schiller values (by whybuywhenucanrent? using SeattleBubbleBlog chart)
15 cities/areas of Greater Vancouver compared, declines from top. REBGV benchmark data (3 month running average), SFH home prices plunging. (Port Moody leads the way, PoCo holds value best)
For the flickr photos, click the magnifying glass icon above the center of the photo (middle of the row of grey icons) for full-size view.
When referencing my flickr charts, please use the following key words in the text
* REBGV
* plunge
* Whybuywhenucanrent?
Enjoy,
Whybuywhenucanrent!
January 7th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
I had a neighbour who went to Mainland China a few years ago for a short gig, involved in facets of residential contruction .
He showed me photos of the houses being built , and they were selling for about $ 500,000.
They weren’t quite McMansions, but about 50 – 60 % of the size.
On a Global scale, one wonders why Local Gov’ts went for this McMansion size of house. Probably very short term thinking , a lust for higher property tax revenue. Historically , such large homes degenerate to other uses.
Where are all the so – called “enviromentalists” ?
I grew up with parties whose families numbered 6-10 people and they survived in 1-2 storey houses approx. 1200-2400 sq.ft. McMansions use up 2-3 times the resources of the homes they replaced( materials ,utility costs, etc. etc.)
These McMansion/ Monster houses will end up road kill.
There used to be a rule -of -thumb that one builds a house of a cost approx. equal to the value of the lot.
In a collapsing RE market, my view is a large McMansion becomes a liability, or conversely, its “Improvement”value will depreciate. My guess is that in the next 10 years, the McMansions will be increasingly turned into rooming houses, and maybe even further suck the life(ie fiscal Viability) out of the condo market.
In the last Depression , the Monster homes were often concentrated in the Shaugnessy area. Most others lived in small salt boxes. It became know as Poverty Heights during the Depression ,many of the rich went broke… and many of these Shaugnessy Monster homes were turned into rooming houses, etc. Other large homes were scattered throughout the City and were also converted . Some builders I know have renovated these Shaugnessy mansions and kept them as rooming houses, hence the cash flow must still be attractive.
However over the last 20 year, McMansions are a literal epidemic throughout the Greater Vancouver area.
One could comfortably rent out rooms to 6 or more people per McMansion.
Do the Math and predict the future.
No area will be immune.
January 7th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Analyst says ” 2009 wrong time to buy based on disappearing jobs numbers.”
http://www.marketwatch.com/new.....7FDDFF4%7D
January 7th, 2009 at 11:50 am
#63 Real estate ads from Las Vegas and Florida were screamingly positive one year ago however RECENT market activity is somewhat differant.
In Beijing TODAY
“During the late 1990′s, property markets in big cities of China were overheated. Price of prime land in Beijing has fallen from the heights attained in the boom development phase of the early 1990s. The vacancy rate for buildings was 38% in Shanghai and 30% in Beijing .”
“Residential real estate experts estimated that it might take two to three years for the vacant spaces to be absorbed if the recent trends continue.”
In other words the real property market in Beijing has been in the toilet for a while now and no recovery is predicted due to the crash of the export economy.
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....eal_estate
China Digital Times » protests On Monday, hundreds of angry investors in a get-rich-quick scheme fought with …. Ten people
” Although the site has been now blocked by the Communist Party it is a story of how thousands of people are up in arms in Beijing after being informed by local developers that the value of thier pre-sale condos had fallen dramatically. Sound familiar?
DUBAI
” I can not sell these apartments” says Dubai investor. Apparently the Dubai market is also in the toilet. It’s important to stay current with information
http://www.iranunited.com/foru.....php?t=8003
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/.....lters.html
Vancouver
Vancouver is a service industry, it seems that the markets we service are going broke, what does that mean for our real estate boom.
USA
Fed says “Worst is yet to come”
http://www.globeinvestor.com/s.....7/GIStory/
“I could go on and on but I’ll stop now.”
January 7th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Another slideshow of California-style McMansion developments in Beijing:
http://www.charlotteobserver.c.....36717.html
I could go on and on but I’ll stop now.
