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February 12th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Re: Realtors;
Several years ago I met a party who was a renovation contractor.
While we chatted, he mentioned that he had once been a realtor.
Out of curiousity,I asked him why he was an Ex- Realtor.
He stated that anyone can sell real estate,the succesful realtor is selling “themselves”. ie Does the purchaser/buyer actually like/trust/feel comfortable enough with the given realtor to use them in RE transactions.
This realtor said he had been the top realtor in area, but that seemed to make him a target for other realtors to snipe at and try to take down ,or take the crwon from.
He got tired of the BS from his peers, and bailed.
So the successful realtors are based on___________(fill in the blank)
February 12th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
I had been using Paul’s site to send me mls updates for my tracking spreadsheet (with the plan on eventually using him as a realtor). Now that he’s movin’ on, does anybody know of any other realtor’s in the lower mainland providing this service without requiring you to sign a contract for representation?
February 12th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
#82
“Cheap shots. Did any of this happen to you”
Yes. but it was just my dad/aunt/grandparents who lost everything and were in prison camp for four years.
“the imagery associated with “Asian theme park” refers to the recent immigrants, their effective takeover of what was formerly white Anglo-Saxon turf, and is at least in part legitimate”
where did the poster state that? He didn’t say “recent immigrant theme park”. And tell me what area has been “taken over” by recent asian immigrants? what does that even mean? Because there are a lot of Chinese people living in Richmond does that mean it has been “taken over” by them? Did they go and erect some sort of wall? are anglos or others now excluding from living in Richmond? xenophobic bs!!
Nothing is wrong with talking about race, but it is racist when people bring it up in a HIGHLY SELECTIVE MANNER. Then when someone calls them on it they paint themselves as the victim, no longer able to express their “objective views” in the oppressive pc world. Go ahead and express your views, just be prepared to defend them – I imagine that would be the real problem though so they just continue to slip in a litte “asian” here or “immigrant” there.
Just tired of seeing this crap on a great blog. Take it to Vancouver Brown-Shirt Info.
February 12th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
“Dow5000 Says:
Targets for immigration are 240,000 in 2009 although its unclear where they find jobs.”
I told you they don’t need no jobs, no english. Banks will lend them mortgage to buy homes and investments within 5 to 10 years of arriving. You bears keep talking and miss the boat. No jobs are good they can claim social child benefits for low income families. Keep cash in banks in Hongkong and assets in relatives names in China.
February 12th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Re Local Gov’ts (like Toronto)and flirting with financial disaster.
Empowering legislation for Local Gov’ts ie ripe for abuse .
They may be “forced(?)” to run a balanced budget … but I will bet you a “John SUV stuffed with pepperoni” you will see a lot of shit hit the fan with City Budgets as the truth oozes out. In recently concluded boom times… many Local gov’ts pissed truckloads of funds down the rathole, assuming the boom times would never end…
Oops ! Fluuu$$$$hh!
Their budget projections will be shot, and they will be dipping into their own fiscal reserves if they haven’t already.
Unless mistaken,,,they can dip into these fiscal reserves at will, give the citizens a false sense of security , till its too late.
Toronto sounds like NYC of the 1970s..ie on the verge of bankruptcy.
Any Local Gov’t that accepts any downloading for what are historically Provincial and Federal responsibilites are playing with fire.
Local Gov’t : ” The last bastion of corruption ”
February 12th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Paul will be sorely missed.
Anyone know of another source for the daily numbers he was posting? That was one of the first things I checked every morning.
Good luck in PEI, Paul!!!
February 12th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
“Banks are being propped up by the government and hence taxpayers”
No, they’re not.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com.....y/Business
Let me qualify. Of course I don’t mean they have had to bail out any banks like in the US.
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.
From budget 2009:
#Committing an additional $50 billion to the Insured Mortgage Purchase Program, increasing the overall size of this program to $125 billion. This will provide lenders with stable long-term financing, allowing them to continue lending to Canadian consumers and businesses.
# Facilitating the provision of extraordinary liquidity to financial institutions by the Bank of Canada, as required, through the modernization of the Bank’s authorities in Budget 2008.
