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Friday Free-for-all!

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157 Comments

Hey, the weekend is nigh!

Let’s kick it off with another traditional Friday Free-for-all post – this is our news round up and open topic discussion thread for the weekend.

Here are a few links to kick off the chat:

–millionaire investors pay avg yearly tax of $1400
–saving for down payment a struggle
–born too late
–stampede to overpay
–worlds loneliest city
–earn the least, pay the most
–negative mortgage 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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bullwhip29

Real estate loophole lets wealthy buyers save millions in taxes
http://bc.ctvnews.ca/real-estate-loophole-lets-wealthy-buyers-save-millions-in-taxes-1.2874603

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Hyper-mega-Bull

one of the cheaper lots in richmond: $1,599,000

https://www.realtor.ca/Residential/Single-Family/16793517/11060-SEAFIELD-CRESCENT-Richmond-British-Columbia-V7A3H8

richmond is competing with vancouver on price. yes the lots are bigger, but it’s richmond for god’s sake.

thus is the power of ham.

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bullwhip29

lots are bigger (and flatter) in richmond. bylaws more relaxed. closer to airport. also newer infrastructure in place and approved/under consideration for future mega project funding (massey bridge, new oak st bridge, new outlet mall, new private sports club, private schools, private runways, cdn line expansion, new minoru park facilities etc…)

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southseacompany

“It’s All Suddenly Going Wrong in China’s $3 Trillion Bond Market”, Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-18/it-s-all-suddenly-going-wrong-in-china-s-3-trillion-bond-market

“The unprecedented boom in China’s $3 trillion corporate bond market is starting to unravel. “

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southseacompany

“It’s getting dangerous out there in the bond market”, Financial Post

http://business.financialpost.com/investing/global-investor/its-getting-dangerous-out-there-in-the-bond-market

“Yields on $7.8 trillion of government bonds have been driven below zero by worries over global growth. Central banks’ policy is exacerbating matters, as the unprecedented debt purchases to spur their economies have soaked up supply and left would-be buyers with few options.”

“While demand has shown few signs of abating, investors are setting themselves up for damaging losses if average yields rise even a little from their rock-bottom levels.”

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Londonernow

Thought this was interesting.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/personal-banking/mortgages/banks-will-reach-a-point-when-they-can-no-longer-cut-rates-is-th/

Basically anyone thinking that negative rates will lead to negative mortgage rates may have it wrong. As banks continue to get squeezed by being charged for deposits at the Central Bank (through negative rates) they look to recover the costs wherever they can. In Switzerland, this has actually led to higher mortgage rates.

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bullwhip29

anyone that thinks they will paid to own a home is living in fantasy land

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Combat roach

Welcome to transformed Canada, today restaurants and tomorrow all the rest…

Chinese Restaurant Workers Underpaid And Overworked, New Report Says
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/04/25/chinese-restaurant-workers-underpaid-and-overworked-new-report-says_n_9772900.html

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Hyper-mega-Bull

a parallel society with it’s own rules, norms, and ethics.

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Best place on meth

If they’re so unscrupulous as to treat their employees like slaves, just imagine what they’re putting in the food.

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bullwhip29

many of these workers are being paid under the table and/or falsifying pay stubs so it is not as one sided an argument as described. it is actually not in owners best interests to raise alarms with health inspectors etc as the purpose of opening the restaurant, dry cleaners, corner store or whatever “cash and carry” business is to generate unreported income.

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fosolo1

If this isn’t a Redux of the American housing bubble I don’t know what is. What the hell are these rating agencies doing. Moody’s at it again selling shite mortgage paper.
I wonder how many other countries have been buying our stinky bonds.

“The ratings agency Midroog, which is partially owned by Moody’s and is run by CEO Eran Heimer, gave the Urbancorp bonds an A3 rating just before the issue. This is a relatively high grade investment rating, which should calm potential investors. ”

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/.premium-1.716329

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paulb

New
407
Sold
324

TI:8312

http://www.paulboenisch.com

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bullwhip29

‘Why line up in rain?’: Company takes real estate market online
http://bc.ctvnews.ca/why-line-up-in-rain-company-takes-real-estate-market-online-1.2872365

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bullwhip29

4 casualties of Vancouver’s real estate market
http://www.moneysense.ca/spend/real-estate/4-more-casualties-of-vancouvers-real-estate-market/

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8888888

I love this blog .Real thoughts from real people.

