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FFFA! oil, panic, debt, surge

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Hey, you made it to the end of another work week!

That means it’s time for another Friday Free-for-all. 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:

–New alarm over household debt
–Panic in Alberta Luxury RE
–But Toronto and the ‘Couve are fine
–January Realtor Hunger Index 71%
–Oil prices surge to 1 month high
–

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

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still works in 2014

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Slagathor

…..It’s constantly voted one of the most livable cities……

Yes, voted by Vancouver residents. Little know fact that residents of Hope vote their city the best in the world too.

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Ulsterman

What I find frustrating about “my place is better than yours” arguments is that few have actually LIVED in a sufficient number of other cities for a sufficient amount of time to make a valid assessment and ranking. I’m from the UK and have travelled around the world, but I still haven’t actually lived in enough other countries to make an informed decision as to where is the best. Eevn if I had, I don’t think it’s easy to make that judgement. I’ve had homestay students recently from Italy, Germany, and Chile, and all of them have liked vancouver a lot. However, they’ve scoffed at the notion that Van may be the best place. All of them hated the rain. All of them praised their own countries for a variety of charateristics – natural beauty, easy-going attitude to alcohol, climate,… Read more »

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@116

“Compared to where?” I guess true metropolitan cities such as NYC, Paris, Rome, London, Berlin, Madrid, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, San Fran, Boston, Munich, Budapest, Singapore Well lets compare to the cities Randy listed as being world class. None of these cities could be considered both cleaner and safer than Vancouver. I’ve never lived in another city where just about everyone you know (including myself) has been the victim of a house or car breakin. How many cities have you lived in? If you count a suburb of Ottawa as a city then I count 2. You have lived there for what 2 years compared to how many in Vancouver? As for clean – well Vancouver’s huge homeless population doesn’t help on that front. The homeless makes Vancouver unclean? That is a new one. Anyway the homelessness is a result of… Read more »

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Randy Randerson

@114

On the contrary, I don’t envy people in Vancouver. What’s successful to one person might be failure to another. My definition of success is the ability to have full control of my time, and by working out in the sticks I’m ever more close to my goal of becoming financially independent.

I don’t think you can say that about living and working in the GVRD.

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space889

@Best place on meth – I hope that happens too….good riddence to hate filled racist like you….go be a street begger elsewhere cuz if you can’t replicate your job and pay elsewhere then you really are a loser. The only talents who makes it a go here for career do it for family or simply too lazy to move to -40C winters, not cuz they can’t get a better job elsewhere.

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patriotz

@115: ” It’s a relatively clean, safe, city ”

Compared to where? Vancouver and BC in general are near the top in any compilation of crime statistics. Now I know that it’s unlikely for a middle class person to be a victim of violent crime, but that’s true anywhere in Canada. But property crime – house, car breakins – are a different story. I’ve never lived in another city where just about everyone you know (including myself) has been the victim of a house or car breakin.

As for clean – well Vancouver’s huge homeless population doesn’t help on that front. Sadly the city comes across as squalid to someone who’s been living elsewhere.

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oneangryslav2

The “Vancouver is the best place on earth” slogan is one of those mythical memes that gets bandied about. It’s analogous to the “Al Gore invented the Internet” claim. As Shutitdown wrote above, “the best place on earth” was a province of BC marketing slogan that was used to promote tourism. I’ve travelled through much of the world, and the natural beauty of our province (from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, from the Yukon to the US border, can match almost anything the world has to offer. So, while it was widely (and legitimately) panned for being a bit too egotistical, the offending slogan was not too far from reality. The slogan has never been specifically applied to the city of Vancouver. I’m a life-long resident (with a 15-year hiatus) of this city and am aware of its… Read more »

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@112

“I don’t know where you can find a job in Vancouver where you work 6 months out of the year and get paid $1xx,xxx. I do, and I’m doing it outside of Vancouver and Lower Mainland.”

I get it. You were unsuccessful in Vancouver and your friends and family have great lives here. You envy them. Time to get on with your life in which ever outpost you live in.

And of course where you live and work now is a secret. Or more like a fantasy?

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kabloona

Possible candidate for understatement of the year award: “We’re in for some kind of a correction in the province (of Alberta),” Robert Hogue, senior economist at Royal Bank said by telephone from Toronto…” 😉 http://business.financialpost.com/2015/02/09/alberta-home-resales-to-slide-16-rbc-says/ “Sales of existing homes will slide 16% in Alberta this year as a plunge in oil drags down the provincial economy, according to Royal Bank of Canada. The number of homes changing hands will drop to 60,500 from 71,800 in 2014, according to a forecast Monday from the Toronto-based lender. The bank predicted in a Jan. 15 note Alberta home sales would fall 6.5%. The decline would be the biggest since a 21% drop in 2008. “We’re in for some kind of a correction in the province,” Robert Hogue, senior economist at Royal Bank said by telephone from Toronto. “Whether this will translate on the… Read more »

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Randy Randerson

Unfortunately I do visit Vancouver for family reasons only, so I’m quite familiar with the general mentality of Vancouverites. My FB news feed from my Vancouverite friends are also a constant reminder how they view Vancouver against the world. As for comparing Vancouver to bigger cities…if you claim to be the best, you better back that shit up. It’s like a 150lbs MMA fighter claiming that he’s the best in the world, but claiming it’s unfair if he’s compared to a 250lbs MMA fighter. What Vancouver and Vancouverites need is a disclaimer that says to the effect “Vancouver is the best place on earth, if you compare us to any cities worse than us, such as Karachi, Kiev, Moscow, and etc.” I don’t know where you can find a job in Vancouver where you work 6 months out of the… Read more »

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@103

“So glad I left Vancouver 3 years ago for a better paying job.”

