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Farewell Agent Will!

August 2, 2011 wreckonomics

Another Vancouver real estate agent is closing up shop and leaving town, but this one is special because he’s been one of the rare breed that regularly shares market data. Will Wertheim has shut down his website and posted a brief message about leaving town.

At the same time Larry Yatkowsky has stopped sharing market data, because he says the return on investment just isn’t worth it.

Compiling regular data and presenting it online is a lot of work and it’s very likely that those who are watching the market that closely aren’t going to buy while prices are high. It seems like more of a long term investment in potential customers and a way to drive traffic to your website.

It will be interesting to see how recent changes to the way the CREA keeps data hidden from customers will play out. Potentially Canada will get Zillow or another alternative housing market site that compiles data and makes it more available than the industry has up to this point.

In the meanwhile the data addicts are fortunate to have Paul Boenisch around. He posts regular daily market data here and on his website.

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Anonymous

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All the best to you Will. Thanks for providing data and your comments over the years.

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Anonymous

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Strange, I just found this on Larry's site:
Vancouver East & West*

New Listings – 5
Back On Market Listings – 1
Price Changes – 0
Sold Listings – 0

Vancouver All Areas*

New Listings – 9
Back On Market Listings – 2
Price Changes – 2
Sold Listings – 0
*Attached & Detached – Date: 08/01/2011 Time:00:01 Pacific YatterMatters.com: Courtesy REBGV. Data believed to be accurate but is not guaranteed.

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James

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Where ya moving too Will?

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James

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I mean "to" of course..

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Alum

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I like the logic here:

Will Wertheim leaves Vancouver -> (therefore) Vancouver RE crash is imminent.

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TPFKAA

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I wonder if Paul B realises that for an 8 year period, beginning two years from now to about ten years from now, he will be the number 1 realtor of choice for thousands of real estate bears from these blogs when they finally buy in a declining market. Considering us bears will be the only ones left who are able to buy, Paul will be one of the few realtors left with a ton of business.

I hope you keep your license and stay in the game Paul. You will be my number 1 choice of realtor, and I will seek you out when my family decides the time is right to buy. Thank you for your honesty.

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paradox

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Here is a deal for you guys:

Get a competent team ready to take on CREA and create the Canadian zillow and I will find the capital to make it happen.

Any takers?

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4SlicesofCheese

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Yes Alum thats exactly what the post says….. WOW

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On that note, is mike stewart's blog still the earliest place to pick up the full REBGV monthly stats package? Anyone have a better place they are willing to share?

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Anonymous

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"Will Wertheim leaves Vancouver -> (therefore) Vancouver RE crash is imminent."

yeah? where does it say that on this page?

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Chris

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A realtor also stop sending "Sales Price" email to me, mentioning the pressure from RE board. RE board is here to closely guard their data whatever way they can.

Zillow will be needing here to get us out from the Cartel.

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Anonymous

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Sorry if this has already been posted, and for the OT post. This seems to be a pretty well written article about the financial benefits of renting in our current market environment, with a couple of blog mentions.

http://money.ca.msn.com/banking/homebuyersguide/r…

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Ziggy Strawdust

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@Alum: Hello Mr. Strawman!

(Apologies to Mr. David Bowie)

Goodbye Will

Didn't know what time it was the lights were low oh how

I leaned back on my radio oh oh

Some cat was layin' down some real estate hype 'buy in Hope, he said

Then the loud sound did seem to fade a ade

Came back like a slow voice on a wave of phase ha hase

That weren't no D.J. that was hazy cosmic jive

There's a strawman waiting in the sky

He'd like to come and meet us

But he thinks he'd blow our minds

There's a strawman waiting in the sky

He's told us not to blow it

Cause he knows it's all worthwhile

He told me:

Let the children mortgage

Let the children leverage

Let all the children default

etc..

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Best place on meth

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>>>Will Wertheim leaves Vancouver -> (therefore) Vancouver RE crash is imminent.<<<

Not exactly a slam dunk theory but interesting:

1. Ian Watt blogs about downtown condo market being slow.

2. Will has sold a lot of downtown condos over the past 7 years, since just after the boom started.

3. Will suddenly quits real estate and leaves town (won't say why as it would bore us).

4. There are 10,000 realtors in the REBGV area.

Hmmmm…..

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Devore

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-gard…

The Condo King bails out.

“Usually if you want to get something like that, it would be over $2-million.”

"Usually". Yeah whatever. That's why it was listed at just under $1.5 and sold in a "bidding war" at just over $1.6. I don't really watch Brad's show, so I don't know how much money he poured into the place, I recall an episode when he was gushing all about his new place he was building.

Do as the successful do, not as they say. Sell high.

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Devore

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Oops, listed at just under $1.6, $1.595.

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Best place on meth

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Oooh, a bidding war breaks out and the unit sells for 2% over ask. Stupid Toronto people have no idea how to do a proper bidding war.

And BOB RENNIE is the Condo King, dammit.

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Ziggy Strawdust

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@Best place on meth: Different Kingdom, Different King.

And I thought the story Brad was selling was that a bidding war broke out and the condo sold for $400,000 less than what it was worth.

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Anonymous

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Here's a simple economics lesson for all the real estate pimps out there. Something is "worth" exactly what another person is willing and able to pay, no more no less. If the condo sold for 1.6 million, it's worth 1.6million and not 2million.

Value on the other hand is a different story.

-Price is what you pay, value is what you get (Buffet)

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Something is “worth” exactly what another person is willing and able to pay, no more no less.

That's if you're selling it. If you don't sell, it's worth the present value of the income it returns to you, aka fundamental value.

That's far less than the market price today for RE of course but not always so. Nobody may be willing to pay your for your shoes but I think they are worth something to you.

🙂

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YLTN @ Work

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@Devore: Only $1432 monthly condo fees…and that's only going to go up as the place ages.

This is an excellent reason of why not to buy a "luxury condo" with ammenities most will probably never use.

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Alum

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@Best place on meth:

I agree. Not to criticize realtors job, but they do not bring any value to our economy.

The problem is: A few realtors have become so rich that they can influence politicians and businesses. They forced Google to remove their RE search from Google Maps. Go figure it out…

What a shame !

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rp1

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@Alum: "Not to criticize realtors job, but they do not bring any value to our economy."

I disagree. We can argue about the price, but buying a home is a very large and emotional purchase for the average person. People have hangups. Realtors exist to help the market make transactions, and there is value in reducing friction.

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Best place on meth

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Realtors are just cogs in the wheels of a greater evil, the real estate boards – the ones who believe that the public has no right to information about the market other than the few crumbs they decide to throw us.

It wouldn't surprise me if they've been leaning on people like Larry and Agent Will to stop the flow of information.

Thanks to people like Melanie Aitken the dark ages will soon be coming to an end.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business…

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vanpire

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@rp1: I think generalizing all RE agents as useless is unfair. All you have to do is check some MLS Listings (Remax comes to mind) in Ottawa or Montreal and you will see how it should be done- exhaustive descriptions, plentiful and current pictures, exact measurements, description of nearby amenities, personal comments – that's just an average listing and it's all done by a Realtor. Now to bring you back to earth, check a typical MLS listing in Vancouver – no pictures, pathetic descriptions, "all measurements to be confirmed by buyer if important" (WTF is this supposed to mean???) and basically no effort from the agents WHATSOEVER. Now this is where it's obvious LOCAL Realtors are a truly useless, ignorant, and disrespectful bunch. On a side note, I remember the times when a seller had to renovate a house to… Read more »

Bubble? What Bubble?