The Art of the Deal

This story has been on numerous Vancouver blogs but it worth taking note of.

How frantic is Vancouver's housing bubble?

As we reach a possible nexus point, CBC gives us a profile of the fast money that is the market in the Village on the Edge of the Rainforest.

Harpreet Bajwa is a local real estate speculator taking advantage of the bubblicious conditions in the market.

Bajwa has three houses on the go which he plans to flip for a quick profit. In the CBC story above, Bajwa is shown with this house in South Vancouver which he bought for approximately for $580,000 eleven weeks ago.

Bajwa did some basic renovations and this past weekend he listed it on the market $729,000, a cool $149,000 more than he paid for it.

Bajwa is hoping for a bidding war and a sale higher than his listing price.

And why not.

Juiced up by cheap money, record low interest rates and CMHC insurance, real estate has been a speculator's bonanza.

The CBC story even profiles a property Bajwa successfully flipped in a similar fashion.

Six months ago he flipped this place:

In a reflection of just how crazy our market has been, Bajwa tells us that in December 2009, 50 families came through the one and only open house his realtor conducted for this property.

The end result was five multiple offers... an honest to goodness bidding war.

Emboldened by his success, Bajwa now has three houses on the go to flip in similar fashion. But the market has shifted.

As we has outlined this week, sales in the Vancouver market plummeted last month 30% compared to a year ago.

Is Bajwa worried? For the moment he remains optimistic.

"The up and downs do come in life, but, generally, it will go up.”

We will watch for future developments to see how this plays out.

Meanwhile our Finance Minister and others insist we aren't in a bubble... it's a balanced market.

Riiiigghhhht.

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