14,000 places for sale
Just in time for the month end expiries!
We’ve hit the 14,000 listing mark and we’re still in the first month of the year.
According to VHB if we get 229 or more new listings today we’ll have the 2nd highest number of listings in the last 13 years.
And this is at a time when we have the 3rd lowest sales in the last 13 years.
Read his full comment here to see what the stats looked like for those years.
And enjoy the party.
January 31st, 2013 at 5:46 am 1
“A construction-industry conspiracy to inflate the price of building foundations for houses has been operating for nearly 15 years in the Toronto area, Canada’s Competition Bureau maintains in a 120-page search-warrant application obtained by CBC News.
The bureau says some of the biggest companies that pour concrete basement foundations for new homes have:
Agreed to fix prices.
Established agreements not to compete.
Attempted to stifle smaller competitors.
With more than 330,000 new houses built in the Greater Toronto Area since 1997, the alleged price-fixing could have added hundreds of millions of dollars to the total tab for home construction — or several thousand dollars per house.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2013/01/30/concrete-forming-competition-bureau-price-fixing-allegations.html
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January 31st, 2013 at 6:49 am 2
I just left this comment on yesterdays post – thought I would add it here as well:
@40 Democrass
“..as long as Canada remains one of the world’s richest countries with a generous social wellfare system”
Because Canada has brought in so many rich foreign speculators with satellite families who drive RE sky high and pay no income tax yet use our health care and education forcing locals to go into massive debt to compete, Canada wont be a wealthy country with generous welfare system soon – the social system is already crumbling and underwater and after Canada’s RE crash CMHC will face a massive bill which will add to our debt – not to mention the imminent job losses spreading through FIRE etc etc. look at all the consolidation and places out of biz already..
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January 31st, 2013 at 8:32 am 3
i wonder why richmond has some of the highest childhood poverty rates. sounds like people there don’t pay taxes and appear poor on paper only because of understating incomes.
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January 31st, 2013 at 8:43 am 4
There’s an — um, interesting subtext simmering under this story. It’s about Flaherty’s
drinking problemskin condition.Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 9:00 am 5
Re #3,
Poverty here is defined as a function of income. A lot of HAMs have enough assets that they don’t need to work at all, and thus the low income.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 9:05 am 6
I would not be surprised if there was price fixing in these parts, and not just for foundations. My friend was deciding on whether to reno his West Van house, or build new. He checked around and all the companies quoted the standard price for building new in W.Van: $500 per ft2…which seems totally ridiculous.
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January 31st, 2013 at 9:14 am 7
Very high poverty in the British Properties as well…
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 10:27 am 8
So how many nK parties in February? I say at least two: 14K (again!!!) and 15K. If we hit 16K I’ll eat my hat ^——
As for February, I have penciled in (REBGV reported) inventory as 14335 and sales of 1891, based on looking at past years’ trends from 2005. That would be an MOI of 7.6. (That’s not good)
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January 31st, 2013 at 11:24 am 9
@Admin
Why can’t I hide the banner on the left anymore.
This site sucks to read on an ipad (other than that, this site rocks!)
FF
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January 31st, 2013 at 11:29 am 10
post #6
$500 per sq ft IS totally ridiculous.
Don’t know who your friend has talked to, but it’s at least double of what good, honest builders can use and still come up with a profit.
Material is stil reasonably priced, and there is no shortage of cheap labour. With low int rates, builders can afford to have new houses sit on the market while they hope to get their inflated asking prices, but that could soon change.
You ever wonder why new houses in most parts of the US are selling for a quarter our prices when the land value is only half.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 11:45 am 11
Jesse, why so low on the Feb month end inventory projection? Last year it was 1500 above January month end which would put it closer to 15,500 if that trend continues with a month end MOI of above 8
Also, just as a note, last year inventory from Jan 31 to Feb 1 only dropped 74 listings so we might still be able to avoid the 13K’s this time around!
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 12:16 pm 12
Well there are still tons of over priced SFH in Richmond. I was looking at No 3 Road to Garden City Road around Blundell Road. Most houses are still priced at $1M to $1.5M. There is only 2 or 3 houses asking below $850K which in my view is still over priced. Most of the houses in that area are all build with similar floor plans at around the same time. The two SFH listed below $800K I think have been on the market for quite a few months too. Looks like the sellers aren’t panicking yet. Even a 20% reduction in asking price per year for 3 years isn’t likely to bring housing prices down to reasonable levels. The bottom is still a long way away unfortunately.