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CanNeverThinkOfAGoodName

Bullwhip links to an important article, and his comment gets voted down? What is it with these down-voters? Do the really hate and despise the idea of a healthy city with real neighborhoods and other communities? It is creepy to walk around Coal Harbour it doesn’t feel warm or like anyone would come to my aid in an emergency. There are groups of people walking around speaking some other language than English going to open house events, where “two” bedroom condos in towers are selling in the 650s. Even Granville Island is getting hoity toity, women tottering around in high heels or sitting with their wine and expensive ‘do, talking business on their phone. Gimme a break. Emily Carr, PLEASE don’t leave! We need the influence of the students. Once the students are gone there will be nothing tourist food… Read more »

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ostritch

Well then Vancouver is not your city. Try the prairies or Ottawa.

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bullwhip29

it is just space889 down voting behind proxy servers or something like that. must be nice to have 10 hrs a day to troll every comment and jump through numerous hoops to manipulate the voting

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Best place on meth

It’s probably not him, as the hacking continues on weekends when he gets a 2 day pass to leave the mental facility.

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bullwhip29

maybe he has nothing better to do on wknds?

http://www.pof.com/member1307432.htm

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bullwhip29

Vancouver’s abandoned mansions helped spawn this mysterious frontier market
http://www.scmp.com/business/article/1937833/vancouvers-abandoned-mansions-helped-spawn-mysterious-frontier-market

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Best place on meth

“Before Vancouver’s real estate market was dominated by hordes of mainland Chinese buyers…..”

Thank god for the SCMP. This is the kind of blunt, no-nonsense talk that you can’t get from our pussified, politically correct local media who are so fucking scared of being called racist that they can barely even bring themselves to mention the nationality of these crooks.

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Shut It Down Already

Except it’s not dominated by foreigners – of any county of origin – is it? The vast majority of sales are to locals. You know this. It’s been discussed here enough times.

It’s almost as if you have some sort of personal agenda. Oh wait….

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StupidityCheck

Because locals are buying $1M+ houses, tearing them down (because “used is unlucky”), building monster trophy homes and leaving them empty.

Shut it up already.

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Shut It Down Already

Check yourself. I know people who have bought $1m+ properties. They were Caucasian last time I checked, too.

The rest of your post is hyperbole.

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Best place on meth

Still trying to fool people with your sleazy display of semantics and goalpost shifting?

You know full well as does everyone else here that a majority is not needed to dominate anything.

You’re the one with the agenda, Garth. Go peddle your shit on greater fool.

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Shut It Down Already

I said “vast majority”. It’s not even close, but nice try for attempting to make it look like semantic nitpicking.

The market as I’m aware of it is DOMINATED by greedy locals bidding against each other, because real estate “always goes up” (it’s a “good investment without the risk of stocks” whereas otherwise you’re “paying somebody else’s mortgage” and “you can’t live in an RRSP”, etc, etc)

You’ve been wrong for years, so why admit to it now?

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Hyper-mega-Bull

Dogs rescued from illegal meat trade in Asia arrive in B.C.

http://www.metronews.ca/news/vancouver/2016/04/25/dogs-rescued-from-illegal-meat-trade-in-asia-arrive-in-bc.html

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Hyper-mega-Bull

the article is very ambiguous as to where the dogs would end up.

>Five dogs rescued from the illegal meat trade in Asia are being given a new leash on life in British Columbia.

>Although eating dog meat is illegal in Thailand, tens of thousands of dogs are smuggled from the country every year to neighbouring regions, where they are prepared for human consumption.

>LEASH worked with the Soi Dog Foundation, a Thailand-based non-profit organization that rescued the dogs from being trafficked into the dog meat industry in that region.

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Combat roach

If smuggling, laundering and parking enormous amounts of many is not an issue why “losing track” of few dogs whereabouts would be an “issue”? They were already meant to be eaten so satisfying sophisticated “investor” locally should only add value to the international business and most likely push home prices forward.

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Hyper-mega-Bull

sinofication continues unabated.

A new base for Chinese art in Metro Vancouver
http://vancouversun.com/entertainment/local-arts/a-new-base-for-chinese-art-in-metro-vancouver

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bullwhip29

the funny thing is that this is largely being done to appease this particular target audience and not necessarily to drum up business from them.

