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The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

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Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#231

Post by john_fushi »

Apocryphon wrote: post #228
Kluny wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All services that serve Quebec have to be available in french. So if you're making an application front end, you have to provide a french version even if your userbase doesn't care. It's just extra overhead.

Well, localization is good practice and something that should be supported already. But I think it's more like the Quebecois language laws mandate bilingualism in the workplace, which is a greater hassle.

It's really that speaking french in a predominantly french region shouldn't stop you from getting a job you have every competencies to achieve. That's why the law can go into absurd territory(e.g. having only english equipment cannot be a valid reason to refuse employment to a francophone).

But then again, most of the law only applies once your business reach a certain number of employees(30 I think)

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#232

Post by cvinson »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #200
cvinson wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try having a startup in Montreal. Our has been targeted by the language police, and is being forced to translate not just our front end, but our blog and social media presences. It doesn't matter that 0.01% of customers are in Quebec, and that we have determined that there is no market for our product in french. Anyone can send an anonymous message to this government agency and it will audit your business to make sur…

Apart from the photocopier sticker, that seems pretty reasonable. If you speak both languages (or have employees who do), how difficult is it anyway?

Very. We post multiple times a day on social media, create videos, do webinars, and long-form eBooks. Most of our staff are in the US, and don't speak french. Of our ~25,000 customers, 10 are in Quebec.

As you can imagine, hiring a full time french speaker just doesn't make sense. So, we have to "fire" our Quebec customers and block the province via IP. This is what dozens of startups (and big web companies) are doing now to circumvent the crazy laws.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#233

Post by Mikeb85 »

cvinson wrote: post #232
Mikeb85 wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apart from the photocopier sticker, that seems pretty reasonable. If you speak both languages (or have employees who do), how difficult is it anyway?

Very. We post multiple times a day on social media, create videos, do webinars, and long-form eBooks. Most of our staff are in the US, and don't speak french. Of our ~25,000 customers, 10 are in Quebec. As you can imagine, hiring a full time french speaker just doesn't make sense. So, we have to "fire" our Quebec customers and block the province via IP. This is what dozens of startups (and big web companies) are doin…

> Most of our staff are in the US, and don't speak french.

> As you can imagine, hiring a full time french speaker just doesn't make sense.

So how are you based in Montreal, and why? Why not relocate to the US, or English-speaking Canada?

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#234

Post by RandyRanderson »

havetocharge wrote: post #127
RandyRanderson wrote: post #94

As a vancouverite, and a person that's lived in Toronto for over a decade, I can say that while vancouver has about half the population (of T.O.) it has maybe 1/4 or 1/8 of the tech jobs. Also Canada is not like, say, the US, where there are many different industrial centers (ie Entertainment in LA or Finance in NY). In Canada, most corp headquarters are in Toronto and a small fraction are in Calgary and that's it. V…

Your mind frame displayed in your tl;dr is precisely what is responsible for the rate of housing price increases in your region.

My guess would be that the van housing prices mostly correlated to the outflow of cash from china. These investors likely don't care about the return - just that they don't lose the capital. So, I respectfully disagree.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#235

Post by RandyRanderson »

allengeorge wrote: post #141
RandyRanderson wrote: post #94

As a vancouverite, and a person that's lived in Toronto for over a decade, I can say that while vancouver has about half the population (of T.O.) it has maybe 1/4 or 1/8 of the tech jobs. Also Canada is not like, say, the US, where there are many different industrial centers (ie Entertainment in LA or Finance in NY). In Canada, most corp headquarters are in Toronto and a small fraction are in Calgary and that's it. V…

The city of Vancouver's population is 600K, while Toronto's is 2.6M - over 4x as large. Are you talking about their CMA populations? (That seems more likely: ~2.6M vs. 5.6M)

Thanks. Yes, for brevity's sake. I hope most will infer this.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#236

Post by RandyRanderson »

jperras wrote: post #160
justinhj wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A couple of issues here. Firstly US does not dictate Canadian rates, sadly. The fed raised interest rates recently and likely will raise then further if the conditions are right. In Canada many people, especially young people, have dangerously high mortgages for their income. They bought into property because of fear of missing out, often aided and encouraged by their parents who made out like bandits and assume the…

> Firstly US does not dictate Canadian rates, sadly. Of course not, but 5 year-fixed rate mortgages are set according to the bond market, not BoC overnight rates. If interest rates set by the US Fed are high, then lenders are going to securitize Canadian mortgages with US bonds, due to the higher yields found there.

Agreed. While the US and CA rates sometimes differ, it's not by much and they usually loosely track each other.