# Adding a 10-year maturity to the Canada Mortgage Bond program to raise supplementary funding for financial institutions.
February 12th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
There is no way that municipal governments should be responsible for welfare. They have no control over how many people in need will turn up within their boundaries and they do not have the tax base to pay for social services.
At least here in BC we get that right.
February 12th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
patriotz:
maybe we could bird dog a finders fee. TO’s in big trouble
http://www.nationalpost.com/ne.....id=1279628
February 12th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Anonymous:
Who says banks aren’t lending?
In fact the banks are falling all over each other to lend to good risks, which includes the CoV notwithstanding the doomsayers. Note the interest rate of under 3%.
The so-called “credit crunch” is more than anything else a return to the good old days when the banks actually cared about being paid back.
February 12th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
“Banks are being propped up by the government and hence taxpayers”
No, they’re not.
February 12th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Heres another example of realtards playing fast and loose with the numbers. Apparently an increase in the number of respondants who say they are going to wait two years before buying is being spun as a positive.
Three in 10 respondents said they were considering a purchase in the next two years, up from 20 per cent when the same question was asked in November.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Ho.....story.html
hahahahahahaha heeheeheeheeheehee lolololololol !!!!!
These people really think that you are easily confused by simple math.
February 12th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Taxpayers are paying in more than one sense. Banks are being propped up by the government and hence taxpayers. So in a way it is the taxpayers lending to taxpayers via banks so the banks can take the interest
and the village construction can continue.
Anyways, the problem isn’t that banks aren’t lending but that the shadow banking sector has dried up (of which fortress is an example).
February 12th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Who says banks aren’t lending?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/.....fer=canada
February 12th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Chinalco bails out Rio Tinto
http://business.smh.com.au/bus.....-85rd.html
‘Arm’s-length’ relationship
That could raise investor concerns that Rio is ceding a large portion of its future growth prospects in return for a solution to its $US39 billion debt burden, which includes $US8.9 billion of repayments due in October and $US10 billion the following October.
Rio’s shares are down by around a fifth since BHP scrapped its offer in November, dented also by investor concern over Rio’s debt load, taken on when it bought Alcan in 2007.
“Rio’s board must be beside themselves having to do this. It’s very unfortunate timing, buying at the top and selling at the bottom and you might have expected more given Rio’s previously exemplary track record,” said Mark Pervan, senior commodities analyst at ANZ Bank
=======
So…
The Communist -Capitalists are now buying up increasing stakes in over -leveraged Western Multi -Nationals.
How many more ?
February 12th, 2009 at 11:16 am
The herd is dazed and bludgeoned into complacency. The media in BC is no longer publishing bad stories about the economy or real estate specifically. The advertisers and the government liars are circling the wagons and not letting any onformation out through the Canadian media.
I would imagine that the realtards are breathing a sigh of relief as the local gang violence story has stolen the headlines.
The trouble with reality is that it doesn’t go away. Theres no ‘spring break’ from a depression. Jobless numbers are way up again. Tens of thousands have lost thier jobs this week AGAIN! Unemployment blows the doors off analysts expectations.
WASHINGTON – Nearly 5 million Americans continued to draw jobless benefits late last month, and new requests again exceeded 600,000 as companies lay off scores of workers amid a deepening recession.
In slightly better economic news, retail sales rose unexpectedly in January, reversing six months of decline and following a dismal holiday season. But analysts said the jump was unlikely to last, partly because of the weak job market.
The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of initial jobless benefit claims dropped to a seasonally-adjusted 623,000, from an upwardly revised figure of 631,000 the previous week. The latest tally still was above analysts’ expectations of 610,000 claims.
And in a sign that laid-off workers are having difficulty finding new work, the number of people claiming benefits for more than one week rose to 4.81 million from 4.78 million, the highest total since records began in 1967. The continuing claims data lag new claims by a week.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....fi/economy
With an additional 600,000 on the unemployment line this week the total number of unemployed in the US is nowing targeting 13 MILLION !!!
February 12th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Wanting a condo at De Cotiss Pinnacles’ “The Pier”?
