Cameron Muir again....

[canadian]

This time with a CYA stint.

http://www.vancouversun.com/Homes/Home+ ... story.html

“It doesn’t matter what the market is doing, I don’t say whether or not it’s a good time to buy” then follows his usual blablabla which would normally follow his "this is the best time to buy". I love the man.

[westcoastfella]

Its been a while since we heard anything from Muir, at least a couple of weeks...

If you compare today vs. a year ago, investing in real estate is more attractive than it was then.

If you compare today vs 3 years ago, investing in RE still sucks. Loads of room to drop still.

Therefore, he said, a condo with a 10-per-cent down payment (on a 25-year amortization) would have resulted in a monthly mortgage payment of $1,890 this January, nearly $600 less than the January 2008 mortgage payment of $2,468 (property taxes, maintenance fees and mortgage insurance fees not included).

$1890/month. Plus, throw in maintenance/prop tax/insurance, say thats $500/month combined. So now you're up to $2400/month. Just to pay your basic mortgage. I don't know exactly what the GV avg income is, but lets be generous and say its $60K/year, or $5K/month. Take out $1500 in taxes, you're down to $3500 a month takehome. So, even in this Brave New Affordable World, you're still putting 65% of your net pay into just paying for your home. For the next 20-25 years. Man, that sucks, there is no way any rational or financially responsible person should do that. You pretty much have to be well above avg or double income family to properly afford real estate in this city. Once all those people have bought their places, who will be left at these prices?

[canadian]

and to top it, whats the guarantee about my interest rates when they come due for renewal. With historical low interest rates, there is lots of room on the upper side than the lower unless banks decide to pay you for taking mortgage from them.

[rentah]

CTV had a remarkably disingenuous piece on last night, also feature Cam Muir.
All completely factless, with lots of nonspecific, hopeful "this is a good market now for buyers we expect the buyers to start coming out here" talk.

[kansai_92]

Cam Muir was difficult enough to stomach when he was working for CMHC.
At least now that he's with BCREA, the bias is transparent.

So by the same argument, since financial stocks are more than 50% cheaper this year than last, we should all go and buy Bank of America and Citi Group.
He speaks of cash flow being greater this year, but go and crunch the numbers and any property would still be bleeding hundreds of dollars a month.

I think by now most of us can agree that many of the sales in the past few years would not have happened if the purchasers did not think prices were still going up.
You take that out of the equation and only people buying for primary residence are left.
At today's pricing, if you're a young professional couple and are comfortable with paying down a $300,000 mortgage over the next 35 years on a 700sf condo, go for it.

[Waitingtobuy99]

Cam Muir was difficult enough to stomach when he was working for CMHC.
At least now that he's with BCREA, the bias is transparent.

So by the same argument, since financial stocks are more than 50% cheaper this year than last, we should all go and buy Bank of America and Citi Group.
He speaks of cash flow being greater this year, but go and crunch the numbers and any property would still be bleeding hundreds of dollars a month.

I think by now most of us can agree that many of the sales in the past few years would not have happened if the purchasers did not think prices were still going up.
You take that out of the equation and only people buying for primary residence are left.
At today's pricing, if you're a young professional couple and are comfortable with paying down a $300,000 mortgage over the next 35 years on a 700sf condo, go for it.

I was exactly who you are referring to. We (young bus professionals) bought in 06 and thought oh, it's never coming down; we sold our 700sq/ft condo and lost a lot of our down payment. Damn those pumpers! It's not the older generation who are getting screwed here, its the first time home buyers in the past 2-3 years. They (pumpers) should be on trial for some kind of conspiracy.

[Greenhorn]

This is the most objective I have ever seen Cameron Muir:

[rentah]

greenhorn: thanks for posting this..it's the piece that I referred to in my prior post. It's dripping with the HOPE that things may improve.

[nico101]

I don't have audio at work but didn't notice something in the video..

