Chinese Investors Driving Up Metro Housing Prices - Page 33

milomilo · #**641** Posted **Jun 16, 2015, 11:35 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by st7860

The term "haters" applies to the individuals who whine about people buying things they can't afford.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hater
"A person that simply cannot be happy for another person's success. So rather than be happy they make a point of exposing a flaw in that person.

Hating, the result of being a hater, is not exactly jealousy. The hater doesnt really want to be the person he or she hates, rather the hater wants to knock somelse down a notch."

Yeah, actually, I do hate that normal people growing up from my generation cannot afford to buy their own home. And I hate that people who have benefited enormously from the situation (and it would appear you, or your parents, are one of them), are only too happy for this unfair situation to continue.

I don't even live in Vancouver, so this isn't jealousy, before you play that card. I'm very happy that my city has much better income/house price ratios, and I wish Vancouver was the same.

st7860 · #**642** Posted **Jun 16, 2015, 11:36 PM**

Sounds like you live in Vancouver as the in thing to do is to be entitled and moan about people buying things, and jealous as well.

WBC · #**643** Posted **Jun 16, 2015, 11:38 PM**

I think that the term foreigners implies people with no formal links with Canada deciding to buy property in Vancouver for no good reason other then their personal whim. Those people are certainly low % and irrelevant.

What everybody is talking about is people with PR status or faux citizenship status that are living elsewhere. And it is not just Mainland Chinese we are talking about. The last time there was a crisis in Lebanon it turned out there are 10s of thousands of "Canadians" living there that Canada had a constitutional requirement to rescue at a great expense. There are also born Canadians who live God knows where and then come running home when they need healthcare.

And at the end of the day this is not a jail - live where ever the hell you want - but declare and pay your taxes in Canada (which is not that big of a hardship - you just pay the difference) and then I would call that fair

st7860 · #**644** Posted **Jun 16, 2015, 11:41 PM**

Canadian passport holders do pay for those services. There is a surcharge on top of the regular Passport Canada passport fee to cover the costs of things like that(consular service).

s211 · #**645** Posted **Jun 16, 2015, 11:46 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by st7860

The term "haters" applies to the individuals who whine about people buying things they can't afford.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hater
"A person that simply cannot be happy for another person's success. So rather than be happy they make a point of exposing a flaw in that person.

Hating, the result of being a hater, is not exactly jealousy. The hater doesnt really want to be the person he or she hates, rather the hater wants to knock somelse down a notch."

Son, quoting urban dictionary doesn't make you a tenured professor. Frankly, your concept of apologetics (I'll wait while you look that up in a real dictionary) frankly amounts to a child spitting up pablum ad nauseum.

st7860 · #**646** Posted **Jun 16, 2015, 11:46 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by s211

Son, quoting urban dictionary doesn't make you a tenured professor. Frankly, your concept of apologetics (I'll wait while you look that up in a real dictionary) frankly amounts to a child spitting up pablum ad nauseum..

It may not make a professor but it describes a hater accurately

casper · #**647** Posted **Jun 17, 2015, 12:27 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caliplanner1

But then what about "the rich" who increase their wealth by not effectively declaring income so as not to be effectively taxed (after gaining all that wealth via the benefits afforded by a government sponsored/protected political economy)?

It is the same principle for the rich as the poor. The only difference is the tax rate is higher for the rich.

If you have $100k in the bank, that is wealth. The government does not tax you for having that money. Some countries do tax wealth we don't.

If you make interest of $10k on that money (assuming we return to real interest rates some day in the future). You are taxed on the $10k.

I live in Victoria, it is a community that has a lot of retired people, I would expect the average income rate to be fairly low sine, there are lots of people who have worked and saved their entire life they have good money sitting in paid off property, pensions, RRSP, RFSA, RIFS or whatever four letter abbreviate the government invents. This is a community with lower income even though a lot of those low income people are doing pretty good.

If you don't have a mortgage, you long ago purchased all your furniture, car and other big ticket items, no kids to run through school, you can actually live quite well on a fairly low income level.

What is going on in Richmond? I don't know. Are there lots of immigrants who made there money outside the country and are now living off the interest? Perhaps. Are there lots of seniors? Perhaps.

casper · #**648** Posted **Jun 17, 2015, 12:34 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WBC

I think that the term foreigners implies people with no formal links with Canada deciding to buy property in Vancouver for no good reason other then their personal whim. Those people are certainly low % and irrelevant.