The original preview price list consisted of The Pier waterfront condos one bedroom suites at 562 sf starting from $469,900 and the one bedroom plus den condominiums at 569 sf starting from $559,900.
The larger two bed and two bedroom plus den presale Pinnacle Residences at the Pier range from 1040 to 1280 square feet with a price tag of $889,900 to $1,599,900.
Also featured are three bed and three bedroom plus den homes ranging between 1300 to 1773 square feet in size with affordable waterfront condo pricing between $1,099,900 to $2,299,900.
February 12th, 2009 at 11:13 am
I’m sure we’ll all miss you Paul, and I think I’ll be the one guy who speaks directly and says:
PEI? Really? Are you *sure*?
My grandmother and uncle live there and I grew up in Nova Scotia. My parents sell furnace oil (among other things) and trust me, it’s lucrative. Their art collection would make even Rennie raise an eyebrow.
It’s REALLY small. Sure it’s pretty in summer but the winters in the East are *brutal* and you can get snowed in for days. It’s decent weather basically from May to October. It can be damn chilly in *august*.
And then there are the people. They’re great if you’re a stranger not staying for long. It’s *quite* different when you live there. There’s a reason so many people are *from* the East Coast. Like one poster said, it really is Canada’s Appalachia.
I strongly suspect you took as look at what’s coming and have decided to change gears. I can understand that. If you see the tsunami coming, change course and run if you can!
Best of luck dude. You’d have to drag me back there literally and I’d be clawing at the dirt the whole way.
February 12th, 2009 at 11:11 am
by “character” do mean the days of the asian-exclusion league, the chinese head-tax and the rounding up of Japanese Canadians? Longing for the days before 1947/48 when asians weren’t allowed to vote? or the days when the upstanding anglo citizens of vancouver were free to call anyone asian a “chi*k” or “j*p” “p*ki” to their face. Those asians sure have it easy here now, what a free-ride it would be if you were a nanny, looking after someone else’s kids so you could send a few dollars back home to your own. Or working the night shift as a janitor cleaning up the crap of rich anglos at the Vancouver Club, or you could go into that dream job of delivering papers in the wee hours of the morning downtown where you receive special attention from police constables.
In a word, No. That’s not what I mean about “character” and I suspect it’s not what the original poster referred to.
Hey, isn’t it hard to defend against accusations of racism? Golly, if you have a white Anglo-Saxon heritage, you immediately want to step back and try not to be noticed. Cheap shots. Did any of this happen to you?
B.C. has an absolutely shameful history, against First Nations, Japanese, Chinese, Doukhobors, Italians, Poles. Do some research on Darcy Island in Haro Strait. Shameful, heartbreaking. Perhaps you already know. How about RCMP raiding pacifist Doukhobor settlements in the week hours of the morning and stealing their children. Imagine the pain and agony of the children and the parents.
Actually, for every ethnic group that has ever existed, Anglo-Saxon whites have had an unflattering name for them. I know. I heard many of these names from my Anglo-Saxon white father, and some from my grandfather.
Now, if you think there is poetic justice in the huge influx of various Asian ethnicities into Vancouver and how the ethnic makeup of the “better” parts of Vancouver has changed so dramatically in favour of the non-Whites, then I agree wholeheartedly.
And if U.B.C. finally acknowledges that it sits on land that belongs to the the survivors of the First Nations people from whom it was stolen, I will cheer.
So much for cleansing the soul of the sins of our forefathers.
Now: There is a huge difference between the Asian groups who have been here for generations and those who have come recently. Don’t confuse the two groups. 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.
imHo, the imagery associated with “Asian theme park” refers to the recent immigrants, their effective takeover of what was formerly white Anglo-Saxon turf, and is at least in part legitimate.
February 12th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Targets for immigration are 240,000 in 2009 although its unclear where they find jobs. In addition approximately 50,000 refugees are waiting hearings, 3 in 4 bogus que jumpers here and on welfare for at least 2 years.
But I digress. The Pope and others might take passing notice that the Dow has dropped 500 points since the latest near trillion dollar US bailout was announced.
That ain’t good … at all.
