A Typical Goon posted:

I usually like to judge people based on their personality and my social interactions with them

namaste faggots posted:

how many of you dumb fucks take out loans to buy clothes?

quote:

$1800 / 4ft2 - New Suite Available $1,800/month (Alma/Point Grey)



New suite available in good neighbourhood. Bright and cheery. Open floor plan, fully air conditioned with built-in wine cooler. Close to good schools and walking distance to shops. No smokers. Small pets OK with thick fur. References required.

namaste faggots posted:

https://twitter.com/yvrhousing/status/829051652875309056

Hey femtosecond you dumb gently caress

quote:

For Chinese Home Buyers, Seattle Is the New Vancouver

When Anna Riley, a Seattle-area real-estate agent, held an open house for a new $2.3 million listing in the tony city of Bellevue late last month, the pool of prospective buyers was different from the usual assortment of tech magnates, sports stars and chief executives.

Twenty groups of buyers visited the property in the Seattle metro area—and all of them were Chinese.

“Every single one,” said Ms. Riley, an agent at Windermere Real Estate, noting that Asian investors had typically, before last year, accounted for about a quarter of the firm’s prospective buyers.

Chinese real-estate buyers are suddenly descending on the Seattle region. Some are lured by perceptions the coastal city is a bargain, others by warm memories of the 2013 Chinese film “Finding Mr. Right,” which put Seattle on the pop-culture radar there.

The biggest draw, though, might be the fact that it isn’t Vancouver. In August, the Canadian province of British Columbia imposed a 15% tax on foreign investment in the city, which until recently was a popular destination for Chinese. The tax applies to anyone who isn’t a citizen or permanent resident of Canada and buys a home in metro Vancouver.

The provincial government says the tax policy is aimed at making homes in the city more affordable for local residents, who have seen prices soar by nearly 50% over the past three years. The city of Vancouver also introduced a separate vacancy tax of 1% on the assessed value of an empty property.

The moves have had a chilling effect. Web searches in China for Vancouver properties dropped 37% in December compared with a year ago, according to Juwai.com, an online real-estate portal that targets Chinese home seekers.

Seattle, by contrast, is red hot. Searches for Seattle properties in China jumped 125% year-over-year in November, after increasing 71% in October, according to Juwai. They rose 1.8% in December.

Kyle Moss, a real-estate agent at Redfin, said he received a call from a Chinese man within 72 hours of the tax passing who said he represented 20 families interested in buying real estate in Seattle. Mr. Moss said for some, the appeal is being near family and friends who own in Vancouver, 120 miles away.

It is too early to quantify the effect of Chinese interest on Seattle’s home sales, and no one tracks the ethnicities of buyers in particular markets. But the sudden surge in interest in Seattle comes at a time when it already ranks among the nation’s hottest real-estate markets. It led the U.S. in home-price growth in November, according to a report released Tuesday by S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, which found prices there increased by more than 10% over the same month in 2015.

Some places that have been favorites for Chinese in recent years—including London, Australia and, most recently, New York—are rolling out policies that discourage foreign purchasers.

In the U.K. in late 2014, the cost of buying homes valued at more than £937,000, or $1.17 million at current exchange rates, went up on a sliding scale, rising to a 12% tax on the portion of a sale over £1.5 million. In April, an additional 3% was tacked on to the sale price of homes for foreign buyers or for those renting out their properties.

Australia bars foreigners from purchasing resale properties, and some states also have imposed taxes on foreign purchasers. In New York, the mayor last week proposed a 2.5% tax on properties of $2 million or more, a favorite category of foreigners.

Mike O’Brien, a Seattle City Council member, said he is exploring measures, including a vacancy tax, to combat another trend that has irked Vancouver residents: foreign investors who leave homes vacant and untended. “It baffles me that people would buy real estate here and not fill it up,” he said.

Stella Guo, a third-year university student from China, and her family recently purchased two waterfront properties in Seattle for more than $5 million each. The family owns a Chinese development company and is looking at building projects in the northwestern U.S.

Ms. Guo, who attends college in Arizona, said she doesn’t plan to live in Seattle full-time but wanted a place for her and her family to relax on vacation and was drawn to Seattle’s temperate climate, according to answers to emailed questions provided by her real-estate agent, Robert Pong, senior global real-estate adviser at Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty.

Lili Shang, an agent at the Seattle-area agency, said she is seeing many Chinese families and investors looking to sell property in Vancouver and move their money to Seattle because of the tax. “I think people realize that Vancouver is no more a fun place to do investments,” she said.

quote:

More Canadians are raiding their RRSPs to buy a house, make ends meet and pay off debt

A new survey suggests Canadians are dipping into their registered retirement savings plans like never before and the high cost of housing may be driving those decisions.

