Cleaning House
Over the weekend we deleted hundreds of user accounts, so if you’re trying to log in and it’s not working you may need to re-register.
Why did we delete these user accounts?
Over the last couple of weeks we’ve warned that user accounts with no comments will be deleted. We’ve had lots of spam registrations and the only real way to confirm if someone is an actual human interested in the topic of Vancouver real estate is if they comment. There are security concerns and spam registrations swell the database, so a purge was in order.
How can I keep my user account from being deleted?
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Thank you for your understanding.
March 5th, 2012 at 3:54 am 1
[China cuts growth target to 8-year low]
- Hot Asia Money not looking good…
Mon Mar 5, 2012 5:48am EST
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/05/us-china-economy-idUSTRE82400120120305?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=71
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March 5th, 2012 at 8:05 am 2
Monday Morning:
-Crea says sales up .3% this year
-Crea says sales down .3% next year
Really Crea???? that was breaking news??
-Flaherty again says he’s concerned about Toronto’s condo market and mortgages, but does not say he’s going to do anything regarding amortizations etc (unlike Garth’s prediction from over a week ago that it might be coming in days)
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March 5th, 2012 at 9:14 am 3
@VMD: 7.5% GDP growth with a 4% inflation rate is a bad thing? Remember China needs to look good to its citizens so it is not going to set a target and just meet it. It sets a lower target rate in order to beat it and show its citizens that they are doing even better then they thought they could do. Still even with these numbers you are seeing a 3.5% increase in real GDP.
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March 5th, 2012 at 9:17 am 4
Another day, another “forecast” from the slime at the CREA.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/03/05/crea-housing-forecast.html
At least this time they’re “forecasting” a price drop (of 4%) in the most wonderfullest rainforest in the whole gosh-darned world. Also, I must say I appreciate the CBC headline: “Realtors expect home prices to fall.” It could so easily have been “Realtors expect a balanced market.”
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March 5th, 2012 at 9:33 am 5
This one just sold 50,000 BELOW asking. So much for the bidding wars
http://www.vancouverresidence.com/31716-157-e-43rd-ave.html
(699,000 -> 650,000, Van West)
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March 5th, 2012 at 9:46 am 6
anybody listening to 99.3 fox now? They had a mortgage broker on. Jeff Oneil asks if now is a good time to buy, her reponse….”Yes, now is an excellent time to buy, right now you can buy a 2 bedroom condo in Langley for $28/day with only 35K salary”
too bad you’ll be stuck in traffic commuting for the rest of your life and won’t be able to get out of you mortgage when you are underwater, those long drives to work everyday will only get longer. Seems like she is trying to drum up business, must have lots of time on her hands. No talk was mentioned about Real Estate outlook though.
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March 5th, 2012 at 10:10 am 7
@Mortgageslave: Hah! The ‘how much a month’ crowd has become the ‘how much a day’ crowd now?
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March 5th, 2012 at 10:11 am 8
@Mortgageslave: A two bedroom condo in Langley for $28 a day. Sounds like the Realtor is trying to sell a gym membership rather than a ‘home’. I wonder if she included strata and taxes in that calculation. Was this with a 5% down mortgage?
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March 5th, 2012 at 10:30 am 9
@Mortgageslave:
“anybody listening to 99.3 fox now? They had a mortgage broker on.”
Is that what things have come to? Rock is dead, all right.
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March 5th, 2012 at 11:00 am 10
The Fox Rocks…real estate.
Mortgageslave: Did she give any idea as to the total *number* of days you’d be paying out that $28? I’m figuring 100,000 days.
And after those 100,000 days, you’ll have a 30-year older 2-bed dump in the middle of downtown Langley.
It’s the stuff that dreams are made out of! BNOBPOF!!
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March 5th, 2012 at 11:08 am 11
LOL, there’s no way that a Langley condo would last 30 years without needing a complete rebuild. Ten years max before it starts falling apart. Factor that into your price.
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March 5th, 2012 at 11:13 am 12
6 Mortgageslave Says: <.i"right now you can buy a 2 bedroom condo in Langley for $28/day with only 35K salary”
Could be. There are currently around 500 two bedroom+ condos for sale east of 184, starting in the mid 100′s.
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March 5th, 2012 at 11:14 am 13
@patriotz: ” Rock is dead, all right.”
99.3 is still around?
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March 5th, 2012 at 11:50 am 14
@Yaya:
For the cost of just two Starbucks “venti non-fat no foam no water 6 pump extra hot chai tea latte” a day, you too can save a starving realtor in your neighborhood today. Pick up the phone, make the call.
As for China’s GDP growth, anything under double digits (official numbers) is probably a disaster.
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March 5th, 2012 at 11:59 am 15
@gordholio:
This is a problem with condos. Unlike with a detached property, you are limited in what you can do to keep depreciation at bay. Also condos appeal to a market that puts a premium on newness and hipness/trendiness. Many of the condos around West End are 30+ years old, and there is no way they have appreciated anywhere near what your benchmark curve would show, because they are not benchmark. They are old and busted. So you’re stuck owning a property that needs lots of maintenance of all sorts, even if it’s been well looked after.
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March 5th, 2012 at 12:23 pm 16
@Rakim: “LOL, there’s no way that a Langley condo would last 30 years without needing a complete rebuild. Ten years max before it starts falling apart.”
There are many condos older than 30 years in Vancouver that don’t need a complete rebuild. Why would Langley be any different?
