Friday Free-for-all: stormclouds & rainbows
It’s Friday and if you’ve been here before you know what that means, it’s time for our end of the week news round up post and open topic weekend discussion. Here are a few stories I’ve noticed lately:
STORMCLOUDS:
-Developer sues condo buyers who try to back out of contracts
-Canadian retail sales see biggest drop since 1998
-Ottawa to run huge deficits for next two years
-US jobless claims hit 26 year high
-Is this a recession or another great depression?
RAINBOWS!
-Optomistic central bank expects speedy rebound
-Vanoc believes unsold olympic village condos will be snapped up
-Why a buyers market is a first timers market
-CREA: Your home may be worth more than you thought!
So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes here and have an excellent week-end!
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 into your comment will automatically create a clickable hot-link. Linking to more than one external link within a single comment may cause your submission to get held up in the spam filter.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:06 am
depressionwatch:
This is exactly what a depression looks like. Buisness owners are just walking away.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Province+takes+over+p…
January 26th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Massacre in the Fraser Valley! 60,000 dead expected !!!
http://www.vancouversun.com/Health/Abbotsford+far…
January 26th, 2009 at 10:59 am
NO -LYMPICS:
A family friend of mine, who lives in Dunbar, asked a renovations guy who was working next door for a quote on a cheap kitchen reno and was told it'd be $80,000+
This is a house that'd be torn down within minutes of a sale.
January 26th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Walked past H&H in Yaletown today and noticed a new sign in front: Receivership Sale – Up to 40% off, 2br starting at $374K. It has begun…
January 26th, 2009 at 10:53 am
70,000 jobs lost TODAY !!!!! Read 'em and fly.
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=121927…
January 26th, 2009 at 10:39 am
TENS OF THOUSANDS OF LAYOFFS ANNOUNCED THIS AM. THE LIST GETS BIGGER EVERY DAY. WHOS GOING TO BUY THOSE CONDOS?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090126/ap_on_bi_ge/b…
January 26th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Home Depot job cuts:
We sure had a plethora of Home Improvement shows like " Flip this House" etc. Debby Travis, etc. etc.Home and Garden TV….
You wonder how many sheepies bought into the "religious " programming and became RE cult members with all the messages these type of shows spewed out. Must have Hardwood floors !!!! , Mini Blinds!!!!…$30,000 kitchens!!!! German appliances !!!! Granite Countertops!!!!…paint each room a different colour white is verboten !!!
Then make big $$$ selling it !
Time to switch the channel.
January 26th, 2009 at 10:02 am
"The Avtar Gurantee"
avtar.bains@colliers.com
Can I get that in writng please?
I think you are the most believable realtard in the lower mainland. God Bless you.
January 26th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Avtar's resume:
http://www.colliersmn.com/prod/profiles.nsf/webpo…
I love the less than subtle credit they take and the numbers they publish.
All they really did was have some Seller bambaboozled by the brand name , put the RE on the MLS, contact some connections, and find a buyer more gullible than the seller. If there is no buyer as gullible as the seller, then we have a "correction" aka shite hits the fan.
Given Avtar's RE specialty, its easy to roll over $1 Billion with a few sales in a heated amrket.
Isn't that pretty much how it REALLY works, an RE summary of salesmen seeking a greater fool ?
January 26th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Stuckman:
Post text of your emails? I'd like to see what you call "politely".
I've got no reply yet!
January 26th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Sent another e-mail to Avtar politely asking if he would put his realtard "Avtar Guarantee" in writing.
Given the fact he is a fine human being, a credit to realtards everywhere, and the best fukkin realtard I have ever seen, I fully expect to pick my "Avtar Guarantee" today. God Bless Avtar Bains.
Damn I'm happy. All the OTHER condo owners are forked and can't sell for love nor money, whilst I have the best possible realtard guarantee to take to my bank. I LOVE Avtar Bains and he will always have a rental room in my condo at a special discount for his honest arse.
January 26th, 2009 at 9:36 am
Home Depot cuts 7,000 jobs. A sure sign that the renovation/flipping boom has gone bust.
http://www.bnn.ca/news/6420.html
January 26th, 2009 at 9:21 am
I think ol' Avtar Bains hass imply exposed the RE trade's NON secret.
–a monkey in bikini could sell real estate in a hot market
$8 Billion? ..whoop de F*kkin dooo. The Biz works on greed and B.S. and lowly minions doing the actual work, he is simply a brand name like Rennie .
– When the overheated market starts a correction aka shite hits the fan big time…..these realturds big and small have had their pedestal shaken and start spewing UNbelievable Grade A B.S. Its in times like these we start to realize how useless some of these "professionals" are..its all exposed now !
I think Avtar (Avturd?) has cut his throat with comments like that and has flushed his credibility down the sh*tter….a career death wish ? His clients will think he has sucked them in like a circus sideshow carny barker .
January 26th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Avtar Bains, that saint of a human being and realtard extradanaire unbelievable is also found at …
avtar.bains@colliers.com
Propaganda says Avtar has sold $ 8 BILLION of real estate. This is a man whose realtard word is as good as it gets.
God Bless you Avtar Bains. You can obviously afford to honour the "Avtar Guarantee". The world is a MUCH better place with realtards like Avtar Bains.
January 26th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Is he related to Hardial Bains by any chance?
The two of them make about as much sense.
January 26th, 2009 at 8:04 am
God Bless Avtar Bains
avtar_bains@colliers.com
Here I was operating under the assumption every PoS realtard in the lower mainland is willing to spew ANYTHING to promote buying from ultra dumb sheeple and now Avtar is providing the "Avtar Guarantee".
