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Dear Vancouver

June 2, 2011 admin

Dear Vancouver,

If you’re reading this, I’ve already left. Please don’t try to follow me. We’ve had some wonderful years together, but lately the relationship has felt like a chore. I’m sorry to put it so bluntly, but I really think it’s time I saw other cities.

It’s not you, it’s me.. Well that’s not entirely true, it’s a bit you. When we got together you were young and beautiful. You knew it, but you had a humble side too, you never tried to be something you weren’t even though I know you’ve always looked up to the larger cities and wanted to run in their crowd.

Unfortunately just because you’ve seen a supermodel smoking crack doesn’t mean that smoking crack will turn you into a supermodel.

Lately it seems like you’ve lost the magic that makes you special, I hope that you can find it again and I hope that we can still be friends. I would like to come back and visit you someday, maybe I’ll find you older and wiser. I hope you forgive me for leaving in this way but I’ve found another city and we are in love, it just didn’t feel right to carry on the charade any longer.

Sincerely,

John

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blueskies

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John:
Please don't go.
We hardly knew ye.

The Canucks have their
first game with three to go.
This will more than compensate
for any perceived shortcomings
that YVR may have.

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Keeping An Eye On Th

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John, usually there is the stated reason, and then there is the real reason.

You aren't leaving because of housing are you?

If it is you might have left too early:

"More people than ever giving up on the American dream, saying it's more like a nightmare. And it just feeds on itself."

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/cavuto/transcri…

Psychology is still floating this bubble, but that can't last forever.

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Anonymous

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Wow. Vancouver here writing back. Don't leave. Give me another chance. Wait and things will turn around – I don't know when, but it will.

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Boombust

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I'm sure those grapes are sour.

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Jim

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Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Are you moving nack to Shanghai? Can I keep the wok?

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Runawayscreaming

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Good luck to those of you that are toughing it out in Vancouver. If you are just using Vancouver as a resort town to escape China with your ill-gotten riches then I'm sure you'll be fine. The rest of you, I'm not so sure. The damage done by the bubble is going to last for decades. Businesses have left, the servant classes are spending hours a day commuting from their shacks in the homelands. The standard of living has fallen, the children will have to leave Vancouver to find jobs that do not involve cleaning the toilets of the rich. I always loved Vancouver and I still do. However, she's gone bad. She's gone from dumb, blond and beautiful to crack-addled, mean and so gray-skinned and pock-marked that she looks like she could die at any minute. To top it… Read more »

Member

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Wow. So many negative vibes. So assuming readers here are from Vancouver area, why do you stay?

Here's a secret: if you want to enjoy Vancouver do it before noon. Crackheads and debt slaves sleep in.

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specialfx3000

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Supermodel or not, Vancouver continues to be wooed by the little ugly and short mainland-China dude driving his 911; automatic transmission of course. (Maybe that's Troll) Vancouver is also approved by Troll's aunt, a satellite wife, who is 4 foot 11 but driving an Escalade with the help of a booster seat and wearing a sun-visor on a rainy Vancouver afternoon.

She and her satellite friends send their kids to Vancouver's finest elementary schools each morning before meeting up for Mahjong the remainder of the day; then hitting the casino in the evening.

On Sunday morning, they will hoard all the loss-leader items found on the front page of Shoppers Drug Mart flyer to save pennies on the dollar then hit Kirin for overpriced dim sum.

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Flip Flop

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F the haters; we're better without em. I live in 600sf on the 8th floor in Kerrisdale. I have a nice little concrete balcony with all my herbs and tomatoes, some flowers, and a new Jasmine vine. My view is spectacular. I have a new outdoor pool (new to me; I've only been here for a couple months). The neighbors are mostly friendly (a couple are a little crusty, but flash them a smile and it all goes away). I love this city more today than ever and I've lived here for 12 years. My fiancée and I are paying down debt (my debt), putting as much as we can into a diversified liquid portfolio, and getting married at a beautiful little place on the water past Spanish Banks in October. We rent for $1100/mth. We'll buy one day. It'll… Read more »

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Concrete Jungle

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Hahahahah Flip Flop,

You and your youthful naivety..

If you think that you will ever buy in Vancouver with less than 4x combined income, you are dreaming…

Do a little research while you are growing and using your "herbs"…

Since the mid-1980s, Vancouverites have always paid a premium with at least 5x income ratio…

Hope you enjoy your 600sq ft concrete hole…

You will be living there a very long time…

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Flip Flop

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@Concrete Jungle:

Actually, I've been around for a while.

4x combined annual is already approaching 600K for us, and we're still expecting significant growth (50% in the next 2-3 years). The reason Vancouverites pay more than 5x income is because a lot of them are a bunch of miserable cunts that think they'll be happier if they have a bigger and better house than their friends. And a lot of them are simpletons that get fed on by RE agents and mortgage brokers; I sell into many of them on a daily basis.

