So how come we haven't heard much about the Chinese New Year home buying spree this year?

So it's mid February and usually the real estate cartel is barfing out stories about how Chinese have come over to our shores on home buying trips for their kids.

It's become an annual tradition to hear this crap.  Here's just a couple of twitter posts from 2015/2014 to illustrate (click image to enlarge):

And with Premier Krusty gutting the Foreign Buyers Tax at the end of January (presumably it's news of this glorious move that's in those little red envelopes above), expectations soared that Cam Good's yellow helicopter might once again fly over the Lower Mainland.

In fact the Real Estate TV Network (RETV)... err... Global BC announced the wet coast's annual heralds of spring just three weeks ago...

Said Global BC:

"Vancouver’s slow-churning real estate market might see a slight uptick next week due to an influx of Chinese New Year vacationers. 

The Chinese national holiday – celebrated widely in Vancouver and around the globe – begins Friday night with a week-long holiday. Many take the time off as an opportunity to travel abroad. Last year, six million Chinese left the country for vacation.

Juwai.com, a China-based website for international real estate, says a quarter of Chinese consumers surveyed plan to travel internationally during Chinese New Year, with 42 per cent of those saying they plan to shop for property while away. In total, just under 11 per cent of all people surveyed said they’ll spend the holiday property hunting. 

The website also surveyed 163 realtors in Canada and found 17 per cent of international agents and 16 per cent of Canadian agents had been contacted by buyers who plan to visit during Chinese New Year. 

“We also see Vancouver getting a steady stream of Chinese visitors seeking a ‘lung cleansing’ holiday,” Charles Pittar, CEO of Juwai.com, said. “Canada is a top-five country for these trips. Other top lung-cleansing spots are Japan, Thailand, Australia and Switzerland. One-half billion Chinese were affected by hazardous smog this winter. They come to Vancouver for clean air, among other things.”

So how has the 'lung cleansing' gone so far this year?

Not that we have heard it on RETV Global BC, but reports are that Chinese New Year Sales of Vancouver Real Estate Are Down 78%.

Now besides debilitating Cam Good, an 80% drop in sales is nothing short of devestating. But the  drop in single family home sales - the bread and butter of the foreign Asian market - is even more spectacular. As the above article notes, "Sales of detached homes had the largest drop during this Chinese New Year vs the years prior. Just 119 sales were logged this year, an 87.28% decline from last year."

Yikes. And it's not just the detached market. Chinese New Year Condo sales are reported to be down 72% and townhouse sales down 78%.

Rumour amongst some agents is that pressure is being applied to the BC Liberals to cut what remains of the Foreign Buyers Tax, currently sitting at 15%, to something much lower.

We will see what happens next.

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Memories of Cam Good?

Faithful readers will recall Cam Good, the former MAC Marketing employee famous for his yellow helicopter escapades, China real estate pandering and local real estate scandals.

Perhaps his most outrageous headline grabbing foray was in April 2011 when Good wrote an Op Ed piece talking about media Hot Asian Money (HAM) flowing into the Village on the Edge of the Rainforest:

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 wrapped up his Op Ed lecture in true R/E sales fashion with a lecture to locals to get in on the market. Naturally it was the 'buy now or be priced out forever' manta whose moral, of course, was to call Cam and use his real estate sales services.

“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. 

Good had also, supposedly, set an office in China to enhance locals to use his real estate services, but that initiative seems to have whithered on the vine.

Bear blogs marvelled at how Good seemed to use the media and HAM to garner free advertising for his real estate services. But he's been quiet the last year or so.

Enter Macdonald Realty Ltd and Dan Scarrow, Macdonald's 30-year-old vice-president of corporate strategy.

In an article in the Globe and Mail, we learn Scarrow has heard enough anecdotal evidence of well-heeled home buyers with roots in China that he has decided to 'act'.

He wants to capitalize on those buyers by investing in a Shanghai office.

In February, Mr. Scarrow will start the first of two three-month assignments in 2014 in Shanghai. After his fact-finding mission, he plans to hire Mandarin-speaking staff in China to keep the overseas branch office going.

