vanpire at vancouvercondo.info 22 Jun 2011 8:00am -
“I’ve lived in South Burnaby for a long time now. My neighborhood was not so special – mostly transitional residential bordering with light industrial/warehousing. As an upside there were many, many places across the street that employed people and manufactured things – a neon sign shop, a chocolate factory (for real!) a flower wholesaler, an architectural design firm, an electronic distributor. In the walking distance to my home we had a childcare, a church, a bank, a doctor’s office…
That was then. But now? The entire area was apparently owned by the city and city has gradually ended all leases with local businesses and sold the land to developers.This created a domino-effect as block by block what was once an actual city neighborhood turned into a huge condo desert, with hundreds upon hundreds of units sold mostly to chinese “investors”. City planning at its finest.
No wonder government wants the housing boom to last forever.
It’s making very easy money very fast.
Like a big party, but without hangover.”
Most Recent Comments:
- http://eplsite.com/friends/blog/view/481/time-how-guitar-case-hardware-to on MSM Continue To Pump RE – “What’s next? “Cigarettes found to extend lifetime: Marlboro?”
- bailinginbc on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- Real Estate Tsunami on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- Real Estate Tsunami on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- LadyInWaiting on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- Nemesis on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- terminalcitygirl on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- Xyz on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- rod_jonsson on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- terminalcitygirl on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- Nemesis on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- Bally on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
Type of Anecdote
- 01. He Said, She Said (247)
- 02. Profiting from the Boom (441)
- 03. Changed my Life (103)
- 04. Changed my Career (38)
- 05. Where do Buyers get the money? (958)
- 06. Held my Nose and Leapt (96)
- 07. Avoiding Vancouver (375)
- 08. Overextended Buyers (1183)
- 09. Delaying Buying (315)
- 10. Demoralized Renters? (362)
- 11. Regrets about Investing in RE (417)
- 12. Effects of Development (274)
- 13. 2010 Olympics Related (74)
- 14. Social Effects of the Boom (1256)
- 15. Misallocation of Resources (958)
- 16. Missed The Boat? (236)
- 17. The Froogle Scott Chronicles (27)
- 18. Spot The Speculator (171)
- 19. BlastRadiusPostCards (17)
- 20. The Limitless Demand Argument For Ongoing Market Strength (70)
- 21. Vancouver RE-Verse [Found Poems] (8)
- 22. RE References In Popular Culture (41)
- 23. Jumping The Shark (1)
- 24. Policies On Housing (10)
- 25. Epigrams For The Bubble (1)
- 26. Premature Calls Of "Bottom" (3)
- 27. Seller Panic (3)
- 28. Erroneous Causation Theories For Falling Prices (7)
- 29. Bubblespeak (1)
- Uncategorized (176)
Blogroll
- 01 Vancouver Condo Info
- 02 AmericaCanada [retired, no archive]
- 03 Housing Analysis
- 04 RealEstateTalks BC
- 05 Vancouver RE and then some
- 06 Whispers from the Village on the Edge of the Rainforest
- 07 Greater Fool
- 08 Canada Bubble
- 09 Rob Chipman's blog
- 10 YatterMatters
- 11 condohype [retired; archives available]
- 12 vancouver (un)real estate
- 13 Agent Will's Stats [retired]
- 14 Landlord Rescue
- 15 The Economic Analyst
- 16 Canadian Housing Price Charts
- 17 Hoodsurf [retired Jun 2011]
- 18 World Housing Bubble
- 19 Vancouver Price Drop
- 20 North American Economics
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Latest Anecdotes:
- “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- Chat Thread
- Taking A Break
- “My best guess: this property is now an ‘investment hold’ and will be built ‘when prices recover’. Good luck on that!”
