“My sister is getting married and planning their wedding. With a house and apartment in Vancouver and a condo at Whistler you would think they were flush but no… The entire wedding is on their line of credit and they are “borrowing” wedding rings until they can afford to buy real ones as they are maxed on what they can get on their HELOC’s. When I asked them why they don’t sell the condo or apartment I was told they need them to keep going up in value. I’ve given up giving guidance anymore but felt chills when I realized that they need the places to go up in value so they can increase their credit lines to maintain their current lifestyle….god forbid what will happen to them if (when) the value declines.”
– ChemGuy at VREAA 5 Apr 2012 1:30pm
Most Recent Comments:
- Arnie Carnegie on Hard Earned Home Savings? Hardly.
- El Ninja on Hard Earned Home Savings? Hardly.
- Arnie Carnegie on Hard Earned Home Savings? Hardly.
- El Ninja on Hard Earned Home Savings? Hardly.
- El Ninja on Hard Earned Home Savings? Hardly.
- El Ninja on Hard Earned Home Savings? Hardly.
- Arnie Carnegie on Hard Earned Home Savings? Hardly.
- Arnie Carnegie on Hard Earned Home Savings? Hardly.
- El Ninja on Hard Earned Home Savings? Hardly.
- El Ninja on Hard Earned Home Savings? Hardly.
- El Ninja on Hard Earned Home Savings? Hardly.
- Arnie Carnegie on Hard Earned Home Savings? Hardly.
Type of Anecdote
- 01. He Said, She Said (248)
- 02. Profiting from the Boom (446)
- 03. Changed my Life (106)
- 04. Changed my Career (39)
- 05. Where do Buyers get the money? (1,092)
- 06. Held my Nose and Leapt (97)
- 07. Avoiding Vancouver (378)
- 08. Overextended Buyers (1,198)
- 09. Delaying Buying (316)
- 10. Demoralized Renters? (367)
- 11. Regrets about Investing in RE (417)
- 12. Effects of Development (279)
- 13. 2010 Olympics Related (74)
- 14. Social Effects of the Boom (1,266)
- 15. Misallocation of Resources (967)
- 16. Missed The Boat? (237)
- 17. The Froogle Scott Chronicles (27)
- 18. Spot The Speculator (174)
- 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 (45)
- 23. Jumping The Shark (1)
- 24. Policies On Housing (11)
- 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 (177)
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:
- Hard Earned Home Savings? Hardly.
- “You know your real estate is in bad shape when there is a game app that displays Vancouver’s Science World and teaches you how to be a money hungry real estate developer.”
- “It’s sinking in that Vancouver is sinking” – “Westside prices have fallen 17% from 2016 & 11% this year; sales volumes down by 80%; 3 years worth of >$3 Million inventory”
- The Carrion Have The Carcass – “I’ve lived in Vancouver since 1968; my wife was born here; we are about to leave; this town has priced us out. All that is left are the investors and the very rich visitors.”
- All Time High, And Climbing… $251 Billion Personal Debt Borrowed Against Canadian Homes
- “I asked a group of young people how many of them thought they’d be in Vancouver in two years, and 17 out of 18 said that they would be moving.” – Mayoral Candidate Shauna Sylvester
- Off-The-Charts Unaffordable – Greater Vancouver Price-To-Income Ratio 28 (average home price: $1,071,800, median one-person income: $38,164)
- Conflicts of Interest – BC MLAs Heavily Invested In RE Making Laws About RE
- File Under Tags: ‘Tolerant Vancouver Renter’ and ‘YouGottaBeKiddinMe’
- Vancouver “an international housing-affordability basket case” with “RE bubble risk the worst in the world” – Maclean’s
- Vancouver Economy Over-Dependent On Debt Spending
- Vancouver City Councillors Wake Up To ‘Fierce Speculative Demand’ – “There is significant evidence speculative investment has the biggest impact on housing costs in the city.”
- The Dance Around Foreign Ownership of Vancouver RE
- Information From Outside The Vancouver RE Bubble – U.S. Senator Lives In (don’t laugh) $500K Home
- “The Position Remains Unfilled”
- Jessica Barrett – ‘I Left Vancouver Because Vancouver Left Me’ – “Like Living On An Abandoned Film Set.”
- “I’ve thought since early 2010 that Vancouver housing was in a bubble, and have refused to buy a house for this reason. I’ve felt that the risk of mean-reversion was far higher than the risk of missing the upside.”
- “It is very difficult to live here.”
