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I am starting to suspect that the whole underlying concept of the Western civilisation has been to rip off and fleece the prudent till they die or flee. As long as some humans feel entitled to more, nothing can change.

So, as much as I anticipate the bright outcome you mention, history teaches that it is less probable than either of the following:
- no change at all (which may mean war in the long run);
- cancellation of debts*;
or
- money reform

This is the way it was done in Rome and Greece: read Plutarch, Tacitus, Livy for examples of financial acrobatics, government scandals, and social turmoil. It’s amazing how nothing has changed since then.

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* Julius Caesar invaded Rome and became what we know him for mainly because of immense debts he had accumulated.

As for not mentioning real estate proper – it’s buried somewhere in the big picture.

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Retrain? Move to a new industry? Move to a new location? We all have choices in life. Less whining, more proactive changing.

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There are few good opportunities in this country because the irresponsible have been bailed out. Most of our economy is based on rent seeking and leveraged speculation. The big banks offer 1% interest when core inflation is 2%, nevermind food which is 4% or transportation which is 5%.

I can tell you one thing, I am definitely not paying for this. I’m only in Vancouver to be near family, not to pay into some ponzi scheme. When things turn sour I’m voting with my feet. I want to start a high tech business and it sure as hell won’t be here. Basic costs are outrageous. Also amusing are the companies full of geezers who seem to think that people my age should work for half their wage, when they can’t do what I do.

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Of course, if someone sits on 100% downpayment, it’s another story, but I am the average Joe. And no, I am not even close to being pissed off or stressed.

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Happy renter.

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While one might have choices in van real estate they now seem to be reduced to “rent something of dodgy quality or sell yourself into slavery. ”

if I seem surprised it’s because it seems like there are now more choices in smaller cities, at least for me. Instead of banging my head against the wall looking for work, I’m able to network far more easily here because everyone knows everyone else and I don’t have to go up against 1,000 other people and a faceless HR department. I just got off the phone with an IT consulting group who heard I was in town. They have an opportunity they’d like to discuss.

Instead of constantly hunting for a decent place at an affordable price, I found a gorgeous spot first time out. When I’m ready there are tons and tons of cute little postwar places in great shape on nice lots for sale.

Yeah maybe I sound astonished. It’s because I am. It seems like there can be more opportunity and more choice in smaller cities now. I’m sure the poster who moved to Regina knows what I am talking about.

Meanwhile there seems to be a great deal of unhappiness on the board here. Let’s face it, it sucks to have to wait for a crash to be able to afford a decent home. People Herr seem pissed off, stressed out or are pretending to be someone they aren’t like supra or richasian.

It’s my own subjective reality but hey, I freely admit that.

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They are all the same people.

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I have no idea what an Ed Hardy shirt or hat is. Maybe I don’t find myself in the same social milieu as those who wear them. We all have choices, and the larger the city, the more choices. Hell, you even have choices in the Vancouver real estate game. I choose to rent and to develop friendships with those who are not are the Supraboy ilk (i.e. poseurs). Vancouver’s not the “greatest place on earth”, but it’s a decent place to make a home…as is Halifax.

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The weather out here is awesome, loads of snow yesterday which just made puttering around at home more pleasant. Today I had a bunch of friends in for dinner. For amusement after dinner I showed them this blog. They got a great laugh out of it. They thought the disrespect shown to renters in the Van market was the mark of cheesy, wannabe Trumps.

I told them how much my place would be worth if it were in Vancouver, and we laughed some more. Then we all kidded around about the whole “best place on earth” thing. The longer I live here the better it feels. I realized the other day I haven’t seen a single Ed Hardy shirt or hat anywhere, which was great…. there are douchebags here, but they don’t seem quite as awful.

I’ll take snow that lasts a couple of days over constant rain any day of the week, as it turns out. Plus, from here I don’t have to interact with the real Supras and richasians.

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I don’t foresee ever buying and paying off a SFH here in Burnaby before retirement and i like the idea of having a place where it’s warm and sunny.

