BC, Open Topic, opinion

Friday free-for-all! June 24th 2016

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318 Comments

It’s the end of another work-week and that means it’s time or another Friday Free-for-all!

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, let’s play the blame game!:

–Blame Ottawa
–Blame the ALR
–Blame immigration
–Blame hype
–Blame empty homes
–Blame early retirement
–Blame tax dodgers
–Blame yourself

So what are you blaming out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes in the comments below and have an excellent weekend!

318 Comments
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HAMster

Man I love this blog. It’s so much more fun than that “other” one. You guys are great! Don’t worry about all this R/E shit; we’ll get through it somehow. Have a fun Canada Day everyone!

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Combat roach

Locust Influence Is Real. Says Guy Who Says He Has Proof.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/06/29/vancouver-real-estate-foreign-money_n_10745312.html

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paulb

New
208
Sold
182

TI:8594

http://www.paulboenisch.com

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OPENHOUSEMASSACRE

Real Estate Council of British Columbia (the Council),
CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF SELF-REGULATION

http://www.recbc.ca/annual-report/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/RECBC-2015-Annual-Report.pdf

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BubbleTea

Billion Dollar Fund Manager Comes Out of Retirement To Bet Against Canadian Real Estate
Vancouver and Toronto housing market, “makes the US look like Sunday school with what’s going to happen.”
“the perfect storm he sees in the Canadian housing market – a mixture of rising home prices, foreign money laundering, and an unregulated sub-prime lending system most Canadians don’t even know exists.”
https://betterdwelling.com/city/toronto/marc-cohodes-short-canadian-real-estate/

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Many Franks

The Burnaby house auction failed.

[Able Auction’s president Jeremy Dodd:] “I can say, without a doubt, that what went wrong was the media circus. People were shy of cameras. There were seven or eight TV cameras.”

The assembled media, however, were invited by a public relations firm represented by Able Auctions.

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StupidityCheck

You mean money launderers are camera shy?

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patriotz

It didn’t “fail”. the owners simply decided the high bid wasn’t enough, which means it wasn’t really an auction in the first place.

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Reasonfirst

Patriotz – I usually appreciate your comments but the owner wanted to sell at a certain price and didn’t. That is a textbook fail.

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space889

Combat roach 3 hours 31 minutes ago
This is not a shithole where wife and inlaws toss a man on the street because they see him as a disabled person if he doesn’t “own” the property.

But apparently …

Combat roach 3 hours 58 minutes ago
Alright, it is just a sacrifice (price) to get rid of the annoyance. I can get that.

is A-OK….hahahaha….the cognitive dissonance at full work here.

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StupidityCheck

You’re like the EverReady Locust!

http://www.firstlighthosting.co.uk/Devi8or/gifs/locust.gif

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Hyper-mega-Bull

i trust christy even less than i trust agents.

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Best place on meth

“Clark said the government plans to introduce a number of measures to address both concerns in the coming months, focusing on increasing housing supply, helping first-time home buyers get into the market and “making sure that the dream of home ownership in British Columbia remains in the realm of possibility for the middle class.”

Ah yes, there she goes again trying to round up more buyers for her bubble.

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Sellnoworbepricedin4evah

Lots of grassroots movements going on. We shall see. Greed still very high.

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Bear Vancouverite

Saw this interesting piece of news: http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouver-council-directs-staff-to-pursue-empty-homes-tax “Vancouver city councillors gave their OK Wednesday for staff to pursue a tax on empty homes with or without help from the province. ” If only it were easy to identify and could be executed. If the taxes were high enough it would encourage users to either sell or rent out their units. Tax revenue could go towards enforcing the tax and auditing empty homes, and excess taxes can go towards solving housing issues or improve transportation. It would greatly change the depressing direction taking place now. I hope an official complaints workflow is created and a large enough and dedicated enough team is put in place to run this whole thing. I’m sure many neighbourhoods would like to point out. Some of us here might even want to volunteer to help get… Read more »

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BubbleTea

Just set up an 1-800 or a website dedicated to this matter and send inspectors to follow up. They will be swap with calls and emails.