What everybody is talking about is people with PR status or faux citizenship status that are living elsewhere. And it is not just Mainland Chinese we are talking about. The last time there was a crisis in Lebanon it turned out there are 10s of thousands of "Canadians" living there that Canada had a constitutional requirement to rescue at a great expense. There are also born Canadians who live God knows where and then come running home when they need healthcare.

And at the end of the day this is not a jail - live where ever the hell you want - but declare and pay your taxes in Canada (which is not that big of a hardship - you just pay the difference) and then I would call that fair

I believe Those Canadians who were airlifted from Lebanon were charged for the flight at the end of the day. The only different is it was a war zone, so unless it was done by the government no commercial airlines insurance company would permit flights in and the attitude was we will get you out of danger first and figure out how to pay for it after. I think is a reasonable and fair approach.

milomilo · #**649** Posted **Jun 17, 2015, 12:53 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by st7860

Sounds like you live in Vancouver as the in thing to do is to be entitled and moan about people buying things, and jealous as well.

Lol, keep telling yourself that. I just want normal people to be able to afford a home - not much to ask really. I won't lie though, I won't shed a tear when the market crashes, along with many undeserved fortunes.

Having so much money tied up in real estate is dead money. If homes were half the price, people would have far more money to spend on the local economy and everyone would be better off.

st7860 · #**650** Posted **Jun 17, 2015, 12:55 AM**

Having that money in real estate is appropriate as it provides tax free gains if it is a primary residence. You're asking a lot, especially being entitled. There plenty of places to live in Vancouver. The more money in real estate the better.

Pinion · #**651** Posted **Jun 17, 2015, 1:06 AM**

Urban dictionary, seriously?

We don't want to knock anyone down, we want housing prices in line with the economy. We want our government to do its job instead of going for the easy cash. Am I a provincial/federal government hater right now? Absolutely.

st7860 · #**652** Posted **Jun 17, 2015, 1:13 AM**

The govermemt said there is no need to interfere. If you can't afford it then rent. There is no regulation that says housing prices have to be the same everywhere

geotag277 · #**653** Posted **Jun 17, 2015, 1:14 AM**

I'm curious when people talk about "housing prices" in Vancouver, are you talking about across the board, including condos, or just single family detached homes?

A lot of people reference a time when their parents could afford a SFDH in Vancouver, but that was likely when the city was just over a million people. The city has more than doubled since then and it's not realistic for everyone to be able to afford their own plot of land in that situation. The city of Vancouver itself is a bit bigger than Manhattan for example. No one talks about single family detached homes in Manhattan. I'm not literally comparing Vancouver as a city to Manhattan, I'm simply saying that Manhattan is a similar situation where land is at a premium.

Condo prices are still out of wack with average salaries, and I could see them losing value (their prices are certainly comparatively stagnant compared to SFH), but I really don't see all the predictions that single family detached housing will suddenly become affordable in Vancouver as ever coming true. That ship has sailed.

st7860 · #**654** Posted **Jun 17, 2015, 1:15 AM**

There's only around 50,0000 or so single family homes in vancouver.

Porfiry · #**655** Posted **Jun 17, 2015, 1:26 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinion

We don't want to knock anyone down, we want housing prices in line with the economy.

"Vancouver leading country in economic growth"
http://www.vancouversun.com/business...486/story.html

st7860 · #**656** Posted **Jun 17, 2015, 1:27 AM**

They don't call it the best place on earth for nothing . In addition taxes are quite low here.

WarrenC12 · #**657** Posted **Jun 17, 2015, 1:35 AM**

The federal government and CRA need to deal with this problem. Not City Hall, and not even Victoria.

st7860 · #**658** Posted **Jun 17, 2015, 1:42 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

The federal government and CRA need to deal with this problem. Not City Hall, and not even Victoria.

I wonder how federal Liberal and Conservative candidates will deal with this thorny issue when people ask them on camera.

milomilo · #**659** Posted **Jun 17, 2015, 3:13 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by st7860

Having that money in real estate is appropriate as it provides tax free gains if it is a primary residence. You're asking a lot, especially being entitled. There plenty of places to live in Vancouver. The more money in real estate the better.

Again, I don't live in Vancouver. But I don't want to see a great city in a spectacular setting's housing become only affordable to rich investors. You can keep thinking that prices will rise astronomically in a city with a pretty average economy forever, but it's a mathematical impossibility.

And I doubt it's me that's the entitled one in this conversation.

st7860 · #**660** Posted **Jun 17, 2015, 3:15 AM**

You say you don't live in Vancouver and still think about it.

Vancouver is affordable to people of all types. It isn't related to being impossible. The higher the better. And for sure you're entitled thinking everyone should have a discount home