It is unfortunate the the small time promoter got busted and ends up with the bad rap when in fact, the entire real estate industry and especially the bigger players are the most rotted.

#1. Not small time. Makes A LOT of $$$.

Conservatives just lifted visa restrictions for Mexico!
Minister Baird announced it.

Means you can enter Canada from Mexico as easy as Canadians enter Mexico.

Get ready for the flood of people, and Mexican gang influence in BC. Also, watch what happens to rents. If you are renting, secure a good place because good rentals are going to get harder to find.

My estimate is extra 10,000-20,000 medical here by summer.

Looks like the escorts from Mexico are coming back this summer!!

And they also said MC2 were sold out last year.

But they are still available on mls.

From the other victories file. I see now that OSC’s Investor Education Fund site now has a mortgage buy/rent calculator which allows up to 5% DECREASE in property value per year!

http://www.getsmarteraboutmoney.ca/tools-and-calculators/buy-or-rent-calculator/buy-or-rent-calculator.aspx

You’ve seen it before, but now give it a whirl today. Move the slider called “Average yearly change in home value:” to the left (-5%/year) and watch the interactive equity graph go into the toilet! Finally, a mortgage calculator that tells you to rent! I love it.

It would be nice if it went to -30% per year, but this is still a huge victory that came about by people writing to complain. This is the only consumer oriented buy/rent calculator in Canada (or anywhere) without the rosy bias of ponzi bubble equity.

“Vancouver Sun reporter Wyng Chow destroyed his own integrity and put the newspaper’s credibility in jeopardy by accepting a benefit from a developer he was covering as a real estate reporter, the Sun’s lawyer said Friday.

In a final argument before arbitrator Rory McDonald, Donald Jordan said Chow, 56, crossed the line when he mixed a personal dispute with Concord Pacific Ltd. with his job as a business reporter. And he said Chow’s acceptance of a “deep discount” on a condominium he bought from the company in 2001 showed a “lack of a moral compass” that justified the newspaper firing him last month.”

http://www.6717000.com/blog/2005/01/sun-alleges-reporters-condo-deal-damaged-his-and-newspapers-integrity/

What I find interesting about this MAC Solutions (and other) phoney stories is that the perpetrators don’t think they’ll ever be found out.

With their “knowledge” of public relations and communication in general, particularly these days with the internet, social media and other possible kinds, do they really think no one will notice?

You can run, but you can’t hide.

I love the way the owner of MAC is trying to go the route of “gosh I can’t imagine how that happened, perhaps they just decided to do that themselves”.

Good grief, they’re a marketing company! Shouldn’t dealing with the media be something they are good at?

How many company’s in any industry would let the CBC in to interview it’s junior staff without finding out what they are discussing?

“Whats with the film crew?” – “Oh, that’s the CBC” – “Why are they interviewing Barry from the stock room?” – “Dunno” – “Guess we’ll find out about it on the news tonight then”

Story made page 4 of the Province today. Well done folks.

From the pages of “Pumper and Flipper Monthly”:

http://www.thestar.com/business/real_estate/2013/02/15/home_sales_pick_up_steam_in_toronto_and_vancouver_in_january.html
Published on Fri Feb 15 2013

Meanwhile, in the productive economy:

http://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCABRE91E0KR20130215
Published on Fri Feb 15 2013

Canada factories see biggest sales drop since May 2009
Factory sales tumbled 3.1 percent in the month, the sharpest fall since May 2009 in seasonally-adjusted terms, compared with market forecasts for a 0.8 percent decline. The setback more than erased the 1.9 percent gain in November, revised from 1.7 percent previously.

“It’s no secret that Vancouver’s local condominium market is soft…”

that’s the opening line for CTV’s story on the fake MAC buyers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbfa2xpu9Aw

@Short’em High: Hooray, a month-over-month increase in sales activity from December to January; time to break out the champagne! Never mind the 14% YoY decrease.

hey guys, this is outrageous right?

False Creek residents dead set against funeral home in neighbourhood

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/business/False+Creek+residents+dead+against+funeral+home+neighbourhood/7968064/story.html#ixzz2KzL4xxT8

@ Bailing

“Guess we’ll find out about it on the news tonight then”

What makes it even more ridiculous is that, even if that were the case, you would expect that they would at least watch news stories about the projects they were promoting and notice that their employees were posing as buyers. But then, I guess these guys have already shown us that they believe that bare-faced lies are the way to go.

Short’em High: Oh yeah, and I notice that we’re suddenly back to pumping average prices. Let’s have a look at the much-vaunted MLS HPI:

1 month: -0.5%
3 months: -2.6%
6 months: -4.5%
1 year: -2.8%

You have to go back to the 3-year number to get out of the red, and at 4.7%, I have GICs that perform better.

But somehow the Star has found a way to report that both volumes and prices are up again, marking the end of the ever-so-imperceptible-and-nothing-to-be-concerned-about softening of the market.