Open Topic

Friday Free-for-all! July 29th 2016

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189 Comments

It’s a new day! The end of another week! The start of a long weekend! The dawn of a new tax!

It’s Friday and that means it’s time for another Friday Free-for-all post, our standard end-of-the-week news roundup and open topic discussion thread.

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

–Foreign buyer tax a NAFTA violation?
–Housing crash a bigger woe than oil for Canada?
–Tax draws criticism from housing experts
–Ontario considering BC style foreign buyer tax
–Buying property all-cash via shell companies suspicious
–Tax affecting presales?
–Toxic debate
–Reporters suck at math
–Encouraging loopholes discouraged
–CMHC warns of overheated market
–

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

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BubbleTea

Rennie must be a psychic!
CKNW: “B.C. Liberals donor didn’t have advanced knowledge of housing tax: Premier’s office”
Krusty must go!

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Its_the_ALR_stupid

Frozen loans trigger Australian property funding crisis

http://www.afr.com/real-estate/residential/frozen-loans-trigger-australian-property-funding-crisis-20160725-gqcxxt

“Lenders slammed on the breaks when spot checks on the loan applications detected widespread fraud. The main problem is mainland Chinese buyers, which account for about half of the deals.”

If and when the tide finally turns on Van RE, we will find out the level of fraud that’s been going on here, too, which I suspect will be epic.

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HAMster

Fraud is a part of mainland Chinese culture. They see nothing wrong with cheating and in fact it’s accepted practice. I’ve been watching some youtube videos on what it’s like to live in Mainland China by a guy who has lived there for 10 years and deception is a fact of life there.

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kim

From houses, to finance, to SAT/ACT testing, everything in China is fake and a fraud.

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Combat roach

Right, but is their current buying power worthed of such culture becoming a part of the main stream when it comes to business in BC or Canada ?

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tim

“I’ve been watching some youtube videos on what it’s like to live in Mainland China by a guy who has lived there for 10 years”

Link?

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Boombust

All true. I have been there twice’ corruption is rampant and at all levels.

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BubbleTea

I was on many tours of China and were taken to business where fake actors disguising as owner giving 900% off merchandising, actors posing as if they have magical power hawking pills that will cure all, costing a thousand dollar a bottle. What a disgusting country, hope that will not happen to Canada soon.

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Its_the_ALR_stupid

To be fair, it’s not just Mainlanders. From what I’ve seen and heard, fraud has been coming from all corners – realtors, inspectors, “old stock Canadians”, everyone.

When there is this much “easy” money to be made fraud becomes rampant. It’s just not apparent until prices start to fall. When they do, we’ll see it come out of the woodwork in all it’s forms – loan applications, appraisals, fraudulent inspections, shoddy construction, fake buyers, fake income statements, price fixing, collusion, we’re going to see it all.

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HAMster

Ferrari profits rise as deliveries grow.

http://app.tmxmoney.com/news/cpnews/article?locale=EN&newsid=f19240&mobile=false

Volumes rose 8 per cent to 2,214 vehicles, led by sales of 8 cylinder models of the newly launched 488 GTB and the 488 Spider. Europe and China recorded double-digit growth.

This sort of news makes me wonder why we are in such an economic funk where we need all this CB stimulus meanwhile luxury sales of all sorts are booming. Seems counter-intuitive to me.

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david

So. 20% of the current Canadian economy is now real estate, most of it financed with what CMHC claims is “debt” when in actuality, after the bust, will turn out to be unintended government grant money.

Which, ironically enough, will stay on hapless Canada’s books forever —– because Canada was in no better position to be taking on billions in debt for making real estate loans than Canadians were in loading up on them.

But who cares? It isn’t ‘real’ money. The ‘real’ stuff is the decrepit roads and bridges. bankrupt health care, vanishing social services and higher taxes. All good.

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Newcomer

Decrepit roads and bridges? I rarely drive outside the lower mainland, but I am always being impressed by all the recently upgraded roads and bridges. BC, at least, has an incredibly high level of public facilities and services. I agree that some funding, such as that for people with disabilities, is lower than it could be, but in general, this is as nice as I’ve ever seen it here, or anywhere else, in my lifetime.

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Kim

And what do you think the roads and bridges are financed with. Debt!

