Moving over to the dark side...

The perceptive ones may have noticed that ads have suddenly appeared on the blog. It's true, I have decided, after years of pumping this blog out to hit it rich and retire.

In fact it may only be temporary. I was tired of getting the e-mails and pop-ups saying the blog was busy enough to warrant throwing ads up.

OK, so I did it and I will tell you all how many Millions it brings in.

Maybe I can spend a bit more time on the blog.

In fact I am going to change a few things:

1) I have added a few more links to sites I like - they either deal with local RE or investing topics. I want this to be a hub for all good info. If you think I should add another one, please say so.

2) I want to put up more frequent posts, as I think things are getting interesting now.at We are at the cross-road. Inventory levels are high and Econ 101 would suggest that either the inventory will come off like 2010 or prices will fall like 2008. I am going to put up MOI for various areas inside and outside on Vancouver to monitor this.

3) Our first test will be August SFH average prices. I put up another poll to see if we are any more accurate in our guesstimates. We were truly off the mark for July. Here's the result of that poll:

17% Up Marginally

2% Up and Away

34% Down a Tad

40% Flat

7% Down the bowl (ie over 3%)

And the correct answer is Down the Bowl. Down 6.5% from June and 8% from the highs.

That huge drop was just brushed away by the RE bulls as an aberration. Who can blame them after the huge run up. However it will be harder to dismiss another big drop for this month.

BTW- anyone who has not read this excellent article on the drug trade and the housing market- I suggest you give it ten minutes.

The drug and organized crime industries are so big in the Province (17,000 Grow ops!!), it is no wonder that no-one wants to tackle them head-on, in case they bring on a major recession.

It reminds me of Florida a decade or two ago, when the Federal government wanted to stem the huge narco-money that was flowing into the State (also into RE- though mostly developments and shopping malls), the Governor asked if they could go slow to mitigate the economic impact.