BC, economy, hype, renting, supply

It’s a tough job to bust AirBnB listings in Vancouver

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Short term AirBnB style property rentals are not permitted in Vancouver and the city can levy fines up to $10,000, but apparently there are still some of these short term rentals available.

“The difficult and complex thing comes when we move forward with prosecution,” Toma said, explaining that the city needs to connect the property owner to an online short-term rental listing without the help of a specific address.

Toma said a few cases against short-term renters are pending. Fines in those and other cases are up to the prosecutor, but staff recommend they recoup investigation expenses at minimum.

City staff are contemplating new tools to deal with the nuisance aspect of short-term rentals at the same time as assessing the industry’s impact, Toma said.

“We do have such a tight rental market,” Toma said, adding that she hoped staff could craft a smart and enforceable regulation that would also “find that sort of a sweet spot” for those sharing their home to meet their mortgage payments.

Of course there is one kind of short term rental that is currently allowed in Vancouver, but it comes with a few catches:

Bed and breakfasts are allowed in Vancouver, but under certain conditions. Homeowners need to live in the residence and they can host a maximum of four guests in two bedrooms, among other regulations. They also have to pay a one-time development and building permit fee, get a business licence and pass a safety inspection.

Read the full article over at the province.

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[…] –Eby on Real Estate Fraud –Affordable Housing Program –Nothing free-market about boom –Concord Pacific buys Molson land –Gentle jaw-boning for looney –Southseacompany on YouTube –Tricks of the trade –Millennials scramble before priced out –Downgraded growth for Canada –Your parents made money, you won’t –Poloz stuck in corner? –Research Chair escapes from UBC –Harsher penalties needed? – […]

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paulb

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http://www.paulboenisch.com

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Best place on meth

Do you think that a 500 person company that hires no white people might be racist?

http://www.newcoast.ca/SupportStaff.ubr

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bullwhip29

in the not too distant future you wont be able to get a job in richmond (and likely much of gr vanc) if you arent chinese or at least speak the language.

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realist

MLA David Eby on real estate fraud: “allegations are really troubling” “quite serious allegations…, and its quite straightforward that it’s fraud” “it’s really up to the police to step in and do an investigation, because if you don’t know that it’s happened then you can’t go to court to sue, for example, which is ordinarily what would be expected.” “The Premier keeps talking about an investigation…What she has done is put together a team of people including the Superintendent of Real Estate. What they are actually doing is more of a think piece. They are interviewing the Real Estate Council, who I think they should be investigating.” “So they are not actually doing an investigation, they are doing a policy paper. What we really need and what we are calling for here is a police investigation.” Asked by Jon McComb… Read more »

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realist

MLA David Eby is interviewed this morning, Apr 14, by Jon McComb / CKNW on the subject of real estate fraud. Well worth 7 minutes of your time.

Scroll down to: NDP wants investigation into Realtor Dealings
http://preview.tinyurl.com/goa34r9

Eby minces no words: “it’s quite straightforward that it’s fraud”. He also addresses the related but separate issue of international investment as a driver of house price escalation: “it’s not about where the person is from, it’s about this activity of buying housing and holding it as an investment…there’s no question, in Metro Vancouver, a lot of that international investment is coming from Mainland China.”

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patriotz

““it’s not about where the person is from, it’s about this activity of buying housing and holding it as an investment…”

More precisely speculation, but since no property cash flows as a rental today all investment is speculative. Strategically I think the NDP wants to present this as a 1% versus 99% issue rather a Chinese versus white issue and I think they’re right.

Note to Gregor haters: this is also exactly what the Mayor has been saying.

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bestplaceonearth

with this kind of idealism, it’s no wonder the ndp has been in the deadbeat at all government levels. if i have the money, i buy whatever i want, and it’s nobody business.

why not take one step further then, imposed land buy back from the have, and give it for free to the not-have. welcome to the world of ndp.

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Royce McCutcheon

But you’re cool with the wide array of existing government interventions that help people participate in the “free” real estate market, right? Those ones don’t count as deadbeat idealism.

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Yunak

Good catch, a “converted” communist kind of demagogy.

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Bestplaceonearth

the market does what it does best, regardless of intervention.