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Newcomer

No argument there! We are running on an artificial monetary expansion financed by consumer debt. Fortunately, it’s not my debt and, cynically, the short-term perks are nice 🙂

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kartboy16

Not your debt? Are you a Canadian?

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Kim

What will happen when lenders won’t lend because our debt becomes unsustainable? Or when rates have to go up because our dollar is devalued to the point that our houses look even more cheaper to the foreigner? Like a hoise of cards, it will come tumbling down.

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Newcomer

I don’t see bailouts on the horizon. Almost all the pain will be borne by those stupid enough to have signed up for more than they can handle. The rest can easily be absorbed by the banks and the CMHC without opening the government coffers.

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southseacompany

“Canada’s economy is growing at the slowest pace in 60 years and the only thing holding us up is housing”, Financial Post
http://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/canadas-economy-is-growing-at-the-slowest-pace-in-60-years-and-the-only-thing-holding-us-up-is-housing

“Real estate and financial services now account for 20 per cent of the economy, levels not seen in the data since the early 1960s. That could be a problem, with household debt at a record and policy makers scrambling to slow price gains that are making homes unaffordable for all but the wealthiest buyers.’

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VancouverSucks

The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires: http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-vancouver-real-estate-market/

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patriotz

B.C. ministers kept in dark about foreign-buyer tax, politicians say
But…

“All the polling showed people were frantic and wanted a tax on foreign ownership,” said condo marketer Bob Rennie, chief fundraiser for the Liberals. “It’s all based on polling.”

Mr. Rennie said he knew an additional property transfer tax for foreigners was coming about three weeks ago, but he figured it would be about 5 to 8 per cent. He said a more holistic approach would have created a tax targeting speculators of any nationality for flipping properties rapidly and “interfering in the market.”

When you have to rely on Bob Rennie to say anything approaching the truth, you know the province is in trouble.

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Nom Nom Nom

“Mr. Rennie said he knew an additional property transfer tax for foreigners was coming about three weeks ago…”

Why the fuck should this fucking shill have any privy knowledge of legislation that is getting enacted?!?! Does no body else find it unacceptable that this party fundraiser, condo pushing cocksucker can so flagrantly wave around the fact he has such intimate access to public governance yet holds no office.

I fucking hate what our society is becoming! this type of shit used to be viewed as corruption!

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BubbleTea

Why are the RCMP not involved because this is illegal insider info. Rennie may have used this info to sell more condos before the tax goes in effect.

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Newcomer

Larry’s got the numbers.

YOY sales down.
“In July Attached sales were down 20%. Apartment Sales 7% and that pinnacle of all things good in Vancouver the Detached home, had sales down 30%.”
….
And what sounds like MOM prices and inventory moving where you would expect.
“Vancouver’s Detached Homes inventory increased 16% however, the average home price temperature fell as average prices tumbled downward.”

http://www.yattermatters.com/2016/08/vancouvers-average-price-addiction/

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lurkeritye

What’s the big deal ? Squirming about a tax on foreigners ? How many years have the same people been saying that it’s a big myth, that there’s no data, that’s only less than 1% of transactions. So, nothing will happen, you can’t tax a myth — why the sudden protests over non-existing foreign money ?

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Newcomer

To be fair, the people who are saying foreign money doesn’t matter are not the same people who are complaining about the tax. Generally speaking, bears do not see foreign money as decisive and bulls do. The bull case is that there is a rational explanation for high prices. The bear case is that it is misguided borrowing and spending by ordinary punters at home who, in reality, don’t have a pot make water in. It is the bulls who complain about the tax.

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Oracle

Price may correct only temporarily.

350,000 Canadian citizens now in China/Hong Kong

QIIP accepting 6000 people this coming year. All millionaire.

Foreign students to be doubled to over 450,000. Only rich people kids can get the visa. Poor people can’t because they deemed a risk that they will not go home

10 year visitor visas. 540,000 given last year.

I bought a building lot about a year ago so I am doing ok. However, when the next correction happens, I’m buying as I don’t see how prices can stay low anymore

Incomes don’t matter when you have an overflow of people

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HAMster

Also:
Under the new subscription period, Quebec will accept a maximum of 1900 applications including a maximum of 1330 from China, Hong Kong and Macao and the balance of 570 applications to be filled from elsewhere.

