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The only thing keeping a lot of small town BC towns alive is money from weed cultivation.
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Nov 23, 2013 23:44
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sauer kraut posted:Just saw this in a German newspaper, an "interactive documentary game" about Fort McMurray that starts in 2 days and will unfold over a course of 4 weeks. Ft. McMurray is going to be min-maxed to be an economic powerhouse, an ecological preserve and social programs for all.
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Nov 24, 2013 00:49
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Lexicon posted:Is the pot market really large enough to be a driving force in the housing market though? Laundering money through real estate and property development is a time honored tradition. Many contractors, especially smaller contractors will prefer to be paid in literal cash as opposed to cheques. So, you fund property development with dirty money and at the end sell it for whatever you can get. You pay your capital gains to Revenue Canada, you pay your realtors commission and the bank rubs its hands in glee as hundreds of thousands of clean dollars land in your accounts.
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Nov 24, 2013 01:58
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ductonius posted:Laundering money through real estate and property development is a time honored tradition. Many contractors, especially smaller contractors will prefer to be paid in literal cash as opposed to cheques. So, you fund property development with dirty money and at the end sell it for whatever you can get. You pay your capital gains to Revenue Canada, you pay your realtors commission and the bank rubs its hands in glee as hundreds of thousands of clean dollars land in your accounts. But don't you still have to explain how you did the property development in the first place?
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Nov 24, 2013 02:31
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Sovy Kurosei posted:Ft. McMurray is going to be min-maxed to be an economic powerhouse, an ecological preserve and social programs for all. Unfortunately, because the Albertan provincial government is playing Fort McMurray on a console, we can't push them the DLC that enables anything but the Drill Baby Drill game mode.
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Nov 24, 2013 02:52
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Bleu posted:Unfortunately, because the Albertan provincial government is playing Fort McMurray on a console, we can't push them the DLC that enables anything but the Drill Baby Drill game mode. The worst part is that all the data is actually on game disc, but the devs disabled it for release.
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Nov 24, 2013 03:15
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Lexicon posted:But don't you still have to explain how you did the property development in the first place? No. No you don't. And nobody has even the slightest interest in asking. The contractors aren't going to bite the hand that feeds them, same for the realtor. The buyer doesn't care and probably doesn't want to know. The bank is in the business of banking, not judging. Revenue Canada can force you to open your books, but if you declare income from your property development business equivalent to your lifestyle and pay your income tax they really have no reason to look any harder, same goes for the capital gains on your sales. What would happen if some guy tried to buy a house with a couple of suitcases full of cash. Would that raise red flags? Somebody calls the police maybe? Nope. He gets it explained to him that all real estate transactions are done through banks. He comes back weeks later with the money in a bank account and closes on the home. All legal and above the board, you see. V V V V - The goal of money laundering is to create a point at which the revenue stream become on-the-books and taxed. That's it. Fake transactions work by artificially increasing your income, thus hiding the dirty money. Alternatively, you can pass the dirty money through an otherwise legitimate asset. Buy or improve an asset with dirty money, sell and declare income and get clean money out. ductonius fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Nov 24, 2013 |
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Nov 24, 2013 04:45
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ductonius posted:No. No you don't. And nobody has even the slightest interest in asking. The contractors aren't going to bite the hand that feeds them, same for the realtor. The buyer doesn't care and probably doesn't want to know. The bank is in the business of banking, not judging. Revenue Canada can force you to open your books, but if you declare income from your property development business equivalent to your lifestyle and pay your income tax they really have no reason to look any harder, same goes for the capital gains on your sales. Perhaps I'm dim - but this seems more like regulatory ineptitude rather than money laundering in any meaningful sense. Take everyone's favourite pop culture money laundering outfit - Walter White's carwash. Now that makes sense - the point was to intermingle the meth revenue alongside actual carwash revenue, and create the fiction that the former was acquired via the latter. Skyler even went so far as to create bogus transactions - in one scene having a conversation with a phantom customer, and then depositing cash in the register. Makes sense. Conversely, if you take a pile of drug revenue from BC bud or whatever, and start buying or building condos - in what meaningful sense have you laundered money? You've just transformed one asset class into another. Now, I fully take the point that no one along the chain may care, but it's not money laundering as far as I can tell. You can't open a ledger of (false) transactions to explain the money. I'm clearly missing something, as people frequently make the money laundering / real estate connection. But I'm not seeing it.
