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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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

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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.

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so if realtors are icky and you managed hundreds of them, doesn’t that kind of make you… ickier?

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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 !!!!

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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?

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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