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VCI: How it works.

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138 Comments

There seems to be some confusion about moderation, censorship, etc on this site so let’s try to clear a few things up.

1. WHY ARE YOU DELETING MY COMMENTS?!?

No one is deleting your comments, but a bunch of people may have decided they are not impressed with them. There is only one kind of comment moderation on this site and that’s community moderation. Just as popular useful comments are voted up and get highlighted, if enough people vote your comment down it will go through the following stages: at minus four they shrink as a warning, at minus 8 they go into foreclosure and at minus 10 they are hidden behind an overgrown hedge, i.e. they vanish from view. If you want to read the unexpurgated comment stream you can always find them here. That link is kept handy at the bottom of the left hand column.

This system is under continual adjustment with the goal of keeping the comment thread useful and entertaining without too many trolls, spam or repetitive flamebait comments. The drawback with the current system is that it hides both the garbage comments and the unpopular ones. Please consider voting up comments that you disagree with that raise reasonable points. We’re looking into a hybrid system that will allow separate voting for garbage content aside from the current agree/disagree mode, but this won’t happen anytime too soon.

2. WHY IS MY COMMENT HELD FOR MODERATION?!?

If your comment doesn’t show up on the site as soon as you submit it, chances are you added more than two hyperlinks. This triggers the spam filter and holds the comment for manual approval, which may take many hours. The best way around this problem is to limit each comment to one or two external links only. If you saw the amount of garbage that gets swept up in the spam filter you’d understand why this system is in place.

If you’re linking to multiple external links as proof of your argument or research to back up your point, you may want to consider submitting an article. Original written material that relates to the vancouver housing market and economy is welcome and can be submitted here: http://vancouvercondo.info/submit

3. HEY! MY VOTE CHANGED THE SCORE DOUBLE!

If you click on a comment vote arrow and the score goes up or down by 2 points there are two possibilities: Either someone else made the same vote between the time that you loaded the page and the time that you clicked the arrow, or you’re a registered logged in user. Registered users who are logged in get double voting power because they tend to add consistent content to the site and are the ones who decide the direction of the site.

4. ANYTHING ELSE?

That’s it for now. This is the system for comment moderation that is in place for Vancouver Condo Info as of November 2010. You’re welcome to add comments or questions in the comment section below.

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doug r

@A. Einstein: All granite is radioactive to some extent 🙂

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Devore

@patriotz:

I wish people would quit using this quote, which was from Keynes regarding short selling, with respect to the RE bubble. It’s completely inapplicable when buying is cheaper than renting.

Why you always get so bent out of shape over little things?

Who cares who said it, or in what context? It's just a saying, that happens to be applicable to a range of situations.

But thanks for the history lesson.

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shawnchong

@Poor Decision: Moving to a different city for the sole reason that you can't buy real estate is a pretty silly reason to move, don't you think? And by silly, I mean retarded! If you want cheap real estate close to a nice city… well, why not move to lovely Oshawa, just a 50-minute train ride to downtown Toronto. That's about the average commute for a downtown-Toronto worker who lives in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). For example, if you bought in Newmarket – 50 kms north of Union Station – a 2,400 sq. ft. house would run you $420,000. If you bought in Oshawa – 50 kms east of Union Station – that same 2,400 sq. ft. house would only be $280,000! What a deal!!! Why is Oshawa so cheap? Well… GM shut down that plant there… If owning… Read more »

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realpaul

BTW Todd….that was an additional 600 Billion to be spent between now and next June….the rest of the earmarked money is already in the pipeling…for a total of 1.1 Trillion…double the announcement. Why do you think gold and everything hard went up today…..gld up 50++ slvr past 26…….I'm giddy. The markets are doing in a day what a bond would in a year. If I had all my dough in the house I'd be mighty pissed that this opportunity is rushing by my impotent hands at a time when real estate is going down.