Ruth and David (on one of the signs in the background) are fantastic realtors. Honest and committed. They advised us against selling our house at one point. When we did eventually put it on the market they warned us that the market was changing and that it wasn't going to be easy. That being said, they held open houses each and every week for months without fail. They knew the market was changing and advised us to price aggressively. We probably should have listened but we were not mentally ready to accept losing any money. Our house didn't sell but it worked out ok, we have great tenants and the house is cash positive.

[thirdlittlepig]

I was exactly who you are referring to. We (young bus professionals) bought in 06 and thought oh, it's never coming down; we sold our 700sq/ft condo and lost a lot of our down payment. Damn those pumpers! It's not the older generation who are getting screwed here, its the first time home buyers in the past 2-3 years. They (pumpers) should be on trial for some kind of conspiracy.
[/quote]

Of course there's a "conspiracy", but you can't put anyone on trial because it is perfectly legal. The aim of the conspiracy is to get you, and as many others as possible, to part with your money (as much as possible), and unload as many real estate units as possible. The point is not to give you financial advice, real estate market downsides, or point out the possible pitfalls. That is up to the buyer to research, or seek the advice of his own lawyers, financial planners. The bank is also in the business of making money, so the onus is on the borrower to make sure they can manage the terms and is prepared that the future may not be quite as rosy as past indicators for the entire duration of the loan or ownership of the house. But I'm sure you knew all that when you bought. Like most others you got caught up in the excitement of home ownership. When I looked at the typical mortgage payments that young people would be signing up for in the last few years, it practically stopped my heart. But not youngsters, somehow they don't worry about that. When I bought my first home in the early 80's, I didn't worry about soaring interest rates, dropping prices, stagnant market, after I bought.
I do remember the incredible look of relief on the guy's face when I agreed to buy at the time, but I was thrilled with his white elephant. I hope the person who bought it much later from me was also thrilled, but I was perfectly honest about what I was selling. And I was just as relieved as the guy who sold it to me. That's just the nature of the business. Why on earth you would wish to (perhaps jokingly) put someone on trial for doing normal business, is difficult for me to understand.

[Waitingtobuy99]

Of course there's a "conspiracy", but you can't put anyone on trial because it is perfectly legal.

Yes, it's legal, but they are deemed the 'experts' in this field. Experts should have positives and negatives. I get WHY they are doing it, don't get me wrong here; it's perfectly obvious, but it should be different.

But not youngsters, somehow they don't worry about that. When I bought my first home in the early 80's, I didn't worry about soaring interest rates, dropping prices, stagnant market, after I bought.

We didn't have soaring interest rates, dropping prices or a stagnant market, everyone and their dog were getting loans, saying the market was going up forever. There is a difference from your situation to ours now.

Why on earth you would wish to (perhaps jokingly) put someone on trial for doing normal business, is difficult for me to understand.

Yes, I was joking... obviously. But it's the perfect crime because it is perfectly legal. 'Experts' claiming that there will be no cycle that effects every area of the economy. It was bound to happen, but 'they' didn't warn us.
The govt creates laws to protect people from bad decisions that effects the rest of us. The 'speculators (BCRA, Mr. Muir, etc)' should be held accountable somehow, either by admitting they were dead wrong and saying that buyers should do their homework. Or say.. 'maybe you should listen to a non-biased expert next time.' All I'm saying is that the system needs to change to protect all those first time home buyers that bought this month thinking ohhh 2010 it's going to rebound and go back up perhaps to were it was! Not sure how you can't see why I think they should be held accountable for that. They are destroying peoples lives; just like the US banks did.

[jesse1]

Slightly OT but what's the deal with agents co-listing on a sign? I'm aware of a few married couples (both Realtors) doing this but I've seen others not related to each other doing this too.

[ianmills]

Slightly OT but what's the deal with agents co-listing on a sign? I'm aware of a few married couples (both Realtors) doing this but I've seen others not related to each other doing this too.

Maybe they are married (same sex or traditional). Not everybody changes their names when they get married. As well, when you spend a lot of cash making a name for yourself, it is unlikely you are just going to throw that name recognition away by changing it once you get married