Open Topic

Friday Freeee-for-all!

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97 Comments

Guess it’s October huh?

And seeing as how it’s the end of another work week, why don’t we do our regular end of the week news round up and open topic discussion thread for the weekend?

It’s Friday Free-for-all time!

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

–All aboard the debt train!
–The perfect balanced market
–For sale: Bentall Centre
–No one wants to cool the market
–Shaughnessy protected
–Hard times
–Jenny Kwan misquoted
–Canadian foreign buyers
–World economy on its head?
–The risks of interest rates
–

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

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YLTNboomerang

@85 and 86:

I keep a pack of 2 zone fare savers specifically for using when catching the Canadaline at the airport…voila, no extra $5

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bullwhip29

@ #94 i was really referring to the wknd impulse type shopper that might just hit pac centre d/t, then venture onto oakridge then richmond once in a while. maybe something they wouldnt normally do when driving. on the cda line you can really get around in short order. anyway these people probably wouldnt have the need to buy faresavers in bulk. i’ve had several people tell me they had no clue about the $5 fee payable upon returning back to vanc, that this left a bad taste in their mouths and wouldnt return in the future. my original point was that this is yet another example of dysfunction when you do business with govt and/or politicians and that my expectations that gregor robertson et al and uber can come to a workable business arrangement. as a side note, the… Read more »

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bullwhip29

@ #93

the mall is 50/50 joint venture between mcarthurglen and vanc airport authority (which is not for profit i believe). imho the property developer rarely gets the short end of the stick.

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space889

@bullwhip29 – Hmmm….I guess those casual shoppers are too lazy to buy a booklet of 2 zone fares, which would avoid the surcharge?

I haven’t been to the mall but if that mall is charging Cdn prices, there really is no point for locals to go. For me, if I have an actual need for a lot of outlet mall shopping, I would still head down to Oregon for a mini-vacation + shopping.

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Bull! Bull! Bull!

@92

yvr didn’t build the mall. they aren’t stupid. they just cash mcarthur glen’s checks.

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bullwhip29

@ #88/89

sure the cash grab aspect of this is partly correct. i think the surcharge was supposed to be lower originally. they’ll never come out an say it, but i do think the addition of this ridiculous $5 surcharge kills many birds with one stone. this said, yvr has put itself in a bit of jam by building the new mall within the addfare zone effectively shutting out many casual southbound canada line travellers from going to the mall (knowing they have to pay extra $5 when leaving). by most accounts, traffic to this mall has fallen off a cliff since it opened.

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space889

Here is ZeroHedge’s take on the recent stock market action. Not nearly as optimistic as the investment gurus on this blog.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-05/biggest-short-squeeze-4-years-sparks-stock-pumping-bond-dumping-frenzy

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Shut It Down Already

“BTW – why don’t you leave your RE office or UBC RE paid for office and go out and talk to people in the street and hear what they really think.”

How imaginative. I’m not connected to the real estate industry in any way, directly or indirectly. I’m one of the “people on the street” you claim agree with you, as it goes.

You also missed an important demographic from your list of tax evaders. Guess which one? Oops.

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Bull! Bull! Bull!

after all if taxi drivers were so powerfully, how skytrain to the airport get built in the first place?

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Bull! Bull! Bull!

> but the cab drivers were also well taken care of when the $5 surcharge went into place

the $5 surcharge is to pay for building canada line, it isn’t some cab driver conspiracy.

fleecing travelers who get off long flights and are too tired to convert currencies is a long standing tradition around the world and has nothing to do with taxis.

“The levy will be one of the ways to pay for the construction of the new rail rapid transit service, the release said.”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/5-levy-set-for-canada-line-airport-trips-1.946241

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space889

– I love how bears like to trumpet about how great their stock investments have been in the last few years while blasting bulls about the stupidity of RE investments. All the while ignoring that we had 7 years of 0% interest rates, negative real rates, and basically full on central bank policy to boost asset prices by pumping ocean of liquidity into the financial system.

Seriously, if you think RE is a lousy inveetments then tell me why that same logic argument don’t apply to stocks? Cuz the 0% interest rate don’t matter to stocks? That we got great earnings growth and PE multiple expansions ahead of us? Even though revenue has barely grown and the real unemployment is still high?

Enlighten us please, oh might investment guru.

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space889

@bullwhip29 – Yeah, I was shocked at the $5 grab as well…it’s a total rip off.

Also, realistically, if you already spend like $5K+ on hotel and cruises + flights bookings for a family of 4, are you seriously going to try to save on a $30 tax fare going from airport to hotel by taking public transit with like 6+ luggages?