- Man Loses $745,000 Vancouver Condo Deposit
- Graphic – Degrees of Housing Overvaluation in Canada
- The Rare Individual With A Negative Ownership Premium
- Advice Regarding Renting In Vancouver, Please – “Unfortunately, the Vancouver rental stock is absolutely atrocious. It just seems like every landlord is looking for someone to pay 100% of their mortgage on a crappy place through rental income.”
- “I just visited Manhattan for a week, and happened to snap some real estate ads on both the Upper West and Upper East sides of the island. Compare to Vancouver. It simply doesn’t compute.”
- Ben Rabidoux In Vancouver Next Week
- “The mortgage company told me they were calling in my 40-year, 0-down mortgage. I have paid nearly sixty thousand dollars towards it, but, nearly five years in, I have yet to touch the principal.”
- ‘Vancouver City Hall: Housing Report Card 2012′; Plus Revised Version
- “My folks find themselves at 65 still owing half the value of their home and recreation property to the bank. After almost 30 years of ownership in the BPOE and a number of boom markets, they have very little to show for it.”
- “Rent for $2,200 a month or buy and have a mortgage of $4,310 per month. Why would anyone buy?”
- “They were talking about two couples they knew who had recently bought a lot and planned to each build a house on it and live as neighbours.”
- Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association Annual First-Time Buyer Seminar Attendance Plummets
- Mom and Pop Get It Wrong In All Markets, Time And Again
- The average British Columbian homeowner is not going to pay off their mortgage by the time they retire.
- “He’s sold all his properties except his current one, which is now for sale. He explained that the market’s currently in crash mode, worst that he’s ever seen.”
- “One of my old high school buddies finally got her mother to sell the family home in Kitsilano – sold for over $1M, monies realized after debt paid off $185K.”
- “I know someone who just declared bankruptcy because her condo was assessed at $150k and she bought it presale north of $250k in 2005 or 2006.”
- Sturdy, With Views – “Calling Froogle Scott!… Is Dr. Scott ‘In The House’?” [Not In This One, Certainly]
- “She said the market was dead in Victoria and that it would remain so for a very long time. I asked how she knew. Her answer was fascinating and should scare the pants off the real estate crowd.”
- Kits Notes – “I’m pretty sure that this is the first 3+ bedroom property of any type that I’ve seen in the 5 years I’ve lived here that is priced below $700K.”
- “A beautiful Belfast home, in the equivalent of 1st Shaughnessy, bought at their RE peak in 2007 for £3.5 million, has now sold for £800K, almost 80%-off. The market didn’t suffer any significant economic shocks. Rates & unemployment didn’t skyrocket. They didn’t build more land. Sentiment just changed and the prices fell and fell.”
- “Two family members of hers are trapped, underwater, in condos on the East Side.”
- “Interprovincial migration is not saying good things about BC’s economy.”
- Vancouver RE: Not As Expensive Provided You Don’t Think – “It’s clear that our perception of affordability has been coloured by living on a continent where housing is unusually inexpensive.”
- More Undisclosed RE Industry Insiders Publicized As Clients – “In 1995, Allan and Karin Hoegg were mortgage-free. But no more. Today their Vancouver home is a valuable source of income as they plan for full retirement.”
- Rumor that some OV units will be reduced by 20%.
- Downside Weights On The Vancouver RE Market – “One of the older guys (over 60) mention to the guy beside him that he and his wife were thinking about selling their family home, and renting, in order to get some of the money that was locked up in the house.”
- “My buddy was looking to upgrade to a house in the Coquitlam area. With 200k extra for a home, that’s half of lifetime saving between him and his wife.”
- “I was walking in the Fraser neighborhood yesterday, I noticed that the population, on average, seem to be composed of workers. I belong to the top 5 percent in terms of income. Nevertheless, I cannot afford any of the houses for sale in that neighbourhood.”
- “Vancouver is an urban resort whose value mostly resides in its real estate and not much else.”
- “Rogers Communications is expanding into RE; aiming to relaunch website; providing critical data that can help potential buyers assess the value of a property from the comfort of their home computer.”