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Renting

You obviously think owning a home is vital to your happiness. You might be surprised. Personally, I would rather rent in a city I liked than buy in a city I don’t like. I have lived on my own for 20 years. 19 years as a home owner and just over 1 year as a renter. I can tell you if you choose your rental carefully (get a nice place and a good landlord) renting is BETTER. There are so many worries with owning it is not all it is cracked up to be. The only advantage to owning in my opinion is if it has a lower cost than renting over the term of ownership. If the cost was equal I would rent hands down. Obviously at todays prices there is not much chance owning will be cheaper over… Read more »

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realpaul

We're getting a slump in Canada whether we like it or not….even though they don't make any economic numbers that aren't favourable to the government….we can see by the long food bank lines that times is getting tougher. Our neighbour to the south of us won't help….they're still shinking.

Now that Obama can't extend the Unemployment cheques again as he did last fall giving the unemoplyed some breathing room when he gave them 99 weeks of pogey…these peoples benefits run out beginning next month and peak in April. There going to be a lot of new people on the street.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-04/initial-…

Inventory is going up not down in the US….repossesions have accelerating not clearing up…..none of this will cross the border you say? Vanshithoio is living on borrowed time.

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ToddM

I fear that there could be another bubble coming – the US has released $600 Billion through its banking system (quantative easing); this is going to see a flood of money from US to high-growth Asian markets generating bubbles – this in turn will bring rich investors to Vancouver to buy RE (what else can they buy).

The US should be more discipline in its monetary policy – these types of swings can really cause a real hard landing down the road.

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Negative Net Worth

@junius "I am not the least bit cynical. I wasn’t really a bear until 2009. Frankly, I have a very hard time believing there were many bears in Vancouver in 2005 as your state. The US crash wasn’t until 2006 and very few would have even looked up before then." I moved to Vancouver in 2005 and immediately knew something was wrong. People thought I was a nut when I told them Vancouver was in a bubble. What about the olympics? was the most common thing I heard. I had the same experience in '99 in the states when I told people I was afraid that America was headed for a real estate bubble. At the time, the prices in silicon valley were at many multiples of income. I told them, as goes California, so goes the rest of the… Read more »

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jesse

@NO-LYMPICS: "even by simply looking in the ads"

Looking at ads only indicates market rent — and from my experience it's probably pretty accurate — but doesn't give much of an indication of rents of units already tenanted.

Another thing to consider is that average rents don't consider building depreciation. An older unit will generally rent for less than a newly minted one. Same-unit rents will generally lag the average. I haven't looked at CMHC's data in detail however it could be their average vintage has been relatively constant, in which case their data would show rental increases compared to a specific unit tracked over time.

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t

I work in the public sector as a skilled trades worker. From my personal experience, I can tell you that we have not had any raises for ten years. I do occasionally take contracts in the private sector where I earn almost double my so called high government wage. Now, I am not saying that there aren't workers in the public sector that need to be cut. But, it's not as simple as just cutting everyone across the board because a small group of us are actually right in line with what we should be earning.

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nth Beatle

125 jesse

Stand corrected,…… I meant to imply public sector raises are often higher than the private sector raises. It will be interesting what happens when their contracts come up for negotiation soon .

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NO-LYMPICS

So called illegal suites can be tracked….they can extrapolate, even by simply looking in the ads.

Often in an given City, one can read the ads and get a handle on what a basemnet suite rents for on average ie one bedroom , 2 bedroom etc.

Vancouver can have a differential of 30% when compared to say a similar suite in Richmond.

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jesse

@Best place on meth: "so why did they forgo an increase the last 2 times around?"

Because the market is soft and, I'm guessing, they consider you a valuable tenant and are offering you an incentive of sorts. Still, the CMHC data still stand. Either the property managers or CMHC are lying or PMs are, on average, raising rents.

I think you have a good point that those who have serially raised rents year after year are coming up against stiffer resistance than they have in the past. For many tenants, hours have been cut or have been transferred to contract/part time. I haven't found data for median income in 2009/2010 but for the entire labour force I wouldn't be surprised if it's been flat.

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jesse

@nth Beatle: "All I hear in the Private sector is cuts, layoffs, etc."

I know very few people on salary who didn't receive a pay raise last year. In many cases it may have been a meager raise but it was still a raise.

