Information From Outside The Vancouver RE Bubble – U.S. Senator Lives In (don’t laugh) $500K Home

Posted on 7 November 2017 | 42 Comments


The story ‘Rand Paul is tackled from behind and ATTACKED by his Democrat-voting doctor neighbor while mowing the lawn at his home in exclusive Kentucky gated community’ [Daily Mail, 4 Nov 2017] is weird from a number of perspectives, but, viewing it from the epicentre of the Vancouver RE cult, one truly bizarre piece of info leaped out at us… Rand Paul is a US senator, and his “exclusive Kentucky gated community home” (photo above) “is worth around $500,000”. Surely this cannot be correct! Somebody must have dropped a zero. Embarrassing.

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42 responses to “Information From Outside The Vancouver RE Bubble – U.S. Senator Lives In (don’t laugh) $500K Home”

  1. space889 | 7 November 2017 at 1:51 pm | Reply

    It’s Kentucky…that’s like the equivalent of Saskatchewan / Manitoba in Canada. I don’t see any Vancouver bulls calling for $1M+ houses in those provinces.

  2. Yvrhousing | 11 November 2017 at 4:39 am | Reply

    Looks really nice. We may never know why prices are cheaper there.

  3. The Auteur | 13 November 2017 at 4:06 pm | Reply

    [VancouverSun] – Opinion: Surtax needed to bring fairness to Vancouver real estate

    …”Wealthy investor immigrants paid an average annual income tax of $1,400, according to a 2014 government of Canada report. And governments continue to allow this to happen, because they have so far refused to implement a straightforward fix to our flawed tax framework: Introduce a large annual property surtax that can be offset by income taxes paid, with concessions given to older folks who don’t work anymore and those who have paid a lot of income tax in the past.

    The logic is simple: If you’re wealthy and you want to live comfortably in Canada, you either pay your fair share in income taxes or you pay in property taxes. It can be one or the other, but you can’t dodge.
    Sounds fair? Indeed, it is. It is so obviously fair that since the idea of a property surtax was introduced in January of 2016, not a single serious attempt has been made to criticize it. To do so would be to defend tax avoidance…

    …In 2010, luxury condo-flogger Bob Rennie said “Nobody wants to admit it, but Vancouver has become a resort town where rich foreigners live a few months of the year.” Well, people have awakened to that and they don’t like it.

    The NDP was largely elected in Metro Vancouver: Housing was the top issue in the election and the NDP promised to tackle foreign speculation with a property surtax. This is still early days for the new government, and they should make sure to design the surtax properly. But a lot is at stake. They can either do the principled thing they were elected to do or they can sell out many of their supporters and miss a generational shot at fixing our housing market.”…

    http://vancouversun.com/opinion/op-ed/opinion-surtax-needed-to-bring-fairness-to-vancouver-real-estate

  4. vreaa | 14 November 2017 at 9:27 am | Reply

    More info on the Rand Paul neighbourhood:

    Rene Boucher, 59, told neighbor Rand Paul that he hadn’t been able to sell his house for ten years because of the woodland behind Paul’s property
    The trees apparently block Boucher’s views of the picturesque private lake that forms the centerpiece of their upscale gated community in Bowling Green, KY
    The two men’s houses are about 250ft apart, separated by a lawn rather than a wall or fence
    Property records confirm Boucher has indeed put his house on the market five times over the past decade without success
    Boucher has marketed the property as high as $849,500 but tax assessors say the 7,500 sq ft, two-story home is actually worth $740,000

    So, there we go:
    7,500 sqft house for US$750K (or less).
    Sounds sensible.

  5. Arnie Carnegie | 16 November 2017 at 3:31 pm | Reply

    73 40th Ave E: now here’s a sexy house – the kind of listing r.e. rodents lust after – a seller who has either croaked or is on the verge.