- “We want young people to buy Real Estate.” – Vancouver’s Mayor
- “Vancouver RE Balloon Pricked; Median Price Detached Home Down >$500,000 to $1.7 million; Prices Need To Be Slashed”
- Detached Price Trend Remains Up, For Now. Speculators Hold Their Breath?
- “Am I Buying This Home To Use It, Or For Anticipated Price Growth?”
- “I’d been brainwashed by this market into thinking that paying for a million-dollar home means getting a total dump” … “When housing is so unaffordable that you drive out people who hold up the fabric of society, what’s going to happen?”
- Stoking The Housing Boom – “B.C. should close the bare-trust loophole for owning properties. Former Liberal finance minister Mike de Jong promised to get rid of it, but he reneged.”
- Housing accounted for the bulk of Canada’s economic growth last year. Brace for the end of the boom.
- Miloon Kothari, Former UN Investigator, Reviewing Vancouver Housing Crisis – “Hyper-speculation. Casino Capitalism. Gentrification. Collusion. Corruption. Criminal Investigations. A Lottery Which Reduces A Social Resource Like Housing To A Commodity.”
- ‘Flip Vancouver’ Speculator Invite Flyer
- “Local Speculators Are Cashing In While We Blame Foreigners” and Other Truths – Geoff Dembicki, The Tyee
- “Nuthin’ That A Good Ol’ 75%+ Price Crash Won’t Fix…” – BOC Governor Stephen Poloz *
- Reconsidering High-Rises – “These people do not want a neighbourhood. They want a locked gate, a gated community in the sky.”
- Wake Up Canada! – Countries By Population Density
- Low Interest Rates, Foreign Capital, Local Speculation
- Unstoppable?
- Vulnerable
- Toronto Bursting? – “People need to ask themselves very carefully, “Why am I buying this house?”
- An Economic Boom “In All The Wrong Places”
- A Few Charts
- A Reader’s Perspective
- “B.C.’s economy relies on the selling off of real estate instead of actual jobs. It’s reached the point where we don’t have much to sell, other than the land itself.” – filmmaker Charles Wilkinson
- ‘Poor’ Parenting – B.C. Liberal Housing Minister Rich Coleman – “My advice to my teens, start saving for the down payment.”
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- Hard Earned Home Savings?@Hardly. vreaa.wordpress.com/2018/06/08/har… https://t.co/vlPdo381ER 2 weeks ago
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Idiots! 😱
One of the 10%, according to Overlord Carney.
supposing c and f were genuine …
Carney and Flaherty used the “turbo” bonus, and now leading in MarioKart, they, and we, actually have to start driving. I do think the dudes recognize it was a temporary thing.
I still believe low rates are no free lunch. I find it fascinating that so many of the articles and editorials published in Canada are affixed on the notion that it will be higher rates that will kill Canada’s overburdened housing sector. I disagree it is a necessary condition, and back it up with no relevant higher degree to speak of. That should be enough.
…”God forbid what will happen to them if (when) the value declines.”…
No worries… just ‘FlipThatPlot’… for, as it happens, DeadOrAlive – when it comes to YVR – there’s no escaping the ‘market’ (albeit, on the BrighterSide, current residents of ShaughnessyMausoleums who get in on the ‘PreSales’ will feel right at home)…
Quote of TheDay!
“If you want to be in Vancouver, which a lot of people do, we’re the only option.” – Mountain View Cemetary Manager Glen Hodges
[G&M] – In Vancouver, real estate to die for
“It’s some of the hottest real estate in one of Vancouver’s most in-demand neighbourhoods, and it’s up for sale for the first time in nearly a quarter century.”…
http://tinyurl.com/7bkpv7l
Meanwhile, back in Blighty… (Déjà vu, DearReaders?)
[FT] – London property: Door to a cloistered world
…”Liam Bailey, head of residential research at Knight Frank, a rival agency, says: “The wave of money that has been flowing into London property over the past three years has been supercharged by one key theme – political risk. The world’s wealthy, especially in emerging markets, are nervous about arbitrary rule and policy change in their home countries and how this might affect their ability to protect their wealth. So they are moving money, and increasingly their families, to more stable environments. These house purchases are effectively triple A-rated bond investments – which happen to have a London address on them.”
If homes that were once just well-located bricks and mortar have morphed into something more akin to a reserve currency, that creates a big distortion to the residential upper tier.
However, Mr Bailey is among a growing band of property experts suggesting that London’s prime market – the top 5 per cent of the housing stock by price – is barely at the start of a sustained rally, underpinned by increasing uncertainty elsewhere in the world and the resulting push towards personal wealth preservation.”….
http://tinyurl.com/7hgaahd
Let’s just say when I die I’ll be in Vancouver, at least my carbon will be, after being pushed though the palms of the Igors in the UBC dungeons. A most fitting end for one involved in the sciences.
