Open Topic

Friday Free-for-all!

115
115 Comments

It’s the end of another work week and 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:

–CMHC: All is well in Vancouver
–New Highrise to have ‘poor doors’ 
–Alberta impact on BC Real Estate?
–Ontario condo market a risk to economy
–US Mortgage rates rising
–

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

115 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
realist

@ 111 Dave
Entirely agree. An insidious aspect of mainstream media is their persuading readers to believe themselves to be well-informed after reading the Globe and Mail, Vancouver Sun, etc. God help us! Al(most all) journalism today is yellow journalism. Facts and complexity only get in the way of a good story that grabs attention.

Your cutting yourself off from most media is certainly the best choice. Fortunately the internet offers some alternatives of high quality.

0
0
Dave

. I agree. It’s a business model that puts profit above news and information. If a story is inflammatory, then that’s what you run, to hell with the facts.

I think the media has had a major negative impact on our political system. Nowadays, governments all employ spinsters to issue press releases and control information for fear of some dummy in the media taking something out of context.

I stopped listening to local media a few years ago. I don’t read the Sun, I don’t watch Global and I don’t listen to CKNW or CBC. I don’t feel any less informed about my World today than I did since tuning out. I recommend it.

0
0
realist

@ 108 Dave,

Well said. Many years ago, a wise owl who worked for the Vancouver Sun observed: the reporting is just a tasty garnish in order to get readership, which in turn gets the advertising revenue, wherein are the profits.
And it’s (all) gone downhill since the 1980’s.

0
0
@87 and 95

Re that petition – which is racing toward 9,000 btw!

Im just waiting for Joe M to go on to that RE TAX petition comments section and tell them that they’re all deluded. It’s all futile and under no circumstances must they ever suggest that foreign derived investment could ever be part of the problem…

And anyhow..the people on that petition don’t actually exist because it’s ALL about cheap credit and CMHC, and therefore, they are the ones buying, via cheap credit..by going to the bank and grabbing a million or two..obviously.. so therefore they, correction, actually DO EXIST and are, logically, petitioning against themselves.

And anyway it’s all irrelevant because, actually SFH in Van, factually, only accounts for 0.00001% of the market*

*If you include Sunshine Coast, Victoria, Golden and Moscow..

**Oh and patriotz agrees.

0
0
Dave

@101, 107,

I think you guys have too much expectation for the media. The media today is really a form of entertainment with the odd bits of information thrown in. Ratings and entertainment will always trump telling a correct or proper story. I find the media to be almost useless in research. The people doing stories don’t have time, the capability or the focus to dig deep and think things through. Rather, an interview with an ‘expert’ or somebody with a strong opinion will always take precedence over the truth or the real story.

In short, if you want the truth, you’ll have to find it yourself. The media will only report the truth once it becomes a widespread accepted fact.

I think bloggers and collective work can go way further than the media can. Have at it.

0
0
Lolol

Lol the failure rate is high on here. Lots of angsty closet socialists like bpom think it’s unfair that smarter, more successful people owns that house he’s in.

There are millions of bpoms in China, many of which are wards of the state and regularly emote fairness arguments.

To bad so sad. The worlds tiniest violin is playing for all the entitled brats on here

0
0
Lolz

Lol the failure rate is high on here. Lots of angsty closet socialists like bpom think it’s unfair that smarter, more successful people owns that house he’s in.

There are millions of bpoms in China, many of which are wards of the state and regularly emote fairness arguments.

To bad so sad. The worlds tiniest violin is playing for all the entitled brats on here

0
0
patriotz

@101:

The local media are full of stories about “rich Asians” buying RE. They even have fake “rich Asians” from time to time. So I think any reasonable observer would say that the media have played a major role in creating the mindset that “rich Asians” are responsible for high RE prices.

Do you mean you would like to see more stories in the media with real names, real addresses, real prices and real numbers? So would I.

0
0
say whaaaa?

Let’s translate post 76, shall we? “Like I said before I own residential properties in Vancouver, rental properties from family inheritance. I just wanted to know how does the market perform right now, and bumped into this forum by accident. I agree home prices are high but just cannot tolerate some rasicm posts here.” Translation: I’m (at best) a citizen of convenience who is just keeping an eye on my nest egg in a politically and socially stable jurisdiction in the event that I have to jump ship. Failing that, I’ll probably just retire to Canada for the social programs. “By the way I do not own any SFH properties, only condos and wood frame apartments, and all with tenants. I declare all my rental income as a non-resident with large amount of holdback due every end of the month.”… Read more »

0
0
Slagathor

….Politicians’ rule of thumb: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” …

Let me fix that for you:

Politicians’ rule of thumb: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If it is broke, don’t fix it.”

0
0
Bull! Bull! Bull!

hi everyone. i’ve started my own petition please sign it.

