Open Topic

FFFA! Houses, Garbage, Income, Listings

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104 Comments

Hey! It’s Friday already, that means it’s Friday Free-for-all time!

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

Here are a few recent links to kick off the chat:

–Housing Bubble set to burst?
–Surge of listings in metro Van
–Realtor Hunger Index a bit over avg.
–Garbage piling up around charity bins
–We have lowest incomes for educated
–

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

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Bob

Japan’s debt bubble rose rapidly, then hovered at a flat peak for 7 years before collapsing.

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ostritch

Dave,

Agree. Anything that has been flat for seven years is going in the right direction to avoid dire consequences of a reversal. I think the super expensive housing West of Main came off the boil about 2 years ago and is slowly going down. No more “trading houses like baseball cards” as Mr. Rennie commented at the time, although many of the sellers are still trying.

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ostritch

Renter’s Rule,

I’ve heard that rumour in the gay community since September but had a friend looking into it with her connections at City Hall. Apparently, it’s not true. They never heard of it over there. So like all rumours, difficult to substantiate. Maybe if we had real journalists, then someone would look into all the ways developers and agents effect COV policy. That would be nice but I won’t hold my breath.

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Dave

dexter 93, HAM exodus is definitely a global phenomena. There is a lot of HAM in London and New York as well. In New York, there is a strong public pushback and it’s become a political issue, at least from what I have heard. They have done surveys on the Nouveau Riche in China and most have long-terms plans of leaving their country. I guess a lot of that has to do with their money having been facilitated via corruption and maybe partly fear of people taking that money back. For people who think China is going to take over the World, I think these trends say it has a long way to go. It will be interesting to see how this plays out going forward. Will the growth in prosperity continue to generate HAM for decades? Will China hit… Read more »

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Westside Realtor

HAM buying interest remains tepid. At best.

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patriotz

@93: “Prices are very similar to Vancouver! (in San Francisco)”

But rents are twice as high.

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ham

Richmonds Concord Garedens is just about sold out. This masterplan is going to be a gem in Richmond with access to skytrain. Awesome locations and amenities within walking distance. Another successful project by a top developer.

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Heard Herd selling

Yup I said it not long ago, Rennies and Robertie are humping and bumping. No for reelection no no no

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tedeastside

SanFrancisco has local wealthy Technology and Finance workers to buy houses

vancouver homeowners are desperate for some foreign criminal to buy their house

what a sad dead end pitiful wannabe city

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Yellow Helicopters

@#93 Re: ” I told him that one realtor said… ”

I stopped reading after that line. I knew the rest would be crap.

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dexter

Just got back from San Fran for work. HAM in evidence here too. Lots in fancy hotels, restaurants, peering into RE office windows. Spoke to a high-end Realtor on Nob Hill on a quiet Saturday. Made like I was interested in moving down here (which i sort of am) Prices are very similar to Vancouver! Asked about HAM and he said that there is a lot of money down here from all the high tech companies in Silicon valley, Apple retirees from Cupertino nearby and so HAm only makes up 10% of the buyers of mid to expensive RE. I told him that one realtor said 70-80% of the homes in our westside and west van was being sold to HAM off shore money and he said there would be a big hue and cry if that was happening down… Read more »

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dash-dash-dot

http://dashofinsight.com
slow week for data, strong week for speeches, conferences and pundants (and rumours)

If you,re into cosmology, Lunar eclipse this week while Mercury Rx over the Libra/Scorpio cusp of Drama and Criticism.

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JR

#90. I have heard this is the case from two separate, well-placed individuals. This should blow the lid off of Vision Vancouver and rightly so.

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renters rule

Okay, heard an “out there” rumour today!!!

Gregor R’s new squeeze since ditching his wife is…. BOB RENNIE?!!

Anyone else heard anything about this? Holy crap if it is true?!

😮

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Son of Ponzi

Message to HAM:
Leaving an old smelly couch on the curb is not a donation, even if you put the note “free” on it.

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patriotz

@69:
Do you have any criterion for “left wing politically correct” other than someone who says something you don’t like?

Accusations of racism flow thick and fast whenever an attempt is made to connect wealth-based immigration, primarily by rich Chinese, and housing prices here. Since influential condo marketer Bob Rennie delivered a speech to the Urban Development Institute in May, in which he said “sensational” stories making that link were “bordering on racism,” an array of industry figures have lined up to support his proposition.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/real-estate/in-vancouver-race-undercuts-the-discussion-on-affordability/article19873510/

Do you have any quotes from any politician, of any party, similar to Rennie’s?

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kønsdiskriminering

Your willpower will suffer if you dont decouple your past experience of injustice from your treathening behavior. Being flexible in your approach to people will actually make possible putting more motivation behind your action.

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UBC in Crisis Mode

If you cannot sell your million dollar property, then you need to change realtor and increase the price. It will sell.

http://www.realtylink.org/prop_search/Detail.cfm?MLS=V1087068&REBoards=All&From=MLS

It was listed $6,988,000 (way over assessed value of $5 million)
Now new listing: $7,388,000

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Mick Murphy

Mercedes SUV stuck on the stairs at UBC

http://ubyssey.ca/blog/mercedes-suv-ikb-stairs-391/

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@83

Yes but a big part of the ‘success and wealth’ they use to buy the RE is from the inflated RE they are selling. If they turn around and trade up they are worse off because the trade up will cost incrementally more at bubble prices than it would if prices were normal. The wealth is an illusion because they don’t end up with anything more than they started with pre bubble except a higher cost to trade up. The bubble hurts the trade up buyer almost as much as the first time buyer. The ONLY people than win are those the exit the market and those people are few and far between. If/when a significant amount of people do decide to exit the market the bubble will pop.

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Shut It Down Already

78, you’re spot on. But people here prefer to blame the foreign bogeyman rather than accept that some locals are actually quite successful and wealthy whereas others are just indebted due to easy credit. Occam’s razor applies.

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patriotz

@78:

I will say more briefly that increased sales in RE or the stock market or any other asset market don’t mean that money is flowing into the market because every transaction has a buyer and a seller.

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patriotz

@72: ““Edmonton’s million-dollar real estate market nears record” Edmonton Sun.”

Note how narrowly they defined the scope of that “record” – sales of $1M+ properties.

Teranet says Edmonton is still below the peak of mid-2007.

http://www.housepriceindex.ca/Default.aspx

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asleep at the rig

http://slopeofhope.com/socialtrade/dynamic/file/full/17069

Technical picture appears bearish for OIL. Recent article in the Great Contrarian mag. MacLeans: Alberta unlikely to be affected by lower crude price…

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