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bullwhip29

like I said, poloz is in a bit of a bind now…

The loonie, the Bank of Canada and its ‘gentle jawboning’http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/top-business-stories/the-loonie-the-bank-of-canada-and-its-gentle-jawboning/article29628341

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Yunak

Local governments might order a new research to answer or prove opposite this SFU research. Just if you don’t want to change anything and maintain status quo, order a research…

“VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Unless the government intervenes, Vancouver housing prices will continue their rapid ascent — that’s according to some new research from SFU. The findings are also highlighting the influence of so-called external forces.”

http://www.news1130.com/2016/04/14/external-forces-driving-vancouver-housing-prices-research/

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patriotz

“Unless” the government intervenes? The prices of today would be impossible without government intervention in the market, i.e. CMHC guarantees, tax breaks for home ownership, property tax deferral. You could add historically low interest rates to that although they are not specifically targeted to the RE market.

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BubbleTea

“80% of Chinese corruption cases involve officials with children/family living abroad.”
http://www.salon.com/2014/02http://www.salon.com/2014/02/09/chinas_wealthy_are_fleeing_to_the_united_states_where_their_money_is_welcomed_with_open_arms_partner/

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Best place on meth

“In January, Xi stepped up his campaign by forbidding the promotion of officials who have spouses or children living abroad. These so-called “naked” officials are seen as especially prone to corruption.

“They belong to a high-risk group for corruption,” a party official told the state-run Xinhua news agency. “Around 40 percent of economic cases and nearly 80 percent of corruption and embezzlement cases involve naked officials.” In China, crimes like fraud, bribery, and embezzlement are referred to as economic cases.”

You mean all these chinese who have bought all the luxury properties in Vancouver are NOT legitimate businessmen?

I am so surprised.

On another note, how long would it take our construction industry to learn how to build concentration camps?

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BubbleTea

It is fair to say to get rich in China, you have to be the (i) government, (ii) connected to the government or (iii) businessman who bribes the government. I would say ban all rich from entering Canada because they are all corrupt to the core.

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Hyper-mega-Bull

HAM still isn’t a topic of conversation among polite people, despite all the attention it gets in the media and online forums. it’s still taboo.

so keep learning mandarin. the sinofication train ain’t stopping any time soon.

http://photos.nomadicsamuel.com/Malaysia2013/Malacca/i-gTKQgxS/0/M/Malacca-Malaysia%20(1)-M.jpg

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Extra Old Stock.

Luckily caucasian genes are stronger than asian genes. Most mixed-race folks look pretty white and when their kids marry another whitey, the asian’s pretty well gone.

100 years from now they’ll be a lot of blond blue-eyed white folk in Van named Wong and Chan. No worries.

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witherintothetruth

As a long time reader of this site, it is to my surprise that no one is talking about “New Coast Realty” which was revealed by Global and Mail a few days ago. Then I registered my account and still do not see the option I can suggest this topic to the site owner. So I put it in here.

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patriotz

I guess “long time” means for the last few days, because New Coast was discussed by name in the most recent FFA.

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bullwhip29

yes, talked about extensively. co is under microscope now, but real question is whether anyone that matters is gonna look thru it and follow up on what they see.

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Yunak

I am afraid that everyone started to accept these criminal activities and scams related to Chinese conducting RE businesses in BC as a new norm and part of the local business culture. Soon all of it could become a mainstream practice therefore not newsworthy unless something radical happen and gangsters get prosecuted and severely punished. As said before they are cunningly pushing their agenda, testing waters by checking how far they can go with the blessing of local authorities in an attempt of creating “business environment” same as in corrupted China.

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bullwhip29

David Eby Letter to VPD re New Coast
https://www.scribd.com/doc/308444070/David-Eby-Letter-to-VPD

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bullwhip29

https://html1-f.scribdassets.com/33iqpcp1c56t2ie/images/2-888acf8cef.jpg

“In addition, allegations in the article include that New Coast has its own investment arm that acts as buyer in some instances so that New Coast
directly profits from the lift in price from the original sale to the final sale.”

>>>i suspect New Coast more active in “making a market” than meets the eye (just like rigged trading in an illiquid OTC penny stock). no other explanation for the wild price swings within weeks.

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bullwhip29

audio recording New Coast training session
http://beta.images.theglobeandmail.com/static/interactive/audio/20151014_2.mp3

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bullwhip29

Vancouver considering affordable home ownership program
http://vancouversun.com/business/real-estate/affordable-homes

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patriotz

Programs like this just create a new class of semi-home-ownership that subsidizes the RE industry and local employers who don’t want to pay living wages (e.g. Whistler) and further legitimize the mythology of home ownership and create more social tensions. Municipal governments should just make land available for non-profit rentals and co-ops, as CoV already has.

