Canada Housing/Debt: Trust me, I'm a landlord.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Canada Housing/Debt: Trust me, I'm a landlord.

cowofwar: Jul 30, 2002; by Athanatos

Rime posted:

The increasing prevalence of google streetview snapshots on MLS has become somewhat disturbing, since it implies the realtor has probably never even visited the property.

Seller's market. We go to a lot of open houses for fun and the realtors are chucklefuck's that don't know anything about the property. Like if you ask them something they'll read their own specs hand out to see if the answer is there because I guess their shared office assistant or something makes those?

# ? Mar 15, 2016 03:22

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# ? May 10, 2024 18:04

Ambrose Burnside: Aug 30, 2007; pensive

My folks are talking about buying a condo in Vaughan north of toronno, real close to one of the new subway stations that's going in for the yonge line extension. justification is that units are cheap right now cause neither the subway nor the condo exist yet but will 100% go way up in the next couple years regardless of The Markets cause of the location. how horrendous an idea is this

# ? Mar 15, 2016 03:41

cowofwar: Jul 30, 2002; by Athanatos

Ooooh double speculation. That reminds me of my parents who bought some land up near Shuswap Lake because word was that electricity lines were going to be put in to service that area. it didn't happen

# ? Mar 15, 2016 03:42

Femtosecond: Aug 2, 2003

Ambrose Burnside posted:

My folks are talking about buying a condo in Vaughan north of toronno, real close to one of the new subway stations that's going in for the yonge line extension. justification is that units are cheap right now cause neither the subway nor the condo exist yet but will 100% go way up in the next couple years regardless of The Markets cause of the location. how horrendous an idea is this

Is this a new development? If so it would be interesting to compare the condos being marketed to other pre-sale developments in other parts of the city with weak transit. It could be that the future transit is already baked into the offering price.

In general I would expect prices to increase along as high quality transit infrastructure is added. I think there's studies around that show this effect.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 04:01

Ambrose Burnside: Aug 30, 2007; pensive

cowofwar posted:

Ooooh double speculation. That reminds me of my parents who bought some land up near Shuswap Lake because word was that electricity lines were going to be put in to service that area. it didn't happen

the stations are apparently nearly done despite the open date getting pushed back repeatedly so theyre deffo not vaporware, but yeah, lotta unknowns here

# ? Mar 15, 2016 04:06

MickeyFinn: May 8, 2007; Biggie Smalls and Junior Mafia some mark ass bitches

Femtosecond posted:

There's a bunch of purpose built rentals hitting the market but they're all super expensively priced and so they're empty too. I don't know what this means, if this is an outlier or an early indication that typical Vancouver rental prices are headed north of $2000 in the near future.

This is discussed a bit here. https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/48vjr9/anyone_know_whats_up_with_the_evan_living_condos/

Edit: Actually this Evan one isn't purpose built, seems more like a condo gently caress up, so I guess it is different than others. There are expensive purpose built rentals out there tho.

When rentals are in short supply there is no reason to build anything but the top of the market. This has been happening in LA for a decade or two now and its lead to a split market.

Baronjutter posted:

Yeah in Victoria the politicians and developers are always lauding them selves over the fact that we're building so many new purpose-built rentals and it's going to do so much for "affordability" but new-built rentals are still like $2000+ for a 2br (or even 1 br sometimes). Those relative rents will most likely come down over the decades, but it does gently caress all to help right now. They say the expensive new rentals attract people from older ones, thus freeing up cheaper rentals, but I've always been wary of this "trickle down" supply side theory of housing because it's always parroted by developers and their friends.

Its called filter theory (for housing not dating/mating) and I've never been convinced that it is true because I've never lived in a housing market in which there was a continuous spectrum of options.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 04:37

cowofwar: Jul 30, 2002; by Athanatos

Ambrose Burnside posted:

the stations are apparently nearly done despite the open date getting pushed back repeatedly so theyre deffo not vaporware, but yeah, lotta unknowns here

The land was sold a couple years back. They bought it in the early 90s so if it's still "coming soon" then lol.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 04:54

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

https://next.ft.com/content/e571ff35-7323-32c5-b323-b23d885b4fbf

quote:

Oil sinks as supply worries flare up � chart

US oil prices came under heavy selling pressure on Monday on the heels of four-straight weekly gains as concerns about the glut of supply on the market came back to the fore.