Umm… if you already plan to hire staff in China to keep the office going, why bother with two "fact finding" assignments?

But we digress. Sparrow is determined to disprove claims that there isn't large amounts of HAM out there:

While real estate experts have estimated the proportion of foreign buyers in the Vancouver region’s housing market at only 1 to 3 per cent, Mr. Scarrow said if the statistics were to include recent immigrants with origins in China, the influence of rich Chinese buyers would be greater, especially on single-family detached homes in pockets of Vancouver’s West Side.

Most high-end transactions occur on Vancouver’s West Side and the Municipality of West Vancouver. In the luxury market, there were 644 properties that sold for $3-million or higher in the Vancouver area last year, up 47 per cent from 439 homes that traded hands in 2012, according to data compiled by Macdonald Realty. Of homes that sold last year, there were 148 that fetched at least $5-million, compared with 107 sales in that category in 2012.

Mr. Scarrow said it is hard to determine how many of those elite sales went to recent immigrants from China, noting that the ripple effect due to an influx of new money can easily be exaggerated. Still, he believes the proportion was significantly higher than 3 per cent last year.

“There isn’t this wave of offshore investors with no ties to Canada who are coming in to buy, but the genesis of their wealth is from mainland China,” said Mr. Scarrow, a Canadian who speaks Mandarin fluently. “Most of these people land in Canada first as investor-class immigrants.”

He dismisses tales circulating of wealthy offshore buyers snapping up Vancouver properties sight unseen as false, emphasizing that he will instead seek to nurture a market in which China-Canada family ties are crucial.

The 30-year-old Mr. Scarrow said that as a product of a mixed-race marriage, he is acutely aware that the issue of foreign shoppers is a sensitive one in British Columbia. “The perception among some sellers is that mainland Chinese money is driving the luxury real estate market here,” he said.

Of course, just like with Cam Good, Sparrow offers the the real hook. After all, one of the keys for real estate sales is securing listings:

Scarrow cautions homeowners against hiring real estate agents based only on ethnicity, stressing that the best representatives know Vancouver’s neighbourhoods well, no matter what their race. Scarrow said there will be opportunities to tap into the Chinese market during his stay in Shanghai. Besides seeking contacts who are interested in single-family residential properties, he will be on the lookout for investors in Vancouver’s commercial real estate market and also new condo projects.

In other words, you want to list with Sparrow, lol.

Once again, it looks like a major newspaper's article is nothing more than a giant, free ad for a real estate agent trying to drum up business.

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BIV Magazine reports both MAC Marketing Solutions and Key West Marketing under investigation by Real Estate Council of BC

Business in Vancouver Magazine is reporting today that not only is MAC Marketing Solutions being investigated over allegations of media manipulation, but so is Key Marketing Inc.

In a piece titled: Real-estate marketers investigated over allegations of media manipulation, reporter Glen Korstrom updates the MAC-gate incident:

The Real Estate Council of British Columbia (RECBC) is investigating a series of incidents in which Metro Vancouver real-estate marketers have allegedly duped media to spur sales and inflate the perception of demand for real estate projects.

The RECBC regulates the real-estate marketing industry and has the power to suspend licences, cancel licences, reprimand and impose fines of up to $20,000.

Its most recent investigation involves MAC Marketing Solutions and a charade that at least one of its employees executed on February 8. MAC owner Cameron McNeill publicly apologized for an employee who pretended in television interviews with CBC News and CTV News to be a customer.

The employee and another woman posing as her sister claimed they were both daughters of wealthy Chinese parents who wanted to celebrate Chinese New Year by buying them a Vancouver condo as a present.

McNeill then conducted an internal investigation that prompted the departure of a senior manager, he told Business in Vancouver.

McNeill would not name the senior manager nor say whether he fired the employee or if he or she resigned.

“Some poor judgments were made and those poor judgments led to unfortunate circumstances,” McNeill told BIV February 20. “I’m not going to say that my investigation is finished entirely, but I have a much clearer picture.”

