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Sitting Out — Page 3
Buy American
Lurk for a while on Vancouver real-estate blogs and
it becomes clear that, just as some people were born
to be goldbugs and others live for the illicit thrill
of penny stocks, a big chunk of the population can’t
imagine investing in anything except property. A couple
of years ago, wary of the city’s high valuations,
these people started discussing places like Saskatoon
(where prices have since almost doubled), later moving
on to markets such as Winnipeg, Kamloops, and Prince
George. These days, a significant thread on Real Estate
Talks deals with the situation south of the border,
even as local real-estate guru Ozzie Jurock offers seminars
on the subject and ads show up here for projects in
Arizona and California. But are Phoenix and Sacramento
the new frontiers, or is this a case of all chat and
little action?
Though interest in the U.S. is strong, says Jurock,
it’s more the latter. The problem is that familiar
areas in nearby Washington and Oregon haven’t
experienced much of a downturn, and it’s hard
to buy and manage a property located in a faraway spot
that you don’t understand. In a place like Phoenix,
“Only buy A or B properties,” he cautions.
“Don’t even look at foreclosures because
they’re in terrible neighbourhoods.”
Beyond that, there are difficulties for aliens. (And
let’s face it, that’s what we are, even
if we remember to call the roof the rouf.) Without visas,
we can’t mow the lawn or even collect the rent,
a legality that renters quickly discern and that necessitates
additional management expense. Still, says Jurock, “I
have ‘real estate’ stamped on my forehead.”
His belief: If you can find a place that works for you,
whether there or here, buy it, especially if prices
happen to be distressed.
The Bloggers
Passionate about real estate? You just might want to
join in
Real
Estate Talks
A couple of years ago, Vancouver Housing Blog created
a stir when it won a national award—only to shut
down a few weeks later when its creator found its upkeep
too time-consuming. The anonymous “VHB”
still chimes in from time to time on Real Estate Talks,
whose hundreds of threads are frequented by well-informed
investors—among others.
Agent
Will
Realtor Will Wertheim writes with considerable insight
on a variety of real-estate topics and provides a useful
basket of market statistics.
Vancouver
(Un)real Estate
This generally reasonable, if rather bitter, bear has
an artistic bent, which he uses to produce graphic concepts
revolving around real estate (which is better than having
no muse, after all).
The
Best Real Estate Anywhere
When VHB shut down, many of its devotees migrated
here, attaching comments that run into the hundreds
of words to agent Rob Chipman’s daily sales and
listings statistics.
Condohype
Caustic commentary on real-estate marketing materials
from someone for whom making a living probably involves,
uh, writing real-estate marketing materials.
Vancouver
Condo Info
An often interesting assemblage of relevant and less-so
information (see the pie chart below), complete with
a forum contributed to by many of the usual suspects
from Real Estate Talks, Best Real Estate Anywhere, etc.
Bet those multitaskers could manage four, five bingo
cards.
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