West Texas Intermediate dropped 3.5 per cent to $37.16 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent crude fell 2.1 per cent to $39.55 a barrel.

The weakness was driven by comments over the weekend from Iran�s oil minister suggesting it may not participate in a production freeze that was pitched by Saudi Arabia, Russia and other big oil producers, said Dennis DeBusschere, head of portfolio strategy at Evercore ISI.

Oil prices have rallied sharply over the past few weeks from the lows of the year as the potential production freeze helped ease anxiety about over-supplied global markets. Data suggesting the global economy may be slowing, but probably isn�t headed toward a recession, have also been a boon to sentiment.

suck a big fat dick canadians

# ? Mar 15, 2016 06:24

Femtosecond: Aug 2, 2003

Baronjutter posted:

Yeah in Victoria the politicians and developers are always lauding them selves over the fact that we're building so many new purpose-built rentals and it's going to do so much for "affordability" but new-built rentals are still like $2000+ for a 2br (or even 1 br sometimes). Those relative rents will most likely come down over the decades, but it does gently caress all to help right now. They say the expensive new rentals attract people from older ones, thus freeing up cheaper rentals, but I've always been wary of this "trickle down" supply side theory of housing because it's always parroted by developers and their friends. Then again even JANE JACOBS pointed out this theory, but added that the "housing cycle" needs to always be going at a fairly even rate, not boom and bust. Victoria and many places in BC had a rush of apartments in the 60's and 70's and then stopped dead and only built condos for 30+ years. This means there's a huge gap in the "housing cycle". Many of these lovely old wood frame apartments are coming to the end of their lives and need to be replaced or extensively renovated, leading to "renovictions" but there isn't anywhere within a similar price range to go to. So if your lovely 1971 apartment is evicting everyone because it needs a massive renovation you're not going to find it easy to find a similar apartment because they're all decaying at the same time and there's a 30 year gap. There were no 80's or 90's apartments slowly coming down in price over the decades.

It's great we're building a ton of rentals right now, but I'd rather they pace them selves and build a steady pace into the future than a huge amount now and another multi-decade gap. A good housing policy would have seen a steady trickle of new apartments built as needed rather than subsidy or speculation fed booms.

Yeah "trickle down" housing has always seemed like a weak theory to me, however, in the absence of new development of any sort, I think you'll get what we see in San Francisco, where sky high rents are common across the board, and landlords will do whatever they can to evict their current residents and rent their garbage old apartment, renovated or not, to a high earning dot com employee. So while I doubt building luxury condos this really creates new affordable housing, I think in some scenarios new development could potentially keep some of the heat off older buildings.

The problem Vancouver and some other cities now face is that there's fewer and fewer old brownfields around that one can easily repurpose into a big new housing development without affecting existing residents. Increasingly in order to build a new multi-unit residences cities will have to go through the incredibly contentious process of tearing down an older multi-unit residences and evicting current residents.

In examples where low density commercial spaces could be upzoned into a larger multi use residential/commerical development, where there would be no evictions, there is still push back from low income housing activists. The argument that comes up is that the higher rents from the new luxury building will cause rate increases at existing apartments in the area.

All of this results in the weird situation where left wing low income housing activists are on the same side as rich, established NIMBYs in seemingly having the same goal of preventing all new development. Those lucky enough to already live in the neighbourhood benefit, while neither group presents any real actionable ideas for how the neighbourhood should accommodate those who would like to live there.

The best solution is probably something along the lines of what I believe is done in Vienna and some other places, where the government steadily creates boring low and lower middle class income housing every year regardless of the market situation. Unfortunately for Canada's municipalities they clearly don't have the money or powers to do this sort of thing and higher order governments don't seem to care to become involved to that degree at all. I assume higher governments are completely unwilling to hand over more cash to the cities with no strings attached.

Femtosecond fucked around with this message at 07:07 on Mar 15, 2016

# ? Mar 15, 2016 07:03

Saltin: Aug 20, 2003; Don't touch

Ambrose Burnside posted:

My folks are talking about buying a condo in Vaughan north of toronno, real close to one of the new subway stations that's going in for the yonge line extension. justification is that units are cheap right now cause neither the subway nor the condo exist yet but will 100% go way up in the next couple years regardless of The Markets cause of the location. how horrendous an idea is this

Counterpoint. It's Jane and Highway 7.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 14:15

Ambrose Burnside: Aug 30, 2007; pensive

Saltin posted:

Counterpoint. It's Jane and Highway 7.

this city is loving dogshit i tell you what

# ? Mar 15, 2016 15:50

rhazes: Dec 17, 2006; Reduce the rectal spread!
Use glory holes instead!

