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Friday Free-for-all!

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159 Comments

It’s the end of the week! Time for our regular weekend news roundup and open topic thread. Here are a few recent stories to kick off the chat!

–Will the housing boom last indefinitely?
–Canada economy skids, but housing strong
–Royal LePage: House prices have peaked
–Hold off to buy a new house
–Reports stress balance in analyzing Vancouver prices
–What neighborhoods are hot or not?
–Victoria prices on the decline
–Discount realtors merge to shake up industry
–

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

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lol cats

if the usual suspects on this blog invested half of their time they spend here in improving their personal situations, they might be able to afford to buy. keep sulking 😉

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nuxfan

:

"So what? MS still copied it from Netscape who came out with the browser first and I’m not Netscape didn’t like the fact that MS did a Netscape clone. Yes the stuff it is based on is public domain but MS still stole the idea of browser, what it can do, look like, etc from Netscape."

dude, if you're going to press a point, at least argue correct facts – it goes a long way to giving you credibility.

The underlying protocol (HTTP) is freely licensed. However, browser software is not. Mosaic was the first popular browser, developed by NCSA in the mid-90's. Microsoft licensed the Mosaic browser as the basis for IE 1.0. Mosaic later spun off into Netscape – so in reality Netscape licensed their own technology to their main competitor.

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macho nacho

@jesse: Developers have a lot of soft costs just to get to final permitting stage. Even in a soft market, most small-medium developers do not want to risk being stuck with just serviced land (hard to sell) or no financing. Better to build while there's still financing, and then burn off inventory at your leisure. It's easier to sell the inventory, than sell the serviced bulk land. And let's not forget developers pay themselves mgt fees as part of construction budget. How much you wanna bet the Maleks were collecting huge fees right until the end?

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Devore

@jesse: How much room in Canada/BC is there for funny reporting? You're right about side deals, there's some potential for cash-back deals (like in the US where the sale price is inflated so the seller can pay buyer's closing costs). When I sold my condo, it closed at a small discount, because buyer was paying the pending special assessment, something that would never make it to MLS, especially as it was an addendum to the contract.

It is disturbing that realtors, or real estate boards, would withhold market data like that. Must do wonders for their reputation and buyer confidence.

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jesse

@bubba: "they were planned before the bubble started to deflate"

Sure but there has been presale demand for these projects. The data we are seeing now and the anecdotal reports of presale lineups weeks before sales office doors opening are not unrelated.

The Kerr St – Marine Drive development was started in May, that is a huge development but I don't know how many in that development were booked.

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bubba

@jesse:

A lot of projects were envisioned months ago, ie purchase of land, then going for permits etc.

Many want to get foundation in before the fall.

In other words…they were planned before the bubble started to deflate.

Better indicator is current sales…they feed the feedback loop..ie " list – sell – buy – redevelop-sell ".

I am tracking a duplex project in Richmond….quite nice..finished..including landscaping..FOR SALE has been on for months.

Best parameter is what the Indo -Canadian builders are doing….they would be the best canary in the mine.

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jesse

@Patiently Waiting: "more supply"

That's the best way for a real estate bear to think about it! 🙂

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Patiently Waiting

@jesse: good, more supply than. 🙂

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Li Kai Shing

Who care about RAND, Apple, MS…Goofy… Sneezy, Dopey

That debate for troglodyte basement suite dwellers with nachos .

Al Gore invent Internet…and save us via movie " UN- invented Truth" and won an Oscar Meyer award !.

Then No -Bull Prize !

As Bonus..had George Harry Bush for 8 years.

Life is good !

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jesse

@Patiently Waiting: Housing starts are 23% up YOY in BC. The sharp drop in June was simply because there were a ton of starts in May. Overall the residential construction industry in Vancouver, mostly condos and attached, is continuing apace.

"Weak" is not how I would describe Vancouver real estate construction right now.

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space889

@fixie guy: So people whose view don't necessarily agree with you are trash?

yes China is off topic, except there is always talk about how corruption money from China affects or not affects Vancouver market and how they should go home, etc, etc, etc. Frankly if no one cares then why do they keep posting in reply to my posts? Right, they reply so straighten me out because my thinking/views are just plain stupid and shill.

If you don't want off topic discussion on China then I would say just be respectful and keep things on a nice civil level rather than posting inflammatory bashing posts about how China is the scourage of the Earth, a living hellhole.

