“Vancouver’s Best Realtor” leaving town
Local Realtor Paul Boenische has been providing daily statistics for the lower mainland market since the end of 2007. In 2008 he won the Georgia Straights reader choice award for “Best Realtor”. Many of you have read his blog and seen his comments on other sites (like this one) under the name PaulB, so it is sad to see that he is leaving Vancouver for the improved quality of life in PEI.
We initially were interested in Charlottetown because we have some family there, and after researching it and visiting PEI, the vastly improved quality of life is what convinced us. Sandra and I want to have the time to be very involved in the lives of our children, and PEI is affordable as well as being beautiful.
I will miss the opportunity to work with many of you. I always got a kick out of meeting the person behind the avatar. However, I look forward to selling real estate in a market where I can more easily see value for the dollar. Selling first-time home buyers into a 200k house will feel good compared to the recent speculative mania that has infested BC real estate. And when you toss in beautiful beaches and the best golf in Canada it all made a tough decision a little easier.
You can read the rest of his farewell message on his blog.
I skipped town during the ‘Best of Vancouver’ awards party, so I never got to meet you Paul. Best of luck with your move, I hope that you will keep us updated on how you and your family are enjoying your new home.
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February 13th, 2009 at 10:01 am
“In what country, right now, are people of Chinese origin not allowed to vote, not allowed to form free trade unions, subject to prison labour, and not allowed to freely live where they want to? I have a little problem with people who get rich exploiting workers under such a system. How about you”
I never said the posters or anglos had a monopoly on racism or exploitation. Classic racist-in-denial arguements. When called on being racist you point to some other marginally related injustice committed by the group you are targeting to confuse the issue; Blame asians for wrecking the “character” of the city and when called on it defend yourself by saying that asians are racist too.
February 13th, 2009 at 12:54 am
It seems like Kuroame’s the one whose touched a few nerves around here with a wonderfully succint riposte to the racists on this blog : Overcome your upbringing.
There’s no doubt in my mind at this point that the Pope has no problem with the hare-brained xenophobic commentary posted by some of the regulars on this blog. He censors RealPaul, but enables the xenophobes to continue polluting every last thread. How does it feel to let your own blog go from decent to not-so-hot, Pope?
If it were up to me, the xenophobes’ posts would get the boot, not the ones that go harsh on “realtards”. (Thanks for that one, RealPaul!)
But, it’s not up to me, so I am recusing myself from this increasingly irrelevant forum.
Bye Bye.
February 13th, 2009 at 12:16 am
Patriotz said to Kuroame:
I have a little problem with people who get rich exploiting workers under such a system. How about you?
It’s so beautiful how it comes full circle, doesn’t it?
Now over 1000 of those Chinese who got rich by being “racist” to other Chinese in China are heading over to PEI over the next few months. And they’ll be a needing $200,000 “starter” homes to live in, won’t they?
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/i.....&sc=98
Enter Paul B., stage left.
February 12th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
“He could be like Chavez.
Anyway I made a couple of pepperoni sales in LA.”
OMFG, the funniest thing I’ve read in a long time. Thanks, John. As always, a breath of fresh air in the NO-LYMPICS zone.
February 12th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
NO -LYMPICS:
Thanks, but I’m sure identifying people personally unless they out themselves with thier own personal deeds is not the way to go. Most of theses people I speak of so fondly are just dumb chimps.
I like to get after the real idiots when they start to take themselves too seriously by doing or saying really outlandish things. Then they are fair game and it’s OK to call them out.
Uber Dipshits like Booby Runniepants for example who’s new boyfriend must be using LSD soaked condoms. That fart blowing dickhead deserves a public firehose enema for talking the bullshit he does.
To list all the realtards who couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time even if it was on the way to stealing thier mothers purse is akin to beating a dog, just no fun for the effort ratio in that. I prefer the ‘wack a mole’ concept that is similar to this blogs particapants.