I realise that there are property mgt fees, exchange risks, tax issues to deal with. Is there some enormous flaw in my logic that i’m missing?

I lived in Florida for 6 months a decade ago and quite liked certain areas.

Bloggers, any opinions?

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“We will make money free to borrow,but don’t borrow any because that may be foolish.”

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“Visit remax.ca”

Just saw this ad on Global’s 6:00 news.

Real Estate ethics – oxy-MORON

That’s all I got to say about that.

FORREST

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“Japan’s fiscal conditions are close to a melting point,” said Takeshi Fujimaki, a former adviser to billionaire investor George Soros and now president of Fujimaki Japan, an investment advising company in Tokyo. “My biggest concern is whether the Japanese government will be able to sell all the bonds at auctions,” he said, adding that such failures might send 10-year note yields climbing through 2.4 percent.

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The only way to keep things going is to double up on the ponzi scheme and loosen lending standards even more, but it seems that the opposite trend is in the air due to the very real possibility that we will in fact get a US style crash if we keep on the current trajectory.

One thing I also suspect is that many of credit unions here may go belly up. No hard evidence except that their mortgage rates are extremely low in some cases.

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The government has become reckless and unlike the US subprime, this mortgage debt is being carried by us, the tax payers. Allot of us have money and savings. Savings that we have worked hard for hoping to purchase affordable housing only to see this dream hijacked by those playing Real Estate like their own little casino and by governments that do not care about affordability, but only care about their standing in the polls.

I say it is time to hit back and let them know we are hitting back. We have savings and we have money and the government needs to know that if they do not want us to start going on spending strikes, they need to stop manipulating the housing market. It’s time to start writing your politicians and telling them how angry you are. Enough is enough, if we don’t start standing up, these people will begin rolling out generational mortgages and the same garbage that the Japanese did to put a bandaid on their once skyrocketing Real Estate prices.

The bottom will inevitably fall out, the only problem is how long and how much more manipulation will take place while we wait and listen to the Realtors and Real Estate speculators banging their chests and boasting how prices are going higher and higher every month.

It is truly sickening how something that is a staple and vital, that being housing has become the latest get rich quick scheme in the minds of so many people.

I have sent e-mails to my politicians expressing my anger over what is nothing short of housing manipulation. It is time for everyone to get involved. Let them know, specifically Jim Flaherty that we are fed up with what is transpiring in this country. It is one thing having banks being the enablers, it is another when the government is doing it using OUR money!!!!.

Start flooding our politicians with angry e-mails. Get everyone you know who wants to buy but does not want to pay these very inflated manipulated prices to do the same. As I said before, it is one thing if the banks are doing this, it is a completely different matter when the government is using our own tax payer money through the CMHC to fund this housing fiasco. If you do not write and do not get involved, you have no reason to complain.

Here is our own made in Canada subprime mess:

http://www.rabble.ca/news/2009.....-time-bomb

Jim Flaherty – jflaherty@fin.gc.ca
Stephen Harper – pm@pm.gc.ca

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but the detachment of risk from mortgage lending which lead to mortgage rates which were out of whack with the actual risk of default.

Bingo. The big problem in the US came when banks started to realize how long it was going to take to liquidate the assets they acquired in foreclosure. In Canada there has been nary a whiff of substantially increased foreclosure levels. Until that happens, even if people start missing payments, the bank in theory makes their money eventually, with back interest, and they are capitalized well enough to wait it out. It is very hard to convince a boardroom that these loans are anything but “can’t lose” in the long run.

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That same thing has been happening here, all the same. When the mortgage rates increase we will have the same problem here but unfortunately we can’t just mail our keys to the lender those people will have to pay for their stupidity.

If the price seems too much it is. It’s not rocket science it just common sense.

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http://www.marketwatch.com/sto.....2010-01-03

It’s only a matter of time.

Gravity always asserts itself, even if the Vancouver Sun says it’s different here.

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