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BubbleTea

” The federal government should cancel the farcical QIIP, which encourages a particularly perverse form of wealth-based migration, and which has been shown to be a net loss for Canada. In addition, law-enforcement bodies, including the Canada Revenue Agency and the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre, should begin to crack down on tax evasion and money laundering in a much more concerted way.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/bcs-new-tax-a-good-start-but-just-a-start/article31120967/

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Best place on meth

Good god, what kind of rag would publish any garbage uttered by chinese nationalist and 5th columnist Victor Wong?

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CityObserver

Wait… Victor Wong is Charlie Smith?

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CityObserver

The Georgia Straight has gone seriously downhill, given Victor Wong is treated as an expert and given a voice. He’a blatant example of a propagandist, textbook. GS: one more example of something that was once a good thing in Vancouver that is no more. Zilch. Gone.

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Combat roach

They might be on a politburo or 50-cent party payroll and push along the lowlife’s shit.

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patriotz

Some would say the real turning point for the GS was the split with the Grape, but again that’s a matter of perspective.

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Best place on meth

Mike Stewart, sleazy Vancouver realtor and very, very bad man:

http://vancouversun.com/storyline/top-realtor-rapped-for-trying-to-avoid-new-15-foreign-buyers-tax

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patriotz

Stewart did nothing wrong. The tax, like all other forms of PTT, specifically applies to the party who becomes the registered owner at closing. Christy and her puppets, the Real Estate Council, are attacking Stewart for exposing one weakness of the tax, among many. Don’t agree with me? Listen to David Eby:

However, NDP housing critic David Eby says he doesn’t think Stewart did anything wrong, especially since he was talking about pre-sales contracts. He said the dispute helps to illustrate loopholes the NDP warned the Liberal government were in the legislation.

“It is true you can assign a pre-sale contract without paying the tax. It is totally clear in the legislation that the tax doesn’t kick in until the title is registered,” Eby said.

“I don’t think it is OK. It demonstrates the flaws in the government’s proposal.”

http://www.theprovince.com/business/real-estate/vancouver+realtor+rapped+trying+avoid+property+transfer/12086641/story.html

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CityObserver

“nothing wrong” can mean nothing legally wrong, or it can mean nothing morally wrong. Maybe he did nothing legally wrong but given the context, it seems morally wrong. He could not fail to know the issues that gave rise to the legislation.

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patriotz

Does it make any sense to say it’s morally wrong to assign a pre-sale simply because the assignee legally pays less PTT? If the issue is foreign ownership, why is it morally wrong to assign ownership to a local?

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oops we did it again

I’m not going to argue the numbers regarding foreign ownership in Vancouver because it is irrelevent to the stupidity that Canadians have indulged in over the last 7 -10 years. I was born in Vancouver and have lived in B.C. for close to 60 years. It is one thing for our youth to be suckered into this mother of all gasbags, it is quite another to see my contempories dipping into unrealized equity to purchase investment homes here and more astoundingly the U.S.A., regardless of Garth’s recommendations to those who were financially capable, I presume. I understand greed but every one of these boomers lived through previous crashes. I personally listed my home in 2002 and watched my equity disappear as I futilely followed the market down to try and save some shred of equity. If this is indeed the… Read more »

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BubbleTea

(Mainland) Chinese immigrant Joy Mo blames millionaire mainlanders for Vancouver’s housing woes
http://www.scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1372813/born-china-joy-mo-blames-rich-mainlanders-vancouvers-housing-woes

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CityObserver

Tells it like it is. 2008 marks the change, when the immigrant investors came on the scene.

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I\'m With Stupid V

Sellers remorse, I dont care.
Locust is a locust. Deport em all!

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HAMster

Mainland Chinese immigrants blaming Mainland Chinese immigrants for the housing problem. Ironic. And I first read this article 3 years ago. I wonder how these people are doing now?

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patriotz

Well I’m a boomer and I blame other boomers, particularly the Boomer Queen .

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Oracle

Not ironic. They want advantage for their kids. Altruistic thinking gets you poverty.

Survival of the fittest.

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Combat roach

Ironic is that we just let them so smoothly to screw us all up at “home” where we could easily prevent that to happen either ways. No wonder then why do they feel entitled while we look stupid as fucks.

