This from Vesta at VREAA, 9 Dec 2011 10:01pm-
“Two anecdotes from the last few days. (I know some of you don’t believe in anecdotal evidence. Being a writer, I believe in it more than I believe in statistics.) Warning: perhaps inappropriate humour below. As I mentioned in earlier posts, I had looked for rental housing here for 3 months this summer. Finally thought I’d found someplace decent. Well, in the last 5 weeks there have been two sewer backups that flooded the basement. Turns out that there were sewer backups last year here too (thank you for that info, previous tenants). Funny thing is, I’d specifically asked the property manager if the house had ever had “water problems.” She’d said no. Nothing much had been done about these backups until this latest one, upon which I called City Hall (#311) and didn’t try to use my “inside voice.” That actually got the City out here, and after at first blaming the problem on indolent plumbers, they had to admit that there’s a rotted City pipe that’s actually part of the problem. But the City said it’s not a priority to fix it because it hasn’t “collapsed” yet. So I guess I can look forward to greeting Mr. Floatie in my basement sometime again in the near future. (Those of you who don’t know who Mr. Floatie is, he’s a revered figure in the BC capital.)”
“Renter Anecdote #2 just from this evening: Responsible young couple arrives in Vancouver. Hears that Balfour Properties manages good buildings. They interview at a building near Broadway and Macdonald (West Side). They think it’ll be great. Then they happen to run into a tenant who tells them that two doors down there was a meth-lab explosion where somebody died. They decided to keep looking and they’ve landed in a building that’s badly managed and has — wait for it — water problems.”
“What I don’t get sometimes about Vancouver, on the continuum of human civilization, is how architects and builders here have still not figured out how to defeat the (world-class) precipitation.”
“Okay, enough silliness. My next post: I’ve heard back from Stephen Harper about my concerns about the Vancouver mania! Stay tuned for some hilarious advice.”
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I’ve argued that renting longer term accommodations takes more work than purchasing because with renting you need to consider the structure, the ‘hood, the price and the landlord.
it’s far from trivial to do properly but i don’t think purchasing is not different (looked at over 100 ppties over 2 yrs before making 1st time buy) – there will just be more variety on the table at present. people talk about getting the big trades right. this is one of them. i’ve done it since 2006 (in the us) and aside from the first couple years, i feel like i have the wind at my back. in the meantime, i have seen countless friends and colleagues struggle continuously with difficult ownership issues. these are going to be headwinds, potentially debilitating ones, they will face for until all the excesses of the bubble are liquidated. if people fully account for cost of ownership using realistic inputs, they will find the equivalent payment stream easily lifts them into a much higher strata of the market than for purchase. take some of that to get yourself into a better situation. pocket the rest or put it to better use. for van, it’s going to be about 6 -10 years. you really want to get on the right side of the big trade.
Unscheduled encounters with Mr. Floatie are always unpleasant, Vesta – although, clearly, some ‘Mr. Floaties’ are worse than others…
[DailyBeast] – BC’s Severed-Feet Mystery: Since 2007, 11 human feet have washed up on British Columbia’s shores—and no one knows why.
http://tinyurl.com/3chl34n
Thanks, Nem!
And perhaps I was too flip with my comment about anecdote v. statistics. It takes all kinds, and we need all kinds. I’m innumerate.
Finally, I have to apologize to William Shakespeare for misquoting him in my agony last night. I believe this is the correct quote: “…. I could a tale unfold/To harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood/Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres/Thy knotted and combined locks to part/And each particular hair to stand on end/Like quills upon the fearful porpentine.” (Porcupine).
What was he talking about? Vancouver real estate, of course. Very appropriate contribution to this archive.
Rats, I keep messing up the quotation. It’s “I could a tale unfold whose lightest word/WOuld harrow up thy soul etc.”
One other thing about my current rental, that also makes this quotation apt: IT IS MISSING HALF ITS GUTTERS. Yes, those things you put on the roof to catch the rain. But of course you don’t need them in Vancouver.
We suspect Shakespeare would be cool with all your variations.
here’s a story that made the news last week: professionally managed rental building without water for 3 days. the first few comments are pretty harsh, i would not be happy without water for 3 days either.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/12/05/bc-water-main-street.html