An official message from the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control

Majuju posted:

As I mentioned, the ones in the old Hotel Indigo @ Cambie & 12th (next to City Hall) start at 1600 for a studio, 1900 for a 1BR, slated to be open in summer of this year.

I walk by every day and laugh my rear end off at those prices. There's an older building a block away that has vacancies for studios at 1300.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 16:18

triplexpac: Mar 24, 2007; Suck it
Two tears in a bucket
And then another thing
I'm not the one they'll try their luck with
Hit hard like brass knuckles
See your face through the turnbuckle dude
I got no love for you

PT6A posted:

The poor quality of the photography in this (but also most other) industry really started to piss me off when I bought a camera and tried to learn some basic poo poo about photography, lighting and composition. I'm a lovely photographer, no question, and yet I can do better.

My favourite is the staged photos for listings. Not sure if they're using a kind of HDR or what, but the photos have this weird unnatural lighting where everything is as bright as it could possibly be, and no way would it ever look like that if you're just standing in the room.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 16:21

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

quote:

Canadians revel in Alberta's downfall, or do they?

It hasn't been an easy year for the Engebretsen family.

Like many Albertans, their livelihoods depend on Alberta's volatile oil and gas sector, and like many of their friends and neighbours in Lloydminster, the last year and a half has seen their hopes and dreams come crashing down to earth.

About two years ago with oil selling at around $100 US per barrel, Darren Engebretsen gambled that the good times were here to stay for a little longer. He doubled down, investing in an expensive oil services truck and striking out on his own.

Engebretsen spent about $130,000 on his truck and initially the oil rig mechanic flourished, landing lucrative contracts and as much business as he could handle.

Then the price of oil began to tumble, and business dried up. Soon he couldn't make the payments on his truck and he had to shut down his once promising business.

"I feel for everybody out there, I know I am not the only guy in the same boat, lots of guys are in the same spot."

That spot means Engebretsen now commutes to Calgary to work as a mechanic in the construction industry just to pay the bills. It also means less money and a lot less time with his wife Jolien and their two small children.

But for Jolien Engebretsen, it is the reaction of some other Canadians to the plight of Alberta that makes these tough times even harder.

"They are laughing at us; I just feel like we are a joke and we shouldn't be. If things happen out East that are, you know, hurting their economy, I am not going to sit on social media and laugh at them, I am going to feel sorry for them."

Jolien feels alienated and abandoned by people in Central Canada and she believes other Canadians are exacerbating the hard times here by opposing pipelines that would carry Alberta crude to tidewater.

"It is a slap across the face that they would rather see everyone in Alberta lose absolutely everything that they have worked for and have no compassion for you at all."

It is a sense of isolation and anger that many Albertans feel in their bones, something they simply know to be true.

But is it?

A new poll of 2,098 Canadians commissioned by the CBC suggests that the rest of the country is sympathetic to Albertans' plight.

92 per cent of Canadians say that the energy industry is important for the national economy.
63 per cent believe Alberta should immediately receive $700 million in federal infrastructure money.
56 per cent say that the federal government should remove restrictions on EI for Albertans.
59 per cent believe that Alberta needs federal government help to help combat slumping oil prices.
59 per cent of Canadians support the Energy East pipeline.
Frank Graves is with Ekos, the firm that conducted the poll. He says the broad support for Alberta and the energy sector from across Canada was one of the things that stood out for him.

"It may just be people thinking that we help each other out in this country but it also may be a more realistic appraisal to say that we need a strong Alberta economy to have a strong national economy."

Two provinces over, that is the view of Terry Nelson the Grand Chief of Manitoba's Southern Chiefs Organization.

"The reality is that Alberta energy exports also benefited a lot of other people."

And Nelson says he has no problem with the controversial Energy East pipeline crossing his land in Manitoba as it makes its way across the Prairies to refineries on the East Coast.

