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Friday Free-for-all!

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136 Comments

It’s the end of the week! Free-for-all open topic discussion time, here are a few stories to kick off the chat:

–Breaking News! Get a rad pad, get laid by the desperate
–City offers low income loans for home repair
–What’s a co-op condo?
–Be prepared for downturn, but don’t worry
–Comparison shop for a mortgage
–Canadian personal debt loads keep growing
–Portland home sales drop near 17 year low
–

So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes here and have an excellent weekend!

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patriotz

@chip:

Calling the CCNC a "protest group" is missing the point a bit, it's an ethnic lobby group of the sort which has been around in Canada since its origin, and like its counterparts it's used as a vehicle for parties seeking ethnic support (traditionally the Liberals but more recently the Conservatives) to buy votes.

But you are not going to see the Conservatives cut off funding to them the way they are going to cut off direct funding to the political parties based on voter support. Some kinds of political funding are more equal than others.

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Devore

@chip: Par for the course. There are dozens of groups funded by various levels of government which are basically special interest groups with an agenda designed to squeeze your wallet, or your rights and freedoms. On the other side, there are small organizations struggling on private funding, and sometimes "corporate" donations, for which they are often vilified (because "monied interests" are behind them). Many hands reaching into the public purse and pushing their agenda relentlessly, not very much organized opposition… you can only take them on one at a time, and there's just not enough reward for the work. You squash one, two more pop up. After all, it's one or two cents per taxpayer. But a cent here and a cent there, pretty soon you're talking several hundred dollars.

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Fast

More than ten times income, huh? Shocking!

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f4afb162-8f8a-11e0-954d…

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Extremely rich Van h

@Teacher:

China today is different now and it is much stronger.So don't worry, our motherland and its govening party will do its best to protect its citizens abroad through diplomatic channel or,during emergency like the "1883 Chinese Exclusion Act"Riot,Chinese Navy and its Marine will be ready.Though,our body in Chau Camp but our heart still remain in Han Camp.身在曹營,心在漢.

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Ravishing Rick

Cut the music!!

Let's talk salaries –> go to the forum to post factual information on BC and Vancouver salaries. 2010 VPD salaries are posted: http://vancouvercondo.info/forum/topic/vancouver-…

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painted turtle

We should let all Asian prospective Promontory buyer know that the building is built on leased land that used to be a burial site.

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chip

@Chipper:

Whenever I see a group like the Chinese Canadian National Congress agitating against government policy I always check their website for source of funding. And the CCNC doesn't disappoint. While there is no info on the national site, on the Toronto site there are four source of funds:

Federal govt

Provincial got

City of Toronto

Agency of prov govt

And this is Canada today. The govt pays professional protest groups to agitate for concessions and payoffs from the same govt.

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Anonymous

@patriotz: ……I’ve been following the US bust since it started and I’ve heard plenty of BS from homedebtors on that front, but I have to say I haven’t heard anyone blame their troubles on having sick people next door. Another first for Vancouver……

Yes, sadly, it really is different here: no class!

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bubbly

Reckless Endangerment: Making Debt Owe-nership Easy

These bankers, their regulators and the politicians who supported them effectively adopted policies to strip away as much equity from the public’s balance sheets as they could by getting people to take on more and more debt at outrageous prices and with predatory conditions. And what they could not get from home buyers, they took from the tax payers after the system crashed. Real home ownership, in the end, had nothing to do with it. It was nothing more than a cynical ploy.

