Without affordable housing, Vancouver risks becoming an economic ghost town

Post by DannyBee » Fri, Feb 12, 2016, 8:58 PM UTC

sureshv wrote: post #263

DannyBee wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In theory, yes. In practice, if you own a currently 4+ million dollar home built in the 50's, you are paying at least 15-20k on it anyway. Here's an example currently for sale: https://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Altos-Hills/27446-Black-Mounta... They are paying 18.2k. If it was reassessed today, they'd be paying 40-45k. If they do what most people who have lived in a home forever do, and are downsizing to something smalle…

This house changed hands in 1990 for $1M where it got reassessed - otherwise they would be paying 2-3k max if purchased and held since 1978.

Post by mahyarm » Fri, Feb 12, 2016, 9:00 PM UTC

Nicholas_C wrote: post #265

mahyarm wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whenever I look at hong kong on google earth, I see a lot of empty green space that tall buildings could be built on. I also see an area in the north that isn't really dense, large open sports areas and green areas on the south island. HK the territory seems to be much larger than HK the city and it smells suspicious that prices are high but land is not being used. And don't say, we need parks! I'm fairly certain tha…

>And don't say, we need parks! I'm fairly certain that large amounts of that parkland is unused because you need to hike in pretty deep to enjoy it. So we should monitor how far people hike into these parks? And if the number of people in a remote part of a city park falls below X number of people a day for Y days we should just bulldoze that part of the park for buildings?

Post by Apocryphon » Fri, Feb 12, 2016, 9:00 PM UTC

john_fushi wrote: post #276

hobolord wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what site(s) should I be using to look for jobs in Montreal in software? My background is in mechatronics but a ton of the embedded engineering jobs I've seen require some French language skills.

If you are not interested in learning French you'll have a hard time finding a job in Montreal.

Post by Symbiote » Fri, Feb 12, 2016, 9:03 PM UTC

lmm wrote: post #132

onion2k wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

London has had an influx of foreign property investment over the past 20 years. Now you need an income in the region of $120,000 and a $150,000 deposit to buy your first home. Even our members of parliament are struggling to buy anything[1]. Foreign property investment is very bad for the long term prospects of a city. [1] http://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2016/feb/12/tory-...

And yet London's population continues to grow at an astonishing rate, and businesses continue to move into London. Doesn't seem like the high prices are doing any harm to me.

Post by john_fushi » Fri, Feb 12, 2016, 9:03 PM UTC

Apocryphon wrote: post #315

john_fushi wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are not interested in learning French you'll have a hard time finding a job in Montreal.

Is that really accurate? I've heard that the tech sector in Montreal is actually pretty lenient about English, and there's ways startups get around bilingual regulations by mainly catering to American/Anglophone markets, which is a loophole they can use. Have seen a good amount of commentary saying that programmers in Montreal don't need to speak a lick of French for their jobs.