UBC economist: the Olympic Village may cost less than the city is claiming Dave White | Monday, January 12th, 2009 9:20 pm VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The costs of the Olympic Village seem to keep going up, but one economist says Vancouverites won't end up being hit too hard. One billion dollars is the latest figure released by the City of Vancouver for the Athletes’ Village. Dr. Tsur Somerville is a UBC economist who says our credit rating may be damaged in the short term, but it's nothing we can't recover from. "Clearly they're going to say the City's financial position is worse, and that it's likely to affect the credit rating but not in a severe way." Somerville says after retrieving most of the revenue dumped into the project from housing sales, the village should only end up costing Vancouverites… Read more »

NO -LYMPICS: Blame your architect and Gov’t, everybody in between is generally following orders according to the plan in front of them.

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So you were in on it, too, eh?

Dan in Calgary Agree with what you say…people , "in theory " are or should responsible for what they do. However, "Buyer Beware" is usually what the Judge will say after you have taken the net and swept everybody onto court. The seller of new product has the upper hand via the legal documents, numbered companies etc. Most buyers are stretched -thin " One – Ofs " Older product…Buyer Beware is no different than a used car… most warranties no longer apply = "As -Is Where -Is " . "Buyer Beware" creates finality…which is necessary in the Big Picture. However, the Buyer is not forced to buy. The flaw lies in the Buyers lack of awareness , lack of due – diligence, and little if any knowledge of the product they are buying. The point of no return is when… Read more »

247 Anonymous Says: January 12th, 2009 at 1:55 am NO -LYMPICS: realpaul: p.s. People who bought the leaky condos did get them inspected and the home inspectors gave many the thumbs up. =============================================== re Home Inspection… Any Home Inspector (and please note they all come from diiferent backgrounds and core expertise ) can only identify blatant "non latent" defects. They can't run around with hammer and do destructive testing ie Gee I thin their may be rot behind the wall lest opa hole and find out. They can check many other systems in the house…but things behind walls are a very difficult if not impossible to detect. The best they can do is an educated guess, though one home inspector was on TV several weeks ago using an InfraRed device (non intrusive )and was able to reveal water migration etc… Read more »

NO -LYMPICS: realpaul: p.s. People who bought the leaky condos did get them inspected and the home inspectors gave many the thumbs up.

I think your trying hard to rationalize your unethical behavior, but it's not going to work. It just makes you appear more and more avoidant of taking responsibility in the fiasco. Someday you will have to face what you did head on. Sorry about that.

Have you ever bought a car which someone knowingly made the brakes faulty on (and the mechanic who inspected it was in on the game) and then sold it to you and laughed at you behind your back?

Buyer beware.

Supraboy: Trolling mixed with race-baiting? How original.

Yawn.

"alexcanuck Says:

January 11th, 2009 at 7:38 am

Supraboy 166:

Prices ARE coming down, even the realtors can’t deny it any more. But hey, don’t let mere facts get in the way of your beliefs. Do you get great comfort from your faith? "

Pick up a Chinese Real Estate paper recently?

There's been more million dollar homes now than there are a few years ago. So prices skyrocketed from 6 figures to 7 figures. Let's say from 600,000 to 1.5 million now. Take off 20% and it's still over a million, how's that?

realpaul (and anyone else who wishes to answer),

Are there any good, affordable condos in the Vancouver area? I know there are some nice, expensive condos downtown. I mean, is there anything worth buying for a typical first-time buyer.

Also, how do the condos built today compare to those of the 80s and 90s. Is it true they are even worse? Are there any good builders building decent, affordable condos right now?

Other thing Re Leaky condos:

CAULKING

If the building envelope has overdosed with Caulking in transition areas…ie where there are joints or 2 diffent materials meet …..RUN.

Overuse (or any use) of Caulking on the building envelope is one of the biggest and dumbest mistakes they ever allowed.

Even the best caulking will shrink , dry and loosen over time, leaving the area it attempts to seal exposed to water infiltraion ,and thus leading to rot.

even concrete towers leak

Repairs have also been done at the 26-storey Parkview Tower on 289 Drake St., another Concord Pacific development.

All the windows on the 14-year-old tower were replaced because they leaked, said Alan Cadwell, whose Langley-based company, The Condo Advocate, repaired Parkview Tower.

Cadwell's company specializes in restoration management for leaky condos in B.C.

"With one good push, the window wall system, in theory, could be kicked out and could be travelling to the floor," Cadwell said of the condition of the windows.

The cost of the repairs for Parkview Tower amounted to more than $8 million, he said.

NO -LYMPICS: That's what we are talking about,Assessment Values are up beyond 2007 and beyond july,2008 however properties values are frozen upto 2007 by Government,Supraboy's point is that when ever Government will release it's lock those value are already exploded.Anyway all home owners knew the value beyond 2007 and beyond july,2008 that's why whoever going to bring their listing for sale,listing prices could have been dealt in Advance.