"As long as we are driving our vehicles and stuff like that and we have plastics in our lives and we have all kinds of the benefits of oil, then opposing a pipeline does not save mother Earth."

Of course, that view isn't universal.

Simone Landry owns a horse farm in Mascouche, Que. If it is built, the Energy East pipeline will essentially run through her front yard, something that doesn't excite Landry.

"There's no need for pipelines. They tell you it's safe, but there's no 100 per cent safe, there's going to be leakage. Even small leakage will damage my land."

Quebecers are actually divided on pipelines, just 51 per cent say that they are safe or somewhat safe, far lower than the national number of 70 per cent.

Residents of Quebec are also split on providing extra infrastructure money for Alberta's struggling economy, with just 50 per cent of residents in favour of the $700-million investment.

For her part, Simone Landry struggles with anything that supports the energy industry and a continued reliance on fossil fuels.

"It has nothing to do with the number of people who are out of work. I mean, our people have been out of work, we've lost big companies."

Still, even in Quebec, where opposition to pipelines and the energy industry is at its highest, half of residents support helping out Alberta, a telling number according to University of Calgary political scientist Anthony Sayers.

"I think Albertans can take some solace from this sort of survey and say, look, you know people outside of Alberta sort of get us and are willing to work with us on this. Canadians are aware of the role that Alberta plays in the Canadian economy."

Sayers says Albertans are understandably sensitive to outside opinions about the energy industry because it plays such a vital role in the province's economy.

"Albertans know that the energy industry is central to their economic well-being, so they are doubly defensive because they are saying no, no, no, really, be good to us. We are the defenders of this particular view of Canada, this particular view of energy."

Back in Lloydminster, the Engebretsen family faces an uncertain future.

The truck that was once the key to the family's future prosperity now sits in an auction yard waiting to be sold off. Darren Engebretsen says the price it fetches on the block will in large part determine the family's economic future.

"I wish it would just be sold so I would know what it went for, know what I owe."

Like many Albertans, the family is just hanging on, patiently waiting for the price of oil to rebound, for a return to the good times. But as the downturn approaches two years here, Joliel Engebretsen isn't sure how much longer the family will be able to hold out.

"You can only tough it out for so long, you know. We didn't expect it to be a year and a half and still no end in sight."

The ups and downs of the energy economy are nothing new for Albertans, they have survived major downturns before and most believe they will make it through this one as well.

The difference this time is that the rest of the country appears to have their backs while they wait.

hahahahah $130k truck

gently caress you i hope you and your family starve

# ? Mar 15, 2016 16:44

triplexpac: Mar 24, 2007; Suck it
Two tears in a bucket
And then another thing
I'm not the one they'll try their luck with
Hit hard like brass knuckles
See your face through the turnbuckle dude
I got no love for you

Albertans are known for being so generous and understanding of other people's plights

# ? Mar 15, 2016 16:56

quaint bucket: Nov 29, 2007

Cultural Imperial posted:

hahahahah $130k truck

gently caress you i hope you and your family starve

I'm baffled how he managed to buy a $130k truck. I built a fully loaded ram 3500 dually, f-450 loaded, tundra 1794 loaded, gmc 3500hd, and its still $35-50k shy of that mark.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 17:10

Saltin: Aug 20, 2003; Don't touch

Ambrose Burnside posted:

this city is loving dogshit i tell you what

If you mean Vaughn then yes absolutely.

Toronto is loving awesome though - if you have the means, I highly recommend it.

quaint bucket posted:

I'm baffled how he managed to buy a $130k truck. I built a fully loaded ram 3500 dually, f-450 loaded, tundra 1794 loaded, gmc 3500hd, and its still $35-50k shy of that mark.

Solid gold truck nuts.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 17:12

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

quaint bucket posted:

I'm baffled how he managed to buy a $130k truck. I built a fully loaded ram 3500 dually, f-450 loaded, tundra 1794 loaded, gmc 3500hd, and its still $35-50k shy of that mark.

What's a 2 foot lift kit cost?

What about reprogramming the ECU to roll coal?

Confederate Flag hood and door wraps?

# ? Mar 15, 2016 17:19

Sundae: Dec 1, 2005

Cultural Imperial posted:

Confederate Flag hood and door wraps?

... please tell me this isn't happening in Canada. It's bad enough down here.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 17:22

Ambrose Burnside: Aug 30, 2007; pensive

Saltin posted:

If you mean Vaughn then yes absolutely.