Korstrom then tells us the RECBC has taken up an investigation into the activities of Key West Marketing and former MAC Marketing partner Cam Good:

RECBC is also investigating two incidents of alleged media manipulation perpetrated by Key Marketing Inc., according to RECBC spokesman Tyler Davies.

Key principal Cam Good, who like McNeill is a past BIV Forty under 40 winner, denies that either of the incidents were indeed “similar deceptions.”

The first incident involved a February 2011 helicopter tour of White Rock that Key organized. Good issued a news release at the time that urged media to view and meet a “a group of Chinese realtors” as they took a helicopter tour of nearby real estate projects. Media outlets reported that the realtors represented overseas clients.

But it later was revealed that the realtors, who were of Asian descent, were based in Metro Vancouver. It was not clear if they had any potential clients based in Asia.

“There was no deception,” Good told BIV in an email. “There was never any misrepresentation about what was being done or who they were.”

The second RECBC investigation into Key involves an April 2012 incident in which a Global TV story about CONDOday Events Inc. identified Key sales manager Tara Fluet as an investor.

CONDOday is a company that Good owns separately from the Key. The two companies share office space and some human resources.

CONDOday hosts Groupon-style deals for investors who are given a short window of time to buy a home in order to reap a substantial discount.

Good said Fluet regrets not disclosing that she was a realtor and that she works for CONDOday’s sister company.

“Tara apologizes for this lack of transparency,” Good wrote in the email. “It was [a matter of] an off-duty salesperson from a related company stopping by an event to check it out and happy to answer questions when asked. 

It wasn’t intentional media manipulation. 

If anyone has anything they would like to pass on to the RECBC, the complaint page is here and their contact info is here.

Korstrom also notes overall real estate industry sales are tanking and gets this take from the MAC president:

In the heady days before the economic downturn, MAC Marketing’s annual sales neared $1 billion, second in Vancouver to Rennie Marketing’s approximately $1.1 billion in sales.

Sluggish real-estate sales, however, have reduced all real estate marketers’ sales targets and made the sector more competitive.

“I like this market,” MAC principal Cameron McNeill told Business in Vancouver. “It’s one where balance and execution creates stronger results. I like a balanced market where developers who can execute well, and [marketing] companies that execute well, can outperform.”

Despite the recent embarrassment of having to publicly apologize and undergo a Real Estate Council of British Columbia investigation into a situation where an employee pretended to be the daughter of a wealthy buyer, McNeill remains upbeat about the future.

“Character is who you truly are,” he said. “Reputation is how people perceive your character. I remain steadfast in our strong moral character.”

He now shies away from quantifying each year’s total sales, but he said that MAC consistently sells more than 1,000 homes each year and employs about 100 staff, including 60 brokers, or “MAC Engine” members, as he prefers to call them.

Kudos to BIV, and reporter Glen Korstrom, for following up on this story.

We'll keep you updated on any further news we come across.

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The broader scope of real estate media manipulation gets more coverage; UDI reacts to controversy - Updated

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Update: See below for Urban Development Institute Press Release rebuking MAC actions

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We wrapped up things yesterday by telling you that the Globe and Mail newspaper had picked up on the broader scope of media manipulation by looking at the actions of realtor Cam Good, a MAC Marketing Solutions partner from 2004-2009.

In the early part of 2012, Good was involved in two well documented incidents in which similar deceptions to last weekend's MAC media ruse were conducted.

The first one involved Good telling the the media he was taking high flying buyers from China on a helicopter tour over White Rock.

In a widely covered media event by Global-TV, Good's actions became legendary in the blogosphere.

Turns out the whole production was a lie.  The high flying buyers from China were actually realtors of Asian descent from Vancouver (you can read Garth Turner's post on this issue here).

In another incident, Good used one of his sales agents from Key West Marketing to pose as an investor interested in his new Groupon-style real estate buying gimmick (see details in our post here).

Today Business in Vancouver Magazine (BIV) picked up on these stories. BIV is a local Vancouver media outlet which offers daily newsbriefs, weekly articles and a searchable archive of business related news.