  6. Arnie Carnegie | 16 November 2017 at 5:40 pm | Reply

    4547 Perry St: Flip – bought May 17, 2016 for $1.620M – gussied up and listed at $1.962.800.

  8. The Auteur | 17 November 2017 at 6:54 pm | Reply

    [G&M] – Academic takes on Vancouver’s housing-supply ‘myth’

    …”The role of the supply argument is, to a large extent, to distract the public and policy makers from action on the demand side, specifically in terms of foreign capital.”…

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/vancouver/academic-takes-on-vancouvers-housing-supply-myth/article37015584/

    • Joan Tommas | 19 November 2017 at 9:05 am | Reply

      It is an interesting article. While there may be enough housing units in Vancouver for local housholds, the author may not be taking into consideration the household size vs. a dwelling type. The article does not address whether there are enough housing units for families. Studios and 1 bed condos, no matter how many are built, are simply not suitable for families. And if these are the most prevalent units being built, then no, there is not enough supply, even at the local level.
      And of course, no amount of supply will meet the foreign demand. There is enough money in China to buy entire Canada if allowed.

      • El Ninja | 19 November 2017 at 10:36 am |

        “There is enough money in China to buy entire Canada if allowed.”

        This is next-level realtor speak right here.

      • Arnie Carnegie | 19 November 2017 at 12:37 pm |

        Not just China – one greedy parasite billionaire can skew the market in choice cities like Vancouver – a monster land play. Look at what Yaletown was twenty years ago. All it takes is cash and zoning and their desire to attack.

  9. The Auteur | 19 November 2017 at 5:36 pm | Reply

    [G&M] – Australian publisher drops book on Chinese influence; author warns Canada is also at risk

    …”Alarmed by creeping Chinese influence on Australian political life, Clive Hamilton set out to investigate.
    Businesses and people connected to China had already become the biggest foreign financial contributors to the country’s political parties. But “it seemed to me there was much more going on” said Prof. Hamilton, a scholar at Charles Sturt University.

    He found much to write about – only to become, himself, the subject of China’s efforts to promote its agenda around the world, after fears of retaliation by Beijing caused his publisher to back away from a book containing his findings.

    Now, he is warning about the risks of China’s rising power – including in Canada, which has become an important target for a Beijing-led campaign that relies on shadowy government-funded agencies to spread influence among Chinese people living overseas.”…

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/australian-publisher-drops-book-on-chinese-influence-author-warns-canada-is-also-at-risk/article37024966/

  10. The Auteur | 19 November 2017 at 5:42 pm | Reply

    [FT] – Inside China’s secret ‘magic weapon’ for worldwide influence

    …”A Financial Times investigation into United Front operations in several countries shows a movement directed from the pinnacle of Chinese power to charm, co-opt or attack well-defined groups and individuals. Its broad aims are to win support for China’s political agenda, accumulate influence overseas and gather key information.

    United Front declined interview requests for this article and its website yields only sparse insights. However, a teaching manual for its cadres, obtained by the Financial Times, sets out at length and in detail the organisation’s global mission in language that is intended both to beguile and intimidate.

    It exhorts cadres to be gracious and inclusive as they try to “unite all forces that can be united” around the world. But it also instructs them to be ruthless by building an “iron Great Wall” against “enemy forces abroad” who are intent on splitting China’s territory or hobbling its development.”…

    https://www.ft.com/content/fb2b3934-b004-11e7-beba-5521c713abf4

  11. Arnie Carnegie | 19 November 2017 at 9:02 pm | Reply

    Racist Clive is alarmed by the Chinese influencing the yobs running Aussie political life – the American lapdogs keen to send murderous troops to Iraq in an illegal war at the behest of vomitface criminal Bush. Clive’s book is a red herring promulgating Yellow Peril.
    Not for him to point the finger at England’s pirate royals or billionaires with thousands of wage slaves. No, he wants to blame the Chinese. What a hypocritical intellectual sack.
    Australia – settled by the dregs of Britain as they usurped the Aboriginals. Putting on airs as they sniff the butts of English “royals”.

  13. Arnie Carnegie | 20 November 2017 at 8:18 am | Reply

    Fatuous farcical Jessica Barrett – there’s a reason people like her need a dog. To a dog, what she says is plausible.
    She and her loser boyfriend “graphic designer” – the job description everyone and their dog can ascribe to themselves – can’t afford Vancouver. Boo hoo. Boo hoo.
    See the dog make paw prints. He’s a graphic designer. See the dog dump a load. Suck it up. Pick it up. Grow up. Good riddance.

