Projects That Will Be Cancelled in the New Reality

[misher]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Please let me know who is "trashing developers" and where they are making these statements?

The RE Agent industry has shown itself to be in serious need of regulation.

The RE industry requires an overhaul of its education system. It should be a 3-4 year graduate school program same as medical and law instead of a 2 month one, but its regulation is extremely strict.

The RE industry is one of the most regulated industries in BC considering it only take two months of an online course to get licensed. There is extremely low amounts of education needed to get your license and when you start working you'll realize your education was extremely lacking. You have no idea what kind of oversight licensees have they are treated as if they are real estate lawyers after 2 months of online school and expected to know everything. Every complaint is taken very seriously and licensees are obligated to act on the orders of their client. There are very few cases of Realtors acting against their clients wishes. Unlike the Law Society which is made up of lawyers, and College of Physicans which is mostly doctors, the Real Estate Council is made up of people outside the industry who are clueless about the realities and is controlled by the BC government. https://www.recbc.ca/about/council-members.html You try to report a doctor or lawyer and you will fighting an uphill battle against an organization that defends its own. You try to report a real estate licensee? Hes assumed guilty until proven innocent. The Real Estate Council exists to discipline licenses not defend them. Can you imagine how many shady lawyers and doctors there are? People focus on realtors because real estate prices are high and they blame people who work in real estate.

And a reminder that everyone focuses on realtors but licensees make up a bunch of industries including rental managers, commercial managers, residential managers, etc. Of course everyone sees some realtors in luxury cars and tries their best to punish all licenses most of whom get paid crap. Most licensees work weekends and nights for salaries between $15-25 a hour and unlike lawyers or doctors they don't charge by the hour. The regulation, stress, and low wages are so bad that there is a severe shortage of licenses in rental, commercial, and residential management. No one wants to do it https://www.richmond-news.com/real-e...ing-1.23167187

In regards to how the NDP is being two faced,

Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkonson had this to say:

Wilkinson's open letter on housing
To whom it may concern:

Housing is a fundamental need in our society, and we know that currently, housing is unaffordable for many British Columbians. We need clear and easily understood policies at all levels of government that help, not hinder, new housing development for all British Columbians.

The government has made grand promises to build more affordable housing, yet their actions so far will limit new development and drive away investment capital from B.C. Drastically increasing taxes on home sales and new construction will not result in more housing for people who need it right now. The current government thinks they can ignore market trends and solve the housing crisis on their own, without partnerships with builders and investors.

The NDP’s plan is to build 1700 units over the next year. Not only is this more than 80,000 short of their campaign promise, it does not even approach what is necessary to increase availability and reduce prices. When we recognize that B.C.’s population grows by 60,000 people per year, we can see this NDP plan is hopelessly out of touch with reality.

Building more supply is essential to ensure that all British Columbians have access to affordable housing. As noted by industry, the multiple tax measures introduced by this government will increase the costs of building residential homes, and those costs will be passed on to property purchasers and their tenants.

The increased Property Transfer Tax is applied at each point of the development process and will be ultimately paid by home buyers. Similarly, the increased “School” Property Tax as applied annually will add even greater costs to residential housing and negatively impact housing affordability. Finally, the yet-to-be-clarified “Speculation” Tax will not even target speculators. In its current form it will focus on property owners, builders, British Columbian homeowners, out-of-province vacationers, and foreign owners alike. The lack of detail on this tax makes it difficult to determine the full scope of its impact, other than the fact that it will cost everyone more, putting the construction and tourism industries at risk.

It isn’t just affordable housing that is put at risk by the NDP’s reckless new taxes. Over 230,000 families in BC will have a meal on their table tonight thanks to the construction industry. The GDP directly generated by the industry is $23 billion. From this, the province receives $1.2 billion in tax revenues that help pay for new schools and medical care.

Increasing supply is the only way we can make sure everyone is B.C. has a decent place to live. The total of new, unsold, multi-family homes for sale across Metro Vancouver, has fallen 74% from 2013.

The government needs to work with industry to ensure that the number of new homes rises every year. However, the current NDP government seems to be doing what they can to unfairly target builders and drastically shrink housing supply.

There is clearly an affordability issue in British Columbia. We need to work together to fix it. However, workable solutions do not include making our province an unattractive place to invest and build. Ownership does not always mean wealth, and sweeping tax changes targeting people who are perceived as wealthy can have major unintended consequences on investments, on jobs and on everyone’s way of life. This is why the NDP need to completely overhaul their property tax package, and get ready to accommodate 60,000 new British Columbians every year.

Sincerely yours,

Andrew Wilkinson

Leader, BC Liberal Official Opposition

MLA, Vancouver – Quilchena

Just to add to this cause I know many will dismiss what I say and accuse me of being a Realtor. I'm not a Realtor. If you have any family or friends who are a licensee they will confirm what I have said.

[GenWhy?]

interesting because literally over night we've seen some land prices dramatically decrease and make some of our projects we were looking into that were previously barely viable or not viable... now could become a reality. Mind you, these are smaller less than 100 unit developments but the lower land costs due to this market correction and subsequent policies - what ever they may be by whatever branch of government - is aiding some forms of residential development.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by misher

In regards to how the NDP is being two faced,

Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkonson had this to say:

Just to add to this cause I know many will dismiss what I say and accuse me of being a Realtor. I'm not a Realtor.

Am I missing something here?

You claimed that the Provincial and Municipal governments were "trashing developers". WarrenC12 asked you who is "trashing developers" and where they are making these statements? You replied by quoting at length one politician who isn't in government trashing the policies of those who are in government.