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Diadora

I know a lot of regular Mainland Chinese and long time Chinese and they are equally disgusted at the Wealthy Mainland Chinese group and thinks Canada should not court this group because they do not contribute to society aside from bidding up housing.

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Best place on meth

“(Mainland) Chinese immigrant Joy Mo blames millionaire mainlanders for Vancouver’s housing woes”.

She’s obviously racist.

And xenophobic.

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squeak

Oooor … , you could call it the quits in Vancouver/BC, and go elsewhere in Canada and earn more, live cheaper, tuck away more money, have more of a life and use the winter months (think snow, you can actually ski… no Olympic measures to truck snow in..lol) to study, get more ahead in the skills dept, do a snow birdie thing in the winter and not sweat it financially and afford a niice home. And with the excess equity (which you will not get in Vancouver due to the rotten housing market) one day you have a good wad of dough to use to for whatever you want to. I don’t believe in BC anymore, there is nothing for the young Canadians. Take your skills, knowledge, education, energy, innovative thinking, youth, smarts, cleverness, ambition, imagination, creativeness, eagerness to where… Read more »

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Kim

I agree. Vancouver isn’t even really Canadian. Rude drivers, rude people, disgusting slobs. I ha e loved elsewhere in NA and Vancouver is the rudest city by far, more so than major US cities

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Newcomer

I lived five years in Tokyo, three years in Rome, five years in Paris and seven in New York. When moved here I was shocked (I mean genuinely shocked) by how polite and friendly people were. Compared to, say, Halifax, people are a little cold, but on a global scale, Vancouverites are insanely nice.

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patriotz

But Vancouver isn’t on the global scale that Tokyo, Rome, Paris and New York are on. Try comparing Vancouver against one of its real peers, like Portland, OR.

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Newcomer

Sorry, I don’t get what you are trying to say. Is there a global scale for rudeness? Are you saying that Vancouver is “relatively rude” given its population?

I think you might be taking the whole analysis thing a bit far. In any case, I have never lived in Portland, so I couldn’t comment. All I am saying is that, having lived in hostile cities, I find it odd when people call Vancouverites rude.

How does Ottawa compare with Vancouver?

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patriotz

Way, way more polite. It’s quite striking. I think there are two major factors – the large Chinese population in Vancouver (sorry they really are rude, ask any other Asian, and it rubs off), and Vancouver’s huge homeless population which puts people on guard against strangers.

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CityObserver

Call it whatever you want to call it, the “vibe” has changed, and has changed very quickly.

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CityObserver

To elaborate: New York always had associated with it the idea of dog eat dog, competition, a fast pace. Status hierarchy based on inherited wealth is the norm at those places. Show-offyness glitter and glam, people coming and going, shopping mall culture, shallowness, Vancouver used to be a place to feel safe walking through the tree lined streets at any time of the day or night anywhere in the city; it is not now, and the reason it is not safe now, is that people are entering the city in order to exploit it, to gain advantage, to create separateness, have status. I don’t see them coming to each others aid as much as I sued to do and love about them — I see them as being judgmental and entitled. They don’t behave as if they have a sense… Read more »

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Newcomer

I just realized that I’m probably one of the unfriendly people that you complain about 🙂 I moved here because it was a lot quieter and easier than any of the place I had been living before then, and of course I must have brought some of those big-city attitudes with me.

It’s true, though, when a place becomes a destination competitive people start showing up. Someone once pointed out to me that NYC was famous for being full of jerks, so jerks from all over the world move there because they think they’ll fit in.

Vancouver is famous for pretentious, latte-drinking yoga buffs and Chinese millionaires.

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patriotz

I think the change in vibe was 30 years ago, but it depends on one’s perspective.

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CityObserver

Haha! I wasn’t here the time of Expo, only saw the change that happened in the years leading up to the Olympic (with the sky rather shockingly filled with cranes as far as the eye could see in every direction and announcements that there would now be spy cameras throughout the city: I defer to people who have been here longer for the best understanding of the historical changes.

And Newcomer, yes interesting. To balance things out, let us seek to advertise our less pretentious side… wait, is that some kind of contradiction?

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Boombust

Oh, you ARE a newbie, then. I have lived here since the 1950’s…many changes, indeed.