February 12th, 2009 at 10:51 am
kuroame:
Those asians sure have it easy here now, what a free-ride it would be if you were a nanny, looking after someone else’s kids so you could send a few dollars back home to your own.
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.
The Asian nouveau rich have moved right into the footsteps of the old imperious Anglo rich. At least the Anglo old rich had better taste in houses and better manners.
Standing up for equal rights for everyone regardless of ethnic origin and being an apologist for every rich sleazeball from the other side of the Pacific are two different things.
February 12th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Of course Vancouver has changed
However, there is a big difference between change as “evolution” versus “decline”.
IMHO, The Lower Mainland in the 1960′s and 1970′s was a pleasant place to grow – up with a lot of fond memories
I had posted earlier about how, IMHO, a major shift began in the early 1980′s.
All things being equal…we had major boom -bust within about a 2 – 3 year period.
EXPO 86 created some sort of circus atmosphere and with it some injection into the BC economy.
History has shown that Govt’s since ancient Rome use such circuses to calm and distract the masses and head off possible revolt.
Since Expo, the local BC economy has effectively been Real Estate based….. we have deferred and beholden much of our economy to uncertain outside forces beyond our control.
The early influx of scared investment post -EXPO 86 and Pre -1997 set the RE benchmark. Even when the first wave came and went..the benchmark was still relatively high. Many locals who had the historical potential to become purchasers had to become renters. This created an internal diaspora…it became tough to establish roots and created much more transiency.
Ma and Pa etc sold their house , made a killing, move to Kelowna and yet wondered why their kids had to rent in Cloverdale.
DECLINE:
Re the Justice System err ” Justice Industry.”
I recall a conversation with a criminolgy student who informed me what a Professor of his one bluntly stated :
“The system is a success because of it FAILURE”.
When asked to explain further, he stated so many parties are dependent om the Justice system for their jobs..ie police, judges, lawyers, parole officers, prison guards , and there would be major UNemployment if the system actually worked and achieved drum roll “JUSTICE “. In other words, failure creates a succesful career for them .
I look back as some of BC’s more notorious cases ie Clifford Olsen and Robert Pickton, as an incompetent and dysfunctional system that should have identified them as prime suspects and many lives lost . Re: Pickton, I recall a radio talk show host took it upon themselves years ago to state over 50 women were missing , WTF is going on…and it took public pressure to force the police to do their job.
Even then Pickton was only caught based on a search warrant based on a firearms violation.
The Robert Dzienaski death by taser case is even more sickening as the inquiry unfolds and the witnesses testify. Overkill and cover-up
Police have also evolved into social workers that carry guns.
Richmond is a joke. Richmond is used as a training ground for RCMP…..given its multicultural mosaic. As one political candidate said… they have 25 year old supervising 22 year old officers. High turnover…too expensive to live here… crime prospers.
I once caught a neigbour in my own yard ripping me off….the police were called and mildly scolded me for yelling ?
Other goods of mine were in their garage and I hear NOTHING about what happened.
For justice in BC civil courts… a lawyer basically stated its minimum $40,000 to start…wheras other Provinces it costs less that $ 1000. Why? Intentional ?
So the big boys including Gov’t can have their way , “right or wrong” has nothing to do with it, Justice is simply a commodity that can be bought de – facto in BC ???
We are in the midst of more gang violence…I thought it was quite ironic that the police made a differentiation on news between ” gangland shooting ” and your “usual shooting “. Who cares which it is ?…people are dying in broad daylight in front the blindfolded “Scales of Justice” justice industry.
In Quebec’s Biker wars, people had enough and the Gov’t got off its ass and went after them with lots of resources..
Grow-Opps were rampant, and many do not want to admit it had a lot to do with absentee ownership, and possible collusion with such owners. Then , which seems typical…the Gov’t comes down with draconian legislation that affect the civil liberties of all (ie if your electrial bill is higher than normal…the Police and an Inspection team are authorized to search your house.) Some conspiracy theorists claim this is a subtle plan so as to have a police state under the auspices of the collective good.
