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Friday Free-for-all!

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198 Comments

It’s Friday!  Here are a few stories I’ve noticed lately:

–Helmut Pastrick predicts BC will lose 42,000 jobs in 2009
–BC loses 35,000 jobs in January
–Canada facing worst economic crisis since 1970s
–Credit crunch tests the mettle of P3s
–Ontario RE/Max offices investigated
–

So what are you seeing out there? Post your 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 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.

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T-1000

Notwithstanding the economic downturn, there are just too many restaurants to support current business levels.

Since many mid-high end restaurants have thin margins on food, even a small a drop in beverage sales (where all the profits are) over a year can really put them in trouble.

You can bet that many people who do dine out now, are opting out of the bottle of Bordeaux, in favour of a glass or even a beer.

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VHB

"the strip joints in Montreal also appears to be hurting, "

Ok, recessions and housing busts are one thing, but if anything happens to Chez Paree or club supersexe then this is clearly a DEPRESSION.

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Anonymous

'We do realism', Bank chief defends recovery projections.

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Anonymous

Restaurant business sizzling in recession,Business continues to be good, report Island restaurants (CBC) http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/sto…

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markx

I can see restaurants in Yaletown having a contraction this year, but likely not right now. The tech sector is not doing very well, so I can't see Yaletown thriving like it used to be in the next year or two. A similar thing is happening in Kanata of Ottawa, the high tech village. Office vacancy is 20% there, and a lot of newly renovated or opened restaurants likely won't survive. Yaletown will likely get hit harder, though, with all the realtors getting a 60% pay cut year over year. The RE downtown likely hit Yaletown business harder than the tech downturn. My feeling is, Yaletown is overhyped. As the RE meltdown drags on, we'll see who the long term end-user of all the condos are, once all the bubble jobs are lost. On a separate note, the strip joints… Read more »

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Informer10

Economy will rebound in 2010, with the central bank still projecting real GDP growth of 2.8 per cent.'We do realism at the Bank of Canada. We don't do spin.'—Mark Carney.

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Warren

Wow the BS is strong in that one. As if the restaurant owners in Yaletown get together and talk, and invite a gold-bug post-apocalyptic blogger like that. I was at Glowbal last Friday, it was packed. Here are some facts:

1) Yaletown rent is incredibly high. Many restaurants and stores have come and gone in good and bad years.

2) Jan-Feb is notoriously the worst months of the year for any restaurant owner. Almost all lose money. If these "owners" didn't expect that, they have no business running a restaurant.

3) Further to 2), restaurants are extremely risky ventures, approx 50% end in failure, regardless of the economy.

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NO -LYMPICS

From Garths blog

Poster TheComingDepression

Just left a party with some restaurant owners in Yaletown. ALL the restaurants in Yaletown are on the verge of CLOSING. Most are just about bankrupt they said. From the front lines..in VANCOUVER.

================

Anyone in Yaletown seeing this ?

I would consider this quite a canary in the mine especially for the Yaletown area .

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NO -LYMPICS

No drug clean-up for Olympics http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.htm… QUOTE: Vancouver police Chief Jim Chu admitted yesterday that Downtown Eastside squalor and drug addiction will be essentially the same one year from now when tens of thousands of journalists and visitors descend on the city for the Winter Olympics. In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with The Province, Chu said he knows stories about the Downtown Eastside will be broadcast back to countries around the world. "I hope it's a little better than it is, but it still will be a big problem, absolutely," said Chu. The best we can hope for is that we can tell the world we have a plan, and that we're trying to do things differently." ========== Not surprised in a pragamtic sense. However, what's the big picture here ? Growth in gangs. Gang violence is ramping up. Daytime… Read more »

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patriotz

Western Canada hit hardest by decline

B.C. and Alberta see swifter, sharper downturn than other provinces as housing slumps and bankruptcies soar

"The global recession is cutting through British Columbia and Alberta with such alarming force and speed that the two provinces are bracing for an economic downturn as powerful as the rise that until recently defined a new West.

Fresh economic data on housing starts and personal bankruptcies show B.C. and Alberta – once holdouts to the U.S. and Central Canadian slumps – leading the country in decline."

Where were you in '82?

I'm looking forward to the Albertans trying to blame Trudeau for this one. Gordo will of course blame everything on the bubble economy south of the border, as though his own province wasn't the most bubbly thing since the Lawrence Welk Show.

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browntown

oh yeaah nutstars! sounds good boobs and buffets at las vagueass! arit and draken missing in action at area 51

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brokerealtor

DAVID BAINES is the true law in Vancouver(Extremely Righteous Dude)

Give this man full honours for uncovering the TRUTH behind all the SCAMMERS and doing as much as he can and getting it out there to all of you!

I admire this man, still alive, wonder what his take is on pre-sales/speculators,current RE situation?

Anybody heard his take on current economic woes!

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scullboy

Vancouverboom2:

I have watched your poo – flinging antic for years. At first I thought you were another garden variety idiot but frankly you seem to have come completely off the rails. You used to at least TRY to come up with some kind of argument but lately you aren't even doing that.

So I gotta ask: Why the hell do you bother?

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scullboy

Skye:

I do indeed give cooking lessons. Check http://www.thelaughingchef.info for my contact information, and feel free to drop me a line. We can talk about your needs there. Heck you'll be by second VCI client, I should probably be giving Pope a cut of the action 🙂

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crashbug

Lily pad:

I bid $1.00, is that high enough?

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circlingthebowl

Lily pad:

Hire a family of actors to schill when/if anyone walks in the door. Give them a script about wanting to put in an offer above the selling price right away. Have the husband and wife scream at each other,

" No, I buy treeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

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Vancouverboom2

89 sales today at the price of 1 gold brick=1 square feet.Vancouver Real Estate is absolutley showing no respect to it's opponents cities and sitting out dumbs,Stats are available in High Definition Multimedia Interface.

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Lily pad

She has it priced at 85% of assessed value. Is that low enough?

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Lily pad

Sorry, meant muchas gracias. Duh.

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patriotz

Turn off the HGTV and tune into reality. There is only one thing that sells a house today – price.

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Lily pad

I am helping a friend sell her PG home. Please give me some staging tips including dining room, flower beds (red tulip beds?), kitchen, music, smells, etc. Muchos gracias!!! Open house is on Saturday.

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jesse

"When they abandoned real journalism years ago, their days were numbered. No self respecting fish would be caught dead wrapped in the Sun!"

I give David Baines full marks. Some of the other reporters I agree are not worth the ink. Remember when Baines ripped apart problem child Realtor Robert Zoost? I was always hoping Baines would start drilling into the Millenium stuff but these days there's more than enough to keep him busy.

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Dr Topper

"On that note, the Vancouver Sun must also be hurting right now."

I hope so! The Sun is the worst paper of all time! When they abandoned real journalism years ago, their days were numbered. No self respecting fish would be caught dead wrapped in the Sun!

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obmaton

If the bill does not pass the end times will be around the corner. It's your choice. Embrace change by giving all your change to me for the rest of your life or be prepared for the end of the world.

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NO -LYMPICS

172 circlingthebowl

Yeah…I know….

I was just testing the VCI waters if anyone caught the irony/inconsistency .

BTW: You win a 40 % off coupon for the next ONNI sale.

Enjoy !

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