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July 24th, 2010 at 11:20 am
Is it just me or have Realpaul’s rants grown more vicious and angry?
July 24th, 2010 at 11:02 am
@realpaul:
So it’s a shitty deal then.
Thanks realpaul for the explanation.
July 24th, 2010 at 10:44 am
#96 BPOM, a right of way is a title encumberance which allows someone or something a right to access or develop ( pipes, lines, grates, laneways etc etc etc) across or on your land. You are disallowed the opprtunity to affix some structure or foundation that would impede that ‘right’, such as a fence, building, appurtenance ( pool) etc. Rights of Way and easements are common encomberances on urban properties ( and many subdivision) that many people don’t realise can limit the development and value of their property. Naturally, the 2 week real estate exam doesn’t teach the realshit salemen the finer points of law so many unwitting owners get stuck with new hydro boxes in the front yards, expanded sidewalks that eliminate the front yard or find their back yard has disappeared for the sinking of a high power line running across the rear of the property. “I’ve heard realtards say ‘oh thats nothing” but of course all real estae salespeople are ignorant liars.
July 24th, 2010 at 10:36 am
#83 GB, This white bitch better not apply for any Canadian government jobs. Whites have been told not to apply. Better she should be an illiterate slacker from Somalia than an educated white cunt. Canada doesn’t hire whites. The criteria for federal government employment is , immigrant, coloured (any), refugee ( phony or not), lesbian ( preferablly), french speaking ( if no english thats OK) ….just anything but born in Canada with children to feed. We prefer someone whereupon we can assuage our eternal guilt.
http://www.freedominion.com.pa.....p?t=133195
July 24th, 2010 at 10:11 am
What’s this?
A house in Vancouver on a normal sized lot for $388K?
“It sits on a 33′ x 113′ lot which has a right of way that affects its development potential and, therefore, is priced accordingly”
I have no idea what “right of way” means but can it affect the price that much?
http://www.mls.ca/propertyDeta.....Id=9765412
July 24th, 2010 at 10:07 am
The chinesse are buying the undervalued resource/manufacturing assets in US — not whole companies but as shareholders. The US isn’t buying any hard assets — they are still trying to patch their economy back together.
July 24th, 2010 at 9:59 am
@GB:
LOL And she’ll bra-fit here too, however not plus size ladies but skinnny Asian ESL students, and all that for minimum wage. She’ll have to find roommates, who knows – she might catch a few bed-bugs too, and she’ll definitely enjoy this best place on earth watching every penny she spends on food. And before the vise expires, she’ll go back to Ireland, at least there her “dole cheque” can cover her rent and food.
July 24th, 2010 at 9:38 am
Ha! Beasley pre-sale buyers are already trying to get out:
http://vancouver.en.craigslist.....22011.html
I particularly love this line from the ad:
Whoa! an apartment in the *corner* of the building – I’ve never seen one of those in *all of Vancouver*! Where do I sign up?
July 24th, 2010 at 9:21 am
@VultureBoy:
Nope. It is very relevant. The likelihood of the realtor in question selling any home is completely dependent upon the number of other realtors in the market.
July 24th, 2010 at 8:37 am
Developer ‘Affordability’ Spreadsheet
“To think that they’re now encouraging secretaries and coffee baristas to take out loans for $175,000 blows my mind!”
A reader who borrowed 2.3 times annual income to buy in Kitchener, Ontario, in 2006, marvels at how locals here in BC are being tempted by developers to borrow 5.8 times income in 2010.
http://wp.me/pcq1o-17e
July 24th, 2010 at 8:08 am
@patriotz:
The added incentive for a realtot to get a higher price is insignificant. Freakonomics suggests realtots only get a few percent more on there own properties. That’s significant for the seller, but immaterial to the realtot. She would want a 100% chance at an immediate 10k commission, over a 90% chance at a future 10300 commission. Every time.
A full time realtot might use available time to drum up business or take a vacation. A part timer might wait tables. Your zero sum argument is entirely irrelevant.
July 24th, 2010 at 6:20 am
@Devore:
Au contraire, most of the “recovery” in Canada since 2008 has been driven by increasing consumer indebtedness, aided and abetted by government. In other words the Cons have been offloading stimulus spending onto the consumer to make their own books look better. The numbers speak loud and clear.