You didn't answer Warren's question, instead you answered one that hadn't been asked.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

The New Reality sounds rather melodramatic, I have to say.

Cyclic and bubbly markets have always been the reality, haven't they?

Yes, but keep in mind someone posting here now and is 21 year old "came of age" during the 8-10 year period when rising amounts of Chinese money was flooding into Vancouver. To them that is the "normal".

My hypothesis is that particular set of circumstances won't be repeated. It won't just pick up where it left off if the NDP were voted out next year.

Of course construction won't stop, but land prices will have to fall to make projects viable for a more local market.

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by misher

The RE industry requires an overhaul of its education system. It should be a 3-4 year graduate school program same as medical and law instead of a 2 month one, but its regulation is extremely strict.

Are you serious? You do not need 3-4 years training to sell condos.

[misher]

Originally Posted by Jebby

Are you serious? You do not need 3-4 years training to sell condos.

License does not = real estate agent. Real estate agents are just the most visible licensees.

Just like medical field does not = doctor.

And licensees are held very high standards and rules. Not only do you have the various acts, you have civil law decisions, tax rules, etc. Its impossible to learn it all through a short online program. Your letting people who barely speak english go get licenses. And honestly some probably cheat on the online quizzes. I've seen people ask a licensee which model boiler is better and chew him out for honestly saying he didn’t know. Do you really want someone with a high school education and a few months of online learning to help advise you what house to buy? to maintain the building you live in? to maintain the business you work in? to manage your rentals? Houses and building have very complex systems and licenses are expected to learn it all on the job.

Plumbers need to go through years of training, yet people expect a licensee with a few months of learning to be an expert in plumbing, engineering, construction, taxes, law, etc. Most licensees have no idea what a joist is, no idea if a house may be rotting on the inside, no idea what kind of heating system a place has, no idea what the tax laws are, the list goes on. Your treating the job like it needs the same training as McD employees then complaining it needs more regulation.

And because getting a license is like buying candy at the store, you have way too many realtors, in this article there are about 10x then needed. https://www.timescolonist.com/news/l...ngs-1.14432517

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

interesting because literally over night we've seen some land prices dramatically decrease and make some of our projects we were looking into that were previously barely viable or not viable... now could become a reality. Mind you, these are smaller less than 100 unit developments but the lower land costs due to this market correction and subsequent policies - what ever they may be by whatever branch of government - is aiding some forms of residential development.

That's great news! Sounds like the the various government and regulatory actions, couple with rising interest rates, are having the desired effect.

I'm curious to see if any of the candidates for mayor and council propose any "rental only" zoning for the CoV, giving even more incentive to build rentals.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by misher

The RE industry requires an overhaul of its education system. It should be a 3-4 year graduate school program same as medical and law instead of a 2 month one, but its regulation is extremely strict.

The RE industry is one of the most regulated industries in BC considering it only take two months of an online course to get licensed.

Sorry boss, but as a regulated professional, I'd disagree. RE agents don't have to do much. The conflicts of interest that triggered recent scrutiny were pretty bloody egregious.

The BCREB also get slapped with government oversight because they weren't doing a good job of self-regulating. At best RE is a cartel. They keep the data on the markets tied up and unavailable, and are essentially glorified commissions sales staff. Any technical sales requires a fairly in depth background knowledge, RE is a bit complicated because its subjective and the knowledge base is general.

It took me 5 years of school to get an engineering bachelors, another 5 to get professional certification, and even now there's a pretty serious expectation that people with under 20 years experience don't take the lead on any major problems or full systems.

On my last big project, works I did were checked by colleagues, then reviewed by 2 intermediate engineers, 1 senior engineer, 1 general project management engineer, a client engineer, an independent expert reviewer, and a government regulator. That there is strict regulation.

How often do real estate offices get randomly audited?

[misher]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

Sorry boss, but as a regulated professional, I'd disagree. RE agents don't have to do much. The conflicts of interest that triggered recent scrutiny were pretty bloody egregious.

The BCREB also get slapped with government oversight because they weren't doing a good job of self-regulating. At best RE is a cartel. They keep the data on the markets tied up and unavailable, and are essentially glorified commissions sales staff. Any technical sales requires a fairly in depth background knowledge, RE is a bit complicated because its subjective and the knowledge base is general.

It took me 5 years of school to get an engineering bachelors, another 5 to get professional certification, and even now there's a pretty serious expectation that people with under 20 years experience don't take the lead on any major problems or full systems.

On my last big project, works I did were checked by colleagues, then reviewed by 2 intermediate engineers, 1 senior engineer, 1 general project management engineer, a client engineer, an independent expert reviewer, and a government regulator. That there is strict regulation.

How often do real estate offices get randomly audited?

There audited every year. And again, a reminder that licensees are more than realtors!!! The BC real estate council is run by the government and most have not ever held a license, they come from other industries.

As for hiding stuff, long as it’s legal and your client asks you to you can’t blame the realtor for that. Realtors are required to work on behalf of their client.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by misher

There audited every year. And again, a reminder that licensees are more than realtors!!! The BC real estate council is run by the government and most have not ever held a license, they come from other industries.

As for hiding stuff, long as it’s legal and your client asks you to you can’t blame the realtor for that. Realtors are required to work on behalf of their client.

This doesn't sound very scary.

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by misher

Your treating the job like it needs the same training as McD employees then complaining it needs more regulation.

Pretty sure I'm the last person here who would ever call for that.

As for the rest of your rant, that's what inspectors, lawyers, and accountants are for.

[red-paladin]

I'm closing this thread as its way off topic, and it's been demonstrated there are not enough cancelled projects to warrant a thread about it. Any further posts will be deleted.