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Buy in 1 cubic foot at a time: CUBE!

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80 Comments

Vancouver has a problem with affordable housing.

No matter where you place the blame: speculators, easy credit, housing bubble, foreign buyers – the problem remains.

As a first time buyer how do you get into the market?

How about one cubic foot at a time?

It can be tough to afford a 580 sq ft one bedroom apartment for $415,000 but anyone can find an extra $199 to get that first cubic foot and get in now!

It’s Real Estate 3.0!

This was posted as a submission to the reTHINK housing competition from the City of Vancouver and already the rave reviews are pouring in:

Doug Farmer says:

4 stars – Very outside the box thinking about something inside the box. Has 21st century written all over it.

Our friend YVR Housing Analyst says

A thoughtful submission. I like how they can stack; I, for one, would first have tried spheres.

And Flo says

This is the least creative solution I have seen submitted. I feel hopeless about my future just looking at this.
I agree with arch. This is not the kind of architectural experience that sustains a human soul.

So don’t miss out on your opportunity.  Get your single square foot in the market today!

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rp1

This is not to be missed:

http://www.mises.ca/posts/articles/a-portrait-of-the-2011-cmhc/

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Anonymous

@patriotz: “Don’t confuse “illiquid” with “vendors refuse to price to sell”

Same thing. Anything is liquid at the right price.

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Dr. Nick Riviera

@joe_blown_away_by_high_housing_costs:

They could afford to buy anew house but they can’t afford new carpets? I guess End of the Roll won’t sell carpets for 5% down, 25 year amortizations.

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Village Whisperer

@frank: Ahh… never mind. Got my answer, thanks

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Village Whisperer

@frank: Did Fish say there were no SFH sales in West Van or the West Side of Vancouver?

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Anonymous

There’s always WonderWine! http://www.wonderwine.com/About.page

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Turner

“Don’t confuse “illiquid” with “vendors refuse to price to sell”. It’s not any harder to sell than before.”

Ah, thank you. My day is not complete without your daily nugget of condescension.

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Anonymous

@Best place on meth:

I am not sure recent Vancouver home owners can even afford wine anymore.

Vodka kool aid is better suited for them. You can even make fake cranteeny with red kool aid.

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oneangryslav2

@VHB:

If we have <=85 average sales per day for the 8 days remaining in July, we will come in under 2008 sales.

Wow! That would be epic.

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rp1

#58 @Best place on meth: “Sales look dead today, not a single SFH moved on the east side.”

It’s the weather!!!

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rp1

#63 @Best place on meth: “Starting today you may bring your own bottle of wine to restaurants.”

I like it. If other cheapskates and/or snobs bring their own bottles of wine, I expect to pay a lower markup.

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Boombust

WHAT I MEANT was…

Never mind.

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Navin R. Johnson

@joe_blown_away_by_high_housing_costs:

That is a wonderful story. Thanks for posting 🙂

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VHB

Jul-2012 Total days 21 Days elapsed so far 13 Weekends / holidays 6 Days missing 0 Days remaining 8 7 Calendar Day Moving Average: Sales 106 7 Calendar Day Moving Average: Listings 220 SALES Sales so far 1489 Projection for rest of month (using 7day MA) 848 Projected month end total 2337 NEW LISTINGS Listings so far 3226 Projection for rest of month (using 7day MA) 1763 Projected month end total 4989 Sell-list so far 46.2% Projected month-end sell-list 46.8% MONTHS OF INVENTORY Inventory as of July 19, 2012 19208 Current MoI at this sales pace 8.22 Here are the norms from the monthly REBGV reports July sell list sell/list 2001 2618 3504 74.7% 2002 2670 3929 68.0% 2003 4023 4447 90.5% 2004 3019 4785 63.1% 2005 3652 4107 88.9% 2006 2732 4370 62.5% 2007 3873 4924 78.7% 2008 2174… Read more »

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HAM Solo

Who needs Luongo anymore, when RE market provides 2 shutouts in one day?

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jesse

@joe_blown_away_by_high_housing_costs: “the same realtor sold us that condo with the same smelly carpets in it. I don’t understand what has changed“

1. You are now the seller, not the buyer.
2. Markets can turn illiquid. Didn’t they explain that to you?

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Best place on meth

Congratulations to mortgage poor Vancouverites:

Starting today you may bring your own bottle of wine to restaurants.

Please leave the Peller Estates at home to avoid embarrassing yourselves any further.

Cranteeny’s are not applicable to this offer.

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frank

@Best place on meth:

Fish says no sales of SFH in West Vancouver either. This could be a trend starting.

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paulb

New Listings 193
Price Changes 90
Sold Listings 87
TI:19208

http://www.laurenandpaul.ca

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midnite toker

@joe_blown_away_by_high_housing_costs: Wtf dude, I don’t even like to buy a new (used) car unless I’ve sold the old one first.

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Anonymous
-
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MM                      MM       MM                      MM 
MM                      MM       MM                      MM 
MM                      MM       MM                      MM 
MM                      MM       MM                      MM 
MM                      MM       MM                      MM 
MM                      MM       MM                      MM 
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You will be assimilated….

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Best place on meth

Sales look dead today, not a single SFH moved on the east side.

Maybe the MLS is broken.

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fixie guy

@46 jesse: “It’s fun to talk about industry-generated HPIs but I pay little attention to them anymore…”

Garth’s column, of course, was of high interest for those who don’t understand that, market participants unfamiliar with the deep concerns about the industry HPI. For those already in the know Kay’s third generation insider perspective was the gold. Don’t really see a reason for downplaying either.

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joe_blown_away_by_high_housing_costs

Overheard this conversation today at a random bus stop in the Lower Mainland: A: I haven’t seen you very much lately B: Yeah, we just bought a house and it is constantly in need of repairs. Every time we touch something it breaks. We opened a window and the glass fell out so we had to fix that. We had to get a new furnace. We had to replace this. We had to replace. We keep finding deficiencies that need to be replaced. A: Oh that sounds stressful. B: Yes it is stressful. And to add to our stress, the condo we were living in before we purchased this house isn’t selling. Our realtor told us the reason our condo isn’t selling is because the carpets smell bad and that we should replace them. We can’t afford to install new… Read more »

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