604 it's over

or, more signs of the times


I rather liked the last post picture, with allusions to perversion, a black hole sucking in the 604 area code, y'know.

The picture for today seemed emblematic as well - a sign advertising "quality homes" that has a mean list to it. I hope they build homes better than they put up signs. It does not instill confidence. Most of us are well aware of the preponderance of cheap construction and poor workmanship these days. Having a sign like that is like going to a job interview downtown unshaven, and unwashed.

Shortly after taking that picture, I saw a roofing crew re-doing a residential roof. The truck driver did not seem to know how to operate the boom crane to load the new shingles onto the roof, and I watched in dread anticipation of a work place accident. Nobody seemed to know what they were doing - the roof was not properly stripped, and it looked as if they were going to shingle over the remaining nails and detritus from the old roof. I had to keep moving.

Somewhat disheartened, I came across this place -


and my heart sang again. I like the style, and the use of the lot. It was refreshing to see after seeing so many dreary New Vancouver Specious - er, Specials. They look to be quality built, it is apparent from the curb. I like the whimsy of the upper floor windows, and half-expected to see The Cat in the Hat lurking about somewhere. It looks like Dutch Modern meets Harbour Grace, NFLD, or such. Why can't tasteful, quality construction be codified? If we are going for density, let's do it right.

A bit further on, I passed another house under construction, and saw a guy putting up the fascia above the front entrance. It was uneven, and there was a gap. I fully expected to see the guy leave it that way, but he actually pulled it off and fixed it! I commented to him as I passed, and thanked him for making it right. Why should that make me so happy? I am just so tired of seeing crap being built, and having to look at it.

Then again, maybe I am just manic today.

the tug of gravity...

...or signs of the times



I found this one in my peregrinations. For rent, and for sale. I know that there is some twisted logic to that - such as if it's rented, the revenue income will be a selling point! There has got to be some great big fool looking for an investment property... Thing is;

a) Who is going to rent a house that will be sold out from underneath them, and have to put up with open houses every Sunday, and other showings? I wouldn't rent it. And who is going to buy it if tenanted?

b) Rent would not cover much more than 1/2 of the mortgage payments on this POS.

Meanwhile, the house sits vacant, and sucks money down an ever bleaker black hole.

The only signs that seem to be missing, are REDUCED, and/or FORECLOSURE.

Weird.

$890,000.00

Thanks to R.Di for pointing out this travesty @2630 FRANKLIN ST, Hastings East, Vancouver East. v718488



$890,000.00?!!! WTF are these people smoking down on Franklin ST.? It reminds me of The Charge of The Light Brigade, or the Kamikaze Cult. No guts, no glory.

IT IS OVER! Shave your price by $600G's, and you might get a low-ball offer of $225K.

I have a mind to get a real estate license - just so that I could arrange to take your 75% off, low-ball offers to people like this. Any bored agents out there?

Actually, I wouldn't buy the place for an even $200K.

Any FTB better hurry to get in on this one to be a FB - as of October 15th, forget about that zero-down, 40 year amort., cash-back action, yer going to have to slap down 5% with a 35 year amortization. The handy Royal Bank mortgage calculator tells us that if you make accelerated weekly payments of $1,245.09 (a measly $4930.86/mo.), you can own this puppy outright in 27 years. It will take an annual income of about $200K to buy this place at these terms. Is here a surgeon in the house? A CEO of a middle corporation?

OK, I know that it is only really move-up buyers that are buying these places, but I am curious as to exactly from where someone would "move up" to this place. The Cecil Hotel?

I'm not normally subject to schadenfreude, but I feel a big, smug smirk coming over me.

strange fruit

I was out wandering with li'l solipsist today, and noticed a lot of strange new fruit (depicted below) amongst the flowers and trees that he demands identification of.

Joe Chan (in the first picture) has had that place for sale for months. Ellie Chan joined him next door, and Winnie Lam is next to her. Two doors down, a house struggling to be completed will soon be for sale (I photoshopped its sign). Half the damn block is for sale! The Joe Chan, and the Winnie Lam both appeared to be vacant. On the block behind me, at least two places were for sale - one of which is vacant.

The new crop continued to flourish, and I could only take so many pictures. I ended with the Wong consortium when I noticed that the wee gaffer had fallen asleep in boredom. Yawn.





