I was in Shenzhen 3 weeks ago and sitting at a cafe all these locals were bitching away about how they can't afford a place to live cuz all the rich China people keep buying everything up.

I was highly amused that I was in China on the other side of the planet and they were bitching about the exact same problem as here lol

Kind of brought things full circle :)

wot?

where did this passive aggressive / childish post come from?

i'm happy as a clam sticking with my fundamentals, renting a beautiful place, growing a massive asset portfolio, and generally enjoying life rather than worrying about which way 1 asset class in 1 city is going.

edit: also, your claim that mandarian realtors selling to mandarian speakers = proof that all prices are based on the china impact are bunk. Yet more anecdotal evidence, but that's all we have. an ex of mine's parents are from china, moved to vancouver 30 years ago, they speak english to a level where you can just about understand what's going on, they came to canada with nothing, have worked damn hard and have made a success of their business in vancouver. they would only deal with mandarian realtors, speak mandarian daily to their friends, family, etc. if you heard them you'd claim they've just stepped off the plane with bags of cash, and whilst they have bags of cash, it's all locally earned through hard work.
my point is this, there is a china factor, but these little anecdotes of mandarian this and that mean shit all when you look at places like richmond which are almost entirely mandarian speaking now, yet the vast majority are canadian residents or citizens.

so, yes, i'll stick with fundamentals over anecdotes. I'll stick with diversification over 1 asset. i'll stick with cash flow over speculation.

you can say all you want that I'm missing out, but really, i'm not, i'm just making an educated decision based on my risk appetite plans for the future (plan to enjoy life, not worry about things outside of my control).

I was staying in some tier 3 city in china a month ago. and at a restaurant, the table next to mine, I overheard some woman saying her plan was to sell one of her apartment to buy a house in Vancouver and send her son to study there starting in 2016. basically if you own an apartments in any major city beijing shanghai shenzhen etc in china u automatically net worth 2 mil+ canadian. because housing is just so much more expensive in china than here. u really can't blame them for buying they are just doing the most logical thing.

edit
also canadian immigration policy is not favorable towards Chinese nationals for the past 2 yrs. prices could have been much higher should IIP not stopped. the rich chinese are not even coming to canada now. just so u know

i was in Mississauga earlier this year (what a dump).

My colleague (a Chinese Canadian) said that the Chinese were the cause of high real estate there.

Yet another unqualified opinion based on rhetoric, MSM, and anecdotal stories.

It's one of many factors, but just know that most people who make huge fortunes do two things:

1) They walk away from whatever the masses are rushing towards, and
2) They have patience

If you ever feel rushed to buy something, you probably shouldn't buy it.

so sensitive 4444! haha.......I am just tired of all your bragging and soapboxing about how smart you are about real estate investing. Want to know some facts? anyone who listened to you would not have made money in Vancouver real estate market and still be sitting on the sidelines. However, people who listened to you can feel good about themselves cause they adhered to the fundamentals. You sound like a textbox lol! If you really want to spread your gospel, you should do infommericals like Thad Merrill!

btw, I know about your investment strategies, but you know nothing about how and what I invest in........personally, I believe condos in Gastown and Chinatown is where it is at......

i don't give a shit about your investment strategy.

1 asset class in 1 city is a pretty shitty investment strategy. great in the good times, but not much else.

and so what if people who would have listened to me would have 'missed out' on the vancouver real estate market. it's not like there's 1 real estate market in the world, or 1 investment class.

i'm sorry if you don't like the fact that fundamentals have done me proud. maybe i have 'missed out' on a short term blip, but it's not like my other assets haven't grown extremely nicely.

but good luck with your 1 asset policy.

^ brag brag brag you dipshit! your like a whiny brat who can't admit when you are completely wrong!

Unfortunately I know too much about your investment strategies.....haha!

I may not agree with a lot of things you say but I agree with this statement 100%.