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Shut It Down Already

That’s right squeak, it’s not possible to ski in Vancouver. They truck the snow in every year. Clown.

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Ftx

If all you educated guys with no hope for improvement do not vote for the ndp next round, then you desrve what you get. Replace your rulers. Things can change quickly after the libs are gone.

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Slava

A vote for the NDP (David Eby in particular) is essential to put a full stop to this real estate mess. Full stop.

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CityObserver

One of the, if not the, most intelligent and balanced politicians I have seen in my lifetime. I feel immense gratitude for the work he has done on the housing crisis, allowing people to be heard, looking to university research done on the issues, arguing so persuasively about it. He’s not stuck in cliches or concepts; he’s clear, and he listens, and he’s quick. And seems to have enormous integrity.

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Jon

Dropped by an open house this weekend in east van near Slocan and 5th. Vancouver Special built in 1976 and fully renovated. Listed at 1,599,000. The realtor showed me he had an offer at over 200k over asking. I thought people would be concerned with the new foreign tax bringing prices lower. It will be interesting to see what detached prices do in the next few months.

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Newcomer

In the same vein, (yet another) friend just decided to sell and her realtor told her to ask for more that she had been thinking of as a similar unit in her building sold last week on one day.

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would-be buyerl

I have lived in BC my whole life. I grew up poor and gambled on education to try to secure a better life for myself. I looked at my family and said “I’m not going to be poor like them”. My mother had a grade 10 education and my dad a grade 8. I grew up in subsidized housing and rentals, but thankfully, my mother always wanted the best for us, so I was driven to better schools outside our catchment area. I have 3 degrees and am a lawyer. I make good money. My spouse makes half what I do and we have paid Vancouver’s high childcare costs. We don’t have family money to rely on. We only have our incomes – which anywhere but Vancouver would entitle us to a nice standard of living. As a family, we… Read more »

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Combat roach

Rebelion, national resistance, police and army will join, they have to live somewhere too.

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MLS watch

I was in the exact same place many years ago, so I feel for millennials. I became very bitter. At one point I had to make a choice: stay hoping things would get better, or leave far away from where I was born. I had no way to make things change., so I decided to emigrate to Canada. Did I feel betrayed by my home country? yes. Twenty years later, my country is now much worse, and I am so glad I left. I thought Canada was the promised land, but I now witness a repeat in Vancouver: life getting harder every year for the middle class, people becoming aggressive and cynical, the raise of racism. I do not know what the answer is…

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Boombust

You’ll be fine. This market is headed downward. Just stay the course.

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CityObserver

Academic who very strongly relates to that. Especially: “As a family, we earn in the top 10% of Canadians. We did everything right, but we rent a garden suite in Kits. Yes, it’s very nice, but at what cost? I would have been better off just working out of high-school and buying property in the 90s as some para professional. ” “… those who have speculated in this market. The government does not back-stop my investments and they shouldn’t your speculative property “investment”. … I just hope I am not on the hook for CMHC insured mortgages.” “At what point does the government look their highly-educated constituents in the face and say, “hey, i know you paid $100K [and 6 years of your life after graduating university to attain your professional degree] but you can’t live here- Vancouver is for… Read more »

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Sellnowirbepricedin4evah

+1000

In similiar boat. Strong education making in top 10 pct. but no parents to pay my bills or will me property. That’s all it is here now.
I have at least 20 friends who make very low wages but are living the life bc of parents putting money in their pocket for home prices that have skyrocketed none of them are geniuses. They are now living off their houses

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yvr2zrh

Well – In Vancouver you can say it correct in that there is a “Property Class”. There are those with property and those without. Those without would never be able to live in what they could live in almost any other part of the world. When I left Vancouver – I was in the top 1%, making mid 6-figures and could not see how I could possibly get all the pieces of the lifestyle to come into place – – so – I left. So glad I did and almost feel like I would never ever go back. But – you never know . . . One thing for sure is that there is no mathematical way that people can earn their way into ownership in the city of Vancouver.

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Kim

For me, no parental help, just saved, have net worth of 2.2 million in m mid thirties with wife and a child. 1.1 million in equities and 1.1 million in my home. Just save, invest wisely and you will not be priced out despite what the idiots say. Take the bus or bike, you won’t get broke doing that. Don’t be like the Vancouver idiots who lease luxury cars to fit in. Nobody cares what you drive.