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space889

Good luck trying to enforce it. I can foresee lots of potential disputes & lawsuits over the definition of empty homes. Unless they city goes the way of parking tickets and get rid of people’s ability to use courts to settle disputes.

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Bear Vancouverite

If there’s an honest intent to do this then people will find a way to do it, and those who care about this issue will lend a hand. If people gave up because things were hard to do we would never get anything done in this world at all. Homeowners are tired of empty houses on their street and empty buildings sitting there doing nothing. Non-homehowners are tired of seeing good units sit empty in prime areas while they can barely afford to buy a crack shack. EVERYONE should be outraged at seeing perfectly serviceable homes become dilapidated. I think there ought to be a serious fine for allowing homes to fall from livable to a health and safety hazard. IMO, at this juncture the minutiae of how to make every aspect of an Empty House Tax work isn’t as… Read more »

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space889

Also, I wonder how much of the pre-sales are to empty home owners. If it is a significant chunk I bet there would be a lot of protests from the people who ponies up the campaign $$$$$ that’s going to be needed in the next civic elections. As well as services popping up that will ensure your home isn’t treated as an empty home.

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Combat roach

Locusts will ignore notices and play dumb, “no-English-no-English”… Legislation will need to be extremely creative to deal with the scumbags.

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would-be buyer

What I want to see Sam Cooper research is the income properties owned by Clarke and DeJong. Specifically, when were they purchased, did they purchase their properties from a donor (i.e. Rennie) and did they buy them on pre-sale – you know where friends and family get first grab from the developer ahead of the public. If the latter is true, I think that would prove a conflict of interest.

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Bear Vancouverite

I agree that it is a conflict of interest, however, if De Jong’s paltry 11 properties is a conflict of interest, then would Trump not have the biggest conflict of interest president in the history of humanity? And yet some of the more angry bears have voiced major support for Trump.

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Best place on meth

How would it be a conflict of interest with respect to the presidency?

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Bear Vancouverite

Trump is a major beneficiary of inflating real estate and low interest rates. Presidents, governors etc tend to be from the wealthy elite, but a Billionaire property developer as President seems to be a whole new level of potential conflicts to me.

People already accuse Obama of influencing the Fed ahead of elections (to avoid spooking markets on an election year). If such influence were possible would not the owner of $3.5B of real estate with all his children heavily involved in the family business not be at some risk of conflicts of interest?

I’m just trying to compare to say De Jong and Christy Clark who must collectively own less than $25M of real estate in the lower mainland.

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Hyper-mega-Bull

initially i didn’t care about brexit. but now i think it is a huge deal that we won’t fully understand for years. in the short term i think it can trigger a stock market sell off. the impact to the general economy and housing are unclear to me. but what i do know is what the government’s response will be. more free money, easier lending terms.

minimum guaranteed income is a possibility in the future.

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Best place on meth

Most likely a stock market selloff in Europe, with the US stock market being the beneficiary.

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tokyorealestateman

so why would there by a sell off initially?

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Hyper-mega-Bull

Geeks fall in love with sexy humanoid dubbed ‘robot goddess’ – and she isn’t just a pretty face

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/geeks-fall-love-sexy-humanoid-8310562

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Best place on meth

China is about 20 million women short due to the multi-decade abortion spree in that shithole.

Now the 20 million leftover losers finally have some hope of getting a wife.

No mention if the robots are anatomically correct though, they’ll need to be at least 2 inches deep.

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space889

Typical moronic racists pigs….bitching about too many Chinese on one hand, and also bitching about population control that reduce the number of Chinese on the other hands. Luck for you to be raised in the land of plenty and never had to make any hard decisions.

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Best place on meth

Speaking of 2 inch dicks…..