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January 31st, 2013 at 12:20 pm 13
Don Cayo: The case for strata ownership of secondary suites
http://www.vancouversun.com/touch/story.html?id=7894503
We’ve already seen some of this. LOLz result when buying basement suites.
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January 31st, 2013 at 12:23 pm 14
Observer, While the past two years saw Jan-Feb inventory growth increase considerably, other years, such as 2009 and 2010, saw growth on % basis less. I’ll post my calcs a bit later on.
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January 31st, 2013 at 12:42 pm 15
Responding to the comment thread about very wealthy newcomers-
I am hearing many commenters share a common opinion: that our immigration system specifically tries to attract very wealthy individuals, but that the net contribution of these individuals once they are here is hard to quantify.
This is a delicate topic- it is difficult to separate the process (our immigration rules) from the people (those that choose to immigrate). However, regarding the process, both the federal and the provincial governments have temporarily stopped receiving applications for wealth-based immigration streams, pending review of the programs.
Dear readers, here is your chance to make a difference. Write to Jason Kenney (Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism) and Pat Bell (MC Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training). Instead of blaming our newcomers for working within a system of rules that our own government set up, let’s step up to the plate and suggest some policy alternatives.
Is it realistic to believe that the flow of international money into Vancouver can (or even should) be stopped? No. However, the current suspension of investor immigrant applications may be partly responsible for the current slowdown in west side housing purchases. Do you believe this slowdown is a good thing? If you do, write to the decision makers and tell them so.
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January 31st, 2013 at 1:12 pm 16
not really. it’s a tax issue. the father makes money over seas and pays no canadian tax (illegal). the family lives here claim they have no income. they get free education, healthcare, all kinds of assistance that low income people get for glasses, eye care, dental, whatever.
these people are leaches. no nation in the world would tolerate this. well, except ours.
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January 31st, 2013 at 1:30 pm 17
@first time commenter
They are call locust in Hong Kong.
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/02/01/about-that-hong-kong-locust-ad/
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January 31st, 2013 at 1:36 pm 18
@first time commenter Says:
The best thing to do is gather as much info as you can on the “leeches” and turn them in to CRA and Immigration. I heard that a Richmond “new Canadian family” was reported after the wife who drove a brand new Mercedes SUV to drop her kid off at daycare while she went shopping all day was bragging to all the daycare moms how the gov pays for her daycare because her family had no income in Canada. The other “new Canadian” moms turned her in. I particularly enjoyed hearing that one.
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January 31st, 2013 at 1:37 pm 19
Can any of you info savvy/privvy folk tell me what the two houses on Ross Rd in NorthVan just sold for and what the asking prices were? They both sold fast (hopefully at deeply discounted prices). The one has about 5 neon “sold” signs on it – they are definitely making a show of it.
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January 31st, 2013 at 1:48 pm 20
@first time commenter
“Write to Jason Kenney” —> already did.
“Is it realistic to believe that the flow of international money into Vancouver can (or even should) be stopped? ” —> Can = I believe it is possible to slow it down. Should = Yes! Just look at all the negative consequences, which, long term, outweigh the benefits.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 2:09 pm 21
@MadasHell: you know what? This leeching all started with HKer who immigrated to Van during the HK transfer phase in the early 90s. In fact many still do! There are tons of empty condos bought by these people in the 90s and 2000s that sit empty or rented out for cash with no income being declared. As well, while they spend 6 months or more in HK, collects HK pensions, etc while paying no income tax, they are happily receiving all kinds of government benefits include GST/HST credits, low income assistances, OAS/GIS/etc to the tune of thousands of dollars a year. The only reason they are calling mainlanders locust is for 2 reasons only. One is their superiority attitude that they are special and better than mainlander Chinese, and two, mainlanders are using the same methods they used to leech of Canada on their own home turf and they don’t like it. Simple as that. Frankly, the level of leeching is positvely correlated to the level of wealth rather than place of origin in Asia. There are tons of hard working honest immigrants from China, Taiwan, and HK and the thing they share in common are that they are poor / middle class people trying to make a better life for their family, rather than escaping with stolen wealth.