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I\'m With Stupid V

You get a cookie!

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Burnaby Bear

Have to call bullshit, Kim. There is no way you have over million in investments in 10 years – assuming you went to university – without someone kicking in. And you own a home too!?

Prove me wrong by explaining.

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YLTNboomerang

Amen! Similar story over hear but replace lawyer with engineer and kits with mount pleasant.

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Bartleby

Thabk you for one of my favourite posts ever. Hard and yesterday, bring it!! My family is in a similar boat. High income, no parental help. We have saved and invested, doing well on paper. But goddamnit , I am tired of our dingy east side rental and the long commute we make each day to get the kids to a good school and daycare. It boggles my mind to think that even though we have done so many of the “right” things, we have a lifestyle that doesnt quite fit our expectations. Instagram’s gotta develop a filter for me! But yep, earning Vancouver dollars, and didn’t buy 10+ years ago, so feels like we are out of luck. If only I had parents like these: Friend’s brother and his wife lost out on a couple of multiple offer situations… Read more »

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Newcomer

Bartleby, you will be soon be glad that you are you and not your friend. Imagine having a debt load that cannot be repaid in a lifetime and also feeling responsible for your in-laws being in the same boat. Shoot me now 🙂

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Newcomer

I get it, and I sympathize.

That said if you are earning about 100K (top 10%) and your wife makes half of that, you have 150K a year. A two-bedroom garden suite in Kits costs around 2K (you can get them for 1500). So you have scads of money left over to invest in equities or whatever. Why do you need to own a house?

I’m in basically the same boat, and while it is inconvenient that I don’t own the place I live in, it’s not awful. As Boombust says, bide your time and focus on what is important. You live in a beautiful part of town, you earn a good living and your wife does OK too. Sounds great. Enjoy it!

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Burnaby Bear

“So you have scads of money left over to invest in equities or whatever.”

This is where the myth breaks down. My wife and I bring in about $150K gross; we pay $2100 rent for a house in North Burnaby. Yet, for all intents and purposes we live cheque to cheque. And believe me we don’t live a luxurious life! No BMW in our driveway. The cost of living in this city is crazy.

I stopped contributing to our RRSPs when the kid arrived. Haven’t been able to start again. We have to run two cars – I work in Surrey she works in south Burnaby. Day care costs more than you can believe even out here.

I completely understand Would Be Buyer – I am in the same boat. And it sucks.

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squeak

First of all, Congratulations on earning your degrees despite coming from the wrong side of the track. These kids that accomplish this have to work 3 times as hard b/c of many reasons, one of them is not having the network and not been shown the ropes and the strategic thinking that comes with pursuing higher education. Commendable!

I would love to see a crash too, but is that wishing thinking? Or should we grab the bull by the horns and call a spade a spade, stop letting our emotions getting in the way of making logical smart decisions.
As mentioned in my “ramble” a few postings below, maybe taking your golden skills elsewhere where you will be rewarded. Your time is gold. Why invest your gold years in a corrupt province?

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hgfd

We have from now until the provincial election to see if Christy’s tax is effective or not…….

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Slava

And if Christy’s tax is not successful, it will definitely be an NDP Government who will be.

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tokyorealestateman

move to an affordable area–it aint gonna crash cause buyers like will come–
http://www.rew.ca/properties/R2050702/203-5520-joyce-street-vancouver?direction=asc&sort=price&page=1&property_search=408979571

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MLS watch

In Europe a lot of people rent a basic apt in the core of a big city, where they cannot afford to buy, and buy a nice house in the countryside, where they go for long week ends and holidays. They can adjust the size of the rental to their family needs, and have a beautiful home paid off by the time they retire.

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Burnaby Bear

Where can you buy a nice house in the country-side that is accessible from Vancouver on long weekends, that won’t cost an arm and a leg?

Sounds like a brilliant plan, but I don’t think it will work in Vancouver.

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Shut It Down Already

Sunshine Coast?