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Hyper-mega-Bull

China defends FX policies after Trump vows to label Beijing a currency manipulator

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-china-idUSKCN0ZF17D

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OPENHOUSEMASSACRE

BENDDOWN FOR CHINESE

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BubbleTea

What does BC stand for nowadays?? Beyond Corrupt, Blatantly Criminal, Bank of China, Bought by Corporations, Bring Cash.

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OPENHOUSEMASSACRE

BENDDOWN FOR CHINESE

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aasssd

Bitch of China

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Best place on meth

Beijing Colony

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CanNeverThinkOfAGoodName

Batshit Crazy

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BubbleTea

Sam Cooper Tweets: No Chinese capital control, no CBSA, you just got 3 million into vanre. And BC government wants that floodgate wide open.

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would-be buyer

What do they say – the institutional and smart money gets out first? Joe Oliver’s house for sale:

https://betterdwelling.com/city/toronto/88-wychwood-park-joe-oliver-finance-minister/

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MyHouseEarnsMoreThanMe

Heh, just noticed that site you linked too has an article called “Is Smart Money Leaving Toronto Real Estate”. My favorite is Brian Porter selling his house in less than 6 months. That’s not suspicious at all

https://betterdwelling.com/city/toronto/smart-money-leaving-toronto-market/

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HAMster

German state halts sale of regional airport to Chinese firm.

http://app.tmxmoney.com/news/cpnews/article?locale=EN&newsid=f13271&mobile=false

“doubts have arisen about the reliability of the purchaser.”

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Combat roach

Germans could be conservative but they aren’t crazy.

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OPENHOUSEMASSACRE

Atleast Germans have balls in dealing with Chinese if the they did the same for Muslim & African refugee. It will be a great country once it was .

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space889

As long as you also aren’t a Jew or Communist. The good old Third Reitch would just be peachy for you people.

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a-non-mouse

Well folks, I am finally capitulating. I’ve run out of logical arguments for my wife and inlaws. They all think I am dull anyway as I didn’t take advantage of the market 5-10 years ago. Since then, I’ve been diligently saving and holding off on purchasing and spewing the virtues of asset bubbles and local income levels and lately, laundered asian money. Meanwhile the market has passed my wife and I by. We’re starting a family and she just can’t wait anymore. So it’s either divorce or capitulate. She’s bared with me for the last 5 years, so now it’s time I accommodate her wishes. Crappy thing is, I feel a crash of some sort is imminent. That being said, I claimed this same thing about 100 times over. I just have run out of time and a understanding/patient partner.… Read more »

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HAMster

A divorce may cost you less… good luck.

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Combat roach

Get inlaws to buy you a place and take the risk if you aren’t comfortable. You should seriously consider dropping your wife (and inlaws) if she threatens you with divorce. This is not 18th century, what kind of behaviour and custom is that?

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a-non-mouse

As crappy as it sounds, I hope for all here I am the last capitulating bear. When the last fool has joined the heard, that should spell the end. No? I used that argument a few years back. Didn’t really pan out. And it’s not that she’s threatening divorce, but I see a life of being blamed for moving our kids from house to house at the whim of our landlords will to sell. I just have no more logic or reasoning left. Utterly exhausted from 5 years of beating the same drum.

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Combat roach

Alright, it is just a sacrifice (price) to get rid of the annoyance. I can get that.

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tokyorealestateman

I dont think you are making a mistake now. I dont think the market is gonna go down and if it does only a little buy and hold is the only strategy that works and you are being a good father by securing your family shelter–that is what your wife wants and dont sell never sell

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space889

A strong feminist one? Women have choices in today’s society and marriage is not a lifetime servitude anymore. If a-non-mouse isn’t up to par then his wife is perfectly within her right to toss him out to the street, and let him freely hang around with other bears and wait for the crash. Frankly, his wife have been more than patient with him for the last 5 years, and he has shown that he values $$$ much more than love.

