Empty Townhouse On Howe – Realtor/Owner Attempts $250K-Profit Flip; “Now looking at a significant loss.”

YLTNBoomerang at vancouvercondo.info 31 Aug 2010 10:15 am –
“One of the areas I’ve been tracking for a few years now is townhouses in Coal Harbour and False Creek North (essentially waterfront townhouses). The thing that sets my data apart from MLS data is that I don’t reset my ‘days listed’ counter each time a property is re-listed with a new agent or MLS #. As a result, the [accurate] average number of days listed of all townhouses in this area is… 358!!! Talk about stagnant listings!!!!
Of the current 28 units in this segment only 9 are under a hundred days with the worst offender at 927 days (v829368; 1194sqft; 1439 Howe St; ‘Pomaria'; condo fees $611 per month). Check out the history of this unit that has never been lived in since being completed at the end of 2007:
Initially listed: February 11 2008: $989,000
Price reduced March 4 2009: $969,000
Price reduced April 17 2008: $899,000
Re-listed July 31 2008: $799,000
Re-listed July 21 2009: $699,000
Re-listed June 10 2010: $759,000 (I guess the owner figured the market recovered enough to warrant an increase)
Price reduced June 24 2010: $749,000
This guy has already paid $20K in maintenance fees alone with no rent! I think this place is worth no more than $400K.”

And this important information added by Anonymous at vancouvercondo.info 31 Aug 2010 1:32pm – “Purchased Feb 4 2008 for $749,900 with big dreams of an easy quarter million dollar profit. Now looking at a significant loss. At least the owner will save on commissions…the listing agent is the owner.”

[Thanks for sharing the data, YLTNBoomerang & Anonymous. -vreaa]

“The Mayor of Vancouver is worried about sales of Olympic Village condos. They are not selling fast enough and he worries about another real estate slump.”

nonREgirl at vancouvercondo.info 30 Aug 2010 1:06 pm – “CBC radionews at 1pm reported “The Mayor of Vancouver is worried about sales of Olympic Village condos. He says they are not selling fast enough and worries about another real estate slump.”
[Any reader with a soundclip or verbatim transcript, please send it along. -vreaa]

“A friend-of-a-friend liquidated everything this August. Sold his house in Kits and investment condo because he believes we’re in for “another recession or worse”.”

Pete at vancouvercondo.info 30 Aug 2010 8:12 am – “I talked briefly with a friend-of-a-friend who has just liquidated everything this august. Sold his house in kits and investment condo because he believes we’re in for “another recession or worse”. He’s now sitting on 1.9 mil in cash and planning on renting and waiting out the market for a few years. He either has the best timing ever or he’s going to be dissapointed when he’s priced out of that east van fixer-upper in a few years.”

RE ATM Still Putting Out – “Now he’s vacating his digs for a lengthy reno, and being the bro, I can assure you this is all being done on credit.”

Tonguestump at vancouvercondo.info 30 Aug 2010 12:17 am – “My brother got married for the second time to a woman who is 15 years or so younger that him. She probably looks reasonably good enough in lingerie that he was inspired to buy one of those concrete boxes in vancouver for 1000 dollars a square foot with 500 dollar a month condo fees. They had a baby, now he’s vacating his digs for a lengthy reno, and being the bro, I can assure you this is all being done on credit.”

First The Downpayment, Now This – “A friend of my grandpa’s says that she is paying her kids mortgages right now since they are having a harder time getting a new job.”

Mike at vancouvercondo.info 28 Aug 2010 5:56 pm – “I’m visiting family over the Summer break. A friend of my grandpa’s says that she is paying her kids mortgages right now since they are having a harder time getting a new job. After saying this she added, “But it’s a good mortgage. It’s a 40 year mortgage.”

[Intergenerational wealth transfer, or multigenerational wealth destruction? – vreaa]

“One of their contemporaries just came out of retirement because they cannot sell their home.”

manna from heaven at vancouvercondo.info 29 Aug 2010 3:27 pm – “Just came back from a little visit with the folks. One of their contemporaries just came out of retirement (he had only retired two months), because they cannot sell their home. He is in his late 60’s, has had some recent health scares and is going back to a boss that fired him in the past.”

[One of the most urgent sources of inventory that the Vancouver market will have to face over the next five years is that from boomers selling homes that constitute their entire net-worth; their entire retirement prospects. – vreaa]

Time Magazine: The Case Against Homeownership – “I’ve done the math a bunch of times. The only way you make money owning your house is through the appreciation of its value.”

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“I’ve done the math a bunch of times. The only way you make money owning your house is through the appreciation of its value.” – Jon Belmonte, in the comments section of a Time magazine article, 26 Aug 2010 ‘The Case Against Homeownership’. Excerpt from the article – “Homeownership has let us down. For generations, Americans believed that owning a home was an axiomatic good. But the dark side of homeownership is now all too apparent.”

[How much longer can local Vancouver buyers convince themselves it is so substantially different here? – vreaa]