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space889

@patriotz: So what? MS still copied it from Netscape who came out with the browser first and I'm not Netscape didn't like the fact that MS did a Netscape clone. Yes the stuff it is based on is public domain but MS still stole the idea of browser, what it can do, look like, etc from Netscape. If Netscape were an American/Canada company and MS were a Chinese company then I bet lots of people, you included, would be saying that the Chinese stole the browser technology from Netscape and then destroyed a great American/Canadian company.

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space889

@patriotz: China doesn't want to do it for the simple fact of what a float yen did to Japan. Ok there were a lot of other issues/factors but an appreciating yen did have a big impact. So China is trading off importing inflation against decreasing export loss.

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space889

@nuxfan: So basically the whole tech stealing argument can be boiled down to: 1 – filed a patent in US/Canada or EU, no one else in the world can use what is in the patent or the idea behind the patent which can't be patented. If anyone tried it's stealing. PS – yes ideas can't be patented, only the expression of idea. However that's a fine line best left to $1000/hr lawyers. 2 – No patents or patent expire, it's free for all even if the idea/whatever belonged to anyone else. Ok yes, I know as a requirement of patent, the inventor has to make knowledge public at a reasonable fee and have no protection after the patent period. However if the inventor doesn't agree to the condition then no patent is issued and anyone can legally "steal" the technology.… Read more »

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Patiently Waiting

"A chance to showcase the 'real' Vancouver"

WTF why can't we just have fun in the park? Why do we always have to worry about what outsiders think of us?

Screw you, CBC.

I was there, had fun, and the rest of the world can kiss my ass.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/st…

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patriotz

@Best place on meth:

The real issue, which of course the Chinese don't want to talk about, is that China will continue to import inflation from the US as long it refuses to allow a floating rate for the yuan.

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Patiently Waiting

Sharp drop in BC housing starts:

Urban starts in Ontario jumped 24.1 per cent in Ontario and by 5.6 per cent in the Atlantic region. Meanwhile, British Columbia saw a 27.6 per cent drop in June, while urban construction fell 3.6 per cent in Quebec and 1.2 per cent in the Prairie region.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Canadian+hou…

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Best place on meth

China's inflation rate skyrockets from 5.5% to 6.4% in June.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chinas-june-infl…

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jesse

@Best place on meth: "Agents withhold house price data"

Wow, with falling prices now the discounts being offered are so embarrassing that agents aren't reporting them properly? Wow, didn't see that coming! lol

I don't know about BC but for the most part sales are fairly reported except through side deals, which I'm sure go on to some extent. But the way Realtors are organized I would think that not reporting proper sales price is a big no-no, as the Agencies wouldn't get their pound of flesh.

Hey, a bright side of collusion and commissions — accurate price disclosure!

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nuxfan

@space889: "Did the RAND tablet inventor gave Apple permission to build its own tablets based on its idea? Similarly did Apple gave MS permission to copy its idea of Graphic User Interface? Or did Netscape give anyone else permission to create a browser like its browser? They all took ideas that was someone else’s and use it to make products and make tons of $$. That’s all apparently legal. But I’m sure Apple was crying wolf and intellectual theft about MS Windows when it first came, Netscape was doing the same thing with MS Internet Explorer. Or more recently the Facebook lawsuit." Patents only protect you for so long – I believe 14-17 years depending on when the patent was filed. So no, when Apple built their first tablet in late 1990's, they did not infringe on the RAND patent… Read more »

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Best place on meth

Real estate agents in Australia withholding sale prices.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/agents-withhold…

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patriotz

This entry submitted from lynx. How's that for retro? 🙂

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Devore

@patriotz: Hey, and don't forget the mouse too.

Now I'm all nostalgic over Mosaic. Amazingly, there are still people running gopher sites.

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space889

@Derp Derp: btw, Chinese people don't view your skepticism as racism. As well they are perfectly aware of Western history in China, it is very taught in elementary & highschool school, there is never ending TV series and movies, books, etc about that period. Why is there such negative attitude in China towards Western criticism? For the same reason why people everywhere hate the hard driving boss who never dish out anything but criticism. People in China say we are doing the best we can, we try hard, and we get bashed for everything, not a single praise for all of our accomplishment. The stuff we get bashed on? Western countries did it all before and in some cases doing the same thing right now. Western countries criticize and bash but offering no actual useful alternatives. They give support to… Read more »

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patriotz

@space889:

Both Netscape and Internet Explorer were based on a public domain browser called NCSA Mosiac, which I remember using way back when. The HTTP standard is itself public domain of course.

The graphical user interface was first implemented by Xerox, which was not interested in using it commercially, and it was subsequently implemented by Apple, Unix (X windows/Motif), Microsoft, and IBM. But since Xerox did not assert a proprietary interest from the outset the concept became public domain.

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