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Nov 24, 2013 04:57
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I assume that the follow-the-money chain breaks if you blast your money apart into hundreds of tiny transactions to an army of contractors to build all the separate pieces of construction for those houses, which makes it much less obvious to Revenue Canada than literal Chinese suitcase money. Also, laughing hard at that article straining like craaaaaaazy to not make it sound like the Chinese dude is the world's most obvious embezzler. Yeah, man, it's totally deposit interest caps. Nobody in China has ever heard of the stock market.
Bleu fucked around with this message at 05:12 on Nov 24, 2013 |
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Nov 24, 2013 05:10
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Lexicon posted:Conversely, if you take a pile of drug revenue from BC bud or whatever, and start buying or building condos - in what meaningful sense have you laundered money? You've just transformed one asset class into another. Now, I fully take the point that no one along the chain may care, but it's not money laundering as far as I can tell. You can't open a ledger of (false) transactions to explain the money. That's called Layering. The idea is to make a hard to follow chain between the point when actual dirty money first entering the financial system (Placement) and when it is indistinguishable from any other funds effectively "usable" (Integration). And (at least I hope) the banks won't accept a $3MM cash deposit with no questions asked. So that's when you need to layer and layer more. Take a trip to the casino with your cash, have fun for a couple of hours, take a 10% hit and then bring a cheque to the bank. Buy some stable stocks and hold them for a couple months, or get a bunch of term deposits.
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Nov 24, 2013 05:24
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Cultural Imperial posted:http://business.financialpost.com/2013/11/21/condo-payments-eat-up-over-half-of-this-womans-income-should-she-sell/ I don't see how this lady's finances make sense at all and I think the FP is sugarcoating things for someone who is totally friggin' boned. She makes similar money to me (I'm in Victoria) and if I had almost $2200 tied up in housing I'd be in pretty much panic mode. Also, are groceries that much cheaper in Vancouver that $120/month for food is do-able for a single person? I can't imagine living on $30/week groceries, but maybe I'm just bad at them.
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Nov 24, 2013 22:35
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rrrrrrrrrrrt posted:I don't see how this lady's finances make sense at all and I think the FP is sugarcoating things for someone who is totally friggin' boned. She makes similar money to me (I'm in Victoria) and if I had almost $2200 tied up in housing I'd be in pretty much panic mode. Also, are groceries that much cheaper in Vancouver that $120/month for food is do-able for a single person? I can't imagine living on $30/week groceries, but maybe I'm just bad at them. Also, $15 a month for utilities sounds ridiculously low. In the summer, sure, but in the winter? Absolutely not, even in Vancouver. Also, $542 a month in contributions to a TFSA will put her over $6000 in contributions for the year, which is more than she's allowed.
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Nov 24, 2013 23:20
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Whatever, it's probably all fake anyways. Canadian newspapers are all trash or right-wing rags.
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Nov 24, 2013 23:39
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rrrrrrrrrrrt posted:Also, are groceries that much cheaper in Vancouver that $120/month for food is do-able for a single person? I can't imagine living on $30/week groceries, but maybe I'm just bad at them. Yes, it is possible.
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Nov 25, 2013 00:42
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A window fell off the Shangri-La building in Toronto for the third time this year. Nobody was injured thus time but someone was hit by glass the last time. Someone remind me why nobody is getting charged with a crime over this?
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Nov 25, 2013 00:45
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Sovy Kurosei posted:Yes, it is possible. On nothing but beans and rice, maybe. I couldn't.
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Nov 25, 2013 00:51
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eXXon posted:A window fell off the Shangri-La building in Toronto for the third time this year. Nobody was injured thus time but someone was hit by glass the last time. If someone was actually beaned by the glass, there would be a line of lawyers ready to press a gigantic civil suit. There's still the problem that you were hit by a sheet of shrapnel at terminal velocity, but if you make it over that hump, yeah, you can finally buy that condo you wanted!
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Nov 25, 2013 01:06
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Y'all are crazy. I averaged $30.00-$40.00 a week at Uni. I'd go on Sunday nights, load up on marked down meats (and freeze them), and pad out meals with salads and cheap veggies like cabbage and potatoes. I mean a head of cabbage is about $1.00/lbs. Potatoes and onions are cheap. $30.00/week is completely doable for one person.
