Open Topic

FFFA! CONDO! HOMES! CREDIT! USA! BC! GLOOM!

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121 Comments

It’s that time of the week again!

This is when we do our regular end of the week news round up and open topic discussion thread for the weekend.

Pull up a chair! Here are a few links to kick off the chat:

–Horrible houses in bad areas for $500k+
–BOC: Household debt is biggest risk
–BC: Binging on Credit
–USA vs Canada housing bubble
–Get you drunk, take advantage of you
–How bad is your market?
–Why do Canadians owe so much?
–The end of US mortgage deduction?
–Canada sinks on US / Europe gloom

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

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Naked Official #9000

@Extend and Pretend:

Fuck yeah, smack that wu mao dang bitch down

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Extend and Pretend

@rp1: History repeats!

The blunt domain name you are suggesting is not a new idea. Remember this one?

http://www.fuckedcompany.com/

In the day, this site was THE guide to timing the dotcom crash. They featured anonymous inside poop from the employees of distressed startup firms explaining just how f***ed the company was. Numbers of people let go, unproductive work environment, failed projects, non-technical people hired for technical work, etc etc.

Many did not sell their stock. But those true believers put a bottom on the price for those that did sell and realize profits. History repeats.

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rp1

#91 @Anonymous: We need an archive of these side-by-side comparisons. Call it VancouverIsFucked.com

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rp1

#102 @Anonymous: “Nothing and I mean nothing can save this market.”

Be more imaginative. A debt jubilee would save it.

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Anonymous

@Bag it and tag it: For some of those Cambie corridor listings the investors massively overpaid because they were too stupid to understand the City claws back land value increases through CAC. Some of those lots may sit for a while because the investors can never get their money back.

If anyone thinks there isn’t dumb money sloshing around Vancouver, look no further than Cambie.

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rp1

#111 @Extend and Pretend: “What sort of economy do we live in where the only real asset a person has is their home rather than marketable job skills or entrepreneurial opportunities with real growth/scale possibilities?”

I think it starts with a V.

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horace

@Anonymous: Ha! I lived in that house when it was broken into suites years ago. What an incredible waste of renovation dollars!

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mobile

@Extend and Pretend: I’m renting a furnished place in Vancouver so maybe I can tell you why. I have a 4 month contract and am then returning home, I don’t want to move a bunch of furniture so furnished makes sense for me. I want to be able to make my own meals so I’m not going to stay in a hotel room.

I saw the ‘rent it furnished’ ads, but they are overpriced. Even though I’m not paying the rent I still want to get the best place I can for the budget the company is giving me, so I’m not going with ‘rent it furnished’. I don’t know who is, none of the place I saw there have rented out in the last month.

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Anonymous

“Rent It Furnished”

their places are ridiculously overpriced, i can only imagine how high their property management fees are, i bet that a lot of those places sit empty month after month

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Anonymous

@Patiently Waiting: checking out rental again eh, did someone just dump garbage infront of your door.

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Extend and Pretend

@Patiently Waiting: Furnished Market?

I’ve asked about this strange market before. One reply on this forum stated that the owner of the property would simply stay elsewhere for weeks/months. Or, they would leave town while the unit was tenanted. It is an interesting lifestyle, but one must wonder how precarious such an owner’s finances are that this practice is economically advantageous as opposed to getting more regular employment. What sort of economy do we live in where the only real asset a person has is their home rather than marketable job skills or entrepreneurial opportunities with real growth/scale possibilities?

The question also remains, who rents these? Who is the typical tenant? Is there a widespread fear of low hygenic standards in hotel rooms per the recent CBC Marketplace episodes?

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/

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Amen


So many shops are closing. I spoke with a lovely woman who works at a famous tea shop. She said it is due to super high rents (i.e. greedy landlords) and bad economy.

Not so sure that the landlords are “greedy” per se. Was talking with a retail expert in Vancouver the other day about why so many For Lease storefronts on Robson. He mentioned large RE holdings companies buying up the properties at inflated prices, and then being forced to raise the rent to maintain a yield for their shareholders. You might call it greedy landlords, but I would call it an inevitable outcome of the financial imperatives. Or, if you like, the bursting of a bubble. Might want to consider staying away from commercial REITs. …
Not sure if this actually applies to Victoria; just an observation.

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rp1

@Anonymous: “Even after some serious price drops from their starting asking prices…”

I can’t bring myself to call any of their prices serious.

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Patiently Waiting

@Patiently Waiting: Oops I meant 150 listings for today 😛 If you count all their listings from previous days, its over 200.

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Patiently Waiting

Some company called “Rent It Furnished” just dumped about 250 listings on Craigslist. All are horribly expensive. Their clients must be getting desperate. Why can’t they understand that most potential tenants already have their own furniture, and aren’t going to pay some astronomical premium to use someone else’s?

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Anonymous

Went to a bunch of westside open houses today (tagged along with some friends who are looking). Deadsville at them all. Even after some serious price drops from their starting asking prices…

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Bull! Bull! Bull!

@Reality check:

First you tell me that housing is doomed because of economic and political risks, now you tell me that housing is doomed because a lack of economic and political risks… Bear logic at its best. That’s what it takes to be wrong for 6 1/2 years. Bear logic.

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Anonymous

why this guy spent so much money renovating this house is beyond me, this is about 1 foot apart from one of the oldest run down apartments in Kits, and it has no front yard, side yards, or backyard (besides a driveway.

http://www.yattermatters.com/homes-for-sale/?area=Vancouver%2BWest&community=Kitsilano&type=Residential%2BDetached&bedrooms=Any&bathrooms=Any&minprice=200000&maxprice=5000000&nonce=53a2ec2301&search=true&submit_x=149&submit_y=8&listpage=4&prop=V971211

or rent it for….wtf????

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/van/apa/3417633348.html

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WantToBuySoonBut

Something can save this market.

Yes, it can.

And all of you know what that is.

Don’t bullshit us.

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Anonymous

The Gov’t acknowledged they made a huge mistake allowing 35 & 40 Amort’s.

They are not ever coming back.

Nothing and I mean nothing can save this market.

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Painted turtle

@ reality check

you could add the government of Israel wants to go to war with Iran, who supports the gov of Syria, while other countries, like France, are supporting the Syrian rebels. Meanwhile NATO must support Turkey when Syria sends rockets across their border. The US thought that a good way to weaken the Arabic world and Iran would be to intensify the tensions between the Muslim factions, and it seems to be working… Hot hot hot. What will be the impact for the price of oil? I do not think we are in for much stability in the next six months.

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Reality check

“The economy is worse now than it was 2008?”

That’s the whole point!
Vancouver RE turned down in 2008 at the same time as the lousy economy.
This time it started to tank with a fairly healthy economy because it was overpriced and unsustainable…well in advance of the economic shitstorm that’s brewing.
Enjoy the ride.

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Bag it and tag it

@Mortgage: I hate to nit pick, but the reason that 41st home is listed so high is because of its Cambie corridor zoning (potential for multi-unit, multi-level dev)….otherwise it would be listed for closer to $1mil…which is still ridiculous.

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ScubaSteve

@Puzzeelkr:

The sales figures I am tracking show a fairly significant drop in average prices this month. That’s typical for November though. I do think we stand a chance at dropping below $1,000,000 by January.

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Bull! Bull! Bull!

@Reality check:

The global economy is worse now than it was in 2008? Well… I guess that’s why bears are bears. Enjoy renting while you miss the real estate train AGAIN.

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