My own conclusions are that this current economic tsunami is simply peeling back the layers to show how inept, incompetent and corrupt many of our institutions are. Our Gov’ts have gotten fat and lazy thinking golden gooses breed ad – infinitum, letting things decay and rot, not wanting to create bad perceptions/bad publicity . It’s like continually painting over rotten wood. The paint has more substance than the base.
I recall that after EXPO 86 was finished, Jimmy Pattison, who was effectively in charge of EXPO was interviewed a few years later and asked if he felt EXPO 86 had been a positive for Vancouver. Jimmy, who can often cut the the chase, really couldn’t given an answer .
Vancouver didn’t evolve, it has been in decline for decades.
It has simple been a tarted -up whore with tons of make-up pancaked on.
Our latest circus, ie 2010 Olympics will be used as our latest distraction while Rome burns. If say a gang shooting leaves 10 dead in Gordon Campbells neighbourhood… he”ll probably announce another bridge project while in Whistler for another photo opp.
The IOC head Jacques Rogge was on TV…this guy must be the re-incarnation of Trudeau (ir arrogant, indifferent, head up ass).
He feels the $1 Billion security will leave a positive legacy , the city will be more secure after ? and that the COV Olympic village debacle will still leave the City with a profit when it sells ? Yiikes !!!
If people think that a “cool hip urban sophisiticated lifestyle ” and other mind candy defines a city , you may be right.
Peel off the plywood and barbed wire that will ultimately cover these facades in the near future and have a look , at least for memories sake.
Maybe envision what Vancouver etc. might have been if we hadn’t gotten sucked into this black hole as a result of our failed leadership, especially as the layers of cheap paint keep peeling -off .
February 12th, 2009 at 10:31 am
U.S. retail sales surprise with January jump
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/.....nuary.html
February 12th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Prime minister, sports heroes, mascots unveil Olympic flag in Ottawa http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/cap.....own_canada
February 12th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Your comment about median house price to median family income is on the spot. If everyone knows prices will crash until 2012 and will pick up again afterward, they would mean people who are able to buy will do so before it picks up so the pick up will occur earlier than 2012. What prevents this from happening is the economy and median family incomes. In effect, only a few people will be able to take advantage of the price drops.
I still believe ultimately prices will have to fall to `fundamental values’. If it doesn’t, it means something artificial is propping up the prices and eventually that something will collapse because of economic imbalances. The argument against this is that it sometimes takes a lifetime for this to happen. The counter argument is that it has been a lifetime since the last time we had such a readjustment.
February 12th, 2009 at 9:46 am
“It’s now an Asian Theme Park, and it little resembles the character that made this a cool place to live”
by “character” do mean the days of the asian-exclusion league, the chinese head-tax and the rounding up of Japanese Canadians? Longing for the days before 1947/48 when asians weren’t allowed to vote? or the days when the upstanding anglo citizens of vancouver were free to call anyone asian a “chi*k” or “j*p” “p*ki” to their face. Those asians sure have it easy here now, what a free-ride it would be if you were a nanny, looking after someone else’s kids so you could send a few dollars back home to your own. Or working the night shift as a janitor cleaning up the crap of rich anglos at the Vancouver Club, or you could go into that dream job of delivering papers in the wee hours of the morning downtown where you receive special attention from police constables.
February 12th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Another one bites the dust. It does seem odd to me though that on the brink of a total collapse here he’d be moving partly because of the more reasonable real estate prices in PEI. I think perhaps he knows the next 2-3 years will be very dry ones indeed for real estate agents here so now is the time to get out.
Here’s looking towards the day when the $550,000 house in Vancouver looks a lot more like the $550,000 house in PEI.
Is it time for another predicting the future thread? Maybe I’ll post one in a couple of days if nobody else does. For the record, my prediction stands, that is:
A slight price bump lasting 3-6 months
A pretty sharp drop in summer/fall for a total loss in 2009 in the 15-30% range.
Same basic pattern over the next two following years, things level off in the spring a little only to lurch downwards in the fall (though the bump won’t likely be as large as this year’s and the fall might not be as big either)
Late summer or fall of 2011 or 2012 will be the time to buy (it’s hard to say which year, too many variables) things will still be falling but it will be almost played out. Look for median home prices to be down below 4 median family incomes, wait until the end of summer that year and start putting in low-ball offers or just bargain hunt.