The study released Tuesday and conducted by Pollara for Bank of Montreal from Dec. 14-19 asked 1,500 adult Canadians how much they had withdrawn from their RRSP during the year. The online survey, considered accurate to within 2.5 percentage points 19 times out of 20 found, on average, Canadians had withdrawn $17,213 during the year — an increase from $15,908 a year earlier.

“It’s concerning to see that so many Canadians are dipping into their RRSPs to meet short-term needs, which should only be considered as a last resort,” said Chris Buttigieg, director of wealth planning publications with BMO Wealth Management.

Rising real estate prices could be a factor in the decision to raid an RRSP because 30 per cent of people in the study nationwide cited that as their number one reason for withdrawals. In British Columbia, of the 44 per cent of people in the province who have a made a withdrawal, 38 per cent said it was to buy a home — the top reason.

Vancouver continues to have the most expensive prices for housing in the country, though they have been declining following the decision of the province to impose an additional 15 per cent property transfer tax on foreign buyers. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said this month the MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all existing residential properties in Metro Vancouver was $896,000 in January, a 3.7 per cent decline over the past six months and a 0.2 per cent drop from December, 2016.


The price situation is just as tight in Canada’s largest city where the Toronto Real Estate Board said this month a supply imbalance drove the average price of a home sold in January, across all categories, to $770,745, a 22.3 per cent increase from the $630,193 a year ago.



The Home Buyers’ Plan has become a popular vehicle for Canadians to get access to their RRSPs to buy houses because first-time buyers can borrow up to $25,000 from their retirement savings plan and pay the money back over 15 years. There is no penalty for making the withdrawals, as long as you pay the money back in the specified time frame.

The only provinces where home purchases were not cited as the number one reason were the Atlantic provinces and the Prairies. In Atlantic Canada, 48 per cent of those surveyed withdrew money with 22 per cent saying it was for a large purchase other than a home with $25,485 the average amount.

Debt drove the decision to withdraw from an RRSP for 27 per cent of those surveyed in the Prairies. The average withdrawal was $10,546 in those provinces with a third of those surveyed saying they had made a withdrawal.

Buttigieg said Canadians need to consider additional options that may be available before making any withdrawals. “Make sure you have fully considered the ramifications of the early withdrawal tax consequences,” said Buttigieg. In most cases, RRSP withdrawals will count as income in the year the money is taken out and taxed at your highest marginal rate.

After housing, nationally the second most popular reason to take money out of the RRSP was to help pay off living expenses at 21 per cent. Next was to pay off debt and emergencies, both at 18 per cent.

The study also found 38 per cent of Canadians have withdrawn money from their RRSP before 71, an increase of 4 percentage points from last year.

Three quarters of respondents were very concerned over the consequences of taking money out with 73 per cent saying they are familiar with the tax penalties or rules for repayment (in the case of a homebuyers withdrawal). The survey found 19 per cent do not expect ever to pay back the money they’ve withdrawn.

namaste faggots posted:

https://twitter.com/EnigmaMister/status/829106284272054272

hey fuckheads let's start making fun of this guy for being homeless

Femtosecond posted:

“I think people realize that Vancouver is no more a fun place to do investments,” she said.

namaste faggots posted:

https://twitter.com/EnigmaMister/status/829106284272054272

hey fuckheads let's start making fun of this guy for being homeless

quote:

Pre-sold condos hold out hope for speculators
Exempt from foreign-buyer and flipping scrutiny, assignment listings far higher than selling price

As overall price increases flatline in Vancouver’s more regulated housing market, assignment sales of uncompleted highrise condos – which are exempt from B.C. assignment and foreign-buyer tax regulations – might offer the best hope for speculators in 2017.

More than 87% of the 8,955 new concrete condos started in Greater Vancouver in 2016 were pre-sold, according to an MLA Canada study released at a recent Vancouver real estate conference.

A separate Urban Analytics survey found only 31 new concrete condos complete and unsold as of 2016’s third quarter, the lowest Metro inventory in five years.

This year, a further 10,700 new concrete condos will begin marketing in Metro Vancouver, but at much higher prices, the Urban Development Institute’s annual real estate forecast luncheon was told, due to rising costs for land, labour and construction materials.

Excluding land value, the hard construction costs to build a new highrise condo tower in Vancouver is now $290 per square foot compared with $230 a year ago, according to appraisal firm Altus Group.

However, land values for Vancouver residential development sites have rocketed up as much as 260% from a year ago, based on 2017 assessments. Some developers are paying up to $1,000 per square foot for Vancouver building sites with high-density potential.

The result has been a surge in assignment sales of condos in sold-out but uncompleted Vancouver towers, with investors hoping to catch the uplift in value since the condos were first sold.