February 12th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Anonymous:
It’s a bit like being a farmer and getting shit on your shoes, it comes with the territory. A supervisor, director and/or employer doesn’t have to like all his empolyees do they . If that were the case you’d never get a job would you.
February 12th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
kuroame:
Oh, I see so because some Chinese are racist too and some rich chinese people who can afford a nanny exploit them it is then ok to say racist things about asians. Cool logic.
That’s your logic not mine.
Here’s a little quiz for you.
In what country, right now, are people of Chinese origin not allowed to vote, not allowed to form free trade unions, subject to prison labour, and not allowed to freely live where they want to?
It’s not Canada.
I have a little problem with people who get rich exploiting workers under such a system. How about you?
February 12th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Listen to yourselves. Overcome your upbringing.
kuroame, take a breath and listen to yourself, please!
Clearly I and others touched a raw nerve. My apologies. Having said that, I think you need to overcome your own upbringing. Your family memory is important and no amount of restitution could ever make up for what happened. But imHo you brought this memory inappropriately, with considerable vitriol, into the present. That was your first post. Now you just won’t back down. Your eyes have glazed over.
February 12th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
realpaul:
Post # 130
Good rant..right up there with scullboy classics.
However, I might advise you provide a few good anecdotes from the experiences with realtors you allude to in Post # 130…through some meat on them bones.
February 12th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Rich Women Blog About Bad Economy, Bad Sex Lives
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,485633,00.html
QUOTE:
Their clothing allowance has been halved, they’ve had to fire their personal trainers and their sex lives have tanked.
They’re the once-pampered — now highly disgruntled — women partners of U.S. bankers and they’re speaking out about how the financial meltdown has changed their lives and their relationships.
“The sitter’s hours are cut, both the family and my private credit card are cut in half, and I’m switching from having my facials and massages in my earthy, yoga-and-wine serving downtown spa to a midtown been-in-business-forever place with ladies in cubbies wearing pink jackets and lots of make-up giving facials only,” says one entry from Cathy, who wrote about life in Manhattan with a banker husband whose income was cut in January by 75 percent
Ryan Tate, writing on Gawker.com, called the women “an imploding caste of spoiled harpies” whose boyfriends and ex-lovers “spent their economic plunder as carelessly as they hoarded it.”
February 12th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
I’ve been pondering this post since the departure of PaulB. While I appreciate the time and effort he put into his daily numbers that have helped me to avoid buying into the MAC/Rennie Marketing systems dream, I am also drawn back to the issue of leaving for betterment of life to PEI.
Seems to me being a realtor in the past 4 years, ‘03-07, whith PaulB’s accumen, would have put oneself and their family in an above average Vancouver income bracket and quality of life. Enough one would think to wait for the bears to come out to buy in 12-18 months time..
I can side with anyone making a decision to put one’s self and family first, but as it is with most industries the people you don’t want to quit,do, and you are left with the lesser lights. I hope that PaulB didn’t leave due to the prospects of representing hard bargaining bears to clients that bought the hype and not the fundamentals and are possibly in arears at the time of them needing to sell. As has been pointed out so eloquently here before: someone always has to sell, you never have to buy.
It’s easy to sell a product on euphoria: Iphones,pre-sales, stocks or RE but to really sell in hard times takes much more effort. Maybe the REBGV and FVREGB laid it out to him about presenting the inventory numbers going forward..no conspiracy but everyone has to pull on the rope the same way in the realtor business don’t they?
Family first, all else second so thanks PaulB
February 12th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I was just in LA and let me tell you things are hoping again in the US as we’ve seen with the HUGE increase in retail sales last month. It was like the Obama rally extended into every day life. Everyone was talking about hope and change and spending money. No need for a stimulus just have huge 100 million dollar parties for Obama on tv. He could be like Chavez.
Anyway I made a couple of pepperoni sales in LA. The rich asians all asked me about condos in Vancouver. I played it hard to get so I can get multiple offers.