- I’m only 50 and I can just about retire if I want to, all because of a single simple decision – “When prices rebounded to their former highs, then rocketed another 30% higher to what I considered to be totally unsustainable levels, I decided that only a fool would pass up a second opportunity to harvest such a massive non-taxable capital gain, and in 2011 I sold my place.”
- The Vacant Lot of Versailles, Richmond.
- “I don’t think that most people think things are going to crash, just that there is going to be a slight correction, but it was amazing to me how sentiment has changed, and the fact Vancouver RE is too high was just understood.”
- “The ‘investor’ who purchased our house put it up for sale two months later, in January 1981, but the bubble had burst.”
- For A City To Have That Kind Of Vacancy, It’s Like Cancer – “Downtown, the vacant unit rate is so high that it’s as though there were 35 towers at 20 storeys apiece – all empty.”
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- "My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried… 16 hours ago
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One of the effects of the bubble that will last long after the bubble pups and prices return to some semblance of normality is a sense of community. This post brings that out so well.
I know the exact neighborhood that the person is talking about.
My family and I moved to the interior of BC years ago, and we aren’t looking back. We have friends and family in Vancouver, and we like to visit. But we can’t imagine living there anymore.
Yes, we get more snow in the interior. And the temperatures are colder for about four months of the year. But during those cold months it’s raining continually in Vancouver. So pick your poison. And during the rest of the year we’re as warm, or warmer. And the sun is out so much of the time in comparison… even when it’s cold.
We can’t imagine trying to buy a house in Vancouver. And we know that if we did both my wife and I would have to work, rather than having the option of one of us home with the kids. And, not only work, but commute a couple of hours a day as well.
So we decided to live in a city where we could have time with our family and time with our community – where we wouldn’t be slaves to our mortgage in terms of our money and our time. And lots of other people here have chosen the same thing. And because of those choices by others and ourselves we can enjoy neighborhoods that are much like south Burnaby – and so many other parts of the Lower Mainland – used to be.
On top of that, people here have well-paying jobs and, with lower mortgages and lower fuel costs, they have the extra money to go to Maui for a couple of weeks in the winter. Or to get that cottage by the lake. Or… well, you get the picture.
Of course, the average Lower Mainlander will read this and say, “well, yes, but we’d have to live in the Interior.”
Yup, you would. Either the Interior or some other part of Canada. That’s the only way to get out of the mess that you’re in. So feel free to join us in our relative freedom. Or feel free to live on the edge of your finances and the edge of your wits while sucking in exhaust from the endless line of cars in front of you. It’s your choice.
i was born in the yukon and i’ll happily go anywhere but here
i pity people who don’t like the snow (let them keep thinking the north shore is real skiing)
Why is the City in the landlord business to begin with? What if I rephrased your statement as follows: “The City has gradually ended its coffee shop business, hamburger joints and hair salons, and sold the assets to private enterprises…” Would you be saying that the city should continue trying to be an entreprenuer instead of focusing on governing? If you think there is too much land zoned for condos, then this is a city zoning issue that you can take up with your elected representatives. It does not mean that the city should continue trying to be a landlord in competition with the private sector. All the city needs to do is zone the properties in question for commercial or retail use rather than residential, and presto, you’ve got the usage mix you’re looking for. And I love the dig you snuck in about the chinese investors. Even after all the studies by Landcor and others that foreign investors constitute less than 1% of transactions in B.C., the public continue to pile onto the “blame the foreigners” bandwagon. But I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. The Nazis blamed the jews for their problems. A U.S. politician blamed the recent wildfires in the US on “undocumented aliens” (seriously, wow.) What’s next, are we going to blame the downtown hockey riots on wealthy mainland Chinese investors? Why not, we’ve blamed them for everything else.
realist: vreaa has stated many times on this blog that this market is driven 95% by locals.
my only concern is – is it wise to offer a parachute plan to autocratic party apparatchiks? money = influence eventually.