Strathcona Village, now under construction on East Hastings Street, where one-bedroom condos originally sold two years ago for $450 per square foot to $497 per square foot. The condos are now being advertised as assignments for $770 to $787 per square foot.

The Independent project at Main Street and East Broadway, a Rize Alliance tower that sold out in 2015 at an average price of $672 per square foot, has assignments being offered at more than $900 per square foot. One two-bedroom is listed by Rennie & Associates at $991 per square foot. The Independent is scheduled to be completed this fall.

Last week, 58 Metro Vancouver condo assignment ads were posted on Craigslist, some offering multiple units in Vancouver towers from downtown Vancouver to Surrey. Most are listed by real estate agents.

Assignment sales are exempt from B.C. anti-flipping legislation. Enacted in May 2016, it stipulates that sales contracts can’t be assigned without the written consent of the seller and that any profit from an assignment goes to the initial seller.

The legislation does not apply to new developments, including pre-sale condos, even if a licensed realtor sells the assignment, according to Ministry of Finance spokesman Jamie Edwardson.

Pre-sale condo assignments are exempt from the B.C. foreign-buyer tax regulations that came into force last August and are based on the transfer of title. Therefore, an investor could buy a pre-sale condo, flip it as an assignment during construction and not appear as either a buyer or a property owner on provincial government documentation, Edwardson confirmed.

In an email to BIV, Edwardson noted the original investor is required to report the transaction to the Canada Revenue Agency, and “may be required to pay income tax on the profits.” He said it’s the final buyer of the assignment who would be liable for provincial property transfer taxes when the building completes, not the investor who sold the assignment.

quote:

Census counts 25,502 unoccupied homes in Vancouver, more than double the estimate by City Hall

The latest census numbers for 2016 show there were 25,502 unoccupied or empty housing units in the City of Vancouver.

It’s a number that is 15 per cent higher than recorded during the last census in 2011, but that is more than double an estimate released by city hall last year, which used different criteria.

The census counts the number of “total private dwellings” and “private dwellings occupied by usual residents.” Its definition of unoccupied units means those that were vacant on census day, including properties for rent or sale, ones that have been purchased, but whose owners have not yet moved in, as well as furnished units that are second residences.

It also includes units that are used on a temporary basis and/or by foreign residents. In the 2011 census, just over 4,000 of the 22,000 units “not occupied by usual residents” were used by temporary and foreign residents, according to Ryan Berlin, senior economist at the Rennie Group, who made a custom request following the general census release to get the information.

In March 2016, the City of Vancouver commissioned a private firm to analyze the extent of empty homes by using B.C. Hydro data. Looking at 225,000 homes over a decade, it found that by 2014, under five per cent or 10,800 units could be considered unoccupied for a year or more. A whopping number 90 per cent of these housing units deemed to be “non-occupied” because electricity usage didn’t hit a certain threshold over a certain number of months were condos.

namaste faggots posted:

https://twitter.com/bcnewswire/status/829197823480647681

namaste faggots posted:

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/census-counts-25502-unoccupied-homes-in-vancouver-more-than-double-the-estimate-by-city-hall


hey guys we still need to demolish the ALR because

Baronjutter posted:

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/securities-regulator-issues-freezing-order
Securities violations in MY chinese funded pre-sale condo purchase?! But I love my condo!
I LOVE MY CONDO

UnfortunateSexFart posted:

Almost all of the dark green areas are in the relatively cheap eastern suburbs where people actually work for a living. The most expensive neighbourhoods are emptying out.

JawKnee posted:

people in Yaletown work for a living?

namaste faggots posted:

https://twitter.com/EnigmaMister/status/829106284272054272

hey fuckheads let's start making fun of this guy for being homeless

cowofwar posted:

One place listed at $925k that we offered $800k based on our assessment of value outright rejected our offer but a couple weeks later they've relisted at $825k. We had another place reject our offer of $1.1m on a listing of $1.188 and would only drop to $1.166 despite two comparables a block away listed at $998k. Vancouver sellers still think it's 2015. Inventory continues to accumulate.

Risky Bisquick posted:

Do your part by lowballing RE with only a casual interest to actually move. I've been doing it for a year now and it's fantastic, and demoralizes sellers.

cowofwar posted:

Subjunctive posted:

Do you know of a similar site for Toronto? I'm curious to track the activity on my area. A few places on my block have gone up since I got here in August, but they sold in a couple of weeks. (Except for the tear down, that was more like 2 months.) My guess is that my place will dip down to 1.4 this year, which won't make me resize my HELOC at least.

cowofwar posted:

Yeah, we're not in a hurry to get a bad deal. Right now anyone buying is catching a falling knife and there's now general negative sentiment in the MSM about real estate so there will be further correction.