There is something wong with this picture (sorry, I could not resist that) - it is starting to look like the pictures we were seeing from California, etc., where everything looked to be for sale - and no buyers.

Strange fruit, come early. I predict a bitter harvest by the time the Harvest Moon rolls through the sky. Especially with the October 15th !Surprise! of revised qualification requirements for mortgages.

It is finally over.

bestial book ends

(click the pic for biggy)

I spotted these evil twins on Copley - just east of Nanaimo. Good grief! They look like raffle prizes from a monster truck show, or worse. Side-by-side slaps in the face.

I have noticed a "deteriorating" trend in the finishes on these now ubiquitous press board boxes. Gone are the heady days of Mandarin Orange, Venous Red, Fecal Brown, etc. stucco, the final push into oblivion is vinyl siding. I guess that maybe there was a deal on it before the carbon tax kicked in. Way to go on mitigating your carbon footprint folks! (and building hideous houses while you are at it) Way to go on maximizing your profits even further. It's just too bad for you that you are too late to the party. BEEP!

But who would buy such candy floss crap? Really ugly twins? What were these builders thinking? Or not? Do they not realise that the days of buying sight-unseen are over? The half-dead tree liability is a nice touch too. Shoulda been more careful with the excavator.

Vancouver is being left with a sad legacy of soul-less, cheaply built (but very expensive) buildings - from leaking, rotting, crumbling condos to this kind of offense. There ought to be a law.

888 state

Yesterday I was out and about, and noticed more "For Sale" signs than I have seen for a while. It seems that there are 4 or so on every block. It seems that it is sinking in that it is over.

My neighbour has had open houses the last three week-ends in a row. It seemed that it was mostly Chinese looking (I can tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc. 19 times out of 20 +/- 3%). No Mercedes, Lexus, BMW, mostly small, less expensive vehicles. Maybe that indicates they are more frugal, and can afford a $900K house on a smallish lot in East Van.? Maybe not. I enjoyed doing yard work while my stereo pumped the Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Forgotten Rebels, etc., out my window. Hey! fore-warned is fore-armed. Right? The asking price is 20% higher than it was bought for last year. And the defects are starting to show. Good luck with that.

So, I was all juiced up, and did some MLS searching. Still no houses in East Van. under $400K. I guess we will have to wait for fall for things to sink in. Prices and quality are all over the map, with tear-downs listed in the same price range as new construction, and big lots in the same range as small lots. A little price compression before the price depression sinks in, me thinks.

What I found interesting was all of the houses listed with a bunch of eights. I counted 10 places (out of 160 or so) that were listed for $888K. That is kind of blatant, and if I were Chinese, I would be somewhat offended. Do the listing agents think that they (Chinese) are that stupid/naive/superstitious? You would not want to mess with over/under bids on a place that was listed for $888,888.00 would you? I'll give you $888,888.88 plus my lucky rabbit foot. No Deal? I'll throw in a four-leaf clover!

Sadly, many who over-extended themselves to buy in the last couple of years - with the hopes of insane appreciation - did not see the credit crisis, doubling of energy costs, accelerating property taxes to pay for Olympic cost over-runs, food inflation of 30%, etc., coming when they factored their top line.

Why don't we just start bidding $300K with a bunch of conditions on these $800K places? Let us bring it down!

There are deals ahead. Keep your powder dry.

a buyers' market

Yay! It's a buyers' market!

At least, that is what was breathlessly reported on the CBC Vancouver news at 11:00 PM. The Reasoning is a 43% decrease in sales (timeline not provided), and an 18% increase in listings (ditto, and Huh? It must have been an 80% increase in listings...?). But, it was said, 'prices are still rising, just not at the same pace as recent years.'

Well golly! Colour me finicky, but as far as I'm concerned, the market for any sane buyer will be when the 50% haircut is realized.

And that nice family looks so happy...

side note - I read today (from an unverified authority) that natural gas prices are going to go up by 35% by winter. And that is not going to be due to any carbon tax. Oil hit $145/bbl today.

Energy prices are going to kill the RE market, and the economies of the world. The big shakedown is on. Banks collapsing in the US.

And what would inflation be right about now? 2%? Snicker.

Oh my. If video killed the radio star...