Total loss from peak to trough over 60%, perhaps as high as 70%. If you really time it right and negotiate hard it should be quite possible to buy a house for 20-25% of it’s peak price.
* All reference to price should be taken as “adjusted” dollars, not nominal.
February 12th, 2009 at 9:32 am
“John is one of the most consistently funny…”
I get that it’s parody, but it’s so consistent that the schtick got old quickly. I laughed at first, now I just skip his posts. Verbal white noise.
February 12th, 2009 at 9:30 am
(It should be said though that some praise is deserved for saving taxpayers some interest. This is probably enough candy to mute things for now.)
February 12th, 2009 at 9:22 am
http://www.theglobeandmail.com.....uery=mason
Interesting change of tone. So far so good in ensuring taxpayers are on the hook. I still wonder how they can reconcile the construction cost per square foot versus what market rate per square foot will yield, but I suppose that is a secondary consideration. It is the olympics after all. Nice one year send off in the media this week.
February 12th, 2009 at 9:20 am
I love John’s posts; thanks to him I have made boatloads stockpiling SUVs, pepperoni and condos!
February 12th, 2009 at 9:10 am
“I know most people don’t get it but John is one of the most consistently funny posters.”
It’s not that hard to get. Bit repetitive, though (gets boring). But this:
“No other city in the world consumes so much peperoni”
Please, let’s change our license plates to reflect this!
February 12th, 2009 at 9:07 am
calgarys busted
Current foreclosure listings are as diverse as the market itself: inner-city condos, old bungalows, three-year old houses in new neighbourhoods, and mil-lion-dollar properties. There are 13 foreclosures in one condo complex alone.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/H.....story.html
and so it goes..
February 12th, 2009 at 9:03 am
john:
I know most people don’t get it but John is one of the most consistently funny posters.
February 12th, 2009 at 9:00 am
patriotz:
I agree Patriotz. Vancouver doesn’t have a productive economy any more. The real-estate bubble masked a lot of underlying problems, like 20 years of stagnant wages, and let people avoid the tough financial decisions.
It’s going to be extremely painful to turn the ship around and build a real economy here, but it can be done. But Vancouver will be dragged kicking and screaming all the way.
February 12th, 2009 at 8:56 am
I’ve lived in Vancouver for most of my life but mostly just during the week half the time but still. Anyway I have to say that Vancouver is really the best place on earth. There is no other city in the world that has specifically designed traffic patterns to be so functional at all times of the day. No other city in the world has such an expensive and well thought out mass transit system. No other city in the world consumes so much peperoni or drives this many SUVs and lives in so many condos or has so many rich asians. Vancouver is the jewel on the crown of the most beautiful and vibrant cuntry in the world. BTW PEI is a dump.
February 12th, 2009 at 8:11 am
realpaul: I’ve restored your comment so you can’t play the ‘censorship hiding the truth’ card. I removed it because I thought it was a needlessly personal insult, but I’ll let the rest of the readers decide.
So you had some bad experiences with realtors, and now every single one is a crackhead? I would suggest that it is human nature to get as much as you can no matter what occupation. the problems you had have as much to do with the fact that you were dealing with humans as it does with realtors. Cops, Lawyers, Doctors, Teachers, Preachers, Politicians, Realtors – there are bad examples in every group. Shall we get rid of all those occupations?
At what point do we put the responsibility for buying on the buyer? What is this Machiavellian mind-control power that realtors seem to have in your mind?
Jeez. I can’t believe I’m defending salespeople, but seriously, do we need the personal insults against someone you know nothing about? You obviously have a brain, why not stretch it and drop the use of the crutch-word insults like ‘realtard’ and ‘realturd’. They may be clever the very first time you hear them, but clever has a tendency to wear thin with overuse.
February 12th, 2009 at 6:20 am
realpaul: You’ve clearly been running with the wrong crowd. I hope the next chapter in your life includes more decent types. There ARE decent people out there, don’t give up.