The real losers are the actual commuters during rush hour when they can’t even get on the train at Brighouse in the morning.

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bullwhip29

@ #83 re: taxi gang uber is never gonna happen in Vanc imho, well at least not under typical conditions any normal person would expect. the city might come up with some new convoluted regulations making it difficult for the company to operate or users to access the service in a timely fashion (ie. via uber-free protected zones and the like). all the major players are bought and paid for in this town, end of discussion; the canada line to yvr scam was a big one. certain parties benefited greatly from the construction work (no surprise there), but the cab drivers were also well taken care of when the $5 surcharge went into place (for parties of 2 or more it makes no sense to use the cda line); in a strange twist, yvr kinda shot themselves in the foot… Read more »

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bullwhip29

now going on 7-8 months, 2 price drops, numerous listing re-writes and no sale for the attached Rmd townhouse with former asking price of $1M
http://www.realtylink.org/prop_search/Detail.cfm?MLS=R2005602&REBoards=All&From=MLS

>>>so what’s up? HAM clearly only wants an actual megahome (min 10000 sq ft) pref with a view. everything else (with the exception of land assembly candidates) is destined for the dustbin. those 800+ sellers with properties of all shapes and sizes in central rmd should take notice

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Oracle

So Harper just paid the dairy farmers $4.3 Billion for access to 3% of the dairy industry in Canada. That values the industry at $1.2 Trillion. Non biased since I drink very little milk. Lol

Any delusions that our system isn’t corrupt means you’ve drank he Koolaid.

Buy into an industry with a strong gang. I’m hearing anecdotal reports that the taxi industry is lobbying (errr bribing) municipal officials into providing compensation because of arrival of UBer. Hearing reports of $1 million per can licence. Cabbies say they are including future loss of income as well.

Wow. What gang to join?

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bullwhip29

@ #81

i am (and have been) expecting a final surge in stock prices heading into into the next several wks. it is doubtful we make a new high. earnings season is upon us again. i think many might hold off until 2016 in fear of triggering cap gains, but this could wind up being a huge mistake. market is clearly in a denial/return to normal phase at the moment. imho it is not time to kick feet up and get complacent about your portfolios.

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vangrl

great market last few days.

Only down 8% from all time high about a year ago. Up 50% since I sold my 2 condos in 2010

Anyone think a one bedroom condo in a 3 story wood frame building would have appreciated from $400,000 to $600,000 in the last 5 years?

Space? Bull? Vanco?

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Bull! Bull! Bull!

@78

they run the same story every year. in the past it’s been majority middle aged white people, and i haven’t seen register totals of 18k.

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bullwhip29

HAM behind the scenes…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/embed/video/1213615.html

little miss HAMitutde…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/embed/video/1218271.html

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bullwhip29

I buy three pallets, my husband buy three…
http://bc.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=719608

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VanRE

It’s different in saying corrupt mainlanders who cheat taxes are bad, to all mainlanders are bad, to all Chinese are bad. Looking at some posters’ comments, unfortunately, they have targeted the entire ethic group and that’s despicable.

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southseacompany

“Toronto-area detached home prices surge above $1 million, out of reach of first-time buyers”, Financial Post

http://business.financialpost.com/personal-finance/mortgages-real-estate/toronto-area-detached-home-prices-surge-above-1-million-out-of-reach-of-first-time-buyers

“It doesn’t matter where you go in the greater Toronto area, the price of a detached home is soaring faster than the rest of the market with the situation showing no signs of abating, according to new data.”

“September sales results from the Toronto Real Estate Board show the average price of a detached home reached $1,053,871, a 10.7 per cent increase from a year ago.”

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right-or-wrong

@74 On the contrary. I think the money laundering tax evaders come in all colours and from all backgrounds..Russians, Chinese and Middle Easterners. However there is one group that is making up the bulk due to the shear numbers and our Government attempting to cozy up them at all levels. You can guess who that is and it is what it it is. Does it make them a bad race…NO OF COURSE NOT! So don’t try and bring that BS argument up again. Coz I never called anyone a locust (except maybe Senators in Ottawa) Does it make our government stupid and complicit for allowing the most corrupt to hide their money? YES! Even their own government are trying to finally stop the worst offenders from looting the country and we are enablers. Shame on us and shame on Christy… Read more »

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Shut It Down Already

right-or-wrong, it’s the fact that you single out a certainty nationality and imply that they’re all tax cheats that makes you xenophobic. I’m against tax cheats of all backgrounds and make no assumptions about place of origin. Why not report some individuals to the CRA if you have concrete examples?

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Shut It Down Already

WSR, stop impersonating Oracle.

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