But that party is coming to and end as we speak, and the outcome will be the same as south of the border.
July 24th, 2010 at 6:15 am
@VultureBoy:
Well because they get paid more if they get a higher price. That’s what a sales commission is for.
You’re also missing that there are only so many sales. A realtot can increase his number of sales only by taking them from another realtot. So “moving on to the next sale” is zero sum over all realtots, i.e. it does not increase their income. Getting a higher price from a buyer does.
Again, I’m not claiming that the present commission structure is an optimal incentive, or even a good one, but it IS an incentive.
July 24th, 2010 at 5:26 am
Prices will go down: twitter.com/squidly77
July 24th, 2010 at 1:06 am
@GB:
Leaving Ireland and coming to vancouver? That’s awesome, the more the merrier. Time to renovate the garage with two more suites. So many fools renting in this city.
July 23rd, 2010 at 9:50 pm
@No More Gordocracies: Incidentally, the largest denomination notes ever issued were in Hungary, not Zimbabwe, the CL seller is misinformed. The famous picture you see of a man sweeping paper currency off the street into a gutter is from the Hungarian hyperinflation period.
http://www.tomchao.com/hb14.html
July 23rd, 2010 at 9:43 pm
@No More Gordocracies: Maybe you should remove your email address from that listing, seeing as you gave out your private edit link!
July 23rd, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Leaving one popped bubble to go to another that is popping now…oh dear
http://www.theglobeandmail.com.....le1649063/
July 23rd, 2010 at 9:26 pm
@Best place on meth:
Nobody except governments! Both borrow and spend. Although we (ie. US) is faaaar from direct debt monetization, and will probably never go there. We’ll see historic levels of austerity first.
July 23rd, 2010 at 9:16 pm
#79 ReadyToPop,
Thanks for the link.
“Debt can’t grow to the sky,” Carney said. “Rates are extraordinarily low. That won’t always be the case…”
I wonder how many of the folks with huge mortgage debt will cope if mortgage rates go up to the 7% or 8%?
July 23rd, 2010 at 9:13 pm
The problem with the chinese real estate market bubble is that you never know when it will burst. Forget about the statistics coming out of the government that it was showing a slowdown since April due to the mortgage tightening regulations. I would like to show you it’s not the case with this article.
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog.....0kvg1.html
The above is a prominent scholar among the bloggers in China. You cannot take chinese statistics at face value because there is always the discord between the central gov in Beijing and the local governments in the different cities and regions. It’s well known that the central government can’t enforce its will on the local governments if such policies are detrimental to the livelihood of the local governments. Taxation is not as prevalent in China as the IRA in the US or Revenue Canada in Canada and the only way local governments can make lots of money is either
1. invite investments into building infrastructure such as highways, industry complexes, etc.
2. participate in real estate development.
The 2nd has grown into prominence especially in the last 5 years. There were just so much money to be made redeveloping the old cities. The local governments are in bed with the real estate developers.
And if you read the above link, you will realize that the local government is not reporting those high-end real estate sales, down-playing transactions in a bid to fool the central government that its policy of restricting mortgage since April is having an effort. And the central government is already showing cracks in its determination to crack down the real estate bubble in the last week when several manufacturing indicators exhibited a slowdown. One particular chart in the 14 charts regarding the chinese housing bubble is the participation of the State owned enterprises (belong to the local governments) in the bubble. These state owned enterprises now capture a significant share of the real estate activities, bidding housing higher and higher. It’s no wonder it’s the case since the money are public money and they are freed to play this “musical chair” as long as it lasts. Bubbles are known to last for some time before it bursts.
Unfortunately, you just can’t deny the fact that quite a number of SFHs on the West side have been purchased by those folks who sold the houses back at home in Shanghai or wherever. Those folks have no concern with the price they pay here in Van since it’s all about diversifying and getting the money out of China. That means if your goal is to wait for bargains on the West side buying a nice SFH, you sure need to be prepared to compete with those folks. As long as the bubble in China lasts, buying a nice SFH on the West side at 40% off is like a dream.
July 23rd, 2010 at 6:20 pm
“That has to be a concern to a central banker when you see that kind of debt growth,” said Derek Holt, a Toronto-based economist at Bank of Nova Scotia’s Scotia Capital unit.