4444, the issue with you is not what you're saying but how you're saying it. You're coming off as, don't buy. Rent and invest money elsewhere or else you'll lose money.

I can you tell you that I invest in property in Vancouver, am I'm doing just fine. Just be happy we are both making money.

Let's all just agree to disagree

if this was Yu-Gi-Oh, you'd say that line then activate a totally SAVAGE trap card combo

this is the same person that brags his family supposedly owns 9 houses in the GVRD. So with his thinking his family must own 30-40 houses around the world and has many other diversified stocks and bond investments. lol!!!!

He's also the same person who said it isn't that easy for an average Canadian Joe to get a bank loan to buy RE in the US but he was able to because of his work connections. :alone:

It's actually true that it's hard to get cross border financing.

In the USA they don't want to give you anything unless you have a Social Security Number, in Canada they don't want to give you anything unless you have a Social Insurance Number.

IE: My Canadian parents are PR in Atlanta GA, even with perfect Canadian credit and a massive down payment they couldn't get a US mortgage, had to get the company my dad works for to guarantee the mortgage or the bank wasn't going to give them one.

Family friend of ours bought three testing labs in Cali at the height of the recession in 2008

He kept all employees of the labs and basically prevented 30+ people from getting laid off. He tried to apply for a mortgage in Orange County and they would not give him a dime even with 80% down

For US financing, it's actually possible, but you'd have to go through a broker who specializes in such operation.

Many lenders (not banks) are willing to lend as long as there's a sizable down payment. In my own experience, I was able to get almost the same rate offered to my cousin (who's US citizen). The only difference is that he can get it with 20% down, while I needed 40+.

Anyone else watching the exchange rates? 1.365 USD/CAD right now. Nuts.

I'm gonna ignore that for a couple years to keep from jumping off the lions gate.

its a massive pain in the arse for mortgages in the US as a non-res. certainly possible, but it's a much better idea to use debt in canada to buy US (then at par... plus you make 35% on the US appreciation alone)

Maybe things are/were different in Texas. We were down there under non-res alien status and bought our condo in Houston in 2009 with 20% down, mortgage from Wells Fargo.

10% downpayment of anything over $500k to try and ease the growth :rolleyes: yeah that's gonna do something

Ottawa's new rules to cool housing market - NEWS 1130

seems more like they're pushing those just able to enter the local market out

yea I agree it's so stupid. this will do nothing,

it amounts to a few hundred dollars more.

2016 will see Real estate price increases due to:

1. CAD further weakening, increases purchasing power for foreigners

2. interest rates going lower, everybody (except the US maybe) is going towards zero interest rates, we will follow most of the world and bond rates will go down. 5 year mortgage rates will probably go down. Maybe even the prime rate as well.

3. People are at an all time "hornyness" in house buying. The mentality is buy now or buy never. People will do anything to get into the market.

Now I don't expect increases of 20-30% like this year in 2015 but i do see 2016 to see increases. But who knows, I heard Hong Kong's property market is finally slowing down.

It's been in the news, but so far I haven't read anything that is able to say why the HK housing market has been falling for the past few months.

They claimed sales were down 42% for the month of November compared to last year.

please go buy lottery ticket since you can see into the future.

My guess is, Prez Xi's relentless crackdown on corruption is scaring the rich and gov officials from funneling money out into the HK RE market, so the "luxury homes" are getting sold, and prices start crashing. Once the crashing starts, locals are too scared to move into the market because they think it'll go lower still. Sellers of existing units are reluctant to ease up on prices because they bought their place at lower prices, so they are holding out to see if they can ride this wave out. Developers are still OK with the reduced prices for the time being because the costs of construction (mostly materials) have come down a lot, although construction labour has gotten a little more expensive.

Unfortunately, I don't think the Vancouver RE market is working the same way despite a lot of similarities with the HK market. So our prices aren't gonna come down any time soon.

Doesn't this only hurting those who are already struggling to have a place for their family?