Actually I am Canadian, born here and have an Asian background
Know Vancouver very well as it is my hometown and just don't see things the way you do. Not everyone has the same take on things as you do.
Came from a hard working family and used that work ethic to further my interests much like the friends I grew up with. Wasn't that difficult and didn't take a rocket scientist to get ahead in the high growth baby boomer era.
But this thread isn't about me, it is about real estate historically in Vancouver and its future. Still don't think your view on the real estate industry here locally is the only view.
For those who have saved, paid of their initial mortgages, invested, and rode the asset inflation trend in Vancouver things have worked out. In addition, Vancouver unlike most other cities in NA has not really gone through a major downtrend since the slide which 21% interest rates caused in 1980. After that blip real estate has trended up and when other markets fell, Vancouver held and then continued to move up.
We just have to accept that people like to live here for weather and lifestyle reasons and there is a constant inflow of new homeowners coming from other parts of Canada and outside of Canada. Probably a normal progression and given the low crime and high standard of living it is good for some and expensive for others.
By the way, I do like the sushi and noodles we have in this town. Yum
Chill dude, not everyone has a bleak take on life......
Oh...so apparently Asians are the only people with a hard work ethic huh?
So in other words you are Asian, who didn't have to pay $1 million in a mortgage, who earns his income from China. Gotcha. I'm going to disregard everything you say from this point on.
Edit...no, I'm not done with you yet.
Don't tell me...let me guess. A majority of your income is likely from engaging in
shadow flipping in real estate considering you're obviously involved in the real estate market and heavily engaged with business interests in China.
For those of you that don't know what shadow flipping is (most Asians do know what this is because its been a massive windfall for them whether Canadian born or not):
1. A person wants to sell their property, and gets it listed. In Vancouver, which has been having a meteoric rise in real estate prices due to the Asian market, its well known that it is advantageous to also have an Asian realtor who has foreign client lists as well.
2. Locals who bought pre 2000 for dirt cheap don't have any idea what their homes are worth these days - they just know its a hot market and you hear stories daily about multiple offers and bidding wars on top of these overly inflated prices. Their realtor helps them set their price 100s of thousands, if not millions of dollars more than what they originally paid. No matter what the place sells for they're going to make a windfall and be happy about it - if not oblivious.
3. The house is listed, and then you will see dozens if not 100s of couples (almost all Asian) tour the home. Then maybe the house sells immediately upon listing, or maybe it doesn't, but eventually the vendors are told that the offers are coming in (in actual fact, this is all a fictional ruse). And oftentimes its the offer with no conditions above list price that is accepted (a set up), and the buyer will likely have an Asian name on the contract of course. The contracts are signed and the realtor makes their disclosures - of course the realtor discloses that they have no interest in this deal. And then the closing date is set a few months down the road.
4. In the meantime the vendors are happy just counting down the days until closing, while the realtor is taking multiple new offers on the same property from his Chinese client list. Oftentimes these buyers are even buying sight unseen and the realtor already had their sights set on flipping this property to one of his clients even before the listing hit the market.
5. Unbeknownst to the vendors, the buyer who signed the contract with them may be a friend, relative or associate of the realtor, and then the property is assigned TO the realtor after the original sales contract was signed, knowing that he was going to be able to sell the property for hundreds of thousands if not millions more than what the property was listed at.
6. The realtor not only gets to pocket multiple commissions, but they also get to pocket the difference while having zero carrying or transaction costs.
And guess what - its the Chinese realtors who are able to do this, not the local non-ethnic realtors because the Chinese are the ones with all the out of country business contacts.