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fosolo1

Canary :
“Bankruptcy Filing by Urbancorp Sends Tremors Through Tel Aviv Stock Exchange ”

Investors were calling it nothing short of a scandal on Sunday after Toronto real-estate developer Urbancorp filed for bankruptcy on Friday, just five months after issuing 180 million shekels ($47.8 million) of bonds for trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/.premium-1.716188

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patriotz

No ban on municipal political donations, B.C. government says

There are no plans to outlaw corporate or union donations to municipal parties, the B.C. government says, just weeks after similarly rejecting a ban on provincial parties collecting funds from those groups.

Three-term Vancouver City Councillor Andrea Reimer wants the B.C. government to add a referendum question to the ballot in next year’s provincial election asking voters whether their local governments should be able to make their own municipal campaign finance rules. Ms. Reimer wants municipalities to have the authority so Vancouver can prevent unions or corporations from making controversial political donations to municipal parties or candidates.

If you don’t like it, you know what you can do about it.

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Newcomer (N)

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/24/financial-times-china-debt-load-reaches-record-high-as-risk-to-economy-mounts.html

New borrowing increased by Rmb6.2tn in the first three months of 2016, the biggest three-month surge on record ….

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Combat roach

These rules are applicable to democratic systems, not totalitarian dictatorships where politburo runs the economy. They can handle any financial crisis with guns and tanks so all those analyses are more or less useless as long as corrupted ideologists and their supporters are riding the masses.

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Newcomer (N)

Yes, fiat economics certainly worked out well for Zimbabwe. That’s why dictatorships have always resulted in stable and successful economies.

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southseacompany

“Germans flock to property as interest rates fall and rents rise”, Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-economy-property-idUSKCN0XL0LG

“For decades a nation largely of tenants and prudent savers, growing numbers of Germans are buying property, not just to own their homes but also in search of investment returns they can no longer earn on their bank savings.”

“This shift to a more U.S. or British approach to property is being encouraged by the European Central Bank’s cheap money policies and rising rents, especially in German cities.”

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bestplaceonearth

http://www.theprovince.com/business/real-estate/vancouver+real+estate+market+driving+away/11871409/story.html

people leave town in drove. soon, they will set up a check point at the portmann bridge not to allow people to exit, right bears?

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Best place on meth

Cameron Muir: “The most trusted name in real estate”.

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bestplaceonearth

or, trust the priced out posters at vci. the choice is yours.

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Royce McCutcheon

I’d say the choice is between whatever Muir is presenting and whatever others are gleaning from Statscan:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-14/millennials-flee-vancouver-for-cities-with-more-affordable-homes#media-1

Are these “fleeing” data just a reflection of people moving to the Valley or Vancouver Island? Is Muir choosing a longer timeline and different age brackets to tell a story that paints the situation as less dire here? My guess is it’s a bit of column A and column B, though I suspect that if he focused the same analysis to just the last 5 years, the story would be less rosy.

I know what I’m seeing in my own social circle and what I’ve heard people say in terms of recruiting challenges, but it is categorically false that anyone needs to trust the opinions of priced-out posters here to be questioning whether the region is losing people.

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Satv

In 2007 The Pope and other BS like VHB , Drachen, Renta , Freeko, BDK, Tonny and Skullboy, etc. were born to adopt subprime collapse of USA and start comparing it with Vancouver Real Estate. These people who earned extended blessing of Vancouver or BCites did not have any idea how they are actually screwing up future of Vancouverites by giving them bearish approach. The then SFH $ 200.000 Graph is now that you can’t even buy east side old SFH under $ 1,300.000 . and new is touching almost 2.5 million or above. The Pope has this site is reason he is still here but other BLSTR have had disappeared since their head was going down in shame. Idiots.

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Andrjit

Weren’t you always considered as utter moron and clown at those times regardless of the market situation or that was someone else?

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Satv

Absolutely, As I said these crackhead so called leeched homeless economist were earning blessing of other reta bears. They had captured the then scene from other way around, I mean they were down side up . I mean they were right from wrong side. Their dumb head has arrest the other bearish opportunity to grow with market and opportunity to stay in Vancouver.

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StupidityCheck

Not a very good satv impersonation. Try not to be so over-the-top.

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Newcomer (N)

They were all correct and, I believe all recognized that the market could stay irrational longer than they could stay solvent. But, you are right, it turned out to be poor advice.

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Bestplaceonearth

I wonder how many bears had fallen for those diseased advises. I still remembered vhb used the chocolate bar analogy to van RE. And vreaa with her trajectory 64% crash. These clowns are armchair economists at best.