I'll be here as long as I want to be here. I rent, remember?

And what's your living situation, while we're on the subject? Rent or Own and for how long?

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paradox

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@ flip flop

"I have a new outdoor pool"

I wonder how often you get to use it, (it has to be heated all year around and covered, but then it wont be an outdoor pool anymore…)

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Concrete Jungle

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The reason Vancouverites pay more than 5x income is because a lot of them are a bunch of miserable cunts that think they’ll be happier if they have a bigger and better house than their friends. And a lot of them are simpletons that get fed on by RE agents and mortgage brokers; I sell into many of them on a daily basis. _______ You just reek of a late twenty something that has done just enough research to think that they are brighter then everyone else… As I said, Vancouverites have paid over 5x income for over 25 years, with all its ups and downs… The Hong Kong influx of the mid-1980s left an imprint on this city that will never be washed away… They may be simpletons, but they are and have been simpletons for many many years…you… Read more »

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Anonymous

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Vancouver sucks, i tell all the young co- op students that come and work at my office to leave this city if they want to make something of their life. Unless you're a civil servant, a union slob, or in sales… Vancouver has nothing to offer.

After listening to me they all agree… Most have moved

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Anonymous

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By the way bulls…. Realestate should go up over time, its called inflation…. Dont point to a chart and say , "look always up" and think its profound. Adjust for inflation.

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Flip Flop

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@Concrete Jungle:

Learn to read dipshit. I said I was looking at a place in Tsawwassen. And I already have the herb garden; I want the golf course.

People that buy at 5x income are buying beyond their means. Plain and simple.

You didn't answer my Q. Rent or Own and for how long?

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Concrete Jungle

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Learn to read dipshit. I said I was looking at a place in Tsawwassen. And I already have the herb garden; I want the golf course.

________

Lol – you talk about how great Vancouver is, but you will be buying, and will HAVE to buy, in Tsawwassen.

The point people are making is that they are fed up with and are leaving VANCOUVER…

So really, your comments add zero value – much like your generation…

Ahh… youthful stupidity..

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Anonymous

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@Flip Flop: …..I have a nice little concrete balcony with all my herbs and tomatoes, some flowers, and a new Jasmine vine…..

I bet those tomatoes are doing really well this year. Hope you’re not relying on them for food when rates go up.

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specialfx3000

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I think FF will do fine. You may want to pass that wish to FF's landlord who will have to subsidize a greater portion of FF's living when rates go up.

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Anonymous

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This has been echoed many times on these forums, but it's nice to see the mainstream media recognizing it also. Haven't read MacLean's for a while but I can't remember any real estate ads, I guess they can actually reporter proper news.

The real problem with Vancouver’s outrageous house prices:
http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/06/01/the-real-probl…

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Conrad

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@Flip Flop: You can already get a decent place in Tsawwassen for 600K. Why don't you just go there now big roller? lock in the one-in-a-lifetime rates. lots of room there for weed growing

Member

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lock in the one-in-a-lifetime rates

Once-in-a-lifetime rates only get locked in south of the border.

BTW Conrad, aren't you due to be locked in south of the border again?

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Flip Flop

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I love how herbs become weed (I guess I did mention sparking a blunt). I wouldn't grow my own; I'm high quality/low consumption, so it wouldn't make any sense for me. I don't NEED to buy in Tsawwassen; I just like the idea of living next to a golf course and the timing seems right. It'll take some convincing, but I can see us renting for 3 or 4 more years, if that's what it takes. The numbers are the numbers, and that place you can buy for 600K in Tsawwassen today is better rented with the residual being invested. It won't always be that way, and my net worth grows faster renting and investing then it does buying at todays prices and trying to build RE equity. If that relationship isn't obvious to you, then you might want to… Read more »

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Not much of a name..

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I hear you John. I share the exact same sentiments. As a long time resident, the shine has come off the city for me. There isn't one thing that I can pinpoint, but it's just an overall feeling I have. I understand that things change, but what I see in this city is not appealing to me. Employment and family are the reasons why I'm still here. These two areas of my life will change dramatically in the next couple of years and it will enable me to pull up roots and move to a place that will suit my lifestyle. The city allows me to partake in some great leisure activities, but these can be done in most places. Some I can't depending on ultimate destination. I've got time to make the right decision, but I just know that… Read more »

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Laibach

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Definitely presence of too many Chinese screwed the Vancouver's peculiarity beyond recovery. Whole idea of diversity got fubared so Vancouver every day looks more and more like some wet, gray, crappy city in mainland China, built from scratch with no plan in a couple of years. These days there are tones of Chinese in blue Canucks jerseys on the streets, why do they ruin everything on a large scale? Those jerseys now looks like uniforms, like Long March, only Mao Zedong is missing.

Bubble? What Bubble?