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Nov 25, 2013 01:20
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bathroom sounds posted:Y'all are crazy. I averaged $30.00-$40.00 a week at Uni. Famine veggies for real though, I spend about 200/month on groceries, and I could do less if I wasn't buying some of the organic/grain/grass fed such stuff. Also I rarely eat red meat nowadays due to expense - go for tri-tip, chuck, ground and other cheap stuff when I do.
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Nov 25, 2013 04:22
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obviously non of you poors live in the potemkin village. that privilege will necessitate that you blow all your paychecks at URBAN fare.
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Nov 25, 2013 05:24
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Well I was counting my groceries from when I lived in Mission. I'm not even looking at my grocery bills now that I live in Whistler because I think I'll probably stab myself. I'm actually only paying about $20/week more, if even, but I'm also shopping sales a lot more than I used to. But I eat a fair amount of meat and dairy, both of which eat up the budget pretty quickly.
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Nov 25, 2013 05:42
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HookShot posted:Well I was counting my groceries from when I lived in Mission. I'm not even looking at my grocery bills now that I live in Whistler because I think I'll probably stab myself. WHoaaaaa, you live in Whistler? What's that like? I'd move to whistler if there were reliable air travel.
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Nov 25, 2013 06:09
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Cultural Imperial posted:WHoaaaaa, you live in Whistler? What's that like? It's actually awesome, and I'm a real city person. It sucks not having any real major stores around, like if I want to go get photos printed at London Drugs or buy small appliances, that sort of thing, it's a 40 minute drive to Squamish. Most things, like electronics and stuff, I just order online now. Also the rent makes me want to cry, paying $2100 for a 2 bed + office place. But the advantages totally outweigh the negatives. For one thing it has way more of a community feel than I thought it would. I guess that's kind of normal with it being so small, but I come from Mission, it's not like I grew up downtown or anything. Everyone is super friendly and willing to help out, and almost everywhere has locals prices. I figured that being a tourist town it'd be a lot less community orientated than it is. I saw a fat person when I was at the doctor's the other day and it hit me that it had actually been weeks since I'd last seen a person without a normal BMI. Compared to basically anywhere else in the country, that is a real change that you don't really notice until you see the exception to the rule. Also I can ski any day I want, which is basically my favourite thing on the planet. So yeah, it's awesome. I actually think I could live here permanently, and if you told me even a year ago that I would be happy living in a place with a population of under 10,000 I would have laughed in your face. It helps that Vancouver's like an hour away though.
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Nov 25, 2013 06:26
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Hookshot, you live a charmed existence. I envy you. How long have you been doing this? How much longer do you plan on living there? A friend of mine has been looking at condos there and says the Realtors (tm) are absolute scum.
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Nov 25, 2013 15:47
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Errybody want a new car http://blogs.wsj.com/canadarealtime/2013/11/22/data-suggest-canadian-consumers-not-scaling-back/ Enjoy carrying that 40k of non mortgage debt, average Canadian.
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Nov 25, 2013 16:28
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Cultural Imperial posted:Errybody want a new car 40k is the average figure for British Columbians, IIRC, not Canadians as a whole. Still, the point stands.
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Nov 25, 2013 16:41
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Cultural Imperial posted:Errybody want a new car These figures really highlight the danger of trying to keep up with the Joneses. The Joneses can't even keep up with themselves. I may not have a house, I may not have a car, but being debt-free feels pretty drat good.
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Nov 25, 2013 16:44
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Cultural Imperial posted:Hookshot, you live a charmed existence. I envy you. Haha thanks! I just moved at the beginning of November, and while we're definitely living here for the next year, the plan is sort of to maybe continue living here afterwards. I haven't had the pleasure (haha) of dealing with any Realtors here, but yeah that doesn't surprise me at all. Prices here have dropped up to 50% in some places since 2010. I saw an ad in the paper that had stats for last year and this year for houses, condos and townhouses. Only townhouses went up in average price and by like 1k. Houses and condos both dropped by over 10% in ONE YEAR. I guess he's hunting for people buying places, not selling them. My guess is being a Realtor in Whistler at the moment is really, really hard work, and it's only going to get worse since a lot of the people who own here use the place as a weekend home away from their place in Vancouver. Like, the parking garage in my building has about 3 cars in it including ours from Monday to Friday night then we go down Saturday morning and it's packed full. So when the market in Vancouver ends up in trouble there's going to be a lot of people with second homes trying to dump them, is my guess.