And 3 years later you are still coming to this blog? How sad is that.

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@95

Vancouver is the best city in the world? I guess true metropolitan cities such as NYC, Paris, Rome, London, Berlin, Madrid, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, San Fran, Boston, Munich, Budapest, Singapore, and etc. all must be shit compare to Vancouver.

Funny how so many complain of the real estate cartel comparing Vancouver to real world class cities and then come on here an do the same thing. You are comparing large cities to a small city like Vancouver which is silly.

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@106

not sure who you refer to.
those that leave usually have family remaining in Vancouver and return for vacations to see said loved ones.

I think he is referring to you.

I have traveled to many places I didn’t enjoy for business. For some reason I just forget about them. After leaving, I don’t frequent local blogs in those areas to tell people how much I hated it when I was there and make lists of my favourite places. That would be just weird. For all of you who came and left get a life.

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Zero Down Forty

I especially envy those folks who left Vancouver these last few years because and bought cheaper homes in Calgary.

Oh, wait…

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@104

Funny how all those who left can’t stop themselves from coming back. I’m sure there’s a metaphor about ex-girlfriends in there somewhere.

Only place I’ve hard the “best place on earth” reference since BC tourism stopped using it is here. Go figure.

LOL, so true.

I will also add why so many who hate Vancouver live here. I mean you hate the weather, the people, the politicians who run the country, the immigration policies and we have the most expensive housing and supposedly no job opportunities but guess where you live, in the place you despise. Even if housing was the cheapest on the planet in Vancouver if I hated everything about it I would have left a long time ago. The definition of insanity if there ever was one.

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e

@104 – not sure who you refer to.
those that leave usually have family remaining in Vancouver and return for vacations to see said loved ones.

you know, like normal people.

No one said Vancouver wasn’t a pleasant place to visit in 3 months of the summer, but that’s all it is.

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Shut It Down Already

Funny how all those who left can’t stop themselves from coming back. I’m sure there’s a metaphor about ex-girlfriends in there somewhere.

Only place I’ve hard the “best place on earth” reference since BC tourism stopped using it is here. Go figure.

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Randy Randerson

The faster Vancouverites drop the “Best Place on Earth” mentality, the better it’ll be for Vancouver’s economy.

I like the analogy comparing Vancouver to an ugly girl with screwed-up self-esteem issues who feels the need to remind herself everyday that she’s the prettiest by comparing herself to a pig.

Yeah, Vancouver, I heard you. You’re prettier than Saskatoon or Winnipeg, but your lack of culture, class and inner beauty means you’re still in the pee-wee league compared to true metropolitan cities.

So glad I left Vancouver 3 years ago for a better paying job.

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AfroFranco

It is surprising that nobody is talking about this, but over the weekend a long list of tax evaders and other criminal types was posted online. They all held accounts at HSBC’s Swiss private banking arm. Whose reputation is built on going out of their ways to protect their customers’ identities.
The leaks are published online, for all to see. I did a research for account holders residing in Canada, and lo and behold, Vancouver is heavily present on the list (or is it China? Hum…)
Canada is getting raped. It’s beyond ridiculous.

https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/search?country=CA&q=&ppl=on&ent=on&adr=on

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The Man

@100 You’re wasting you’re time.The Vancouver you’re talking to doesn’t read this blog.

You can try here though;
http://vancouverisawesome.com

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e

i’ve lived in the south of England, California, Amsterdam, Vancouver. I travel the world with my work and travel Europe on weekends (2 hr flight @100 Euro per head return to maybe 20 major cities?), so whilst this is just my opinion, it’s probably more worldly than most living in Vancouver.

Ranking of places I’ve lived, all things considered for a successful 30 something businessman with kids on the agenda in 2-3 years:

Amsterdam
California
Southern England & Vancouver are a toss up.

Sorry Vancouver, I can afford you, I lived there for many years, but you have very little for me, my life, my career, and my future. Over priced, over pretentious, overly in love with yourself.

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crikey

#96 said: ” Its the same as calling a girl ugly because she won’t date you” You’ve got it backwards. As the recent local news broadcast (about rainfall) reference in post #24 shows, Vancouver is the ugly girl at the party with such farked up self esteem problems that whenever her ugliness is overly apparent she has to point and laugh at her supposedly uglier friend “Saskatchewan” over in the cornerand, just to validate her lonely fantasy that she’s the “best in the world”. Classy. All the guys from all over the world know that if they just throw money at her, Vancouver will open up for them, regardless of their actual credentials. They could be pond scum, and it doesnt matter, all they need is money. Yet again, classy. There’s a name for girls like that. These same guys… Read more »

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