February 12th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
“I have in the past managed realtards by the hundreds as part of my departmental responsibilities as an executive with a large diverse investment firm here in Vancouver.”
so if realtors are icky and you managed hundreds of them, doesn’t that kind of make you… ickier?
February 12th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
MickeyFinn: There was no recession here: Feb ‘07 2,859 units Feb ‘06 2,941 units Feb ‘05 3,068 units.but there seems to be downturn compare to peak prices and peak sales after july 2008 That’s why Feb 2009 sales and prices are very important in comparison with January 2009 sales and prices,seems like they had sustain the hard knocked injuries and recovering really fast in shape of 12.1 magnitude that was recorded last month by rebgv.
February 12th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Is Dubai Vancouver’s Twin ?
For many foreigners, Dubai had seemed at first to be a refuge, relatively insulated from the panic that began hitting the rest of the world last autumn. The Persian Gulf is cushioned by vast oil and gas wealth, and some who lost jobs in New York and London began applying here.
But Dubai, unlike Abu Dhabi or nearby Qatar and Saudi Arabia, does not have its own oil, and had built its reputation on real estate, finance and tourism. Now, many expatriates here talk about Dubai as though it were a con game all along. Lurid rumors spread quickly: the Palm Jumeira, an artificial island that is one of this city’s trademark developments, is said to be sinking, and when you turn the faucets in the hotels built atop it, only cockroaches come out.
Comment: “…..and had built its reputation on real estate, finance and tourism.”
Yiiiiikkes …..sounds familiar !!!!
February 12th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Informer10:
Informer10 – I don’t understand why you are comparing February market activity with January? Historically, February is one of the peak selling months and should well outperform January… afterall it’s the beginning of the spring sales surge.
From the REBGV historical data, here are the total sales of detached, attached and appartments for:
Feb ‘07 2,859 units
Feb ‘06 2,941 units
Feb ‘05 3,068 units
Geez, I guess I should be even more bearish than I already am… it would appear that we’ve got record high inventory, with massive additional supply coming onstream for a couple more years and current sales activity which is pathetic when looked at from an historical perspective. Hmmm, I wonder what that will do to prices?
February 12th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
No one tell “SUV n’ pepperoni” John about this
…promise!
Laid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02.....r=2&hp
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Sofia, a 34-year-old Frenchwoman, moved here a year ago to take a job in advertising, so confident about Dubai’s fast-growing economy that she bought an apartment for almost $300,000 with a 15-year mortgage.
Now, like many of the foreign workers who make up 90 percent of the population here, she has been laid off and faces the prospect of being forced to leave this Persian Gulf city — or worse.
“I’m really scared of what could happen, because I bought property here,” said Sofia, who asked that her last name be withheld because she is still hunting for a new job. “If I can’t pay it off, I was told I could end up in debtors’ prison.”
With Dubai’s economy in free fall, newspapers have reported that more than 3,000 cars sit abandoned in the parking lot at the Dubai Airport, left by fleeing, debt-ridden foreigners (who could in fact be imprisoned if they failed to pay their bills). Some are said to have maxed-out credit cards inside and notes of apology taped to the windshield
====================================
QUOTE:
Instead of moving toward greater transparency, the emirates seem to be moving in the other direction. A new draft media law would make it a crime to damage the country’s reputation or economy, punishable by fines of up to 1 million dirhams (about $272,000). Some say it is already having a chilling effect on reporting about the crisis.
Last month, local newspapers reported that Dubai was canceling 1,500 work visas every day, citing unnamed government officials. Asked about the number, Humaid bin Dimas, a spokesman for Dubai’s Labor Ministry, said he would not confirm or deny it and refused to comment further. Some say the true figure is much higher.
=================
Dammit:
Competition for the Olympic Village condos.