Toronto is loving awesome though - if you have the means, I highly recommend it.

yeah i live in vaughan rn and it is horrible but also on my budget im looking at no less than 3 roommates in a really lovely area the city proper so We Shall See

# ? Mar 15, 2016 17:37

PittTheElder: Feb 13, 2012; Yes, it's like a lava lamp.

Sundae posted:

... please tell me this isn't happening in Canada. It's bad enough down here.

It's surprisingly common to see confederate flags in Alberta, supposedly because "rural pride". You could go weeks without seeing one in the city mind you, but they're there.

Some guy on my street also has a bunch of anti-Obama bumper stickers on his truck. :shrug:

# ? Mar 15, 2016 17:37

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

I've seeing lifted rolling coal and confederate flags and truck nuts in Victoria, so I imagine it's all over rural Canada.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 17:42

Dreylad: Jun 19, 2001

Sundae posted:

... please tell me this isn't happening in Canada. It's bad enough down here.

There's been lots of sightings in the BC interior and a few in Northern Ontario. The flag ends up being a short-hand for ~rural pride~

# ? Mar 15, 2016 17:45

Square Peg: Nov 11, 2008

quaint bucket posted:

I'm baffled how he managed to buy a $130k truck. I built a fully loaded ram 3500 dually, f-450 loaded, tundra 1794 loaded, gmc 3500hd, and its still $35-50k shy of that mark.

I can only assume that price includes the stuff in the truck for doing work

And, yeah, trucks with confederate flags are all over in Alberta, one used to park right next to my house (jacked up and badly spray painted black, of course) and I wanted to light a phonebook under it.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 17:47

Antifreeze Head: Jun 6, 2005; It begins; Pillbug

Sundae posted:

... please tell me this isn't happening in Canada. It's bad enough down here.

There's not much of anything really here in Manitoba. One of my favourites comes from a very small time band who probably didn't really understand the significance of the stars and bars when they started using it.

At least I don't think they were aiming at appropriation here, the Dukes of Hazzard were popular at the time and they just went with it.

Their music wasn't great either https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkgmYL6rt_o

The only other thing I can think of is a welding shop somewhere south of Steinbach that uses it. In that area, that guy probably knows what's up with the flag.

Antifreeze Head fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Mar 15, 2016

# ? Mar 15, 2016 17:52

Majuju: Dec 30, 2006; I had a beer with Stephen Miller once and now I like him.

Here's a picture of them with the truck in question:

so it's got a crane and tanks and stuff for doing mobile mechanical work. This obviously doesn't excuse them for basically being late to the game and loving up their truck equity, but yeah.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 17:56

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

this motherfucker makes $40/hour

he has no loving business buying $130k worth of any loving vehicle. obviously he thought he was a captain of industry and would start up his own business but TOO loving BAD YOUR BUSINESS MODEL SUCKS rear end in a top hat

# ? Mar 15, 2016 18:00

Brannock: Feb 9, 2006; by exmarx; Fallen Rib

Scrawny, weedy man with frighteningly obese wife, truck equity, fevered dreams of his own handyman business?

Are they pod people or what? That model is everywhere on this continent.

I wonder how many people in Alberta will be returning to their home provinces. The Maritimes could use some extra infrastructure workers -- if there's going to be any investment there (there won't).

# ? Mar 15, 2016 18:06

mojo1701a: Oct 9, 2008; Oh, yeah. Loud and clear. Emphasis on LOUD!
~ David Lee Roth

Brannock posted:

Scrawny, weedy man with frighteningly obese wife, truck equity, fevered dreams of his own handyman business?

Are they pod people or what? That model is everywhere on this continent.

My entire town is full of them. I have also somehow bartended a lot of weddings with people like this.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 18:40

Antifreeze Head: Jun 6, 2005; It begins; Pillbug

There is a nursery rhyme about the symbiosis of such a relationship.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 18:44

Juul-Whip: Mar 10, 2008

Sundae posted:

... please tell me this isn't happening in Canada. It's bad enough down here.

There's a guy who lives on my parents' street whose sparkling clean Tahoe has a confederate flag sticker on the back. His house also has a sign implying that they'll shoot you if you trespass.

In loving Ladner.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 18:50

peter banana: Sep 2, 2008; Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.