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observer

Charts of price to rent for vancouver re and comparing real returns among tsx, vancouver re, bonds.

http://lifevancouvercity.com/

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Patiently Waiting

"More likely, Morrison said, the success is a result of spending a year doing research into what types of amenities the market was looking for. Morrison said a large number of the condos were purchased by New Westminster locals who wanted the homes for their children. "There's a lot people in there that have 18- to 22-year-olds who are just coming out of school and they want to put their kids into these homes. Almost a third of our homes went to that group," he said. Morrison said interest from offshore buyers spiked as the marketing period ended resulting in about 20-25 per cent of the units being purchased by foreign investors." Read more: http://www.royalcityrecord.com/business/ended+wit… So the majority of these condos will either be owned by kids or foreign speculators. This place will be party central. There are no drinking… Read more »

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HAM - SHAM

@JRoss:

I'd have to choose lesbiens. I mean…. who would want to live next to them??? Especially if they look like the ones in those movies my wife hates me watching…

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terminalcitygirl

Actually the discrimination we're seeing with the UBC hospice isn't based on age or race, it's mental/ physical disability – also Charter protected.

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chilled

@JRoss:

Which of these stances would be acceptable to you?

Niggers.

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Ravishing Rick

Cut the music!

Bruins in 6!

Li kai's ord rady in 68 mabe 70 … Somwhere in between there!

I rolled out of whalley last night in the shagin wagin and spent most of the evening yelling at those honking canucks fans… I told them to shut up and go crawl back into bob rennie's vagina. The overseas chinese fans were easy to disperse, i just said, "look there is a new presale line up forming at 8888 minoru.."

The indians fans were even easier…. I just said, "dairy sale at superstore"

There was a scotish pub in port moody full of canuck sweat hogs andall i had to say was…. "horny sheep" and the canucks were the last thing on their minds.

Just like real estate and li kai's old lady, canucks are going down!

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Devore

http://www.financialpost.com/personal-finance/Str…

“I got to be honest, one of the core contributing factors I am counting on is modestly higher interest rates,” Craig Alexander, chief economist with Toronto-Dominion, said after the Bank of Canada did not raise rates this week. There is some sense it will raise rates in September. “It will help to cool debt growth. If it doesn’t raise rates, I suspect we’ll see debt growth running faster than income [growth].”

What, bankers worried? Nah.

Rate of debt growth is slowing, because a) consumers are tapped out, and b) CMHC no longer insures HELOCs. Duh.

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Best place on meth

@Best place on meth:

Reply fail, was meant for vreaa.

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Best place on meth

@Boob Rennie:

What that tells me is that people here are out of money and can't come up with an extra $600 if they want to go to the game.

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Boob Rennie

Here is my latest research report on Vancouver real estate: http://www.urbanfutures.com/reports/BTN%20Housing…

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vreaa

Saturday 4 Jun 2011, Second game of the Stanley Cup Finals, Vancouver Canucks vs Boston Bruins, CBC broadcast. The shot shows two fans holding handmade signs, visible via backlighting, in reverse. Take a closer look…

"NUX TIX OR MORTGAGE PAYMENT?"

Anybody else see this playoff placard…?

More testimony to the pervasiveness of the preoccupation with real estate in Vancouver.

http://wp.me/pcq1o-2sT

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JRoss

Collum,

Question:

They are worrried about their properties values because African-Americans are moving next door.

They are worrried about their properties values because Native Canadians are moving next door.

They are worrried about their properties values because Mexicans are moving next door.

They are worrried about their properties values because lesbians are moving next door.

They are worrried about their properties values because Italians are moving next door.

They are worrried about their properties values because Irish are moving next door.

They are worrried about their properties values because the old and sick are moving next door.

Which of these stances would be acceptable to you?

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Poor Renter

Look, it's not racism; it's the Chinese who are painting a shitty but clear picture of themselves. Chinese condo owners are petitioning against the hostel because other Chinese will value the property lower if it's built. How is that racist? There's nothing racist about it.

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Patiently Waiting

@Collum: White supremacists? OK, which one of you is Cam Good?

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N

@jesse:

>>Fine. They’re not racists. But me calling them “agists” doesn’t have the same ring to it. But it should.<<

How about "bigots?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigotry

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Collum

Agree with other comments on here. This blog is now nothing more than a place for white supremacists to hang out.

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