@Beuller – I wish this happens way more often because I hate these leeches. I’m paying high income taxes while these people with more money than I & my spouse & my kid will make in our lifetime are getting government assistances that we can’t even get!!! Not to mention the fact that my family never got any government handouts, except for that Cdn Child Benefits, in our 20+ years in Canada. Hate the leeches and it goes for all nationalities…
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January 31st, 2013 at 2:47 pm 22
” the gov pays for her daycare because her family had no income in Canada. ”
How do you get the government to pay for daycare if neither parent is (on the record) employed?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 2:50 pm 23
“The bottom is still a long way away unfortunately.”
Unfortunately for those who buy before it. Not unfortunately for those who wait for it.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 3:05 pm 24
Guess not so many big plasmas and LCDs are buying lately to decorate new condos.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Future+Shop+five+Best+stores+closing/7900657/story.html
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January 31st, 2013 at 3:41 pm 25
Chabar, yeah that blows me away….no more Best Buy in Victoria….just that hole-in-the wall BB “Mobile” store at Mayfair Mall. Plus Sears Canada still bleeding jobs, another 700 get the axe…..
Great time to buy a house!!
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 3:58 pm 26
“Unfortunately for those who buy before it. Not unfortunately for those who wait for it.”
do you still think it’s going to be a generation before prices hit bottom?
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January 31st, 2013 at 4:12 pm 27
Re: “The best thing to do is gather as much info as you can on the “leeches” and turn them in to CRA and Immigration.”
Admittedly I am lazy too Google it and perhaps others feel the same way, but if anyone has links or contacts for reporting such activities, perhaps a new thread would be great for outlining the process to make such a report.
Further to reporting “Mercedez-driving astronaunt wives in poverty” or “cash-only/no tax restaurant owners, we could also turn in active grow-ops or landlords that you know don’t report rental incomes.
This could be the start of a movement to exterminate such unwanted pests.
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January 31st, 2013 at 4:17 pm 28
“do you still think it’s going to be a generation before prices hit bottom?”
What gives you the idea that I ever thought that?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 4:34 pm 29
“How do you get the government to pay for daycare if neither parent is (on the record) employed?”
Please don’t ruin the fantasy by making sense.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 4:44 pm 30
New Listings 164
Price Changes 69
Sold Listings 58
TI:14126
http://www.paulboenisch.com
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January 31st, 2013 at 5:05 pm 31
@27 Specialfx3000
Of course! That’s why all those restaurants are cash only – not to save on the VISA fee but to lower their declared income.
@15 first time commenter
Like tax evasion(above), you see it isnt necessarily that foreign wealth that is allowed into Canada plays by Canada’s poor rules – often the wealth comes with its own corrupt methods – which is too often how the wealth gets here in the first place. Doesnt mean Canada cant get wise and pass laws to shut down the nonsense. So yes write Jason Kenney great idea – and vote wisely..
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January 31st, 2013 at 5:07 pm 32
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/01/31/toronto-condo-sales-prices-2012_n_2593404.html
“But Urbanation’s Myers warns prospective buyers not to wait for a price collapse.”
ooooo thanks for the warning Myers
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 5:26 pm 33
i’m not so sure a quarter of a million dollars for a studio apartment in White Rock is the “best deal of earth”
http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/van/reb/3579378361.html
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January 31st, 2013 at 5:27 pm 34
Well that caps off a wonderful January for sales.
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January 31st, 2013 at 5:34 pm 35
Vangrl:
$249000 / 1br – 508ft² – $100,000.00 Price Reduced!
That’s 29% off. In my opinion that place should be $100K-$150K.
A good start but it just shows how much further our market needs to go.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 5:42 pm 36
$349,000 original asking price for a studio in White Rock? idiot realtor
now she’s crying: motivated seller, bring your offer, trades considered blah blah blah… what a joke
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 6:04 pm 37
This just in:
Vancouver’s spring real estate market has been cancelled.
Repeat, the market is closed.
Thanks for coming and drive safely.
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January 31st, 2013 at 6:04 pm 38
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/01/31/business-best-buy-closure.html
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January 31st, 2013 at 6:10 pm 39
@patriotz
“How do you get the government to pay for daycare if neither parent is (on the record) employed?”
The trick is not to report no income. This would probably be too suspicious. The trick is to report minimal income. Something like $15000 working as mid-management back in Asia. That way you get oodles of social assistance from CCTB,UCCB, GST/HST tax credit, and other low income assistance.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 6:32 pm 40
An observer, my estimates from February are a simple average predictor. I think I did the calculations here a few days ago but here they are again:
Reported inventory from Jan-Feb 2005-2012 gained 0.41%/workingday
Feb reported sales/workingday were 65% higher than Jan 2005-2012
Reported sales in Jan will be about about 60 sales/workingday. That would mean 99 sales/workingday in February or 99 sales (19 workingdays).