Glad to see the BC government responding negatively, although I’m sure their reasons are different.

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bestplaceonearth

yep, say no to everything, then bitch about it. Classic!

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bullwhip29

Up for debate: spot zoning
http://www.news1130.com/2016/04/13/up-for-debate-spot-zoning/

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bullwhip29

Tycoon slain in West Vancouver linked to China bribery http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/tycoon-slain-in-west-vancouver-linked-to-china-bribery-scandal

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Hyper-mega-Bull

they’re all linked to bribery.

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Madashell

How much we have fallen. We let so many of these bastards and corrupt officials who just want to come to this country to hide and launder their corrupt money. When they are caught with forge passports such as the case with the immigration lawyers, we do nothing. When their Kids turn freeway into their play ground with their Lambo toys, putting our drivers in danger, we just give them a token fine. We let them turning our housing into a lotto winning for some and we just stand and watch. This is not the country I grew up in. Stop immigration for these rich and corrupt, start deporting those that broke the law, apply heavy tax to those that flip houses or if they are not Canadian citizens.

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Yunak

Quite suspicious organization and to some extent racist given the employees profile…

“Chow, who was named CEO of Vancouver-based technology incubator Istuary Innovation Group a month ago, said he understands the confusion. Company founder Ethan Sun is Chinese-Canadian; Istuary works closely with its Beijing-based sister company; the majority of employees are of Chinese-descent; and the company specifically aims to connect Canadian technology start-ups with China.”

http://vancouversun.com/business/local-business/vancouver-companies-with-chinese-links-look-to-affirm-canadian-identity

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space889

So any companies that have a Caucasian CEO and majority Caucasian employees can also be deem as racist to some extent too?

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Tim

If the company is large enough that it’s valid to expect it to be representative, and their employee mix is out of balance with the univ graduate mix, then yes.

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Shut It Down Already

What if certain language skills are required?

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paulb

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http://www.paulboenisch.com

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Yunak

Some positive things to be seen even as attempts although something more like special sort of FBI SWAT teams would be more appropriate to hit those gangsters. There should be no mercy, they are dangerous and have agenda beyond “flipping condos”.

‘B.C. NDP want police to investigate Vancouver-area real estate firm”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/vancouver/bc-real-estate/article29621716/

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realist

NDP MLA David Eby is the only politician whose stance on this issue has been consistent and praiseworthy.

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Best place on meth

445 counts of attempted fraud should get this scumbag a $50,000 fine and one year in jail for EACH count.

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Yunak

On recent arrival to Vancouver, I felt very uncomfortable with YVR signage in the Chinese language, wondering where I actually landed. Since when is the Chinese language “official” at the level of English and French (Wikipedia)? This should be fixed asap, it misleads and sends a wrong message. This is still Canada, a still sovereign country.

“All official signage in the terminal buildings is trilingual (English, French, and Simplified Chinese) except inside the U.S. Preclearance zone, where only English and French are used.”

http://www.scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1494933/does-chinese-signage-vancouver-airport-send-wrong-message

Previously…

http://www.scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1494933/does-chinese-signage-vancouver-airport-send-wrong-message

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Yunak

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_International_Airport

Correction, posting the same link twice.

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space889

So you feel that having people lost in airport and tasered to death as a Welcome to Canada shouldn’t be limited to Eastern Europeans only?

And if you don’t speak English, then no visit to Canada as a tourist either right?

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Extra Old Stock

Just need signage for two doors:
Asian Immigrants: to the limousine stand with realtor waiting.
European Immigrants: to the taser room with RCMP waiting.

I remember when Jason Kenny was in London trying to get Poles working in the UK to immigrate to Canada, as they have skills and speak English. Good luck with that.

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realist

My understanding is that the Official Languages Act has limited jurisdiction, and is silent on / does not exclude use of 3rd languages. Exclusively Chinese or predominantly Chinese signage is becoming increasingly frequent in the Lower Mainland.

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HAMster

Wait until some people start committing suicide because they can’t afford real estate then maybe something will be done about foreign ownership.

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BubbleTea

Any Volunteers? How about you Space?

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space889

Am I the biggest crier about can’t affording RE on this blog?? Really??

I would have thought any of the team BPOM members are the biggest criers. Keep going on about how unfair it is that they can’t buy the house they want in the neighborhood they want for 3 or 4x their annual salary, and it’s all my fault. Maybe BPOM can lead by example here…

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BubbleTea

Sorry to say that we are being invaded by a foreign power, not with guns and tanks but with dirty money. Our government is happy to see the invasion and will not lift a finger to do anything about it. In a few years, our major cities will mostly be occupy by foreign nationals and may vote to secede from the rest of Canada just like Singapore did with Malaysia.

