Thursday, April 21, 2011

Realtor decries real estate protectionism... with a little 'buy now or be priced out forever' thrown in.

In the Vancouver Sun newspaper today there is an Op Ed piece written by Cam Good, president of a local real estate sales and marketing company.

Faithful readers will recall that Good received a certain amount of notoriety a few ago when he hosted a helicopter tour of the Vancouver suburb of White Rock for a select group of Vancouver based Chinese-speaking Realtors. Our friends at VREAA documented this back on February 11th, 2011.

Today Helicoter Cam returns to the media spotlight to comment on backlash to the reports of Hot Asian Money (HAM) flowing into the Village on the Edge of the Rainforest:

  • “In the last two months, we’ve sold over 700 condos in Toronto. Sixty per cent went to Mainland Chinese buyers. In meccas like Richmond, 98 per cent of the hundreds of homes we’ve sold are to buyers who are Chinese... Buyers from Mainland China are a driving force in our real estate market. The staggering truth is we’ve seen just the tip of the iceberg… A recent story in the Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese are 'stampeding to Vancouver and Toronto, two of Canada’s hottest markets.' For that, we should be grateful. Chinese have made owning real estate in Canada more rewarding than any of us expected and they have made our society distinctly richer by bringing their values and culture to Canada and sharing them with us.… But instead of gratitude, I see growing fear and resentment that foreign buyers are inflating prices and pricing 'us' and 'our children' out of the market... Let’s look at what this global trend is doing to benefit us: It’s driving demand and creating a real estate industry that is the envy of the entire world. Our land, homes and businesses have become more valuable and Chinese investment is a big reason we weathered the global economic storm as well as we did”
Good wraps up his Op Ed lecture in true R/E sales fashion with a lecture to all those who may feel left out of the real estate boom...

  • “If you suffer from real estate impotence, don’t blame Chinese people. Besides, getting all worked up about it will only make it worse. Have a glass of wine. Relax. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and pick up the phone to call a realtor or a mortgage broker, either of whom will be more than happy to show you how easy it can be to get your real estate groove on. Real estate is the best investment you’ll ever make, but don’t take my word for it. Ask any of the 70% of Canadians who are already owners. Or a Chinese person.”
The message, as always, is the same.  Real estate always go up to jump on the bandwagon, assume an $800,000 mortgage debt, and 'buy now or be priced out forever'.

As Cam says, call him because he is more than willing to show you 'how easy it is' to plunge yourself into debt and follow the herd with a financial decision which could well ruin you for life when you buy at the top of the market.

Although I suspect Cam will not like that way I spun that last part.

My bad.

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