This is the effect when you have 2 economies that are so closely tied.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#237

Post by RandyRanderson »

justinhj wrote: post #155
RandyRanderson wrote: post #94

As a vancouverite, and a person that's lived in Toronto for over a decade, I can say that while vancouver has about half the population (of T.O.) it has maybe 1/4 or 1/8 of the tech jobs. Also Canada is not like, say, the US, where there are many different industrial centers (ie Entertainment in LA or Finance in NY). In Canada, most corp headquarters are in Toronto and a small fraction are in Calgary and that's it. V…

A couple of issues here. Firstly US does not dictate Canadian rates, sadly. The fed raised interest rates recently and likely will raise then further if the conditions are right. In Canada many people, especially young people, have dangerously high mortgages for their income. They bought into property because of fear of missing out, often aided and encouraged by their parents who made out like bandits and assume the…

If you look at the US and CA rates you;ll see they track each other quite closely and it's not like canada is driving the US rates.

I agree most BC residents have dngerously high mortgage payment to income ratios. That's something that the gov should have stopped by slowing foreign ownership but they didn't and now can't.

Now that the gov can't change things for fear of triggering a huge crash, one is inevitable. So now we're in a situation where the bubble will get massive and then explode.

My point is, just try and enjoy it!

Re chinese cash: If I've learnt anything from the big banks or uber it's that if you do something illegal on large scale it's not illegal. ;>

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#238

Post by RandyRanderson »

planteen wrote: post #226
RandyRanderson wrote: post #94

As a vancouverite, and a person that's lived in Toronto for over a decade, I can say that while vancouver has about half the population (of T.O.) it has maybe 1/4 or 1/8 of the tech jobs. Also Canada is not like, say, the US, where there are many different industrial centers (ie Entertainment in LA or Finance in NY). In Canada, most corp headquarters are in Toronto and a small fraction are in Calgary and that's it. V…

> TL;DR- In the 1-2 year timeframe tho, my advice - mortgage your house and buy as much BC real estate as you can afford. Good luck on finding 25%+ yoy low risk returns anywhere else. Return is a function of risk. Doesn't a 25% yield imply far more risk than you are implying? Why is anyone selling right now if prices are going to skyrocket like that? What if China institutes tight capital controls? What if oil goes t…

What i as trying to do was break down that risk into the major constituents (as i see them), Chinese regulatory change being one of them. As I pointed out, likely a large fraction of the chinese cash is already illegal. I don't know chinese politics well enough to know the likelihood or impact of a change. However just from general corrupt country historical knowledge I would guess there are a lot of payoffs to get the money out and who wants to stop that?

Oil price is an interesting point. Of course the question becomes what would the price of oil do to foreign investment? Not much i'd guess.

If oil goes down the CAD will become cheaper increasing investment. Up and investment may slow but, again, if you're a chinese millionaire looking to get your cash to a safe haven do you actually care how big the house is you are buying? You are just moving the say 2mil out of china. You just care that it keeps the original value.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#239

Post by quicknir »

ArnoldP wrote: post #191
cvinson wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try having a startup in Montreal. Our has been targeted by the language police, and is being forced to translate not just our front end, but our blog and social media presences. It doesn't matter that 0.01% of customers are in Quebec, and that we have determined that there is no market for our product in french. Anyone can send an anonymous message to this government agency and it will audit your business to make sur…

My understanding is that you do have the right to know who complained about your compliance under Bill 101. Anyways, I don't think it's asking much to have your website/blog/frontend in the language of the province where you operate, but the photocopier business, keyboards in french etc is ridiculous. Also it seems the language police always get more confident whenever a PQ government gets power.

Actually, it is "asking a lot". Quebec's language laws have been found to be in violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Unfortunately, the Charter (which Quebec did not support) has a "notwithstanding" clause, which Quebec invokes more often than all other provinces combined.

Quebec is a joke, both economically and with respect to liberal democracy.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#240

Post by quicknir »

Raphmedia wrote: post #211
system16 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Learning to order lunch or talk about the weather in a second language is not that hard. Communicating at a professional level takes years of practice. For most people - especially mid-career adults with limited time - that's not going to happen.

I work in tech in Montreal. People speak in english. You can speak english all day if you want. My clients speak in english. We speak in english. We create websites that are 100% english for clients who are based in the USA. What isn't allowed it having a workplace where the local (who can't speak english) have no chance of being hired because of the language. That is also why the employer must provide all workplace…

No that's not all it is, and the person who does not understand the law is you. Quebec language laws require for instance that commercial signs not only have French, but that French be predominant. Why does a sign having big print in English and small print in French, prevent a native French speaker from working there?

Also, realistically if you hire many programmers who only speak English, it's simply not realistic to hire a programmer who speaks French exclusively because he can't communicate with the team. Putting "copiez" on your photocopier does not alleviate that.

These laws are discrimination, pure and simple, and have been found as such by the Canadian Supreme Court on many occasions. Most Quebecois just don't care about paltry things like individual rights, where their language is involved.

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