“Inquiries for Canadian homes on Juwai.com, a property search engine that lists real estate around the world for Chinese buyers, jumped 134 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to the Shanghai-based company.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-13/chinese-buyers-hungry-for-canadian-homes-with-inquiries-up-134

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space889

I guess you would prefer guns and ammo instead?

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BubbleTea

I would preferred Canada to be for Canadians.

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space889

And most of the HAM you are complaining about are Canadians…

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Combat roach

Fake Canadians, many PRs and citizenships shoud be reviewed and questioned on authenticity and probable forgery.

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space889

Well, take that up with the Fed Lib whose motto is a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.

personally, for me, if you haven’t been in the country for like 3 out of 5 years and you haven’t paid taxes in those time and you are over 18, then you really aren’t a Canadian and candidate for losing your citizenship. But that’s too much for all you bleeding heart liberatards.

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Best place on meth

Yes, then we can shoot the locusts.

I shoot 3, my wife shoot 3.

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space889

Well given that we are “locusts”, unlikely you will win against the locust swarm…we are the SWARM!

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Combat roach

That comes after all other options are exhausted. No one is really up for it but when it comes to defending homeland all options are possible, especially for those who don’t have a spear country to live or escape to.

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patriotz

Meanwhile, 70 per cent felt that government should intervene in the housing market to help first-time buyers rather than protect home values,

Intervening in the housing market to help first-time buyers is in fact the most effective strategy to protect home values, which is why governments like to do it.

Seems the writers can’t figure this out, but it’s the FP after all.

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elvince

Unless means making price lower somehow. Then it both helps FTB and doesn’t protect home values.

The problem is that what seems like help to FTB (lower interest rates, tax defering, outright subsidy) doesn’t help. Take away all the goodies, look at price crash, then let FTB enjoy low prices.

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space889

Why not just do a cash grab by levying an additional 1% extra PPT per million for each amount over $1M or $1.5M? And then reduce the income tax rates on the lowest 2 income tax brackets? That would probably do a lot more for the economy and helping young people, while soaking the rich without hurting so called “incentive to work”.

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Best place on meth

In Shanghai, nobody can buy real estate unless they’ve paid local income taxes for the previous FIVE years.

That’s the kind of policy Vancouver needs.

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space889

Don’t confuse Hokou with ability to buy RE. Maybe you should actually post some source, especially considering that you profess to actually never read anything in Chinese.

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Many Franks

Wow, after something like a decade of relentless boosterism, even Tsur Somerville is asking Somebody to do Something (neither is specified).

City losing its soul to the suburbs as residents refuse to make sacrifices

Tsur Somerville, an associate professor and director of the University of British Columbia Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate, told the recent Vancouver Real Estate Forum that everyone wants someone else to take action on the region’s most pressing issues.

“There’s a failure of leadership,” he said. “There’s a real failure on the part of us, collectively, to buy in to making whatever level of sacrifices we have to make to really make things successful for us going forward.”

I’m not sure whether to be amused or angry about Tsur’s newfound helplessness. Probably both.

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Hyper-mega-Bull

a former vc.info bear moves to youtube?

southseacompany’s channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDEn1zShGIlPCdpAxtUCpDg

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Hyper-mega-Bull

people hate christy clark and the liberals, but they are unwilling to vote for the ndp.

we have the city we deserve. people were willfully blind to HAM because of some they clung to some misinterpreted political dogma, and now it may be too late.

as a result, multiculturalism, which is very good, may be damaged goods because inappropriately applied to crooks, money launders, and passport shoppers who were just looking for a place to park their cash and families that wasn’t a polluted hell hole.

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Yunak

I don’t understand why is too late? As I said many times it can be solved very quickly with determined and focused leadership utilizing law , strict and in some cases draconian measures. This mess could be solved quickly, shit sent back home with scraped PR and C statuses, property confiscated and immigration revisited. However for something like that to happen it would take the right leader to show up, reorganize “the party” and got elected which might take a while here. It is always a better solution than having “people and street” to take care of it.

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YLTNboomerang

I dunno, I’ve always voted Conservative federally and even voted liberal last election despite my feelings toward Krusty (I support LNG) but will definitely not vote Liberal next year and probably will vote NDP and may even volunteer for whomever supports regulation for foreign ownership.

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