Their lead story today: Real-estate media manipulation trend emerges.

News yesterday that MAC Marketing had one of its employees pose as a potential homeowner in media interviews has prompted an apology from owner and former Business in Vancouver Forty under 40 winner Cameron McNeill and accusations from bloggers that this is part of a wider trend.

MAC Marketing's manipulation of the media involved employee Amanda Lee along with another woman who said she was Amanda's sister Chris Lee. Together they told both CBC News and CTV News on the weekend that they were waiting for their wealthy parents from China to come to Vancouver for Chinese New Year and potentially buy them a condo during the stay.

A blogger who goes by the name @Village_Whisper exposed the manipulation and prompted McNeill to apologize Thursday.

"All I can say is that I deeply apologize for having misled the media for being there," McNeill told media.

"We were busy and I don't know if the girls were put up to it, or just put on the spot, or if it happened spontaneously. Regardless, it was wrong and I take full responsibility, on my own shoulders."

Such tactics seem to be part of a trend of real-estate marketers manipulating media perception to sell condos.

Business in Vancouver has learned that VancouverIsAwesome.com editor Bob Kronbauer is being paid by the in-receivership Village on False Creek, formerly the Olympic Village, to promote life in the village – even though nowhere on his website does it make it clear that he is being paid to do so.

And @Village_Whisper's blog points to a Global TV story in April 2012 where real-estate marketer The Key was launching what it called "Groupon for condos."

The Global TV story by reporter Michelle Miller featured a woman named Tara Fluet, who was listed as an investor in the program to group-buy condos. A woman by the same name has a LinkedIn profile that states that her job is as a sales manager at The Key.

"The public has a right to know the behind the scenes connections when these stories are presented as 'news,'" @Village_Whisper noted on the blog Whispers from the Edge of the Rainforest.

The Key owner Cam Good, who is also a former Business in Vancouver Forty under 40 winner, did not respond to Business in Vancouver's calls for an interview by press time.

Kudos to BIV for following up on this. Will other media outlets follow suit?

As we go into the weekend, we look forward to hearing from Mr. Good as well as hearing back from MAC's President Cam McNeill.

McNeill promised to tell the media the results of his investigation into what transpired with his employees while he left town for the Family Day weekend.

We wait with bated breath.

Meanwhile, BIV was on Global-TV discussing the scam:

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The Urban Development Institute has released a public statement on the MAC Marketing controversy (click on image to enlarge):

The release states:

UDI Public Statement - Recent Actions Relating to Mac Marketing Solutions

Thursday, 14 February 2013

Vancouver BC – On behalf of Urban Development Institute members, we are disappointed with the recent news about questionable promotional practices by a local real estate sales and marketing company. UDI unreservedly rebukes such marketing tactics, by any marketing firm, engaged in the real estate or land development industry in British Columbia.

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Thurs Post #1: Every wonder why the yellow helicopter is MIA?

Years from now, when tales of the housing bubble are told, one story sure to remain is the one about the yellow helicopter.

Made famous by realtor Cam Good, this subject is LEGEND with bear bloggers.

If you are new to blogs on the real estate bubble, Cam Good is a realtor who seems to have quite the knack for self-promotion.

In March of 2012 Cam - and his infamous yellow helicopter - were profiled on Global.  It was actually the second media helicopter stunt Good had been involved in... but the optics of wheeling out a yellow helicopter to fly Asian investors around BC has been seared into the collective minds of those who watch R/E trends on the wet coast.

Here is that Global clip:

Global profiled Good's company, Key Marketing, and the story aired in the last week of March 2012.

11 months earlier, on April 21st, 2011, Cam was quoted in the Vancouver Sun as saying:

"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.”

Of course it turned out those weren't actually Chinese buyers on that helicopter, rather they were local real estate agents along as props.

Since then the infamous helicopter has been Missing In Action (MIA) and we haven't heard much about it.

Have fortunes changed that dramatically in the span of a mere six months?

Mayday, Mayday... yellow hawk down!

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The one day sale... coming to a condo near you.