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Combat roach

Lol, you could work as a lead clown in Bulgarian circus. This is not a shithole where wife and inlaws toss a man on the street because they see him as a disabled person if he doesn’t “own” the property. Also, your example is ridiculous if not tragic, an expensive property on borrowed money is apparently not a guaranty to get laid.

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Best place on meth

Make sure you only put 5% down and move any other financial assets out of the country – it’ll make declaring bankruptcy a lot less painful.

Also, this will make the post-bankruptcy divorce very simple.

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patriotz

You know, UBC needs a new head for the creative writing department. You should apply for the job.

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tokyorealestateman

you are right to buy now as you need too and were wrong to have tried to time the market in the first place because you cant se the up moves when they come….dont sell never sell

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southseacompany

“Feds ask CMHC for ways to cool housing prices in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal”, Vancouver Sun
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/national/feds+cmhc+ways+cool+housing+prices+toronto+vancouver+montreal/12023142/story.html

“The federal government wants the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to come up with ways to keep housing prices affordable in the country’s hottest markets — and do it by the end of the year.”

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Bear Vancouverite

I would pay special attention to the wording “come up with ways to keep housing prices affordable”. In the past CMHC tried to make housing affordable with 30 year amortizations. In their eyes, making things affordable might include increasing the CMHC total allowance to $1.5M, 40 year amortizations, 0% down, deferred PTT, decreased PTT, etc, all of which will ultimately increase property prices.

I know realtors, bankers, and developers who have expressed to me directly how frustrated they are that customers can’t afford anything because they can’t get longer amortization periods. Personally I think all of the things CMHC does only creates the illusion of affordability.

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Newcomer

Today’s Renters Really Are Worse Off Than Their Parents
Inflation-adjusted rents have risen 64% since 1960, but incomes are only up 18% in the same time period
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/06/29/todays-renters-really-are-worse-off-than-their-parents/

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space889

And how about housing prices?? How much is it up since 1960?

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Newcomer

About 100% in constant dollars. But while that can be explained largely by interest rates, the rent increases are not so easily explained, except in so much as, as the article says, housing just takes a larger percentage of income.

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Bear Vancouverite

Many bears like myself believe in the price to rent ratio being an important fundamental. The most common belief on the bear argument is that since the ratio is out of wack property prices must come down until a number supported by rents.

I remember there was a time when some bulls claimed that price to rents were out of wack because rents hadn’t caught up yet. They were laughed at, ridiculed, and downvoted. Now rents are actually rising very rapidly and starting to catch up, though they still have a long ways to go.

I think the reality going forwards is a little bit of both, prices coming down slightly/stabilising, and rents going up, until an equilibrium is reached.

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southseacompany

“Rosenberg: Vancouver Housing Market in ’Outright Bubble’”, BNN
http://bloombergtv.ca/2016-06-28/news/industries/real-estate/rosenberg-vancouver-housing-market-in-outright-bubble/

“David Rosenberg, Chief Economist and Strategist, Gluskin Sheff speaks on The Daily Brief.”

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southseacompany

“British chaos means interest rates will stay low for longer”, Canadian Business
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/business-news/british-chaos-means-interest-rates-will-stay-low-for-longer/

“Savers will suffer longer with zero returns on their accounts. Home buyers, companies and governments will keep on borrowing cheaply. And questions will grow further about whether central banks are creating bubbles in financial markets by keeping interest rates near or below zero.”

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tokyorealestateman

why save in money? buy stocks Dow 30 and get dividends

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southseacompany

“Michael Smyth: The politics of Metro Vancouver real estate — money and votes rule”, The Province
http://theprovince.com/opinion/columnists/smyth-the-politics-of-metro-vancouver-real-estate-money-and-votes-rule

“Watch for Clark to continue to protect the interests of existing homeowners, as the red-hot housing market increases their equity and pumps more millions into the coffers of the Liberal party and government.”

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