@Pope, VHB, paulb: Once this bubble's deflating as fast as the BC Place roof, will we head back into an info void as happened during the '08 slump? Many blogger bears seemed to go into hibernation after listings busted wide open.

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What do I miss of the old Vancouver? Well, streets with families, children playing in the alley, neighbourhoods with life in them. I live in Tricities and I see so many areas that seem kind of empty. Then little notices appear on front doors, declaring houses uninhabitable due to grow-ops/meth labs. This city seems half-empty sometimes, which makes the real estate bubble even more confusing. People pay a million dollars for a new mansion with crackhouses next door.

Its interesting how the Olympic vitality wore off so quickly. This is a "no fun" city because so many people have crushing debt, and can only keep appearances up so long. We will become even less fun as deficit-ridden local governments continue to slash away at amenities.

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For many people, crowding into English Bay with thousands of others to watch fireworks and having the best night clubs simply isn't part of a 'fun' city.

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When I’m in Vancouver this Thursday I’ll make a special trip to Millennium Water. Have to see this with mine own eyes. Sup a little, perchance. Bathe in the ambiance.

This, of course, is the holy grail of Greater Foolishness. If the stone square in front of the sales centre is empty, I may fall to my knees. Perhaps go prone.

…

The listings flood continues, of course, in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and even on the dusty, narrow, rutted road which is home to the Summer Bunker. Homeowners everywhere (including Millennium Water) are gushing properties onto the market as they always do when a storm is approaching – at epic prices, hoping to snare passing idiots who just stumbled out of 2007.

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……..was known as the “no fun city”….

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Wadaya mean “was”? They closed the liquor stores during the Olympics. What else would the city have to do to underscore to the world that the “no fun city” moniker always was, and continues to be, right on the mark?

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Why so complicated?

Just hire Goldman Sachs to help out, like what they did for Greece.

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Ice cube enema… lol! :>

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My friends & family are pretty much sick and tired of my ranting about the insanity of Vancouver's RE market, so I don't say anything, unless asked directly. I was chatting with my parents on Sunday and my mother mentioned the Olympic Village condos (she had seen a report about them on the local news Saturday evening), and said that if she won the lottery she'd buy my sister and her husband one of the 2BR condos. I said that you could rent them for about 2500 monthly. At that price, you could rent the place for about same as the monthly interest you'd be generating from investing the winnings in a GIC. So after 40 years, you'd have consumed as much housing as if you'd been paying a mortgage, but you would still have all of your principal, and you would not have paid a penny in strata fees, property taxes, or repairs. And I have a feeling that any repairs at the OV will cost a pretty penny.

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http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/rds/reo/1746451…

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