February 12th, 2009 at 12:48 am
Why worry about gangs? You have a vastly greater chance of dying in a car accident than being shot in Vancouver.
That said, I would have left Vancouver years ago if my job wasn’t tied to it, just to escape the insane housing prices. Thankfully, that’s finally changing.
As Can’s Poorest Postal Code says, however, there’s more to PEI than a beautiful countryside, which it has. Winters are brutal, and people are far from cosmopolitan in their views. Throw a stick in any direction and you’ll likely hit a church.
But I wish Paul and family all the best. It’ll be a grand adventure, and that’s its own reward in this life.
February 12th, 2009 at 12:47 am
carpenter:
the city has changed, as all things do. all things that are alive in any event. vancouver has become more and more interesting in my opinion. there is more culture then there was before – better restaurants, art scene, nightlife
Jimi Hendrix used to play on Davie Street you know. How about “Jaques Brel” with Ann Mortifee, Brent Carver, etc.
The 60′s and 70′s saw a lot more real, live, spontaneous culture than the snooty, pretentious crap that gets served up today.
I agree there are more good restaurants now but BFD. Chinatown used to be a fun place to go to eat, not somewhere you’re afraid to visit because you might trip over a body on the sidewalk or have your car broken into.
The whole city had a bit of a rough edge and was provincial but it had real charm and character, rather than being the pseudo-global metropolis of Starbucks, monster houses and clone condos that we have today.
It also had people who did real jobs like working in sawmills and iron works and building ships and things like that, rather than a work force that seems to just sell things to each other or peddle the city to foreigners.
Much of this decline is common throughout Western society, but it is particularly evident in Vancouver due to the city’s massively inflated self-image and de-industrialization into Canada’s purest bubble economy.
February 12th, 2009 at 12:23 am
Uh, Thompson…
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.
http://cuer.sauder.ubc.ca/cma/.....couver.pdf
February 12th, 2009 at 12:07 am
The market picks up before spring comes. More and more immigrants arriving every day and they have cash to buy houses in Vancouver West. Americans are buying also to put their money in safe Canadian dollors. They not worry can find no jobs boom times and recession. 10 years later, BOOM, the market goes up and they make 300% profits.
February 11th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
“The poll found that some 71 per cent of respondents said it is a somewhat good or very good time to buy real estate.” hahahaha never underestimate the level of kool-aid drinking in this city
February 11th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
vancouver is a great city
i worked at VSY for 11 months
Great place to visit, which is what you did. If you live and work in Fort Mac, Vancouver is also a better place to live.
But if you’ve known the city in its former glory, you mourn its loss. After 30+ years in Vancouver and 1-1/2 years in Calgary, I prefer Calgary to Vancouver. No beaches, no greenery, but somehow better. Calgary has a pretty large number of former Vancouverites who wouldn’t move back.
February 11th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Jeff left, then paul. Those honest realtors had provided our bears a lot of insights which break the Vancouver RE mystery.
I think one of the main issues of Vancouver RE is TRANSPARENCY. Most of the realtors take the advantage of the buyers/sellers by information monopoly. Those information should be public, and that mls database internals of the people by the people for the people, shall not hide from our view.
I would suggest that our bears provide an incentive to the realtor who can pick up paul’s torch: use him/her as your buying agent when you think the buying condition reaches. This way, we may get better transparency, and save some expenses as 1) no bubble prince, 2) the realtor can yield a portion of the commission as he/she may have a lot of buying cases lined up. With the transparency, those fallacious realtors, speculators, developers would not be able to play an easy game on us.
Rob C starts to post some stats too. Let’s monitor how it goes.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Wow, anyone that calls Vancouver an “Asian Theme Park” is quite the tool. It’s the sort of ignorant comment my co-workers used to bandy around at work in Charlottetown.
It seems as though a few of the posters are from Atlantic Canada originally or other rural parts of the country. Many of the comments, such as “this place is going to hell” or “this place is so destroyed”, please pardon if I offend, are really projecting a rural or hinter-suburban viewpoint.