Everyone knows the routine.

A retailer has a one day sale in an attempt to get you off your ass and make the purchase.

But is this really an approach for condos?

Infamous realtor Cam Good (absent the yellow helicopter) is back in the news again with another marketing gimmick. From BCLocalNews.com:

This Saturday (Sept. 29), Cornerstone in Langley is offering homebuyers 15 to 21 per cent off as they sell off their remaining 18 condo units. Cornerstone was developed by Marcon.  

The deal is being offered through through CONDOday, a new group-buying service for real estate where buyers get deals when they buy together with others interested in the same homes. 

“CONDOday targets respected home builders that have a genuine business reason to offer homebuyers a really good deal,” said Ben Hurlbutt, manager of CONDOday. 

“In this case, Marcon will sell all of its existing inventory and close the presentation centre so it can move onto the next building. 

“Developers often spend months, or even a year, selling their last remaining homes at great expense. CONDOday negotiates with developers and organizes buyers into groups that save big on opportunities like this. And the homes are guaranteed to never sell for less.” 

CONDOday’s one day sale prices will range from $159,900 for a spacious one bedroom plan to $235,365 for a two bedroom, two bathroom home. 

For those who sign up to join the group – for free – on CONDOday.ca, they will save between $29,000 and $46,000. With savings from CONDOday deals, first-time homebuyers really can find homes that aren’t out of reach financially.

“This is a no brainer for buyers,” says Cam Good, president of The Key, the launch pad for CONDOday. “With CONDOday, buyers get a better deal than they could ever get on their own, and it’s free.” These homes at Cornerstone normally start at $199,900 but with this CONDOday deal, they will be starting at $159,900 for the one day. 

The launch is at noon on Saturday. Cornerstone is located at 21009 56 Ave (corner of 56 Avenue and 210A Street).

Is it a sign of the looming desperation?

Can you really market condo's based on "one day only" sale?

Are you really going to tell me you can't walk in tomorrow and get the same deal?

The news release seems to suggest that you have to 'sign up' with CondoDay to get the deals.  But faithful reader TS happened by The Cornerstone development, and it pretty much seems to be a sale open to one and all who wander by...

It's a site with balloons and signs everywhere, all that seems missing is a checkout aisle and a cashier.

One day only? I wonder if that's until the price drops 30%?

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Mon Post #2: More on the latest Cam Good/Global TV scam - updated

In our earlier post today we made note that our good old buddy, Cam Good, who was in the news promoting selling Condos in a fashion similar to the wildly successful Groupon coupons.

Cam gained notoriety last year when he hired a helicopter and flew supposed realtors from China around White Rock promoting condos he had for sale there. The suggestion was HAM was moving south to White Rock as well.

Turns out those realtors from China were actually Canadian realtors of asian descent from Vancouver.

Is Cam up to similar tricks again?

Did you note the interview with one of the prospective investors, Tara Fluet? That's a screenshot of her above from the Global TV interview.

Tara is identified as a ‘White Rock Investor.' What does she have to say about her experience?

“With Groupon, and the way it exploded, you do get great deals on there, so, why wouldn’t it work with condos, the developer here wants to sell the last few units, so if 20 people come in and buy them all at once, they’re obviously going to get a better deal than coming in one by one.”

To refresh your memory, here is the clip:

Interestingly if you a google search for Tara Fluet you get the following:

Apparently she's works as one of the realtor 'sales representatives' for Cam Good in the marketing of those very White Rock condos. (hat tip VREAA).

One of the commentors on the thread at VREAA said:

I phoned Global TV to complain about this and spent 10 minutes trying to point out why the lack of information about Ms. Fluet’s connection to Cam Good might mislead viewers into thinking her views as an “investor” were impartial.

The woman I spoke to at Global could not for the life of her understand what I was objecting to, even though I tried repeatedly to explain it. In fact, she grew indignant. She insisted that if Ms. Fluet is an investor, it was perfectly appropriate for her to comment even given her connections to Cam Good.