February 12th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
The Pope:
Nope, what I have said in earlier strings was that I have in the past managed realtards by the hundreds as part of my departmental responsibilities as an executive with a large diverse investment firm here in Vancouver. Developing new real estate franchises was one of my business models. Several of the businesses I helped create are still in existence. I designed buisness models to sell to new immigrant Canadians.
I didn’t say that ‘I’d had a bad experiance with a realtor’ I said I knew the realtard soul in and out and can say without reservation that this lot are the worst sales slime on average more than anyone can imagine.
My boss used to ask me not to be so ’slaphappy’ with these clowns, but because I would have to peel thier asses off the floor down at the board offices for doing the most un freaking believable shit you can imagine I slapped them good and without reservation.
I would have every one of these morons in my office at regularily to slap some reality into them. Hence the term ’slaphappy’ in the executive lounge.I have stories about realturds that make used car salesmen look like sainted grandmas.
I gave you the inside dope on realturds, you don’t want to accept the truth. I assume it is as I have said a personal disonance that requires you to want to believe that there must be some good in the world.
Thats why I listed the comments I had on the personal interpration of truth as to why any supposedly honest and profitable realtard would dump his business in the middle of a ‘boom’. It’s because I know the world of realtards back to front, from the inside out. What I said stands.
February 12th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
“The website will live on!”.-PAUL B.
I am very happy that we can continue on. The new site owner is a fantastic Realtor and most importantly honest and objective. I could not have left the site in better hands”.-Paul B.
http://paul-northvancouverhomes.blogspot.com/
February 12th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
MickeyFinn:
Which is better?
Half Truths? …..or White Lies?
The “good time to buy” is simply a relativity argument, not an absolute argument.
One looks at the Big Picture. Connect the dots.
Who would buy…?
—do parties have all cash offers to throw around ?
– are the banks being far more conservative when lending in a market that is ALSO experiencing massive job losses ?
It’s much like a person drowning 20 ft. from shore, a person throws them a 15 ft. rope and says ” I met you more than 1/2 way…. what’s your problem ?, you want my help or not ” ?
The RE bubble didn’t exactly blow up to ground zero, it is deflating.
—-There is nothing to suggest it will inflate,….and
—-Nothing forseeable to stop it from deflating.
THUS,….What other conclusion can one make as what will happen?
People simply don’t seem to make a connection to the dynamics.
February 12th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
MickeyFinn: Yours welcome and please take your time unless you think you were right but no rush weekly stats prices are at 802 compare to 782 for four weeks,Eight bussiness days sales stand at 580 compare to 773 sales for january.
February 12th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
realestatescatterbrain: Mickey has requested an update graph nope? however i was not sure if that will turn your face like brownie
February 12th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Affordable Housing: Five Myths
http://thetyee.ca/News/2009/02/12/HousingMyths/
Myth #1: The market correction will restore affordability
Myth #2: As home prices fall, so will rents
Myth #3: Empty condos will loosen up the rental market
Myth #4: Build more homes and prices will drop
Myth #5: The government needs to subsidize more housing
===================================================
Interesting read .
Fellow VCI poster may want to really look at some of the rationale behind these.
QUOTE:
Kelowna and Victoria boast the lowest rental vacancy rates in Canada. Vacancies averaged 0.3 per cent in both markets, according to a survey by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Vancouver finished close on their heels in the October 2008 survey. Of roughly 54,000 market-rental apartments in Vancouver, a mere 160 units were available.
As long as demand for rental apartments continues to outstrip supply by such a large margin, B.C. rents will continue to rise without any relationship to unit costs.
QUOTE:
In Vancouver, for example, old houses tend to fetch higher prices than new ones. This is in large part because Vancouver valuations are based primarily on land area, and only secondarily on the structure. Throughout much of B.C., however, there is a greater demand for older houses with heritage features such as stained glass or detailed cabinetry. Likewise, apartments from the 1960s and 1970s often fetch as much or more than newer units, because many are larger and closer to the ground floor.