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Nov 25, 2013 17:32
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That drop in Whistler is absolutely nuts. A convenient counterexample to feed the "property always goes up!!1" crowd, especially those who dismiss examples like Miami or Vegas because those ain't BPOE.
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Nov 25, 2013 17:36
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Whistler is a seasonal resort town that had a bubble due to wealthy speculators so it can't compare to the strong stable economy of Vancouver.
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Nov 25, 2013 17:41
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Lexicon posted:That drop in Whistler is absolutely nuts. A convenient counterexample to feed the "property always goes up!!1" crowd, especially those who dismiss examples like Miami or Vegas because those ain't BPOE. Yeah, I was talking to a guy who's had his condo since the 90s, he was saying especially in the lead up to the Olympics basically everyone he knew was all "oh yeah I'm buying in Whistler NOW because after the Olmypics the prices are going to go up SO HIGH it's going to be impossible to buy in" and he was like "yeah that's basically the opposite of how property value has worked at every other Olympics ever" and sure enough his BC assessment went down about 50% between 2010 and 2013. He doesn't care since he's had it for so long he's still on top, plus he's not planning on moving, but there's a ton of other people who have been completely boned, and even more that will be in the future, especially if bad things start happening in Vancouver.
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Nov 25, 2013 18:52
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I don't understand how people don't even do the most basic of research. This isn't picking a printer cable brand or something, these are the biggest purchases you'll make in your life and people can't be bothered to google "condo prices after Olympics" let alone listen to people actually telling them? Christ it's up there with people who just walk onto a dealership and buy the car they thinks looks cool without reading any consumer reports or lemonaid guide or gently caress off anything. Have people always been this impulsive and stupid or is this something that's been manipulated via marketing to create a culture where this total lack of thought/research before a major purchase is the norm? Talking to like grandparent's generation they seemed to put a ton of thought into any purchase, even small ones. It's pure anecdotes but I get a real sense marketing culture has really made a huge portion of people after the boomers mindless consumers who see debt as simply the price you have to pay to get the toys you deserve. Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Nov 25, 2013 |
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Nov 25, 2013 18:58
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Baronjutter posted:This isn't picking a printer cable brand or something Most people don't know how to do this, either. They are usually content to hand over $40 or $50 to Future Shop for a piece of wire with 2 connectors.
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Nov 25, 2013 19:29
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Baronjutter posted:I don't understand how people don't even do the most basic of research. This isn't picking a printer cable brand or something, these are the biggest purchases you'll make in your life and people can't be bothered to google "condo prices after Olympics" let alone listen to people actually telling them? Christ it's up there with people who just walk onto a dealership and buy the car they thinks looks cool without reading any consumer reports or lemonaid guide or gently caress off anything.
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Nov 25, 2013 19:49
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HookShot posted:It's actually awesome, and I'm a real city person. It sucks not having any real major stores around, like if I want to go get photos printed at London Drugs or buy small appliances, that sort of thing, it's a 40 minute drive to Squamish. Most things, like electronics and stuff, I just order online now. Also the rent makes me want to cry, paying $2100 for a 2 bed + office place. But the advantages totally outweigh the negatives. I'll wax your skis for a year! cowofwar posted:Financial decisions lose their gravity when the transactions involve debt and not cash. 
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Nov 25, 2013 21:07
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Is there anything to do up there if you have no interest in skiing or mountain biking or snow and sloped terrain in general?
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Nov 25, 2013 21:26
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Baronjutter posted:Is there anything to do up there if you have no interest in skiing or mountain biking or snow and sloped terrain in general? Practice your tolerance of Australians 
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Nov 25, 2013 21:32
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Lexicon posted:Practice your tolerance of Australians I have none. It's not fair but I find them to be some of the most annoying tourists/backpackers you ever meet, at least in our local tourism market. The one Australian I met that wasn't a loud aggressive sexist piece of poo poo turned out to be a Kiwi and we bonded over our hatred of Australians. I'm sure there's some nice australians but they don't seem to visit here. Man, Whistler is NOT the place for me. Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Nov 25, 2013 |
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Nov 25, 2013 21:37
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bathroom sounds posted:Where do you work in Whistler? Also get me a job there thanks in advance. Baronjutter posted:Is there anything to do up there if you have no interest in skiing or mountain biking or snow and sloped terrain in general?
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Nov 25, 2013 23:04
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Hookshot, you need to take up downhill mtn biking.
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Nov 26, 2013 03:38
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