    • El Ninja | 20 November 2017 at 12:48 pm | Reply

      When you project your own failures onto others.

      #Sad
      #GetHelp

      • Arnie Carnegie | 20 November 2017 at 3:23 pm |

        Speaking of the fatuous and farcical – the “Ninja” that’s not back because he never went away – desperately needs a dog, but it’s not allowed in his basement suite.

      • El Ninja | 20 November 2017 at 4:47 pm |

        Not that it’s any of your business, but I live in a single family home in beautiful Palo Alto, California. No basement. Oh, and I own a big black dog. He likes everyone, but I don’t think he’d take well to you. He can sniff out weakness.

        The article on Jessica was three posts ago. Your bitterness toward her, a complete stranger who never did anything to you, is now in its fourth week. Get help.

      • fred | 21 November 2017 at 9:46 am |

        I thought you were a vancouver failure and left for Hope. Stay there, will ya!

      • El Ninja | 21 November 2017 at 3:48 pm |

        fred likes this blog, because talk of “bubbles” conjures up his men-in-bathtubs fantasy.

        move along now, fred. the neighbours have complained again about your eyesore trailer and the stench emanating from its rusty depths.

      • fred | 22 November 2017 at 9:46 am |

        Oh sicko El nino, hiding in your mama’s basement made you mental eh.

        I talked to real neighbours in the area, they did not concern my trailer being there at all. It’s old, it’s rusty, it’s smelly, but it’s all mine. I don’t have to be jealous to the rich, I don’t have to ask the NDP for hand-out, I don’t have whine about why some landlords do not accept dogs. I don’t bitch about not being able to afford a garden flat in Point Grey. I don’t have to be a failure to pack and leave this town. Life is good.

        By the way, are you legally living in Palo Alto? or an alien there? I heard they pay alien five bucks to cut the grass down there.

  14. Arnie Carnegie | 20 November 2017 at 5:42 pm | Reply

    Keith just linked to fatuous farcical Jessica – more of her delusional thoughts in the Tyee.
    Stoop and scoop. Don’t bend and pretend. We know your type.

  15. Keith | 25 November 2017 at 9:55 am | Reply

    A new record in Hong Kong, at $17,000 per square foot. U.S. dollars. For a condominium. Average is over $9,000. Maybe Brian is right about Vancouver being a bargain.

    https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/81381-hong-kong-residence-sells-for-hk-1-16-billion

  16. Arnie Carnegie | 25 November 2017 at 11:50 am | Reply

    Ironic to think that if I were a billionaire, I wouldn’t even want to visit Hong Kong let alone throw down this pile of cash to buy in. Zero appeal.
    Vancouver is dirt cheap to some. Cottage country. A Concorde direct flight to HK would boost values here.
    If I were a billionaire, I’d buy as many of the properties around me as I could to create an estate. Love East Van. Would not bother with the West Side. The North Shore is a driving cycling nightmare. Ditchmond – no way. Parts of Burnaby would be a possibility.

    • El Ninja | 26 November 2017 at 8:41 am | Reply

      You will never be a billionaire, and no one cares what you would do if you were one.

      • Arnie Carnegie | 26 November 2017 at 5:03 pm |

        Except “Ninja” – the vile troll – hanging on my every word. Ready to pretend to go away again. People like you make life ugly. That’s why you have a dog. It doesn’t know what an asshole you are.

      • El Ninja | 27 November 2017 at 11:55 am |

        I stand up to sociopaths who revel in the bubble-induced financial hardship of their fellow citizens.

        What do I get?

        Hate.

        A sign that truth has been spoken.

  17. Arnie Carnegie | 25 November 2017 at 11:58 am | Reply

    1536 63 Ave E: bought 2001 for $294,999. – that’s a very weird buying price. Scraped and new-build in 2013. Listed at $2,988M.
    Repellent. Pretentious. Ugly. Soulless. Has to be the builder’s own clueless consruction. Crappy location too.

  18. Arnie Carnegie | 25 November 2017 at 12:04 pm | Reply

    438 37th Ave E: Ezekiel says, seller says, neighbours are great! That’s code for neighbours are horrible. Nice and close to the graveyard. A couple of mil to the seller after owning and living here since 1999.

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