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patriotz

What a difference 100 feet makes. You can visit any weekend you like, but unfortunately you can’t retire there.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1867-Roosevelt-Way-Point-Roberts-WA-98281/23671305_zpid/

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mls watch

It worked for me… Renting a house in Van was $3500 (family of 4, central location, crapy landlord). Renting an apt is now $2000 and mortgage is $1600. Including utilities and everything, it is more expansive, yes, but my quality of life is without comparison, especially community wise. Just need to be organized and keep myself busy on the bus and on the ferry ($15 return ticket). Works well for someone who can work partly from home, or if one spouse finds employment locally. A good solution if you are 10 yrs away from retirement. Excellent for small kids. Not for everyone.

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Combat roach

WTF? Lover the price, problem solved. “One of our clients is a new immigrant family in the process of moving to Canada. They have both children registered for school — their daughter will be studying English literature at the University of B.C. in the fall. They have already entered into a firm deal to buy a resale home priced at $765,000 (from a Canadian seller), but since the sale closes after Aug. 2, they are now looking at a sudden $114,750 increase in their cost — on a firm and binding contract. This is neither just nor reasonable. Our second example involves a Canadian family who recently listed their home for sale in Surrey. They have a firm deal with an immigrant family for $480,000; however, that deal is now in peril, because the buyer’s cost just went up by… Read more »

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patriotz

The solution to both these problems is for the buyer to buy a plane ticket to the nearest place in Canada (doesn’t even have to be in BC), and when they walk out of the airport they will be a permanent resident and exempt from the tax. Actually they don’t have to walk out of the airport, they can just take the next plane back.

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Mic

This article from the VP of MacDonald realty is a blatant attempt to obscure the facts . In example #1, if this family were actual landed immigrants, this tax would not apply to them ….being “in the process of immigrating” means they are still foreign nationals regardless of their”intention”to immigrate….the use of the term “immigrant”is being broadly used and applied to individuals who, in fact, have no intention of living, working and paying taxes in our country. However, I can understand how convenient it is to use this term as it conjures up visions of the poor and downtrodden… neither of which applies to the two examples in the article…

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OPENHOUSEMASSACRE

Australia Introduces a New Tax Rule that Slaps Chinese Investors

http://hibusiness.ca/2016/06/28/be-warned-canada-australia-introduces-a-new-tax-rule-that-slaps-chinese-investors/

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patriotz

It was the state of New South Wales (not the Oz federal government) which introduced the tax of… (drum roll) 4%, as previously discussed in this forum. Much better article linked below, and note this:

“A little over 20% of property in Australia is sold to foreign investors.”

That’s 20% over the whole country. As I said before, NSW and other state governments are obviously trying to raise revenue, not discourage foreign buyers.

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/nsw-is-hitting-foreign-property-investors-with-1-billion-in-new-taxes-2016-6

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Dan

People in the West do not know much about the Chinese Communist Party: Mao emerges as one of the greatest mass murderers in history, responsible for the deaths of at least 45 million people between 1958 and 1962. It is not merely the extent of the catastrophe that dwarfs earlier estimates, but also the manner in which many people died: between two and three million victims were tortured to death or summarily killed, often for the slightest infraction. When a boy stole a handful of grain in a Hunan village, local boss Xiong Dechang forced his father to bury him alive. The father died of grief a few days later. The case of Wang Ziyou was reported to the central leadership: one of his ears was chopped off, his legs were tied with iron wire, a ten kilogram stone was… Read more »

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CanNeverThinkOfAGoodName

Useful for perspective and sad to think of. How do these kinds of experiences in the memories of many of those living affect the choices they and their children make now?

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OPENHOUSEMASSACRE

Hostility toward rich, Chinese newcomers has left many asking the same question: Why is Canada willing to take our money, but then belittle us?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/vancouver/meet-the-wealthy-immigrants-at-the-centre-of-vancouvers-housingdebate/article31212036/

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HAMster

The hostility is against wealthy arrogant Asians who feel entitled to take Canada for all it’s worth while not giving back anything to their gracious hosts (us).

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abcd

Don’t act so hard done by. There’s plenty of real estate in Prince George, Calgary, Victoria, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Halifax, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton, Nanaimo, Saint John, if you want to park your money in Canada. Stop complaining.

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Combat roach

This article is the utter piece of shit. Is it supposed to cause some compassion or what because of the 15% tax? Another lowlife shill paid by clan.

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patriotz

The people in the article are immigrants and wouldn’t be subject to the tax in the first place. The writer is just confusing the issues by mentioning it and should know better.

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