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jesse

@Best place on meth: "Does CMHC survey home owners about how much they’re charging for their illegal suites"

Only indirectly because the secondary suite market is so spread out it would take a large sample to gain significance. They acknowledge their data for small-time landlords are spurious, however we know that professionally managed properties that are closely tracked by CMHC compete with basement suites to some degree.

Although the link is stale, Rich Toscano in San Diego did some research on rents in San Diego in the past 20 years. He found that generally they tracked incomes/CPI regardless of the price of housing.

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nth Beatle

122 Devore

Inflation, Cost of Living, whatever. It is more cash out of out pockets that could otherwise help the economy.

The point is NO ONE I know except Gov't workers is getting any wage increases.

All I hear in the Private sector is cuts, layoffs, etc.

The latest buzzwords are " sustainability"

Gov't taxing and spending is simply UNsustainable.

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Devore

@NO – LYMPICS:

really can’t believe what gets rolled out as latest taxpayer gouging far beyond the rate of inflation.

But what does inflation have to do with any of this? If there is inflation, then incomes are rising, and so is spending (things cost more), and (taxable) economic activity is growing, in nominal terms at least, and so would tax revenue, assuming a constant %-based tax rates. There should be no reason to raise tax rates. Only reason is because government is growing faster than inflation.

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Anonymous

sell and run for the hills

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Keeping an eye on th

@Ozzie Jurock:

Oz…….. Actually I noticed your buddy Bill Slut has eased of the peddle on the hype machine lately; do you know if perhaps he dumped a lot of his re holdings lately?

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NO - LYMPICS

99 Keeping An Eye On The Pimps

IMHO, I really wonder if people really understand the perks beyond the relatively high job security and wages in the Civil Service.

You have to wonder if the Civil Service has gotten so out of control that our higher and higher cost of living is based on empire building and entitlement. I really can't believe what gets rolled out as latest taxpayer gouging far beyond the rate of inflation.

The undercurrent IS there, and I really can't see why our politicans are so pussywhipped by them. If push comes to shove, do what Reagan did in 1980's , selective firing to send a message.

The status – quo is UNsustainable, that is UNdebatable, let alone any more entitlement ambushes.

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NO - LYMPICS

Metro Van casts five-year spell Richmondites are being warned to brace themselves against skyrocketing Metro Vancouver utility rates. By the year 2015, City of Richmond staff are expecting: solid waste tipping fees to spiral by 111 per cent; water costs to increase by 57 per cent; and liquid waste costs to rise by 35 per cent. In Richmond, that could mean the average household being asked for $55 more next year and an extra $237 by 2015. The city has to pay Metro Vancouver for Richmond's water and liquid/solid waste management, with the cost passed directly onto the taxpayer. However, to mitigate the effect of anticipated hikes in regional utility costs, the city has been building up a rate stabilization fund for all three categories of utility. City council was this week being asked if they want to dip into… Read more »

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patriotz

@Anonymous:

Only if they’re reliant on that equity for their pension, i.e. they don’t have another source of retirement income (e.g. company pension, private RRSP)

There's been an awful lot of stuff out lately about boomers not saving adequately for retirement. For example:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/savi…

That's why there's been a lot of talk about a mega-CPP that would be mandatory. Governments don't like the idea of a huge cohort of future retirees dependent on GIS or other kinds of social assistance.

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Archie Bunker

Liberal leadership race:

I'd pay to see Diane Watts and Carole Taylor in a cat fighting cage match.

Yessir !!!!!

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oneangryslav2

@Best place on meth: Count me as someone else who hasn't received a rent increase–nominal or real–in the last two years.

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stagnate

poor decision says: I have made a very poor decision, and one that I will have to live with. While many of you will vote this diatribe down as a potential bull troll, or bitter renter bear, or someone that has capitulated, the fact remains that my poor decision has prompted me to seek a home elsewhere couple things to consider, remember real estate is an imperfect market (so to speak). of the 2000 or so sales this month, approx. 10% will sell for less than their current market value and about 10% will sell for above their current market value. if you are on the winning end of either of those polars then you are looking good. easier to make money in a rising or falling real estate market but money can also be made in stagnant markets. i… Read more »

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