QUOTE:
As The Tyee reported in part one of this series, a median family living in the Vancouver region can afford to borrow enough money to buy a $258,000 home.
Metro Vancouver home prices would have to plunge 55 per cent from the May 2008 benchmark peak of $568,411 in order for a typical family to buy one.
Not even the hardest hit regions of the United States have suffered an across-the-board drop in housing prices of 55 per cent. In California, for example, home prices appear to be bottoming out at about 40 per cent below the peak.
February 12th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Informer10:
Informer10 thanks for the link to the graph. Much appreciated.
Yes you’re right the “majority” may feel that it’s a good time to buy, but then again the majority are sheep. Go have a read of the analysts’ opinions on Nortel in the year 2000 – after Nortel had started to seriously fall from it’s all-time high of $125 per share set just about a year earlier – most of the investment bank sheep were bleating that it was “cheap again” when it had fallen in the $90 per share range. Oops, guess they were wrong on that one. Oh well, it only wiped a mere $350 billion off of the sheep investors’ account statements.
I wanted the updated average price graph chart so that I could send it to a friend of mine who lives in Singapore. He is a professional technical analyst and I want to get his opinion on how many years I might have to wait until we see a bottom in the Vancouver real estate market. My guess is that the market will continue to decline for years but that perhaps as soon as next February it may be nearing a point where it will be worthwhile to start putting in some lowball bids.
I do enjoy looking at the chart though… it’s a thing of beauty in it’s stark contrast to reality.
February 12th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02.....r=2&hp
February 12th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Informer10:
That graph means nothing specific.
Ex: You have a sample of eleven sales. 10 units sell for 300000 = 3 million and one unit sells for 3 Million . Total value of sales = 6 million
Average value of sales = $545,454.00 ( 6 million divided by eleven )
Does that mean that all houses sold at an average of
$545,454.00, according to your chart it does.
So much for the graphs put out by the Real Estate Board. See how easy is is to fool the sheeple. You believed this crap enough to post it, muliply that by the number of people who are to lazy to think for themselves and you get the idea.
February 12th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Photo Gallery: 2010 Olympic torch unveiled,The 2010 Winter Olympic torch was unveiled Thursday morning. http://www.vancouversun.com/Sp.....story.html
February 12th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Sorry..post #118 was ME …..not Anonymous
POPE, What happened
February 12th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Vancouver closes in on $800-million deal to save athletes village
http://www.theglobeandmail.com.....hColumbia/
QUOTE:
VANCOUVER — The city of Vancouver is close to concluding new financing arrangements for the Olympic athletes village that could help save the project’s developer millions in interest payments.
The Globe and Mail has learned how the deal is shaping up.
The city has reached an understanding with a consortium of Canadian banks to borrow upwards of $800-million at an interest rate of less than 3 per cent. This will allow the city to complete the project and pay off Fortress Investment Group, the New York-based hedge fund that had been financing the project until it stopped advancing money to the developer, Millennium Development Corp., last September, allegedly over concerns it had about cost overruns.
=======================================
QUOTE:
According to sources, the city has reached an agreement in which it would pay Fortress a $4-million penalty to take over financing of the project. This is a far cry from the $25-million to $50-million speculated to be the fee the city would have to pay to break the terms of the loan and send Fortress packing.
The fact that Fortress would settle for so little is interesting, and certainly supports the premise it was anxious to get its $317-million loan back and say goodbye to Vancouver. Fortress has been in financial difficulty for months, with its share price plummeting and investors fleeing in all directions.
Comment:
Turn the tables on the hard – up ” loan shark ” and ground them down ? The Principle amount being repaid was of greater priority than the interest ?
====================
QUOTE:
Despite its problems, Millennium has done a remarkable job on the site, according to most reports. The village is a construction marvel and the quality of the work of exceptional standard. There are developers in the city who are surprised that Millennium hung in there during the past few months – many would have walked. And perhaps the city should take that into account when exacting its pound of flesh for the money it will lend the developer, and when considering how long it will give Millennium to pay the loan back. It is likely to be somewhere between three and five years.