Faithful readers will recall that while discussing Marine Gateway, I mentioned that I had been told it is common practice to strike a deal with realtors that, if they want to be an exclusive agent to sell in a development, they had to pick up 5 to 10% of those options each. Once the development is finished, and all the developers suites are sold, then those realtors could sell the units they picked up to be a part of the sales team. It means that these exclusive agents could by buying up half of the pre-sales at an offering themselves.

As a sales representative for Cam Good's White Rock development, she probably had to pick up a few units herself.

Technically that makes her an 'investor' and, as far as Global TV is concerned, can be portrayed on their broadcast as an ordinary investor.

Riiight!

Real estate investor? Or real estate con artist?

You decide.

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Mon Post #1: Helicopter Cam shifts to Groupon for Condos

Always in search of a gimmick, 'Helicopter' Cam Good shifts to marketing condos the Groupon way.

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Who laments for Haileybury House?

On Thursday we heard from our buddy, Cam Good.

Cam told us about the flood of hot Asian money (HAM) from China flowing into the Vancouver and Toronto Real Estate Markets:

• "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."

High end real estate is supposedly being snapped up left and right by the red wave. Don't tell that to Peter Grant, tho.

For those who don't recognize the name, Peter Grant was the head of Grant Forest Products, a Canadian forest industy company that at it's peak employed nearly 600 people in Ontario alone, and 715 across Canada.

The Company operated six mills – two in Ontario, one in Alberta and two in South Carolina – and was North America’s third-largest maker of oriented strand board (OSB), a product similar to plywood that’s used to build walls, floors and roofs.

Grant's success prompted him to branch out.

He started building a golf course in nearby Earlton, Ont., acquired a 65-foot yacht made partly made out of OSB, and snapped up acres of land around Timmins, Ontario.

In 2005 he started work on the Haileybury House, which was to be used as an office complex, living quarters and a showcase for Grant products. Located in Haileybury Ontario (which is about 140 kilometres north of North Bay, Ont.), the 65,000 square foot house would sit on the shores of Lake Temiskaming.

Once completed it would be a monster-home that dwarfed everything else in the area .  The massive mansion was supposed to come complete with a small golf course in the surrounding acreage,  an art gallery, office area, swimming pool, squash court, two elevators, a giant hot tub, a small gym, a boathouse and 43 acres of land.

But the key phrase here is... 'once completed'.

The strong downturn in the global economy in 2007 hit Grant Forest Products hard. 

When the housing market in the United States began to collapse, it dragged down OSB prices and forced Grant to cut production. Within two years, OSB prices had fallen by two-thirds and Grant’s sales had dropped from $500-million to $184-million. Even worse, the downturn came just after the company had launched a costly expansion project at two mills.

The company tried to keep going but by June, 2009, it succumbed and filed for court protection from creditors, citing nearly $600-million in debt. The mills have since been sold by the monitor, Ernst & Young, and all remaining assets are up for sale... including Haileybury House.

Grant was forced to abandon construction on the Haileybury project in 2008 so it hasn't been completed yet, leaving a partly finished relic. At the very least, the property will require $1 million in upgrades to make the house liveable.

As part of the liquidation process for Grant Forest Products, the house has been on the multiple listing service for about a year now at an asking price of $25-million.

There have not been any decent offers. 

Now the firm trying to unload the unfinished mansion plan to run ads in several newspapers in an attempt to drum up interest. Ernst & Young Inc., the court-appointed monitor handling the sale, are advising that potential bidders have until June 24 to submit an offer, with a 15% deposit.

It's unclear if they are going to accept the highest offer, regardless of what it is.

I wonder if anyone has told Cam Good?

Because it seems HAM isn't prepared to rush in and overbid on all overpriced real estate in our country, particularly in Haileybury. Could it be that, outside the inner cities of Vancouver and Toronto, the real estate collapse has started in earnest?

Hmmm... if you had $25 million, would you invest it in an asset that will almost assuredly collapse in value by 70% or would you invest it in something like Silver, which knowledgeable investors believe will rise by 400% or more in the immediate future?

The folly in Haileybury may be a bellweather of what lies ahead.

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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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