Alternatively, Jesse – you could always opt for Plastination™ and ‘Tour’ like a RockStar!… Dr. Gunther von Hagens is always looking for volunteers!…
http://tinyurl.com/zbblo
The chinese carbon will squeeze you out.
I’d check the carbon content of anything from China. Too much or too little and stuff tends to… er… crash
Funny you should say that, Jesse…
I originally thought to post this on your TeraNet offerings… Because… Well… Graphics will only take you so far*…
*Senor Cabellero, if you’re reading this… You’ll know why I’m going to ‘sport’ you a really Sauve Chute OneDay, when we eventually ‘Do The Dirty’ and see if she’s ‘AeroB’.
Redux… For ‘Purists’*… In the unlikely event….
*Take a ‘miniature’ from the cart, lean in to your SeatMate… HoldHands… Give each other a TrulyLong Deep’Frenchie’ (LastChanceSaloon – GenderBeDamned) …CrossYourFingers… &Remember… The ReallyImportantStuff…
And full circle, who gives a flying f*ck if you have expensive wedding bands when the rudder develops a hairline crack?
Or an O-ring failure in your solid rocket booster on take-off.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster
Yeah. I swore like hell that day too. Could not believe it was such a stupid mistake. Same as pumping up the countries home values to boost the economy but watching instead at lift-off only to see it all burst into flames.
die now or be priced out forever
Damn but I wish I’d written that!
Speaking of Whistler, at the last family dinner, my sister in law was moaning about the latest rental numbers from her Whistler condo-apparently they are horrible for the first 6 months of the year. I don’t know why she even bothers, they’ve never made a dime on this so-called “investment”. By my estimation, they’ve lost about $100k in the past 10 years. Right now, the condo’s only worth what they paid for it (ten years ago). I expect it to keep going down. Negative equity IS happening in BC, despite what global news tells us-I know someone in Kelowna who has a condo she bought for around $250k, is now worth $165k. The mortgage is still well over $240k (she refinanced, didn’t put down much, and the CMHC fee added to the mortgage as well). I don’t know why Global TV keeps flaunting real estate-what about the stories from the rest of the province where people are clearly pessimistic about real estate? My last visit to the Okanagan, I had people tell me things like “I couldn’t sell it today for what I paid for it” and “The house is worth $100k less than what it was a year and a half ago”. I don’t know why Global TV keeps acting like real estate’s such a hot commodity, when clearly the rest of the province is in the dumps. Guess they want to keep that part a secret so people continue to buy buy buy in Vancouver! (sorry, a bit off topic)
Why? Because…
…This segment brought to you by Re/Max.
True enough. When I tell people in Vancouver about the Okanagan, or Whistler, or Victoria, (or Calgary), I just get blank stares.
weekend OT light crystalline fare, nice to share … something for the ladies and lady-likes alike, i like
gentlemens, if your ears matter, the gwyneth analog is not credible
Nice! Thanks, Chubster.
apparently somewhere in the book of mormon is written thou shalt be hot
http://www.hotmormons.net/default.htm
i am conducting a personal experiment to see if its the abstinence. leave you to appreciate the mild ironies of this related number i found
it’s just nice to know the world isn’t full of seriosos. now if someone could tie this thread back to the topic at hand, i can be absolved. ciao.
Average total consumer debt, excluding mortgage debt, by province, as of Q4 2011:
highest:
$37,276 British Columbia
$33,643 Alberta
$27,755 Saskatchewan
lowest:
$18,376 Quebec
$19,959 Manitoba
$22,734 New Brunswick
Average consumer debt excluding mortgages has been rising steadily for 6.5 years, although the last quarter showed a slowing of the pace to less than 1%
“The continued deceleration in the annual growth of total debt is the bigger story” Thomas Higgins, TransUnion VP of Analytics and Decision Services.
credit data from TransUnion taken from a story in Financial Times, February 23, 2012
Yet another credit bubble reaching peak.
OK, maybe I can add a song to the growing list here. Not my usual style but here is Don Ho, singing “Tiny Bubbles”. It is the classic bubble song. You know, bubbles are great if you can just contain them to beer, wine and champagne!
“The continued deceleration in the annual growth of total debt is the bigger story” Thomas Higgins, TransUnion VP of Analytics and Decision Services.