January 7th, 2009 at 11:11 am
More photos of the housing bubble in the US courtesy The Housing Bubble Blog run by Ben Jones
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/js_slideshow/
January 7th, 2009 at 11:03 am
“I believe a 10% return on investment for Vancouver Real Estate is reasonable.
Sure it is but you need to include rental income as well as carrying costs (maintenance, tax, etc.). When you do this the expected appreciation is way way less than this. Also you cannot have perpetual 10% PA capital appreciation when inflation is close to zero. The best you can do with a detached property is maybe 1% above inflation. For a condo you’re lucky if it keeps up with inflation because as it ages the rent you can chrage will not keep pace with inflation and maintenance costs increase.
The reasons why prices have been appreciating since the mid-’80s are misunderstood. Some gains have been due to limited land supply and population growth but the majority of the gains have come from a huge speculative bubble and perpetually declining inflation expectations. We are at the end of the line on both fronts now. If you’re looking for a repeat performance for the next 20 years, you’re definitely out to lunch.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Houston McMansions
http://www.city-data.com/forum.....elfair.jpg
January 7th, 2009 at 10:51 am
no-lymics: Re #45, not only are McMansions a BC, Canadian, and US phenomenon, but building is STILL happening overseas:
http://www.heraldnet.com/artic.....89944/1005
“Feola’s firm, which does 90 percent of its projects outside the U.S. and is best known for designing a shopping mall in Dubai with an indoor ski slope, was responsible for a development outside of Beijing called Napa Valley that has little resemblance to the winemaking region.
Grassy front lawns and driveways lead to pastel-colored homes that mimic French, Italian or Spanish architectural styles. Customized kitchens, screening rooms and basement wine cellars are very different from Chairman Mao’s vision of communal living.
“It’s hard to tell you’re not in Southern California,” Feola said.
Another Beijing suburb, aptly named Orange County, sold out within days of opening in 2002. Chinese developers hired Newport Beach firm Bassenian Lagoni to make a replica of homes they saw south of Los Angeles. With the eerie resemblance to the American suburb, critics derided the homes as “McMansions.”
“It’s too bad that we as Americans are turning away from suburban sprawl as Asia adopts it,” said Robert Fishman, a professor of architecture and urban planning at the University of Michigan.
Architect Aram Bassenian, whose Mediterranean-style homes have come to define California’s ritzy suburbs, contends that architects shouldn’t shoulder all the blame. California borrows ideas from elsewhere, and for centuries cities have been designed or influenced by outsiders.
Many advances in green home design that were developed in the U.S. are being introduced overseas, including better insulation or ventilation to rely less on fossil fuels for heating and air conditioning.
To make the homes fit with the local culture, outdoor kitchens are added in Asia for frying food, and trellises are installed to protect Mediterranean homes from intense sunlight.
“We don’t create the demand, we respond to people’s needs for shelter, for housing,” Bassenian said.
Despite criticism, suburban communities are sprouting in Latin America, North Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe. To promote developments that won’t deplete natural resources, land use experts at the Urban Land Institute has been taking foreign groups on “study tours” of U.S. communities and recently opened an education center in the United Arab Emirates.”
January 7th, 2009 at 10:48 am
“they are offering up actual statistics, analysis and links,”
Same graph 4th time within 10 days aha you guys are helpless.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:40 am
JD,
Keep on reading stats and link one day you will find the one you have missed!!!!!
January 7th, 2009 at 10:35 am
BBY: re linked-in
Interesting, I noticed the same thing. Not only links, but people actually writing and asking if I could recommend people to link to, both from people currently looking for work and those worried about layoffs in the next couple of months.
Has Microsoft said anything to dispel that rumor about laying off 15% of their work force?
On a related note, anyone else seeing more empty storefronts around Vancouver? I’ve been surprised lately by the number of them. West 4th, South Granville, Main Street and West Broadway all have a lot more empty shops than they did last year.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Re Alcoa:
..or any Aluminum producer.
Given they are reliant on electric power for the aluminum refining process, if they start to cut production, their will be a lot of excess electrical power available, and specifically the Rio Tinto Alcan Kitimat smelter in North-East BC.
