Tanja Beja, Global TV reporter: “To minimize her payments, Catherine Green is moving out of downtown and into New Westminister, where she got a two bedroom and den for $324K. In Vancouver, that wouldn’t have bought much.”
Catherine Green: “Maybe a very small, really old, wood-frame apartment, maybe, on the bottom floor, looking at a dumpster, maybe, I’m not sure, but, yeah, really nothing.”
Beja: “Instead of a dumpster, she’s now looking at the Fraser River.”
- Anecdote extracted from ‘Generation How?’ clip on Global TV, 4 Oct 2011 (3:00 onwards). [Thanks to Greenhorn, for the video archive]
Too bad the story is on people “settling” for New West. I know more than a few people who prefer it to Vancouver for a host of reasons.
But again, I have been heartened that Tanja has engaged the blogosphere to some degree, obviously limited by her obligations and impartiality, and has provided some decent and well-produced anecdotal material. It’s always been a bit of a strained interface.
The one that has annoyed me is the insistence on real identities instead of online names, the idea being that a real-life person somehow produces more credibility than the ideas of a faceless online persona. Too bad; the ideas bandied about online are maverick and prescient, and the public is less served for them not being properly aired.
Oh well!
“…The one that has annoyed me is the insistence on real identities instead of online names, the idea being that a real-life person somehow produces more credibility than the ideas of a faceless online persona. Too bad; the ideas bandied about online are maverick and prescient, and the public is less served for them not being properly aired.”
—
Very well said.
We’ve also been puzzled by the way local MSM automatically devalues anonymous sources – after all, it’s the message, not the station of the messenger, that should be important.
To any MSM reporter reading this, read Doris Dungey aka Tanta’s media policy:
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2007/03/media-inquries-policy.html
The only bloggers I see quoted in MSM, with a few very sparse and obscure exceptions, have been fully vetted as bona fide humans.
Though I am not one, did it ever occur to you that some of the most brilliant and insightful sources of anonymous blogging might be anonymous for a reason? Just saying…
64.51% off! Right beside a wonderful hot springs. Master planned.
http://www.landquest.com/detailmain.aspx?propid=09218
Doug Casey is flogging a similar concept in Argentina:
http://www.laestanciadecafayate.com/
I’ve got an idea, let’s get a whole bunch of rich guys and drop them in a ‘secure’ compound in a poor rural area of South America.
These Kootenay ranches look immensely more appealing (and safer).
Note to Doug, you can bury your gold in BC just as easily as you can in SA.
I thought the good-looking male host look hilarious after the housing segment. He was completely floored that “those crazy kids” would bother to think for themselves and question the obviousness that is the housing orthodoxy. Either that or he was trying to calculate his own downside.
In some fairness, the Global pieces are under copyright, and do provide access to segments through their website. Greenhorn has been nice enough to extract them, though for posterity I patiently sat through the advertisements on the Global site and fast-forwarded to the story I wanted to watch.
jesse -> Do they archive all prior clips?
Or do they remove them after some time?
Don’t know. Seems on first pass like fair dealing is valid here, so long as the source is credited and means to obtain original copyrighted material is given.
I don’t know if I’d consider Greenhorn’s content to be long-term reliable.
They remove the clips after a few days or weeks. I don’t make any revenue off of these clips though Youtube asks me to participate in their ad program. I refuse. Global’s name is featured prominently on the video and I am not earning revenue, so they don’t seem to mind.
Greenhorn -> That’s what I’d thought. I recall being exasperated trying to locate news clips before (CBC? Local?). Your collection at YouTube is thus that much more useful. I would suspect that YouTube is going to prove to be as robust an archive as any.
For the record, we also decline ads here, and actually pay wordpress a small fee to keep ads off versions of the site.
If i was earning revenue off of these videos and if there was advertising, Global would freak out and have the videos pulled. Some news reporters affiliated with Global actually subscribed to my channel as do many realtors and developers. I don’t earn a dime off of this and Global gets free advertising without having to maintain a costly Youtube branded business channel and have dedicated staff maintain it.
BTW thx again vreaa and Greenhorn for this. I doubt Global minds, given the narrative involved, hopefully the press they’re receiving courtesy vreaa improves their ratings a tad.
Why don’t more singles/couples join up with other singles/couples to purchase RE together? $700K will get you a modest house in East Van and IMO be a much better investment than a $350K condo in New West.
I know of at least one instance personally where this arrangement has been beneficial to both parties.
The specu-vestors are teaming up on the West side to flip. Why not do it on the East side to live?
“Why don’t more singles/couples join up with others to purchase RE together?”
Who gets the upstairs vs downstairs? Plus you would have a mess if someone needed to move. – perhaps someone who was disillusioned by Vancouver RE and finds out they can have a mansion elsewhere in Canada. I could see people buying a place with parents to share depending on how well you get along (inlaws etc? yikes!)\
Now that you mention it, I know three instances with one pair being siblings.
No doubt it’s fraught with potential issues but if it was me, I would rather be ‘in’ on 50% of land in the city center than 100% of a box in the suburban sky. Strata gives me the shivers.
Blammo, here’s what $700K gets you on the east side. As the listing says, right smack dab in the middle of the festering Kingsway and Rupert neighbourhood. 1600 sq feet, built at the end of World War II. And it looks like it.
Factor in mortgage interest, repairs (undoubtedly TONS of them just to keep the place standing), annual property taxes, city utility bills, purchase sales tax, etc, etc, and you might as well burn your money.
Seriously, three-quarters of a million for this collapsing east-side craphole? In a market we KNOW is dying?
http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=10884860&PidKey=252141026
The reason it’s low-priced is because it’s a short lot. Collingwood is the cheapest neighbourhood in Vancouver. That is the market price right now…
http://i55.tinypic.com/wrg9qf.jpg
This might make a bit more sense.
http://i55.tinypic.com/2ry3j8p.jpg
Here’s another one:
http://i52.tinypic.com/15ex104.jpg