Provide citizens of the province with free or subsidized mandarin language classes, so that we can better adapt to a changing world.

https://www.change.org/p/christy-clark-provide-citizens-of-the-province-with-free-or-subsidized-mandarin-language-classes-so-that-we-can-better-adapt-to-a-changing-world

0
0
space889

@patriotz – if you think China is an example of authoritarian dictatorship then you are more ignorant than I thought. You don’t get over 10000 annual protests of more than 100 people in an authoritarian dictatorship. Nor would you get villages taken over by protesters and government officials booted and arrested as a result. I suggest you visit some actual dictatorship countries. Also, just because you get to choose between 2 or 3 parties every 4 or 5 years who can then basically govern how they want doesn’t make Canadian “democracy” any superior. Who gets elects aren’t the best qualified or who cares the most. The ones getting elected are all slimeballs beholden to corporate interest and the 1%. Otherwise, we wouldn’t even have this discussion about why this petition is useless would we? Nor how city and provincial govt… Read more »

0
0
space889

@BPOM – So basically people born in GRVD are basically just a bunch of ignorant red neck moron who think they know everything when they know absolutely squat. Ok, got it. Make so much sense now

0
0
UBC in Crisis

Admin,

Please open a thread discussing the role of local media in Vancouver’s housing problem. You can say CTV and Global TV are bought by RE industry, but what about CBC? Why no investigation from CBC:

1. Bad immigration policy in the last 10 years to land 50,000 millionaires in Vancouver;
2. Trillions hot (corrupted) money flowing in to the RE market;
3. RE head / academia / government officials who play the race card while lining their pocket;
4, etc.

0
0
southseacompany

“Yields rise as German bond selloff continues”, Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/11/markets-bonds-usa-idUSL1N0Y20VE20150511

“U.S. Treasury yields rose on Monday, dragged higher by a continued selloff in German government bunds and as investors prepared for the U.S. government to sell $64 billion in new debt this week.”

0
0
hahaha

yeah, free housing in the west side for citizens, they “entitle” to free housing !!!

0
0
southseacompany

“Mortgage lenders are getting creative to keep rates low”, Financial Post

http://business.financialpost.com/personal-finance/mortgages-real-estate/mortgage-lenders-are-getting-creative-to-keep-rates-low-but-heres-why-homebuyers-should-beware

““Lenders are stripping away features of mortgages to get their rates lower,” says Steve Pipkey, co-founder of Spin Mortgage.”

“In some instances, in exchange for a lower rate, lenders are adding steeper penalties for paying off a mortgage early. By chasing those five extra basis points, buyers put themselves at risk of having to pay thousands more in penalties later on down the road, says Pipkey.”

0
0
patriotz

@93: “How many signatures were required for the HST recall?”

That wasn’t a recall (which deals with a new election for an MLA) but an initiative.

Any registered voter can apply to have a petition issued to gather support for a legislative proposal…

If the application is approved, a petition is issued to the applicant (called a proponent) 60 days later. The proponent then has 90 days to collect signatures of 10% of the registered voters in each electoral district. The proponent may be helped by volunteers when canvassing for signatures.

Good look getting those signatures in Kelowna and Dawson Creek.

0
0
crikey

patriotz said : “Province should take a cut of the money rather than trying to stop it, by levying a penalty tax on the owner of any property whose purchase price is out of proportion to the owner’s reported income.”

Excellent idea. For any politician afraid of being labelled racist, this kind of idea has nothing to so with foreign ownership but addresses the issue.

Mind you, I still think we need foreign ownership rules. When we can only envy comprehensive and citizen-protecting foreign ownership restrictions in countries like Mexico and China, you know we have a big problem.

0
0
crikey

@wearehere Great stuff! You are absolutely right , nothing can happen unless we make our voices heard. As for anybody that doesn’t think foreign restrictions will solve the problem, you have to realize that this is a multi faceted problem. It requires a multi-faceted solution. Reasonable foreign restrictions and disincentives, like those that exist in many, many, other countries that look out for their own citizens first, is only one part of the solution. Undoubtedly there will be people that scoff at the petitions’ usefulness if nobody in power pays it any attention. But the petition is *already* a great success, Simply seeing that there are so many others concerned enough to add their names ( 8000+ so far!) is emboldening. This is just the tip of the iceberg of concern – elected officials who ignore this do so at… Read more »

0
0
Zero Down Forty

Where’s the dismantle the CMHC, raise interest rates, and stop printing money petition?

0
0
YLTNboomerang

How many signatures were required for the HST recall?

0
0
@wearehere

On a positive note, the city will save money not having to rent porta potties for outdoor festivals

0
0
@wearehouse

Mainlanders are world-renowned for being the least liked and rudest travellers in the world, good luck with tourism if things don’t change.

0
0
history rhymes

the bubble is all these 100 grand Boomer dandies replaced by the locust marble mouth bambi

0
0