Happy New Year

A New Year's poem for all of you to enjoy.

2008 Crystal Ball

Well, my crystal ball is broken but maybe yours isn't. I'm interested in hearing what everyone out there thinks about 2008.

Will the Vancouver area real estate market continue to defy fundamentals and continue on its heavenward ascent?

Will the Canadian and BC economy thrive through a US economic slowdown?

Will the stocks, bonds, cash, gold, real estate, or other commodities be a good investment in 2008? Which one will be the best?

I don't really think anyone can "predict" the future but we can make some educated guesses. Here are mine.

1) 2008 will be the year of turning for the local real estate market. I think we will see year over year declines by summertime - at least in the Fraser Valley.

2) The Canadian and BC economy will slow down dramatically in 2008. Labour shortages will be a thing of the past by the end of the year in BC.

3) I have no idea about the stock market but I think it will be another good year for growth stocks. I like value stocks always but will they go up in value this year? I don't know or care since I am just looking for bargains with good earnings and dividends. I think agricultural commodities will be a good investment among other commodiites. Financial stocks will probably not fair that well but could be good buys this year as they will be continually battered in the news.

Please DO NOT take this as financial advice as I always recommend having a diversified portfoli0 and a proper financial plan.

Taking a Break

Merry Christmas everyone. I am taking a break over the holidays until the New Year so enjoy yourselves.

I am blessed this year with a charmed life of sorts. My workplace is an enjoyable place to be, I have food on my table every night, I have close friends whom I trust, and I have close family who is healthy and loved. I am thankful for all of the blessings God has provided.

This Christmas will be different for us as my wife and I have a young son with whom we enjoy spending time. We like playing, making wierd sounds together, eating (mmmm . . . baby food) and reading books! My wife and I are taking time this Christmas to visit with family and friends. In other words we are going to enjoy the finer things in life and I hope everyone else has the same opportunity and is able to sieze it.

I may post this week but I won't post with the usual regularity. Cheers and be safe.

Bubble Psychology

I have seen this chart or variations of it posted about the internet and I thought it was fitting for a rainy Friday. Talk about what you want. Post links to interesting financial and real estate stories.

Happy Canada Day! Open Thread and Inventory Update

Hodge Podge for the long weekend.

First a tribute to Canada. Canada, for all its faults, is a pretty darn nice place to live. Its mostly free, mostly clean, mostly peaceful, and delightfully uninteresting in most respects!

Next, a local real estate market inventory update courtesy of realtor Rob Chipman. Inventory is following an almost identical path to last year with the significant difference of being 30% higher! July is the month when we should start to see the beginning of the fall inventory build up and I expect the Chipman area will break 13,000 for the first time ever in July sometime.


Finally, the June Real Estate market information should be out on Tuesday from the REBGV and FVREB. What do you think it will indicate? I expect marginally higher prices from May, higher inventory than last year and lower sales than last year. Months of inventory should continue rising but all in all no big surprises. The real action will probably start in the fall.

Free For All

It's a free-for-all kind of day today.

We could discuss:

Inflation - it's up
Federal Budget - spending is up, taxes are down (kinda)
Housing - it's silly - inventory is rising, sales are declining
Markets - ambivalent

You lead the way.