I believe one of the major problems here lies in the reason or motivation behind buying real estate. Those in the business of flipping RE will soon be flipping burgers. Unfortunately, the innocent victims who are searching for a place to settle down will get sucked in and likely get into trouble. As long as people are willing to pay the price there will be no end….But…I wish to share my personal caution or warning to anyone thinking about this market. Look at the fundamentals (price per square foot, location, age of place,mtce fees, etc) and then seriously look at what you can afford in a worst case scenario. Make sure you do not drain all your liquid assets for a purchase (cash,stocks,etc). Shop around for the best rate, do not buy on impulse, compare what the previous owner paid… Read more »

Supraboy(stupid name) what kind of a self respecting human being would worship a rice wagon like that.
Do you have a coffee can on the back of your rice machine. I am not a bitter renter at all. I just happen to believe that this and all other booms end in an equal bust and so will this boom. Believe me when I say that there are a lot more bulls that are suffering from nightsweats because they may have bought at the top than bears waiting for the pop.

@Dave:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifameric…

but since you don't like the guardian…

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-sta…

113 – correct. Prepare for slash and burn with public service today and Thursday. And it still won't be enough.

@rp: Things will not turn out as badly in Canada as in the US because we are much more export oriented than them. The loss of domestic demand will not matter as much. Export in what? Canada, like Australia, are resource dependent. The US is not. The US provides a consumer and knowledge based driven industry which can easily be exported just as well. There was a time that Mr. Garth Turner recommended on his Turner Report that we should all buy US denominated dollars and that we should buy all US investments, just because they were popular then. There was a time in the Toronto Exchange that only 2 stocks (JDS Uniphase and Nortel) were the major lifters and mining stocks were in the doldrums. You think then they are not exporting anything? Perhaps more so as the Canadian… Read more »

Judging from Supra Boy's previous statements seemed to suggest he's never been a landlord. Or if he is, he seemed to think that as long as the rent covers the mortgage, then he is breaking even and he waits for capital gain appreciation. Unfortunately, landlords that think this way is not working for him or herself, but they are working "FOR" the tenants! Why, simply the fact that your time (which is aggregated in a salary) is not factored into the rental equation. Expenses are not totally factored in. You provide free labor, so really the tenants are not throwing money away, but rather money goes to employ you to ensure the rental property is habitable and utilities are functioning properly! Unless you are in a positive cash flow situation; gross revenue from rental deducted expenses equal positive net revenue… Read more »

@Anonymous: Crazy Time article, thanks for the link. Apparently no other host city comes close when it comes to public intoication. Believe me, I'm no prude. But all the yelling and screaming and woo-wooing becomes grating. These are the fourth Olympics I've covered, and Vancouver drinks Athens, Torino and Beijing under the table. I asked a few journalists who have covered more Games than I have to rate Vancouver on the intoxication scale. Vahe Gregorian of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who has covered eight Olympics, dating back to Atlanta in 1996, agreed with my chart-topping assessment. In reference to downtown Vancouver's main strip of nightclubs, he said, "Granville Street itself is unlike anything I've seen at an Olympics." And he noted that all the drinking has led to a lot of public urinating. "I've personally witnessed about 8 to 10… Read more »

" Vancouver appeared to have more morons per square foot than the Jersey Shore house. "

From an article from the Times titled: ' The Vancouver Games: A Gold in Drinking '
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,196…

[…] pertinent comment from Anonymous at vancouvercondo.info 1 Mar 2010 at 5:12 pm – “Friends and fellow citizens, that article is bullshit. The suites downtown in Coal […]

@Dave:

Dave, for starters can you please talk to those people and explain how it works. They will appreciate it.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2010wintergame…

@Dave: It was fun but was it because it was Vancouver or was it because of the Olympics. If the latter, one has to realize the Olympics are now over. Just go and walk around tomorrow and you'll see much of the vibe is gone. One should not confuse a two week party atmosphere with long term sustainable economic development. Many countries would like to devalue their currency in order to make their manufacturing sectors more competitive. I say, devalue RE to make labor costs more competitive in terms of cost of living and to attract investment into BC and Canada. Yes, home owners would lose out, but I think it is a reasonable sacrifice to our next generation and given that much of the wealth in RE was not really earned. I don't know about you, but if they… Read more »

@oneangryslav2:

Exactly right. You can tell he's not from England by the way he writes. He's a dumb canuck, poorly educated in BC schools. That's why he has a glaring typo in his intro and he's too dumb to see it.

You only 'haul in cash' if you sell. You can 'haul in debt' by remortgaging, but debt ain't cash.

Rates are going up and household debt levels are at record highs.

You see dead people? I see debt people!

100 days to the international sporting event that the rest of the world cares about.

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/index.html

Australian central bank hikes policy rate to 4%

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/australian-centr…

Stephen Harper: 'Party on Gordo!' Gordo: 'Party on Harps!'

@patriotz: Regarding hibernation, I think Scullboy is one of them, he's hibernated to Halifax and he's not a homeowner. He's not worried about rate hike yet he's the one in hibernation. How do you explain that?

How are homeowners in hibernation when their housing prices are rocketing and they're hauling in cash? I think you got it the other way around. Renters are throwing out money to the home owners making them rich. Get with the program, buy yourself a place, then rent it out. You'll eventually find out that it's a better formula to make money than bitch about them.

@Disbelief: And what makes you think RE prices will drop after the Olympics?

There are too many people like you trying to ruin a happy and festive mood. You're just another one of those minorities trying to use some bs as an excuse to start a riot for fun. In 1994, when the Canucks got into the Stanley Cup finals, I'm one of those hoping for a riot just to watch some action. Protesters and bears just show up to wreak havoc for fun, get on the news, and say "I'm cool, I busted some windows on Robson".

Too bad those fools got outnumbered by the rest of the Vancouverites who really wanted to go out and have a good time.

Dave
You are dreaming if you think RE prices will rise because of a two week party. It was great but after a month the buzz will be gone and we will be back to the no fun city. We will probably get a boost in tourism but our overpriced RE is only attractive to the stupid FTB's that don't know any better.