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March 5th, 2012 at 12:29 pm 17
This rambling is addressed to all those who contributed to the insane property values we have here.
First , I would like to disclose some relevant info.
I own my 1000 sq, ft condo(no intention to sell) which I purchased new back in 1996 for $279,000. I don’t care what it is worth today because I enjoy living here. The building is situated in a very quiet neighborhood and consists of 120 suites. We have had very little problems with the structure as we are diligent with our maintenance and repair. Our strata fees are $300 – $400 /month and have a healthy contingency fund Over the years the demographics of the building has changed dramatically. We have 25% of the suites vacant. This is where I begin.
I would personally like to thank all the offshore owners and any investor of any kind as most of you care very little to the day to day business of our building. The only important matter to you is the rise in value. The great thing is that most of you are never around so it is always very quiet. And when you do show up, your ill conduct and lack of knowledge of the bylaws result in many infractions. Fines mean more money for the building. Thanks again .Council meetings are great as there are none of your concerns to deal with as you never bother to attend. Just keep paying your strata fees. We used to have more rentals but thanks to your greed the rental rates became delusional so there is little interest. Past renters have made a favorable contribution to our community.
To the speculators . Stop bothering the council and manager regarding the condition of your suite as in worn out appliances, faulty toilets, electrical fixtures not working etc. This is your responsibility, hint: hire your own inspector instead of using your RE agent. We take care of the building only, the rest is your responsibility.
And speaking of agents, please stop turning our building into a circus at every open house. It diminishes the dignity and value of our humble residence. How can we take this profession seriously?
You do it to yourselves.
Oh and while you are sitting around doing nothing ,(as most recent open houses have been very quiet) perhaps you can brush up on some math skills. You certainly can extrapolate your commission fees, but how is it you can turn a 2 bdrm 950 sq.ft condo and market it as 3 bdrm 1100 sq. ft. The balcony is NOT a bedroom. Invest in a proper measuring tape and while you’re at it use your quiet time to read some of the bylaws. Proper info is important , as opposed to guesswork and pulling answers out of you rear end.
The sooner this whole fiasco comes to an end the better. Please sell your suites quickly and leave us alone.I would like for some nice people to move in and make this place their home.
Thanks for listening
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March 5th, 2012 at 12:53 pm 18
@Devore: “As for China’s GDP growth, anything under double digits (official numbers) is probably a disaster.”
Agreed…I saw an interview with an expat economics professor working in Beijing. He said it’s more likely that China is already in contraction. All we can tell from the ‘official numbers’ is which direction things are headed.
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March 5th, 2012 at 1:35 pm 19
so happy to see things start to slide
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March 5th, 2012 at 1:44 pm 20
Ok , here is a comment: I just want to do an input once in a while from the “trenches” so to speak, no economics degree, but equipped with common sense. Would that not be a good grounding input now and then?
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March 5th, 2012 at 2:09 pm 21
@Anonymous:
The amount of unoccupied and unused ‘investment’ housing in China is worth approximately 25 Trillion USD.
Most of that money is gone, it’s just that not everyone is aware that it’s gone.
The GDP of China is around 11 Trillion USD.
1 Trillion of that is pure real-estate transactions, nearly 10% of their economy. You can double that when you add all the transactions that go into building and supplying material. Double all that again for the knock-on effect (in general 1 person employed in direct industry employs 1 person indirectly). So approximately 4 Trillion or about 35% of the Chinese economy is dependant on real estate.
Add to that 20% or more unemployment coming from laid off tradespeople, salespeople and those they supported.
Those with money will flee once things get messy (why do you think they have the wife and kids in North Van?). Those left behind will have no money to fix the problems, in fact they’ll have crushing debt loads, the economy will be trashed, yet they can’t revert to the previous economic model that kept everyone employed in earlier times.
What does that spell?
Revolution.
Mark my words, in the next ten years China will be a mess. The revolution may not succeed, but it will come.
The rest of the world will be lucky if they manage to keep their nukes in steady hands. In any case, things are going to get really ugly over there.
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March 5th, 2012 at 2:40 pm 22
Meet the Ritters…
A million-dollar mortgage goes unpaid for years while couple fights foreclosure
How long will it take to hear the same stories in Vancouver?
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March 5th, 2012 at 2:54 pm 23
@Drachen #21
“What does that spell?
Revolution.
Mark my words, in the next ten years China will be a mess. The revolution may not succeed, but it will come.
”
Does that mean more dirty money is comming our way?
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March 5th, 2012 at 3:08 pm 24
“99.3 is still around”
it is not the same since Larry and Willy left
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March 5th, 2012 at 3:31 pm 25
@Drachen:
Those with money will flee once things get messy (why do you think they have the wife and kids in North Van?).
What do we then do with them? We can’t act like that they aren’t around therefore attainable, and pretend that all is nice and rosy. They’ll quickly be back in their business and into what they do the best, fraud, deception, cheat, lie, bribe but this time on Canadian soil. Should we as responsible citizens let them prevail and win, I don’t think so.
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March 5th, 2012 at 3:34 pm 26
@Laibach:
sorry, typo: attainable = “unattainable”
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March 5th, 2012 at 4:31 pm 27
Just making a comment to avoid deletion. As you were……
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March 5th, 2012 at 10:01 pm 28
@specuskeptic:
mee too
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March 9th, 2012 at 7:37 am 29
Effectively import products from China at very competitive price.
Find a qualified manufacturer in China.
Find right Chinese business partners.
Have their own office in China and run their business by ther own.
Be your representative in China for your business in China
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