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8888888

I think the cocs are finished .How can you compete with a race of people that eat DOGS!!!

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space889

I don’t know. How do you compete against a race of people that like to eat blood slabs of beef meat, a holy sacred animal for the almost 1 billion followers Hindu & Sikh religion?

Oh wait, my bad, Western culture can do whatever it wants without worry since it’s all GOD’s will right?

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bullwhip29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUiZQv_t3oQ

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bullwhip29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbOAjAjyU1k

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bullwhip29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtAm7TDRr9g

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bullwhip29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL7YbcXRDSQ

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bullwhip29

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9cf_1460548363

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bullwhip29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDeOE69dIQU

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bullwhip29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghkSTAS-VQw

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bullwhip29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkFkJdvZzpo

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bullwhip29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIi8quRejkk

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bullwhip29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3t29IgqrTM

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Best place on meth

It’s amusing to see the real estate cheerleaders pat themselves on the back, as though they had any clue what the future held. Twice now this market has been bailed out by external forces and it was actually some of the bears who noticed that the financial crisis, which had just bailed out a plunging local market could actually rescue it due to the sudden drop in interest rates combined with a sharp and quick 16% drop in home prices just as the shit was hitting the fan – one bear estimated that real estate had just become 30% cheaper in only a few months. And so it did, a real estate crash already underway was halted and reversed. Now, a tired and extremely bloated market has been rescued once again by China’s corruption crackdown and yuan devaluation causing the… Read more »

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Shut It Down Already

That’s not quite true, is it BPOM? Whilst you were all using buy vs rent calculations to claim that a 40%+ crash was on the horizon, others were saying that you kept including mortgage principal payments as an expense and were therefore completely wrong. You didn’t listen. Bears also kept referring to “reversion to mean”, which is basically garbage Technical Analysis by another name without appreciating that Van RE was massively undervalued in the past. So whilst it’s true that nobody knows what the future holds, at least some of us understand the past and present better than others. And when the locals are negatively impacted in a few years time because they’ve all spent the last 3 years furiously outbidding each other and overextending themselves with their one asset retirement strategy I’m sure you’ll have some nonsense explanation for… Read more »

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StupidityCheck

Actually, BPOM is exactly right. Even the “clueless bears” that publish the Economist agreed 5 years ago.

http://www.economist.com/node/21540231

At some point this house of cards will come crashing down. The longer it takes, the worse the damage. Of course, if it never corrects then this place will have pretty low living standards for most average non-owners.

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Bestplaceonearth

So when it dropped 30%, did any bears buy in, or still hide in mama basement? No one claimed to know what even happens tomorrow, not to mention five years from now. Only stubborn bears can predict the future; unfortunately, not their own future.

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yyyy

Panama Papers expose Chinese elite’s secret dealings

Family of eight current or former members of the country’s most powerful ruling body, the Politburo Standing Committee, as well as prominent Chinese billionaires have newly discovered ties to shadowy corporations in places like the British Virgin Islands or Samoa.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/panama-papers-china-offshore-assets-1.3524965

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yyyy

According to the above article, the CBC website has been blocked in China, so the link above might not work if you are a Chinese national visiting this site.

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Best place on meth

China’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to a faxed request for comment. Asked whether China plans to investigate any of the China-related companies or holdings revealed in the leaked documents, ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a regular media briefing in Beijing on Tuesday that he had no comment on the “groundless accusations.”

Not just groundless, but RACIST!

AMIRITE!

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space889

There is a difference between stating there are corrupt officials in gov’t, and stating that 1 billion+ people is a locust scum bag simply because they happen to be born in a particular country.

If you can’t see the difference then you are not only a racist, but also an utter moron.

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Nom Nom Nom

Who in this thread was suggesting or declaring that you tiny dicked little monkey!

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Vanco

You are far too modest about your investment prowess. How much did you beat the index while your portfolio rocketed 61%? Maybe you should start your investment firm since you probably beat all the pros. Can I pay to have you be my advisor, or is being a bitter bear a pre-requisite?

Alas, I think your bear friends aren’t as fortunate as you are, judging by their bitter tones. Why advocate for violence, hatred when you have a place to live in the BPOE and have a large investment portfolio on the side?

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vangrl

Seriously 61% over 5 years is not unusual at all when you factor in an average 5% yield reinvested with dividend raises yearly. The Dow is up more than that. You could have just bought the index and done that.
Some of you act like folks don’t make money on stocks…crazy notion.