This would provide them with some cash flow, a choice they do have as opposed to other industries. This selling of the Kitimat power versus Aluminum production jobs has been a big issue over the years.
About a week ago, the $3.2 Billion Kitimat plant expansion has been put on hold
http://www.opinion250.com/blog.....on+on+hold
Now Premier Campbell also has all these private power projects coming on line. I wonder how they will play out in the current economic situation? Did Campbell guarantee these parties a fixed price and also a guaranteed access to the market ? Or are they on their own,,subject to the market forces of supply and demand. There is one $400 million private sector power project currently being built up the BC coast , as well as many others. A tanking economy will correlate to less demand for electricity.
If the global economy tanks…this Kitimat expansion may be cancelled. Rio Tinto Alcan may simply sell the power they generate to BC Hydro’s grid that they would have otherwise used to produce Aluminum. In theory this would be cheaper on the supply versus demand basis, but I recall that power provided by outside sources will be bought at a higher rate.
Campbell and crew were all excited about these private power generating ventures…claiming we need the power but handcuffing BC Hydro from becoming directly involved .
However, perhaps these private sector producers will hit a wall financially. Will we have 1/2 finished projects left impacting the environment ?
All these things are coming into play in the near future.
How will it unfold…a Cost versus a Benefit?
So, again this global economic integration has more and more backwash, both foreseen and unforeseen, hitting and impacting BC .
January 7th, 2009 at 10:21 am
2008 May detached benchmark: $771,250
2008 June detached benchmark: $765,654
2008 July detached benchmark: $753,165
2008 August detached benchmark: $737,985
2008 September detached benchmark: $726,331
2008 October detached benchmark: $695,962
2008 November detached benchmark: $666,525
2008 December detached benchmark: $648,421
-1.8% September
-4.4% October
-4.4% November
-2.7% December
Anybody else surprised that the decrease was only 2.7%? I was kinda getting used to over 4% declines. Maybe because so little moved on the market we only saw a 2.7% decline? I was kinda hoping/expecting it to decline more and for the decline to continue to get steeper.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Nice link Van-zee, I like the headline:
“Buyers not lining up for house bargains”
Maybe that’s because there are no ‘bargains’ to line up for yet? Sure we’re down almost 15% from the market peak, but we’re still detached from reasonable prices that most people living in Vancouver can afford, even without the current climate of job loss and uncertainty.
Look at the US, where prices in some markets are down 50% and people still aren’t lining up for ‘bargains’.
The secret is out. Buying overpriced real estate is a suckers bet. Selling it may make you rich, but overpaying for it certainly won’t.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:06 am
nothing to offer other than misleading information
See the problem with that argument is that they are offering up actual statistics, analysis and links, all of which can be corrected by anyone else if it actually is ‘misleading’ or untrue. Your argument is simply that you believe Vancouver is different. That’s not information, that’s blind faith.
Going deeply into debt based on blind faith and hype is not the path to riches you had hoped it would be.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:55 am
I’mnotputtingmunametothis!,
I am following these blogs carefully i also read all the links posted by anyone but as you know these are bears blogs and some other like Paul b these administrators have nothing to offer other than misleading information,you guys are entitled to post your self fisting links and desirable commentary but is there any of you coming forward to tell bears to buy,Where is Vhb,The Pope and what the heck is Freako doing here.do you know that Mohican bought a unit for himself last year.do you know that being in Vancouver you guys have already missed the boat,Do you know that(sorry can not use question marks.)
Answer to your question ,I am proud to say yes we are fundamentally different than Usa or World and the little problem in Ontario is also a part of Usa if you know where these big three belongs to or else you can see 5 out of 10 cities are still up and most of them would be countinue to do so,Vancouver downturn was a part of false alarm a misleading fear generated by opposition parties,real estate bears,and stock market investors.Lots of people start realizing now that help over turned the confidence (consumer confidence) it stand at two third over last year.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:50 am
46 vancouverboom2 Says:
January 7th, 2009 at 9:42 am
I buy three my huzba buy three!!!
( and they would sell 3 to my Shih -Tzu if it wouldn’t sh*t and piss on the pre-sale carpet . Next time I buyee cork and clothespin and make dog look like Mini – Me! )