I wish I'd taken a photo of the redneckmobile outside the hockey rink last week at 7am when I was walking my dog. Jacked up F350, fire engine red, but the bottom 6 inches of the body had this decal wrap that was camouflage of tall African grass, maybe? Just the bottom 6 inches though, and the rest of the body cherry red. Probably about a dozen decals of various gun and hunting paraphernalia brands. Confederate flag bumper sticker. There will be no missing it if I see it around town. It was amazing and likely many animals corpses have been in the bed.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 19:20

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

http://news.nationalpost.com/life/jane-macdougall-tales-from-the-trenches-of-vancouvers-real-estate-market

quote:

Jane Macdougall: Tales from the trenches of Vancouver�s real estate market

In the cabin of the Concorde airplane there was a series of display panels.

Passengers could track the rocketing metrics of the aircraft as it approached supersonic speeds. One panel showed the stratospheric altitudes. Another revealed the plummeting outside temperature. One panel was a speedometer. The fourth screen, the Machmeter, announced when the plane broke the sound barrier, and was moving at twice the speed of sound. All eyes in the aircraft were glued to these panels. The dials scrolled, like meters gone mad, like some sort of screw was loose and the numbers were just spinning freely.

This is what it�s like to live in Vancouver these days. This is what it�s like to live in a gold rush delirium.

We are glued to the numbers. Unlike the Concorde, there�s no mechanism to let us know when we�ve reached supersonic cruising levels. No �boom� to say that�s all, folks; this is the limit. We keep thinking there has to be an end in sight, some sort of ceiling. I mean, how much higher can property prices go? If shacks are going for multiples of millions; if bidding wars are the new norm, if listing prices are utterly irrelevant, where does it end?

What have we become?

Apparently, we�ve become rich. I�m rich. Richer than I was last year, richer than I was last month. In fact, my skyrocketing wealth will have appreciated measurably since last week. Lucky me.

Over the last three years, my home has gone up more than $1 million on the assessed value; up at least sixfold since I bought the modest, 1960s home a decade ago. What�s this windfall worth to me? Nothing, really. Except that my taxes are going up and up. In order to reap this munificent bounty, I�d have to leave Vancouver. Leave my home; the place I worked to shape through raising a family, volunteer work, being a part of a community and a neighbourhood. I can take my winnings, but they�re only winnings if I leave. Vancouver Sun columnist Pete McMartin�s summation: �The good news is, you�re all millionaires. The bad news is, you�re all millionaires.�

There are four properties on my block with survey stakes. The house three doors over got bulldozed this weekend. It had been empty for more than a year. The Vacant Housing Unit Research report presented to Vancouver city council this week declares that the percentage of vacant houses has remained flat since 2002. I must be hallucinating. At least six of the homes in my neighbourhood are perpetually empty. One house is up for sale a third time without ever being occupied. Halloween is no fun in my neighbourhood.

A neighbour approaches me, dejectedly. Let�s call her Suzanne Chen. I�ve known the Chens for about 20 years. �We�re the only ones left!� she laments. She�s right. The whole block has turned over, with the exception of the Chens, me, and two 90-year-olds.

When the neighbours began pulling out, each successive sale went for hundreds of thousands more than the last. The sales were only weeks apart. The vendors were aghast. Instantly, they were priced out of the neighbourhood. One longtime resident dolefully remarked, �I didn�t leave the neighbourhood; my neighbourhood left me.�

My next-door neighbours are lovely. On this block alone, they own three houses, as well as small apartment buildings all over town. They maintain a home overseas. The mom and I used to talk. Now, we hardly do. Her English has faded. Her daughter tells me she doesn�t use it much anymore; she doesn�t need to. I miss talking to her. I like having neighbours.

Overheard: �I go to bed thinking about real estate; I wake up thinking about real estate.�

Overheard: �We�ve had the carpet pulled out from under our feet.�

People are angry. Anxiety is high. People are appalled at the recent real estate contract reassignment scandal. Each record-breaking selling price is a daunting headline. There�s a frenzy to get some skin in the game.

Unfortunately, most people don�t have more dermis to spare. January figures show the average price of a detached home is $1.83 million, a 40 per cent gain over the same month in 2015. Like a good Canadian, I�ve salted away money for my old age but, so what? Factor in stock market volatility, and what good are savings now?