That IS the bigger story. My guess is that most will assume that decelerating credit creation is a good thing – it isn’t.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/credit-crunch-2010
It’s hot stat, i agree. When people begin to reduce their debt they are saying there isn’t anything worth investing. Banks know this acutely, and will raise interest rates accordingly. I hammered my personal debt down by 38% in the last week of March to drive it home… Is there anything worth investing in without assuming substantial downside risk, including precious metals? I don’t think there is.
Man. Once again I’m below average. This time by $37,276, seemingly.
Sometimes this all makes me feel like a chump. I’m worried that, when the shoes really start to fall, the turkeys with the debt will get help from the gub’mint. At my expense.
It happened in the Excited States. No reason it couldn’t here.
I can feel the pain. It really it emotionally difficult to watch people you care about swirl into the abyss and feel so powerless.
When they finally feel powerless that’s a good sign. Until then, let them learn.
I have no debt and am sick and tired of constantly subsidizing (and by corrollary, encouraging) these status seeking mathematically illiterate fools against my will through government sibsidies and zero interest rates. All the bragging and “advice” that I have had to tolerate for the last half decade will be moot when the foreclosure wave starts rolling. I can’t wait. Borrow all you want. buy Buy BUY!… Idiots.
If you are mad at them now, Ridiculous, then you will be furious after they lose their houses to a foreclosure and start competing against you for the best rentals with the same entitled attitude that wrecked the economy in the first place.
…. or when the losers (winners?) whine and whine to the government for help, begging for loan writedown (like they do down south). Your tax dollars at work, of course.
Sucks but it’s true, Gokou3.
Renters will subsidize home-owners through taxation, subsidy and various transfer payments thus ensuring the losses of those who were wasteful and profligate are never fully crystallized while gaining no absolute benefit for themselves.
In other words…you got screwed if you didn’t play the game,
“you got screwed if you didn’t play the game”
I think Taleb wrote, and I paraphrase, I take comfort in knowing that my more earthly path, hedged appropriately, has a better outcome than the median of those who flew too close to the sun.
There will always be those who will succeed and excel in spades after being reckless but lucky. You can never hope to beat these, but will beat their countless fallen comrades by a country mile.
Happily you seem to have appreciated my frustration expressed in the last line of my prior comment, Jesse. I think it is just rotten that those who were behaving in a fiscally prudent way, saving and investing, will now bear more of the weight of the downfall than those who acted foolishly and in haste.
@Farmer, I think that those who acted “foolishly and in haste” (the “grasshoppers”) will end up with, in net, a larger burden than the “ants”. This was certainly true in the US — there simply wasn’t enough $ to make a massive dent in the debt burdens of overextended homeowners even though more than a few cramdowns and bailouts have been used. I don’t have the numbers in front of me but I do recall reading that most (not all) of the deleveraging to date has been borne by the debt holders and not by the taxpayers.
The ants will end up giving up some of their savings for sure, (and we are already — look at negative real rates!) but it’s likely less than the average grasshopper. And yes a few grasshoppers will get away with it. Life’s not fair but hey still better an ant, so goes the fable.
Idiots. They are borrowing money for a wedding when they could borrow for a downpayment and buy another condo. The more mortgages you have the more upside you get. Obvious, eh?
Vreaa and fellow readers, have you seen this article? Sorry if it’s been discussed here already, but I am so blown away I just had to point it out…
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/First+time+buyers+have+options+that+important+down+payment/6419013/story.html#ixzz1rSvUmsEY
Actual advice from one of the “mortgage experts” quoted: “Buyers can borrow the down payment through a line of credit, personal loan or possibly cash advances against a CREDIT CARD.”
Yes, people. Interest on your credit card is 18%, but it’s all good, because Vancouver real estate is going to the moon!
Wow , I did the same thing when I was 21 – used my credit card for a downpayment . The only difference is that was for a motorcycle!
Speaking of which….since we are now at the top of the asset cycle in this country it is a good time to consider unloading anything that would serve you better as cash in the bank. Waiting until later will just yield lesser and lesser amounts over time. Especially as housing deflates. Examples are Motorhomes, second cars, the antique that you just know is worth a fortune and any resort getaways or Timeshares. Consumers are already stretched but still “feel” wealthy as the correction has not become obvious to the general public yet. Imagine how much poorer they will feel as housing prices decline and job losses begin to mount. You get the point. For all things there is a season and this is the season to get rid of assets that could potentially see steep declines in the coming months and years……or you could do like most other people. Hold on and sell at the bottom when you really, really need the extra cash.
[hopefully that did not post twice…computer is haywire today]
“Buyers can borrow the down payment through a line of credit, personal loan or possibly cash advances against a CREDIT CARD.”
Yay! Best banking system EVER!