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FFFA! Condo, Debt, Declines, Panic, Spending

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It’s the end of another beautiful work week and if you’ve been here before you know what that means:

Friday Free-for-all time!

This is our traditional 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:

–Burnaby new condo sales get tough
–Debt ridden couple want it all
–Housing market hints at declines
–Is it ok to panic?
–Consumer spending plunges
–Are Canadians spent?
–Local realtor anecdotes
–Blame the CMHC?
–Dollar-a-day mortgage deal
–Video archive of the Bubble
–How much profit?
–

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

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southseacompany

“Economists Fear Oil-Price ‘Contagion’ Has Hit Canada’s Economy”, Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/03/28/canada-economy-oil-price-contagion_n_6961108.html “Following some nasty recent surprises in Canada’s economic data, analysts are starting to sound more pessimistic about the country’s prospects than they were even just a few weeks ago, and many are now saying Canada’s economy is shrinking.” “In a report issued Friday, Capital Economics said the economy “fell off the cliff in January” and likely shrank in the first quarter of the year, which ends next week.” ““The reported declines in retail, wholesale, manufacturing and export volumes for that month were very disconcerting. It’s typically never a good sign when all these key indicators fall together,” it said.” “Nomura Securities warned in a recent report that “contagion” from the oil price collapse poses a risk to other parts of Canada’s economy. Industries like construction and engineering will take… Read more »

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east side buyer's

I ordered pizza tonight. …delivery driver hands me the debit -credit card machine before I had a chance to pull out my wallet I give him a 50 dollar bill and he looks at me like I’m a alien. Says I don’t have any change everyone uses credit cards. Wtf consumer debt is going to get even uglier

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Corrupt in Canada

Jimmy started off in the porn business.

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Corrupt in Canada

“so on the basis of my non-scientific survey, 100% of the open houses of the westside that I visited were almost 100% being attended by off-shore buyers from one particular country.”

Off-shore buyers attending an open house. If we had school-buses in Vancouver you would be riding the short variety.

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franko

@93
Sop,

This is the closest I have been able to find.
http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Future_Shop

The first FS store was actually opened at 943 West Broadway in 1982.
2 more were opened in the same year (don’t know where)
A few more were around by 1984, including the one on Seymour or Richards that I mentioned.
I’m not confusing it with A%B Sound which I knew quite well. It was his biggest rival and was located at 556 Seymour, right next door to Sam the Record Man.

Anyway, all the jobs that Khosrowshahi is being praised for creating would have remained and flourished anyway with A&B Sound and other competitors that he drove out of business.

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Son of Ponzi

Franco,
Sorry, to bust your bladder. But the first Future Shop store was in (gasp) Surrey.
What you’re talking about is A&B Sound, the inventor of the Boxing Days sales.
And, as I can personally attest to, those were real sales and bargains.

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VBBND

Having been to a few open houses this week-end.

I have to say that we have been hood-winked by the Garth Tuners, and Mayr and Poloz and Suumerville and all the other ‘there is not enough data” on off-shore sales.

The Westside open houses only had one group of buyers of the same background , none of which spoke a word of English.

so on the basis of my non-scientific survey, 100% of the open houses of the westside that I visited were almost 100% being attended by off-shore buyers from one particular country.

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Joe Mainlander

Lifestyle Lookup: Enter your postal code to find out what segment best describes your neighbourhood.

https://en.environicsanalytics.ca/prizm5_lookup.aspx

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Joe Mainlander

Yep, every month Jimmy would fire the car salesmen who made the least sales.

I heard a story about how he would lock the doors to his meetings after they started. Anyone who didn’t make it on time was fired. So the story goes, once at a meeting at the Hotel Vancouver, one of his employees was late and locked out. Said employee took a fire axe to the meeting door breaking his way in. Jimmy looked up at him and said “Your’e hired again!’

Just a story I heard from one of my older coworkers in the 90’s.