Reported inventory will be about 13100. Inventory growth of 0.41%/workingday would produce a total inventory of 14120.
I think this method is a decent starting point, and we can then argue why February will be better/worse than the average. Right now I’m not seeing much that would lead me to deviate significantly from this estimate. This method in effect assumes February will be a “drip drip drip”. I guess we’ll see!
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January 31st, 2013 at 6:40 pm 41
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January 31st, 2013 at 6:48 pm 42
@vangrl
That condo has been listed for about a year now on Craigslist and still no takers. My guess is they saw a yellow helicopter in the neighborhood and ran out to buy the nearest condo.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 6:56 pm 43
“or 99 sales (19 workingdays)” *1811 sales
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January 31st, 2013 at 6:58 pm 44
As a Canadian tax payer all my working life I hate the “locusts” and “leeches” as much as anybody. But I find it troubling with all these statements with racist undertones. I work for a tax collecting agency for over 10 years and I can say without a doubt that the biggest tax cheats of them all are born and raised Canadians.
Do you know a waiter/waitress that do not declare all their tips? Do you know anybody that declares their car as a gift when they sell their car? Do you know a self-employed person who declare tax write offs like car lease payments, meals, and gas when they are not suppose to? These are just a few examples but the list goes on and on.
I guess it is easy to vent your frustrations at new immigrants because their transgressions tend to be in your face but I find it hypocritical when at the same time some people let it slide when their own family/friends are doing the exact same thing. Just in a different context.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 7:03 pm 45
But… $15k barely pays for property tax on their west side sfh! Ok i guess thats why they need go t assistance
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January 31st, 2013 at 7:09 pm 46
5 of 8 best buys are closing in BC. Could someone speculate what that means for this province? Is this related to over debtness of BC residents?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 7:09 pm 47
@Waiting to exhale:
Waitresses not reporting tips on their income taxes does not come close to having the deleterious social and economic effects of HAM pricing locals out of the real estate market. The fact they leech off the social service system and declare no income just adds insult to injury.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 7:10 pm 48
I was so moved by last night’s Global TV coverage that I prepared a complaint letter (below) to be sent to various regulatory agencies. I think the Global TV “news” people have personal real estate investments and are terrified about losing. If true then they have a massive conflict of interest and that would explain their editorial stuff. That takes them offside with a few different regulatory agencies.
Hey Bears, join me in firing off this rocket to the agencies (emails below). Let’s light a fire under Global TV. It’s payback time.
Dear Sir/Madame:
We all remember the false and misleading behaviour of the news media during the technology “bubble” of the late 1990s and early 2000s. In both the US and Canada many people lost substantial sums of money due to the cheerleading of certain media outlets. After the dust settled it was found that many of these media outlets and “economic correspondents” had conflicting interests – owning the stock of companies they were actively reporting on and actively pumping.
The same is happening today in Canada with news reporting of the current real estate market. Many reporters and news organizations, most notably Vancouver’s branch of Global TV (CTV network), are delivering hyped up media and false/misleading reports on the status of the real estate market in BC. I believe this is also true for CTV’s Toronto reporting. A defining characteristics of such coverage is (i) one-sided reporting (i.e. “prices are about to take off”), and (ii) interviews with real estate agents and staff of real estate companies who have a clear conflict of interest in the current market. The behaviour goes beyond sensationalist headlines designed to boost circulation and sell ads – these news correspondents appear to be actively pumping the market for personal gain.
This is a request for you to improve the transparency of media reporting and correspondent real estate holdings.
Please consider having all major TV, radio and newspaper outlets adopt the following simple policy: All news reporters covering the real estate market must disclose if they own investment property in the region that is covered in their report. Note disclosure of their principal residence is not required, only investment properties that they do not line in.
Similar policies are used for stock market analyst reporting on TV and radio every day. This is not a significant expansion of existing conflict of interest policies, and real estate investment property should be monitored and tracked similar to other types of investments.
Examples of poor journalism and potential conflict of interest can be found here:
1. CTV Global TV, Vancouver Evening News, 6pm, Tamara Taggart reporting.
http://bc.ctvnews.ca/video?playlistId=1.1137076
2. Michael Campbell, Global TV.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVyr1UzOzoo
3. CTV “Soft Landing”
http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/bankers-expect-soft-landing-for-canadian-housing-market-despite-slowdown-1.1105197
4. more etc.