Boy was I wrong about realtards. I feel just plain terrible.
God Bless you Avtar Bains.
January 26th, 2009 at 8:01 am
No-lympics.
I mean it posted as anonymous, yet I think I was logged in when I posted. Not too important unless it is happening to others or a lot. Maybe I had been logged out automatically.
January 26th, 2009 at 7:56 am
Someone get that Avtar Bains quote up on the wiki. I will, of course, post any reply I get from him.
January 26th, 2009 at 7:55 am
alexcanuck
What do ya mean…your post's text and someone else's blog name get mixed up on the same posting ?
January 26th, 2009 at 7:53 am
Well done gentlemen
Hold Avtar Bains accountable
Too many sheepies will be take his words at face value. Given his position, he should be held accountable.
January 26th, 2009 at 7:49 am
208 was me. I think I was logged in when I hit submit. Has anyone else had this problem?
January 26th, 2009 at 7:45 am
Good suggestion, Stuckman!
Here is the text of the email I just sent to Avtar Bains.
Do I understand correctly that you are personally guaranteeing the future resale value of Vancouver Real Estate? (Presumably only if bought from Colliers or a subsidiary.)
I would be far more interested in purchasing in this climate of fear if that were true. Can you please forward me details of the “Avtar Guarantee”?
Incidentally, we sold our fully paid for townhouse 18 months ago, and are currently renting and waiting. We are serious buyers. I just didn’t think it was so soon.
January 26th, 2009 at 7:30 am
Register your "guarantee" with Avtar Bains …
avtar_bains@colliers.com
If the man is offering "the Avtar guarantee." why wouldn't a body take him up on it?
Personally I'm e-mailing the man right now to register MY condo. In 12 months I expect to be paid the difference betwix todays price and the going market price.
Thanks Avtar. Here I thought realtards were basically scum. So glad to be proven wrong.
January 26th, 2009 at 7:17 am
IOC bans "Right to Play" from all Vancouver Olympic venues in perpetuity …
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/ar…
"Right to Play uses sport and play programs to improve health, develop life skills and foster peace for children and communities in some of the world's most disadvantaged areas. The group's headquarters is located in Toronto and it works in 23 countries."
So. For the many taxpayer dollars going to support the Olympics we are disgustingly reminded that the IOC is a political organization answering to corporate sponsors and absolutely NOBODY ELSE.
What a fukkin joke.
January 26th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Fear the NDP, not this 'recession for sissies': Rob Macdonald
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/BC-Politics/2009/…
QUOTES
The UDI’s forecast panel also included presentations by Polygon Homes chairman Michael Audain and Colliers International VP Avtar Bains. Both expressed confidence in the Lower Mainland real estate market.
“This is the sixth housing market correction that I’ve experienced,” Audain said. “In all of it, I wish I’d taken more advantage of the buying opportunities that were available at those times.”
“There will be no collapse of the real estate market in Vancouver,” Bains said. “I will give you the Avtar guarantee.”
======
Avtar Bains GUARANTEES IT?
=======================================
QUOTE:
Macdonald said the New Democrats are a party beholden to “big public sector unions” that have been “taken over by a mixed bag of Marxist, Leninists, Trotskyites, Maoists and Castroites.”
The Urban Development Institute audience of more than a thousand Metro Vancouver real estate professionals responded with loud applause.
“It’s true,” Macdonald replied.
——-
McDonald really rants in this article, quite over the top hyberbole.
However, this UDI event even seems to be one kool-aid swigging major pep rally. I think these parties are in delusion-denial mode, really bunkered from the reality.
January 26th, 2009 at 6:58 am
Realtards Royal LePage comment on Canadian housing prices in Q4 …
"Royal LePage says the average price of detached bungalows dipped by 4.8 per cent during the quarter to $319,640.
The average cost of a standard condo fell 5.2 per cent to $233,230 and the average for a standard two-storey home fell 6.3 per cent to $376,140."
But, not to dispair …
"Royal LePage says 2009 should bring gradual improvements as low mortgage rates and government efforts to revive the economy begin to take hold."
Yeah right. Snakeoil salesmen.
January 26th, 2009 at 6:41 am
Also on the news:
Caterpillar has laid – off 20,000 people world wide
January 26th, 2009 at 6:40 am
Morningnews:
Great Canadian Casino has laid off 220 people at its 9 B.C. locations.
Some may have considered this industry recession proof…but I get the feeling it ain'r or perhaps more indication of how bad things are. Many of these casinos ramped up expansion big time, this could crash and burn even quicker.
January 26th, 2009 at 6:27 am
Canada's "refugee" system under seige.
Deteriorating financial conditions globally with insure a new wave of "refugees" seeking a way to avoid the far far slower immigration process.
Canada has 42,000 refugee applications now (30,000 of them will be rejected for no merit) and it takes 2 years to exhaust the appeal process.
At a $ 600 per month welfare cost the tab for those 30,000 is, at very least, $ 432 million.
Troubled times for the beat down Canadian taxpayer indeed. Tighten down on the "refugee" claimant and those resources might be available to Canadians that need it.
January 25th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
As many as 400,000 Indonesians — about a 10th of those working in plantations, manufacturing and as domestic helpers in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Middle East — may be sent home this year as companies such as Intel Corp. and Western Digital Corp. cut production. The exodus could slash annual remittances to Indonesia by as much as $3 billion, according to Fauzi Ichsan, an economist at Standard Chartered Plc.