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vangrl

A few of my stocks are up over 400% – New Flyer & Premium Brands.

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space889

with that kind of track record, why aren’t you going into finance or hedge fund and make tens of millions a year? Then you wouldn’t even need to care about house prices…

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Shut It Down Already

61% before tax, presumably? If you sold your condo (tax free primary residence?) and went all-in on stocks I’m guessing you didn’t have ~400K in TFSA contribution room available.

Also if you have some 400% winners then to arrive at 61% there must also have been some losers. Temple Hotels was one I recall?

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vangrl

Temple Hotels, and a few others for sure. Of course I’ve had some losers. And some of my holdings are still underwater, but I’m happy with my overall gain.

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vangrl

Got creamed on Surge energy as well & Crescent Point.

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vangrl

One Condo was principal and one was an investment property. both condos sold for close to $400K each. You do know that TFSA only allow for $5500 a year and have only been going on for 7 years or so? My holdings are in a cash account & I will get taxed on the gains when I cash out. No biggie.

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space889

Let’s not confuse central banks inflated asset bubbles with actual investment prowess. What’s that bears like to say about homeowners? When the tides go out, we will see who isn’t wearing shorts?

funny that bears used to blame gov’t intervention in RE markets for high prices before moving onto rich immigrants, when that same policy starts to also happen to juice their investments.

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Tim

“Let’s not confuse central banks inflated asset bubbles with actual investment prowess. ”

Yes, let’s not.

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Vanco

Ok. 61% over 5 years is what an average balanced fund would return.

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vangrl

You can pretty much expect close to a 10% gain a year if you include Dividends. My portfolio is 100% dividend stocks, and besides 2015 we’ve had some pretty great gains in the market. I’m not a genius trader. As I said, had you even chosen just the Dow Index at the same time I got in you’d have had the same if not better gain, and that’s without dividends.

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Newcomer (N)

If we’re running out of land, why don’t prices go up in the Fraser Valley?

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Bestplaceonearth

Are you for real? Have you looked?

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Newcomer (N)

Not exactly paradise, but it’s odd that prices of places within 45 minutes of the BPOE have been flat for ten years. Vancouver, we are told, is the next New York, London, etc. so you would expect that people would be willing to pay top dollar to live close to it.

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wwwww

BPOE? The next New York or London? I haven’t heard anyone talk like that in a long time.

We aren’t the best place on earth, we are the best place in China. And we aren’t the next NYC, we are the next Shanghai.

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Newcomer (N)

OK, suppose that’s true. It’s still odd. Why aren’t Chinese billionaires buying up townhouses in Langley to sell to Chinese millionaires? You won’t find a 200 K townhouse within 45 minutes of downtown Shanghai.

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wwwww

Local milionares dont want to live in langley why would chinese ones?

They buy a place in langly.and they’ll have to learn English and eat white people food. That’s not why they came here.

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YVR

We ran out of land 4.5 billion years ago when the earth was created. No new land has been created since. Plenty of housing busts since though. All of those places were out of land while prices plummeted. Japan and the UK combined are much smaller than BC with 45 times the population of BC. BC could grow by 45 times its currently population and still have less density than the UK and Japan. Japan and Ireland both have had RE busts recently and they are way more “out of land” than us. Running out of land is just real estate marketing which has been used for centuries. Every resource on the planet is finite.

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Newcomer (N)

Yes. I guess my question is more along the lines of, why isn’t this obvious to the average buyer. Why does the mania stop where it does? North Burnaby is as crazy as anywhere, with lots of very ordinary houses fetching 2M+, but drive another 20 minutes and it’s over. I just wonder why.

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franko

Bad feng shui?

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franko

just wanted to throw that out there for hacker bait

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Vanco

Location, location, location.

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Best place on meth

And schools! Those incredible catchments!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBosNbCdrFE

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southseacompany

“Will millions of first-time buyers survive their first interest rate rise?”, The Telegraph UK

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/personal-banking/mortgages/will-millions-of-first-time-buyers-survive-their-first-interest/

“Ultra-low interest rates have pushed down mortgage costs to “unrealistic” levels, new data suggests – with a warning that a large group of younger buyers is vulnerable to even a modest increase in rates.”

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southseacompany

“Spring housing market ‘a whole other level of insanity'”, Toronto Star

http://www.thestar.com/business/2016/04/23/spring-housing-market-a-whole-other-level-of-insanity.html

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