Thank-you:
<>
TARGET AGENCIES TO SEND THIS TO:
Consumer Protection BC
http://www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/consumers-other-businesses-home/how-to-make-a-complaint
Fax: 250 920-7181
Email: info@consumerprotectionbc.ca
Canadian Broadcast Standards Council
If you are not satisfied by a broadcaster’s response to your complaint, then send us the details. The Complaint Form found on our website makes it easy for you to submit your complaint. You can also send in your complaint via fax or email.
Fax: 613-233-4826
Email Address: complaints@cbsc.ca
http://www.cbsc.ca/english/complaint/
Canadian Association of Journalists
Box 280
Brantford, ON
N3T 5M8
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January 31st, 2013 at 7:11 pm 49
Very true- waiting to exhale- I know many fellow Canucks who have been life-long recipients of welfare, subsidized housing etc in fact multigenerational. Much as we are upset the Wealthy Chinese for buying homes, the influx of money allows a lot of locals to live the life of riley.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 7:15 pm 50
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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January 31st, 2013 at 7:16 pm 51
patriotz when do you think we’ll get to 2001 real prices?
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January 31st, 2013 at 7:21 pm 52
@Waiting to exhale
“I work for a tax collecting agency for over 10 years and I can say without a doubt that the biggest tax cheats of them all are born and raised Canadians.”
It’s well known that Revenue Canada has done nothing about the astronaut families leaching off the system. Which is why none of them have crossed your desk. Richmond has one of the highest childhood poverty rates. This is a city where there is not a single house for sale under $500k. This is a massive defrauding of the canadians.
Also, you have to understand that there is a big difference between someone who doesn’t declare ALL of their income versus someone who doesn’t declare ANY income and then goes on income assistance.
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January 31st, 2013 at 7:47 pm 53
Damn it people….. focus!!
1380 and 14×4 Ross Road, N. Vancouver. Details please!
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January 31st, 2013 at 8:25 pm 54
@Waiting
Agree with your thoughts on the racist undertones, i dislike them too. Disagree with everything else though. Your examples are unlike the total effrontery of mooching off a system to the extent being discussed.
Tax avoidance in Canada is a game. As a waiter/bartender i never filled out tax forms and never heard about it from CRA. I wasn’t trying to cheat, i was just lazy. Cars – why is the government collecting continuously on repeated resales? Its a bullshit tax. Of course people use the ‘gift’ clause. Declaring fuzzy costs as an expense? Absolutely! The government invented that one and do it to canadians on a grandiose scale. People pay as little tax as they can because of the terrible squandering of tax dollars by the government.
Collecting benefits unnecessarily on the other hand, that amounts to stealing hard earned money from the taxpayers. It’s very poor form.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 8:45 pm 55
The neighbour had a tenant for two years, a young man in the late 20′s. For those 2 years, the guy never had to work. I’d sometimes see him in the backyard getting high at 10 in the morning. He’d spend the rest of the day in the park with his buddies and his dog or just riding his bike around the neighbourhood. Most of the time he’d get food delivered to his suite. In the middle of the night, he’d have dope delivered in the back alley.
I heard through the grapevine the kid was on some kind of work disability benefits and government assistance. funny thing is he was doing various activities a normal/healthy person would do. The kid has blond hair and blue eyes. as local as one can get I guess.
Moral of the story? there are yellow leeches, white leeches, and brown leeches. they are everywhere, but you see only what you want to see.
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January 31st, 2013 at 8:48 pm 56
@ guy smilley
need the address to get that info. I dont see anything on ross rd that has sold in the last 60 days
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January 31st, 2013 at 8:50 pm 57
My mistake, 1380 ross rd and 1396 ross rd. 1396 was listed for 969k by remax. Please someone, tell me they took a whopping big haircut on that price….
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January 31st, 2013 at 9:07 pm 58
Remember V983607 was listed for $1 on many of the realtor sites last week? (At the time it was $355k on mls)
After failing to sell for $1 its now on mls for $328,800k and the $1 listing has disappeared..
I guess after failing to sell for a buck they thought they would slip in some lucky 8′s
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 9:08 pm 59
Did that Dude have all his close and distant family sitting in the backyard and sucking up on welfare, medical and other assistance? You are right, leaches have different colors but some of them are smaller and some of them are quite bigger.