Canada Consumer Debt Signals Rate Increase
Need I say more? …RTP
July 23rd, 2010 at 6:10 pm
@realpaul:
“A house valued at a million means nothing when a bananna costs $50. Its the value of the currency not the value of the product we should all be concerned with. Zimbabwe found that out when toothpaste was being sold at a trillion dollars per tube.”
On Craigslist…….Real money for sale cheap LOLOL.
https://post.craigslist.org/manage/1859900706/hegyx
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Still think that inflation isn’t a factor? Man you’re slow.
“While several factors are involved, these changes were fueled by the decline in the value of the dollar. Since AIER first published “How to Invest Wisely,” the dollar has lost nearly 90 percent of its value and there is no end in sight. To buy what $100 purchased in 1947, a family today would need $972. In the last 20 years alone, since 1990, the dollar’s value has fallen some 65 percent, a phenomenon that could accelerate as we come out of the recession and the effects of the government’s recent spending-spree sink in.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100723/cm_csm/315827
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:48 pm
@patriotz:
Short-term, of course the realtot is better off taking the first offer that comes along. A bird in the hand is better than 1.02 in the bush. Also, a realtot’s time has nonzero value so they will want to move on to the next sale. Why get a higher price at all? Long term, a happy seller might lead to referrals.
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:44 pm
#71 A (hole) but you’re not Bernake are you….you’re a nobody. In fact you are a self described nobody, yapping at people with opinions and having none of your own .
You can tweeze your eyebrows and yoga lick your hemmeroids to go along with your no balls and monkey masturbating pencil dick anonymous status. Now take off your moms shoes and gtf outa here.
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:03 pm
New Listings 163
Price Changes 109
Sold Listings 116
July 23rd, 2010 at 3:43 pm
@fixie guy:
Yes really. A sales commission is ipso facto an incentive to get a higher sales price. That realtors may be motivated by other considerations not to put in maximal effort to maximize price does not change this.
As I have already noted, the present commission structure is far from an optimal incentive. The fixed commission should be much smaller or eliminated, and the marginal commission should be much larger.
July 23rd, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Regarding the “14 charts for the Chinese housing bubble” article, I would like to add another very important one.
It shows total residential housing values in relation to GDP.
http://www.howestreet.com/arti.....e_id=14074
It’s Japan circa 1990 all over again.
July 23rd, 2010 at 3:14 pm
@realpaul:
If I was Bernanke, I would buy you a new brain with the printed money.
July 23rd, 2010 at 3:05 pm
#55 realpaul
The elephant in the room is a communist gov’t appearing to be a free enterprise gov’t.
It’s simply an on/off switch.
They can manipulate the truth to a certain point…..but the danger is the longer they try to delay reality, the bigger the collapse. The ripple effect will be unprecedented.
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:55 pm
A family member used to say unions have outlived their uselfulness.
Now, sub in “govt’s”.
Time for a tea party, Boston style…..
The general public ares simply sheep, being manipulated by the menage’ a trois of politicians, beauracrats and vested interests.
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:36 pm
Dave says the government will begin buying ‘hard assets’. I too would like to know what ‘hard assets’ they could buy…copper mines? The definition of inflation is the increase of M3, they have done that to death…the result has been monumental debt purchases of bond issues, which at this point can never be paid off, even with taxes at 100%. A house valued at a million means nothing when a bananna costs $50. Its the value of the currency not the value of the product we should all be concerned with. Zimbabwe found that out when toothpaste was being sold at a trillion dollars per tube. The money printed devalues every dollar in circulation, this doesn’t boost the economy, it reduces purchasing power and increases government revenues through higher proportionate taxes. I guess Dave lives with his Mom, she does all the shopping and buys the video games.
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:14 pm
@VRENGD:
Because there is still inflation and the economy is growing. If the economy starts to shrink again, then the printing presses will get started again.
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:01 pm
@Dave:
“The printing press will win out.”
Since you are talking about the might of the American printing press, why has the Fed’s printing press been loosing since 2008? Real Estate prices are still falling in the US. Did the Fed deliberately decide to make RE prices fall? I think the more likely explanation is that the Fed can’t control asset prices.