Because of some deft negotiating on the city’s part, this project isn’t looking like the financial disaster it once was. Taxpayers could still be on the hook for millions, but maybe not the hundreds of millions once thought.
Comment:
Sorry, you were right the first time…it will be hundreds of millions.
February 12th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
MickeyFinn:Majority feel it’s a good time to buy real estate:While Graph has turn around link can be found here Anonymous 39:
February 12th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
“I wonder if the population in Richmond invaded PEI , or immigrated there, the native PEI herring chokers would be seriously outnumbered , lose control and Richmond EAST could be established. Then lots of McMansions and Dim Sum…waddya think ?”
I think you’re going to be in for a rude awakening when the economy turns positive again. I think we might have seen the bottom last month if the US economy prepares for a nice turnaround in September.
February 12th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Retail sales rose in January in the US, seems like a turnaround to me.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/.....46950.html
February 12th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Supraboy:
re: PEI
It’s current population is approx. 140 ,000
There are more people in Richmond(ie approx. 180,000) than PEI
I wonder if the population in Richmond invaded PEI , or immigrated there, the native PEI herring chokers would be seriously outnumbered , lose control and Richmond EAST could be established. Then lots of McMansions and Dim Sum…waddya think ?
February 12th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
My observations are there is not much ” old ” product on the market.
Owners of say 5 years or older homes are not selling.
What is “For Sale ” is new product ie 1-3 years old ie condos, SFH etc. that is also more highly leveraged .
I would guess that many owners of older product, especially SFH are hedging to wait and not flood the market… perhaps on the advice of their Realtor. However, I am going to anticipate that this is simply holding back the inventory that would normally be on the market (ie want to retire, move elsewhere , estate sales etc., and that inventory will flood the market within 6 -12 months.
I agree with realpaul….the realtors must know the condo market will flood soon, the realtors sense blood and want to circle like sharks and vultures towards those easier commissions based on those crashing prices.
Other RE (like SFH)will likley attract lookey loos like Supraboy and his extended Dim Sum family given it will likely be higher priced.
February 12th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
off topic, but can someone recommed a good resume writer/career coach?
February 12th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
“House price plunge CONTINUED TO ACCELERATE in 4th Q 2008. Panic spreads, according to article.”
I watched CNBC yesterday, it seemed like Americans are confident and home prices actually stabilized last month. 4th Q 2008, that’s the past, it’s all about the future my friend.
February 12th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
#60
“Hate to break it to you but immigration to Vancouver is at some of the lowest levels in history, and about half what it was during the nineties.”
Wrong. First of all, you should go to Richmond and tell me what kind of people you see everywhere. Second of all, immigrants don’t need to immigrate in Vancouver first. All they need to do is get into Canada, then drive over to Vancouver. I guess you’re not using your critical thinking. Stats are for losers.
February 12th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
I thought the Real Estate mantra was ” it is ALWAYS a good time to BUY…never a good time to sell”
Ie Real Estate always goes up.
Dare I say we are about to shatter something literally written in stone? and defy the law of RE anti- gravity to boot ?
February 12th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
House price plunge CONTINUED TO ACCELERATE in 4th Q 2008. Panic spreads, according to article.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/1.....2009021212
February 12th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
British PM advisor states that this will be the worst rescession in 100 years, worse than 1930’s, effect6s will last 15 years!!!
Ed Balls, the PM’s closest ally, warns that downturn is ferocious and says impact will last 15 years.
In an extraordinary admission about the severity of the economic downturn, Ed Balls even predicted that its effects would still be felt 15 years from now. The Schools Secretary’s comments carry added weight because he is a former chief economic adviser to the Treasury and regarded as one of the Prime Ministers’s closest allies.