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January 31st, 2013 at 9:17 pm 60
@Beuller:
you said: “the wife who drove a brand new Mercedes SUV to drop her kid off at daycare while she went shopping all day was bragging to all the daycare moms how the gov pays for her daycare because her family had no income in Canada.”
I personally know of an even more jaw-dropping story. A Vancouver mom in a financially well off family was bragging to all of her friends about how she was getting free groceries for her family at the food bank.
She’d park her luxury car a couple blocks away, and bide her time in the food bank line by fiddling on her cellphone.
I suppose from her POV this is perfectly good “free food” (after all, the food bank can’t give away anything questionable) that she can get at the cost of some ‘minor’ embarassment. And where she originally came from with poverty abound, the quality of this giveaway would be unheard of and a winfall — the embarassment of lining up would be a small price to pay.
Of course I don’t care what her background is, for anybody to abuse the system like that is just wrong.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 9:17 pm 61
@show me the number
Sounds like he was slanging the ganja, not buying. Now get the hell off my lawn!
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 9:19 pm 62
Revolution in China is inevitable – just a matter of time:
http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2013/01/new-york-times-hacked-following-wen-family-wealth-investigation/
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January 31st, 2013 at 9:29 pm 63
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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January 31st, 2013 at 9:43 pm 64
I worked the census in Richmond. House after house claimed less thank $30,000 household income. It seemed that the nicer the house and the nicer the cars the less money they made. Seeing that kind of fraud made me hate this country and Canadians for being suck stupid suckers. People here have no idea how the rest of the world works.
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January 31st, 2013 at 9:52 pm 65
I have a relative…whose annual income declared is $18,000. Wife is a stay at home mom. 5 kids. grandma and grandpa retired live with them.
The family gets maximum amounts of child benefits. The MSP premiums are paid for. The grandparents get OAS/GIS since they’ve only been in Canada for 14 years. Before OAS/GIS, they collected EI in the winter.
Child Poverty indeed if you go by the stats.
Now, the REAL STORY.
They live in a 14,000 square foot house– one of the bigger ones in Surrey on a 2 acre residential lot. Their Incorporated business rakes in $200,000 a month. They have invested in lots of RE overseas, especially India. Grandparents hold on to their permanent resident status (purposely don’t get Canadian Citizenship) for certain land ownership rights in India. They don’t check that box on the tax return that states if you own property >$100,000 overseas — apparently no one ever checks that box.
They are building an empire.
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January 31st, 2013 at 9:53 pm 66
I hope someone can pass the negative feedbacks to the MPs and Jason Kendney. As a tax payer, I hate to spend my tax money on those ” poor families and kids”. It’s unfair to all the hardworking honest canadians.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 10:48 pm 67
This guy was going to buy one hundred $1 Million + houses in Richmond…
Corruption in China and millions arriving in BC!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/chinas-corruption-crackdown-hones-in-on-bc-pulp-mill/article8097064/
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 10:59 pm 68
As it’s early morning and I’m late for work – I’ll have to be brief. However – there are so many things that are bad going on with this market – I’ll have to post it on the FFFA thread.
Highlight of my morning?
#2302-535 Smithe
List Date 29-Oct 2010 – At $550,000
this is a flip from a purchase price of approx $550K incl HST
Sold date 31-Jan-2013. at $398,000
Assessed value $426,000.
Big failed flip.
There was another at the Jameson as well today. . . . . anyhow . . Happy weekend and looking forward to that press release from REBGV trying to say that sales volumes are expected to be higher?
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January 31st, 2013 at 11:28 pm 69
Canadians are not gullible or “suckers”. We are just too busy working to pay off our debt and taking care of our family while believing the government would do the right thing.
those in power took advantage of our faith, loosened lending standards, and hoisted $800 billion in mortgage insurance on our backs to create the illusion of prosperity.
this illusion allowed a political party to win a majority government and a central banker to advance his career and win international acclaims for the steady hands he showed during the great financial crisis.
With our help, albeit unknowingly, Canadian banks are able to take the mortgages off their balance sheet because of OUR guarantee. these banks then turned around and gave us more loans (mortgages, HELOCS) that got us further in debt. all the while, the media egged us on, telling us buy now or buy never.
to me, this is the biggest fraud in the history of this country. Canadians, regardless of our background, are going to pay for it. the culprits will get away with it. what a shame.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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January 31st, 2013 at 11:38 pm 70
1396 ross rd sold $970k, don’t see a listing for 1380
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February 1st, 2013 at 12:03 am 71
#44 seconded.
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