"I was stuck at Thanksgiving dinner this last weekend. My brother in law, a new home owner, went on and on about real-estate."

real_professional at vancouvercondo.info October 12th, 2010 2:53 pm – “I was stuck at Thanksgiving dinner this last weekend and my brother in law was there. He went on and on about real-estate – no surprise since he is a new home owner.
Try as I might, I could not meaningfully direct the conversation to something less inflammatory like religion, politics, or sex. But I decided to just semi-quietly observe the conversation. A few things occurred to me – one of which is how bullish the “dumb money” still is … which don’t get me wrong, is a good thing because you need bulls for a market to crash… And by dumb money I mean: people who haven’t researched any trends, people who haven’t compared prices to anywhere else in the world, or haven’t looked at any metrics on valuations or social debt burdens.
A few things that came out of the conversation:
1) Olympics based boom!!… Are they on crack still quoting the benefits of that dead horse which never was alive in the first place?
2) Rich Chinese people!… – I interjected and asked if they were aware of the Chinese property bubble forming in China and economic issues with the inflating of the Yuan? They looked at me with more dumb money looks.
3) Immigration trends!..?? I piped up and said, growth rates of BC population haven’t changed over the decades and if anything, have been slower this decade than the past – not by much, but definitely no spikes. I went on to say if the population grows at a steady predictable pace that should already be priced into home valuations. More dumb money looks!
4) Strong job market!…? Unemployment is over 8%!!!
5) What a good deal the US housing market is? – Ok, things are tempting south of the border in some regards, but it is far from a recovery, possibly a bottom, but not a recovery furthermore, they were saying this two years ago.
6) Renting is throwing your money away! I couldn’t even comment lest I be struck down with a vengeance of a thousand angry men.
7) The only way to get rich is through real-estate!!!?????? The ONLY WAY????
For what I have had to endure I am going to hate real estate even after the market crashes and I am a home owner.”