During my days on the Island, I listened to seven years of PEI-boosterism, which an open-minded Islander would agree can be way too uncritical, but what really killed me was the constant bashing of other places to help sustain the “PEI is No.1″ mantra. Any city (esp. one of the big three) was a godless sodom and gomorrah, filled with “orientals” and gangsters. Of course, you were guaranteed to be killed within hours of leaving PEI, unless you stuck to the well-worn “safety” triangle of Victoria, Ottawa & Halifax (god knows why these places were OK). Alberta was the “promised land”, PEI with money, despite the fact most native Albertans seemed to look down on Islanders as cheap, exploitable labour. And let’s not forget religion. It ain’t that easy to be an atheist on the Island.
All I’m saying is, everyone (myself most definitely included) needs to take into account how their upbringing may have influenced their experiences and resulting attitudes about geography and people in this vast country of ours.
In closing, it comes down to each to their own. I’d rather risk the remote chance of death by a bullet in Vancouver than the gauranteed slow death that Island living was for me.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
squidly77:
Eggggsactly. I posted a challenge that splayed the tricky dicksters facade of the realtard wide open, it was poignant and diggety, you would have liked it , but the Popester decided to censor it out. Hard nasty truth is sometimes uncomfortable.
Look here it is, a realtard will try to develop a shtick, some deliver pumpkins , others make like they’re your educated ‘friend’ in the buisness, others pretend they’re interested in the community, others send you cards and fridge magnets with occasional goo goo visits (just to see how you are) etc etc ad nauseum.
The truth is that they are trying to groom you like a child molester ‘ eductates’ his victims. They are setting you up, using you like a fresh slice of meat. You are nothing other than a prospect meat sandwich.
The good cons victims always trust the conman and thats why they’re so crushed when the fairy dust wears off.
Heres the bottom line :
Rule # 1 You can’t trust a realtard any further than you can throw them down the stairs.
Rule #2 Always refer to rule #1 when a realtards blazes his/hersalespitch and starts to work on you.
These guys practice sleaze and go to seminars to learn to fool the sheeple. They come home with tactics that they will use against you. The famous trainer Mike ferry was an expert con man and he had more hustles than a stripping hooker on a slow Thursday.
A real thrill for any of you who think that there might be some humanity in these weasels would be to go drinking as an industry pro with a bunch of these shits.
You’d soon get your illusions shattered or bolstered as the case may be as they relate in thier laughing way at how they screwed this guy, that mother, thier mother, thier nieghbours, the little old lady down the block and what a desperate piece of crap you were when they stuffed the pen into your shaky little hand at your own dining room table.
They’re laughing hyena act would give you nightmares. I could handle these pukes in suits only because I’d worked on the VSE stock market floor as an East Ender kid and new what sleaze was all about.
So , no Pope , a realtard didn’t do the nasty on me, I just happen to know more about realtards than you.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
the comments along the lines of “i can’t believe how much vancouver has changed since 19…” are just amazing. how small minded. my family has lived here since my grandfather arrived in 1906. the city has changed, as all things do. all things that are alive in any event. vancouver has become more and more interesting in my opinion. there is more culture then there was before – better restaurants, art scene, nightlife – it’s not ny, paris, london, or toyko but vancouver has a lot going for it. i’m not a rah rah vancouverite either. i left to live in london, uk for a year ‘cuz i was so bored with vancouver at one point. when i came back i certainly had an appreciation for the quality of life here, along with the realization that we are still a young city in a relative sense.
perhaps the commentators who don’t want anything to evolve should crawl up in a little ball and start sobbing for their mothers to come back and nurse them. how pathetic. if these same people were parents in the 50′s they would hate elvis and long for frank sinatra; if parents in the 60′s they would hate the beatles and long for elvis, etc, etc. try living in the present for a change. you may shake off your bitterness and maybe enjoy your lives.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
“Paul, if you love Sushi or any quality Asian food, you will probably have to drive down to Halifax. Not to mention any big shows etc.”
Good sushi in Halifax? Where would that be? There’s a couple of decent Indian places though.
Atlantic Canada is a great place to raise the family though. Just be prepared for November-to-May winters with endless icy snow.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
i never bashed him..only his occupation