Quote:
Originally Posted by meme405
That was a big stab. Mostly to get a laugh, but there is some truth to be said about it. The fact is this, people like to claim that housing is not an investment and that everyone deserves a place to live. Absolutely, there is nobody in this world that can deny that everyone deserves a place to call home and part of that definition of "home" involves having a roof over your head.
Unfortunately nobody said that anyone is entitled to afford a roof in Vancouver.
There are plenty of places in BC which people can move to and can afford reasonable housing costs.
The next point most people will point out would be well what if they have to be in vancouver for their jobs. Well the then those individuals will likely have to enjoy a crappy commute, the fact is that this problem exists in dozens of other markets, New York coming to mind, since I have friends who can't afford to live in NY and therefore have to commute from NJ.
I don't proclaim to know the solution to our little dilemma here, but I just find it laughable that people would willingly support the government in actively driving down prices in our RE market.
It seems ass backward, our governments job is to create an atmosphere where individuals can prosper and create wealth, and creating a major hurdle for our economy, seems completely a step in the wrong direction in this regard. I mean it would take one of the only major parts of our current economy which is actually doing well and completely decimate it.
I don't know this was just a stumbling of my own thoughts, I think the tax on foreign buyers is a step in the right direction, I absolutely believe that someone who isn't a resident or citizen who comes here and buys a house needs to pay a big piece of tax on that purchase. However I am terrified at how far others are willing to take this idea of slowing down RE prices. I have friends who are willingly wanting the government to seize back houses from all non-residents and sell them on the open market. I am sorry but that's ridiculous.
With all of the above written diarrhea out of the way. I'd be interested in seeing a couple things:
1. The number of owners to non-owners posting here.
2. Which side of the fence those people land on: Government intervening or Let the market do what it does.
3. If you are for the government doing something do you believe the current path they have taken (15% on foreign purchases) is an adequate one.
And what about the guy who just closed a couple months ago, and now the prices tank, what happens to him? He wasnt a greedy asshole, just an unfortunate loser. I'm not saying prices settling down is a bad thing as you so imply that all of us owners are. I am against the notion that the values of people's houses (people who in many cases worked very hard to be able to afford that house) should be reduced to fucking rubble just so that someone who failed to work hard or plan, or just had bad luck, can afford a house.
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They're only correcting something they should have done before it got this out of hand. If I'm getting outbid by people that work and live here then maybe I need to take a step back and rethink my career choice. The reality is me and my girlfriend both make more than the average wage here and we couldn't go and buy a house in Langley right now, or if we did a very high percentage of our income would be paying the mortgage.
So why should I sit back and not bitch about foreign money coming here and rising prices to a level where I can no longer afford a place? If foreign money wasn't a factor right now I could afford my own house. People who bought a house before shit got crazy were lucky, that's it. They weren't smart, they got in at the right time and now that its a money laundering hotbed here they are reaping the benefits.
To the people who just bought in and are scared they'll be underwater now, maybe they should ask the people who told them prices will never go down in Vancouver what happened. Vancouver is different right?
If I'm playing poker and everyone has roughly the same amount of chips, and then suddenly a millionaire sits down and puts everyone all in on every hand the game is rigged before you have a chance.
It's not entitlement demanding the government do something about foreign money driving up prices. I live here, I pay taxes here, I vote here, take care of me first motherfuckers.