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:58 pm
A Bookworm and A Pig Talk Gastown Rent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOwkUfZ4_dU
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:00 pm
“The printing press will win out. The only thing that can stop it is overthrow of the Federal Reserve system.”
Or economic principles. Blame politicians for spreading it perhaps but the notion an economy is an infinitely malleable thing that governments can tweak at will is fantasy. See CCCP. At best they time shift it a la Keynes, at worst they destroy it a la South American dictators.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:48 pm
@Best place on meth:
Actual real estate, rather than the underlying mortgages. Add gold to the mix. Anything.
Bernanke said he would drop free money from helicopters if he had to. These guys believe that burying hidden money throughout the country would spur economic activity.
The printing press will win out. The only thing that can stop it is overthrow of the Federal Reserve system.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:43 pm
@VRENGD:
By expand the money supply I was referring to lowering interest rates to spur borrowing.The point here is that the Fed can create inflation if they want it by doing things other than cutting interest rates.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:42 pm
@Dave:
Which hard assets are you referring to, Dave?
The Fed already bought all the mortgages in the U.S.
And all the bonds.
And several large banks and insurers by default.
Will they be buying gold next?
What’s a hard asset?
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:42 pm
patriotz Says: “RE agents are paid a % of the sales price. Thus the incentive of the agent is to get the highest possible price.”
Not really. Recent research, as popularized in Freakonomics, suggests otherwise. The incentive of the agent, assuming they have work to fill the week, is to maximize income/effort. Getting the seller a market price takes much less effort than, as a clear example, getting 25% over market, thus leaving the agent free to pursue other clients at a much higher rate of return for time spent. In a mad market such as Vancouver has been for a decade it’s a no brainer.
The result, which found no welcome in the real estate industry, was realtors statistically got significantly more on a like-for-like basis when selling their own properties than they did for clients. The reason is obvious and natural, 100% of extra earned selling personal property went into their pockets as opposed to the percentage when it’s a client, returning multiples higher return/effort.
Truth is probably more likely to be that in a market which sees realtors struggling to find time in the week to handle clients they’re better served undercutting market prices, shifting the balance from quality to quantity.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:39 pm
@Best place on meth:
And when Google starts putting real estate listings on gogles maps, earth and street views, that is the end of the MLS monopoly and the only thing keeping realtors in business.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:35 pm
@Dave:
If the fed printed money to directly buy assets, that would expand the money supply.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:31 pm
@Dave:
Well, I guess the entire bond market, which is predicting deflation is a bunch of “dummies”.
Most people call the bond market “the smart money”.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:31 pm
@Best place on meth:
To my understanding (and I am far from an expert), the Bank of Japan did not purchase hard assets. Their approach to deflation was quantitative easing and purchase of bonds and securities.
I am talking about purchase of hard assets.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:28 pm
#5 Yalie, it was recently announced that a property tax inventory in Shanghai would be introduced to bolster sagging land sale revenues of which the city is reliant on. Bejing official quashed that request. It is speculated that the reason for doing so was because it would have exposed the holdings of party officials whose wages could not support such holdings/investments that the have…..ie: corruption is rampant in the party and much of the bribe money for land deals has gone into percentage holdings of party officials in complexes. The top brass are reliant on the RE tripwire act because much of their bribe money is tied up in real estate but they can’t sell because it exposes them as being corrupt. They have been borrowing against the ‘equity’ and that is shinking fast leaving the officials between a losing portfolio and the firing squad. Its very interesting.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:24 pm
The Van Sun article in the first link is pretty weak. The writer doesn’t ask WHY developers pushed pre-sales from the March to June period. The reasons were:
1. Getting ahead of the HST; and,
2. Capturing as many pre-approved buyers prior to the expected increases in interest rates.
Developers basically pushed their marketing a little earlier in the game than is typical.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:24 pm
@Dave:
>>>All the fed has to do is buy assets with printed money. They will do it if they have to.<<<
What do you mean "if they have to"? That's what they've been doing – it's not working.
Didn't work for Japan either.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:21 pm
@Dave: OK Dave please explain why you believe that only dummies would have that expectation.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:18 pm
@Tony Danza:
Dummy, nobody but dummies have that expectation.