A big local buzzword is �density.� Apparently, we�re going to love our new 500 sq. ft. condos and the vibrant coffee house milieu they will spawn. I keep wondering what drives density. Isn�t it all those people coming here to escape density? Swell.

I recall a speech David Lam, B.C.�s lieutenant-governor, gave to the Rotary Club of Vancouver back in the �80s. He spoke of his fear for Vancouver, that we would ghettoize. We have. We�re dividing up the city based on where the money is from.

And there is plenty of money � much of it arriving as undeclared cash. Over the past five years, Canadian border services has seized tens of millions coming into the country illegally, generally returned with a paltry fine. Much of this ends up in real estate. A friend in construction describes his job as money laundering. The average size of home he builds is about 7,500 sq. ft., and payment is frequently offered in cash. It bothers him. With a lot of cash, you get a lot of house.

You just don�t get much neighbourhood.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 19:50

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

http://victoria.citified.ca/news/victoria-condo-fetches-astonishing-resale-premium-thanks-to-airbnb/
Victoria condo re-sells at insane profit due to potential airbnb rents. I hope the strata shuts it down and the next article is about the "investors" trying to sue the strata or city or human rights tribunal for restricting their freedom to profit off the *SHARING ECONOMY*

Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Mar 15, 2016

# ? Mar 15, 2016 19:50

mojo1701a: Oct 9, 2008; Oh, yeah. Loud and clear. Emphasis on LOUD!
~ David Lee Roth

Baronjutter posted:

http://victoria.citified.ca/news/victoria-condo-fetches-astonishing-resale-premium-thanks-to-airbnb/
Victoria condo re-sells at insane profit due to potential airbnb rents. I hope the strata shuts it down and the next article is about the "investors" trying to sue the strata or city or human rights tribunal for restricting their freedom to profit off the *SHARING ECONOMY*

I swear, these schemes remind me of why Le Chiffre went bankrupt in Casino Royale (the novel). In it, Le Chiffre tried to raise funds to pay back his organization because he lost money by investing in brothels before France criminalized them.

At least he tried to win his money back by gambling.

# ? Mar 15, 2016 20:10

Kafka Esq.: Jan 1, 2005; "If you ever even think about calling me anything but 'The Crab' I will go so fucking crab on your ass you won't even see what crab'd your crab" -The Crab(TM)

Oh my God, my friend is trying to buy the condo his landlord was just kicking him out of to try and sell. It's 450K and the fees, taxes and mortgage are $700 higher than his rent.

hel;p

# ? Mar 15, 2016 20:20

Wistful of Dollars: Aug 25, 2009

THC posted:

There's a guy who lives on my parents' street whose sparkling clean Tahoe has a confederate flag sticker on the back. His house also has a sign implying that they'll shoot you if you trespass.

In loving Ladner.

Back in yonder days the bloke across the street had a pair of confederate flags in the back window of his truck.

On the west coast of Newfoundland. :shrug:

# ? Mar 15, 2016 20:35

triplexpac: Mar 24, 2007; Suck it
Two tears in a bucket
And then another thing
I'm not the one they'll try their luck with
Hit hard like brass knuckles
See your face through the turnbuckle dude
I got no love for you

Kafka Esq. posted:

Oh my God, my friend is trying to buy the condo his landlord was just kicking him out of to try and sell. It's 450K and the fees, taxes and mortgage are $700 higher than his rent.

hel;p

You should be happy, your friend will no longer be throwing away money

# ? Mar 15, 2016 20:35

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...rticle29246287/

quote:

Conrad Black will continue living in his Toronto mansion after selling the property last week for an undisclosed price.

Adam Daifallah, a spokesman for Black, says the former media mogul plans to stay in the house as a tenant.

�The Blacks have sold their home with a lease-back, with the possibility of a buy-back,� Daifallah wrote in an e-mail.

�No further public comment will be made.�

what's next is he going to get a CHIP reverse mortgage so he can cover monthly expenses

# ? Mar 15, 2016 20:54

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# ? May 10, 2024 18:04

peter banana: Sep 2, 2008; Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.

triplexpac posted:

You should be happy, your friend will no longer be throwing away money

that strata equity, tho

# ? Mar 15, 2016 20:55

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Canada Housing/Debt: Trust me, I'm a landlord.

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