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franko

@88
It was definitely Future Shop.
A&B Sound was on Seymour, a couple of blocks further north.

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vangrl

#87

you sure you’re not thinking of A&B sound?

Can’t remember a Future Shop on Seymour or Richards, could be my crap memory though..

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franko

A bit of trivia: I can’t for the life of me remember if the first Future Shop store was located on Seymour Street or Richards Street. I bought my first VCR there in 1984. The splashy adds they ran regularly in the Sun and Province with super low prices had become a joke to serious shoppers as a somewhat less conspicuous part of the add also warned of limited quantities. Of course I phoned before my trip to the store from the North Shore and surprise, surprise, I was told yes, they had one left but I better hurry as they were selling fast. Luckily, there was a phone booth right across the street from the store from where I could see the entrance (that was before the days of cell phones) and, sure enough, they had one left but… Read more »

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renters rule

@#85

There are also some legitimate questions about Jimmy’s success. His early businesses were all, ahem, cash and carry….. nuff said.

What’s the saying, it takes money to make money? Jimmy was buddies with Frank Sinatra, and um, his friends back in the day…… 😮

some thing never change….

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Son of Ponzi

#80
Jimmy “The Trumpet Player, Pattison.
I guess if we judge people by how much money they are making, then he’s the top dog in BC.
But some may just see him as a Union buster, and the guy who brought the 24/7 work week to BC.

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history

i’ma skeptic when it comes to a bad outcome for our economy. How can Oliver Twist and Tarsands Mark, be wrong? It’s a great time for the rich. They borrow cheap, monetize cheap, buy back shares with virtually free loot. Governments assure there will be no failure in the housing mortgage markets. Credit card rates highest ever for the Hoi polloi. Everyone aspires to Living The Life. No worries, still plenty of contestants playing Survivor…

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flaneur

Several photos of the missing Jianjun Qiao (aka Feng Li) have surfaced online, including this one.

The Trail of a Chinese money-laudering scheme
http://tinyurl.com/ph3kxz3

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Wearehere

@78 Great article.

All the labour growth has been public sector AND construction. This graph explains why the Government cannot take on the RE industry

http://www.otterwoodcapital.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/mar162.png

If that green line starts to drop we are hooped!

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crikey

@79 and 80
Agreed that is the kind of immigrant we want.

That said, its no secret that many many many people hated having to deal with people working at Future Shop.

That they commonly had slimy salesmen tactics for a long time is an understatement. That did not happen by accident.

Did they make money those years? Absolutely. But most companies that do so can do it without leaving such indelible negative memories with o many people.

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patriotz

@79:

I think he was admitted as a refugee. HY Louie (London Drugs, etc) came as an ordinary immigrant at the turn of the 20th century. David Lam came as an ordinary immigrant after WWII. Jim Pattison is the son of ordinary immigrants from the US.

These are the kind of immigrants – along with all the millions of everyday workers – who have built the country. Not sleazeball “investor” immigrants.

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Wearehere

#74 Son of Ponzi

Not all the rich are crooks or deserve our derision.

He Started Future Shop in 1982 with one store. Were you even born then?

Built it up to the biggest retail electronics seller in the country and employed over 1500 across Canada
It was sold it to Best Buy for stock and cash making good money fro shareholders too, as it was a public company,

He got the Order of Canada for his charitable work.

All in all, the sort of immigrant I think we SHOULD be attracting. Not money launderers.

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flaneur

@75 &76, your comments can be caustic at times, but wth life would be without a bit of ruffled feathers.

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Son of Ponzi

#74
just another rich fart, who realizes he can’t take it with him and starts to give some of it back to the community, just in case there is karma.

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Son of Ponzi

There is a Future Shop and Best Buy in Lansdown Mall in Richmond.
stupid buyers are being fooled into thinking that there is competition.
Probably the same people who believe what a realtor tells them.

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