Mr Balls said yesterday: “The reality is that this is becoming the most serious global recession for, I’m sure, over 100 years, as it will turn out.”
http://globaleconomicanalysis......years.html
February 12th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Heres a gem from todays Sun. I got lambasted for making the same statement here a few weeks ago in an earlier string. Apparently the general public is either reading VCI or they’re catching on.
“VANCOUVER — A growing number of British Columbians think this is a good time to buy a home, though most say it isn’t a good time to sell, a new Ipsos Reid poll has found.”
http://www.vancouversun.com/Ho.....story.html
What I said some weeks ago is this ” There may be a case for saying that over a historic term of 50 years that there may not have been a bad time to buy real estate but there are certainly a lot of bad times to sell due to the long holding periods through the troughs of economic cycles.
And I attracted a swarm of criticism.
Now, the article in the Sun stating that this is a good time to buy is histrionic and grossly inaccurate, but it was funny to learn that some age old wisdom is dawning on a few.
I question what the motivation of the writer was to suggest that ‘buying; is OK but not selling? Is it because this person works the developer crowd and is trying to get mom and pop not to list thier homes for sale in order to push the few buyer/suckers there are towards the developers product. Call me paranoid but good straight and clear thinking has saved my butt more than once. Trust no one in the media.
February 12th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
I apologize in advance if this is a stupid question (and has been discussed already) but can someone point me to where I can get the updated Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver Average Price Graph? You know, the graph that shows the chart of prices all the way back to 1977.
I have been searching the RealtyLink.org site and the REBGV.org site etc. and cannot find it. I do have one that is up-to-date as of November 2008 but cannot find anything newer.
February 12th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
“But the government has assumed billions in mortgages from Canadian banks through the CMHC. It is also providing money to banks at very low interest rates.”
Yes, but not to “prop up” banks, but to provide a sounder basis on which they can continue to lend to the public.
The “assuming billions in mortgages” is actually an asset swap. Govt gets mortgages, banks get govt paper. Due to the current market uncertainties, the banks’ portfolios of mortgages was not useful as security for the banks to obtain funds to lend (or at least it would result in them borrowing at higher costs they could lend at). It’s not clear that the govt has taken on that much risk with this, especially given that the yields on the mortgages are greater than the govt paper, and most of the mortgages are CMHC insured. There’s actually a decent chance the govt will make money on the deal.
Anyway, saying the govt is propping up banks is misleading hyperbole. Banks’ capital ratios are far higher than required (and our requirements are much higher than other countries’), and many have recently successfully raised cash through issuing debt or equity in the open market to raise those ratios. They didn’t get “propped up” by the gov’t, and the risk to taxpayers from what the government is doing is minimal.
February 12th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
One of my friend adviced me not to buy van r.e. around 2004 then he moved to pei around 2007.
February 12th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
With Paul B moving to PEI, the press isn’t exactly coming up with the most attractive stories about the island. Here’s one of a worker getting short-changed by his employer.
Neunzig said he kept logbooks showing that he worked over 40 hours a week but was only getting paid for about 20. He said he did not get paid when he was at the office doing paperwork, shovelling snow, or training other people while waiting to drive
February 12th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
“All too often my wife (a teacher) heard “racist” comments by recent Mandarin-speaking Chinese students directed against other Chinese, particularly those who spoke Cantonese. Wow, talk about racism.”
“Speaking of nannies, why don’t you talk to someone who knows something about the domestic help industry who the big abusers of nannies (mostly Filipino) are? It’s the wealthy Chinese. Both in HK and here.”
Oh, I see so because some Chinese are racist too and some rich chinese people who can afford a nanny exploit them it is then ok to say racist things about asians. Cool logic. You know what? I heard once from some person (a doctor) that he overheard some anglos saying nasty things about french people so its open season on anglos! I also heard that once some black people were slaves of other black people so that means that slavery run by white people wasn’t really that bad. Listen to yourselves. Overcome your upbringing.