Shell corporations

My kid and his wife are in the same boat, but have great lives travelling the world on what they save by renting rather than owning. On the other hand, my mom's $17,000 Richmond house is worth $2,000,000 and will allow her to be well taken care of when she needs to move to the next level of care.
Foreign investors whether they are crooks or not have been driving the real estate boom in BC for a long time. Those of us outside the LM are benefitting from the trickle down effects as well when people sell and bring their money to smaller communities.
 
Maybe the high price of real estate in major cities will reverse the decades old trend of smaller towns and cities disappearing. I like to visit Vancouver, was born there, but have no desire to live there.
The only thing that I can see that would make living there an imperative would be my job required it, or if I felt the need for family reasons. Lots of options out there for those who don't need to live in the three major cities. Everyone needs to make their own choice at the end of the day, there is no one size fits all.
 
The 15% tax on foreign property owners in Vancouver is a joke. I knew as soon as it was implemented it would only briefly stop foreign investors. I'm no lawyer but I was pretty sure that the big ticket homes would all end up being bought by holding companies to avoid the tax. It sounds like this is already taking place. These type of laws will only stop the unsophisticated monied investors from overseas. The ultra rich have plenty of legal advice on ways to avoid taxes. It's just the small fish who would ever get stuck paying these type of taxes. The ultra rich are well schooled in tax avoidance. Most pay no taxes at all, just ask Donald Trump about that one.
 
I am one of those planning on moving out soon and taking up residence on the Island and taking my cash with me. I wish I could do it right now, but still a couple years away. So yes you are correct there is a trickle down effect. The island is well on its way to be the "home" for Vancouver's seniors......
 
finaddict said:
I am one of those planning on moving out soon and taking up residence on the Island and taking my cash with me. I wish I could do it right now, but still a couple years away. So yes you are correct there is a trickle down effect. The island is well on its way to be the "home" for Vancouver's seniors......
Click to expand...

I think there's a joke in there somewhere. :p:p:p
 
Many countries have set limits on the ownership of real estate by foreign buyers. We could at least set a limit on the percent of ownership by foreign buyers in our majour cities. We had no problems acquiring homes (my generation). We owe young families at least some protection from money laundering targeting the basics of life for our new families. TBG you are absolutely bang on... "15% tax is a joke"
 
seascene said:
Many countries have set limits on the ownership of real estate by foreign buyers. We could at least set a limit on the percent of ownership by foreign buyers in our majour cities. We had no problems acquiring homes (my generation). We owe young families at least some protection from money laundering targeting the basics of life for our new families. TBG you are absolutely bang on... "15% tax is a joke"
Click to expand...
It was basically just a big PR stunt to give the plebs and prols the impression that their government actually cares about home affordability. If they really actually meant for the laws to have teeth they would have plugged the loopholes. It's nothing more than a big pre election PR bamboozle.
 
It's not a god given right to own your own home, nor is it a given that home ownership will be a fruitful investment. It's been the conventional thing in north america for a long time, but times change. Certainly far from universal in Europe. There are plenty of people who've chosen to rent and invest in models other than home ownership. If you think the market is rotten and crooked, then you sure as hell shouldn't buy in.
 
going back to the 80's our federal provincial and municipal govts have gone out of their way to promote Vancouver and Toronto ( and Montreal to a lesser extent)as global cities, well it turned into a resounding success for van and to and now they don't seem to like it, lol. I don't think the 15% tax was the right thing to do unless they do it for the whole province. not every american can afford to live in new york city same goes for most popular global cities, times change vancouver and toronto are different cities than when anyone could afford to live there, you can't go back imho. I 'd love to live in point grey lol but can't afford it.

a very simple solution to the money laundering and scamming the principal residence rule is for the govt to withhold a high percentage of the funds on the sale (say 30-40% of the difference in value from the last sale) and only return it when it was proven to be a principal residence. you could also have a much higher annual tax rate on non resident owners ( give them a break if they rent out at a reasonable rate) then you have higher recurring revenues not a one shot deal.

china is clamping down hard on money leaving the country and we are heading for most likely, higher mortgage rates so the housing market will take care of itself, we live in a free market society, let the market dictate the prices go after the fraud , misuse of principal residences, and DO something about that.
 
I like those comments above for they certainly address the issue of providing homes apposed to investments.

My Idea was to implement a multi level tax system. No tax for locals, some tax for out of area bc residence, another added tax for out of province, and another added tax for out of country. The same issue is happening to the little town I live in. It has all the same issues due to a booming tourism market. Forget affordable housing, there is no housing!

I doubt I will see interest rates going up in my lifetime. The banks are backed into a corner walking a wire supporting our economy. They will always say oh the rates will go up but I doubt it. This just fuel the fire on unaffordable housing and lack of housing.
 
"The 15% tax on foreign property owners in Vancouver is a joke."

Protecting the supply of residential housing for Canadians in our majour cities is the issue. Housing supply was never the issue for previous generations but it is now. Our country at least owes newer generations the chance of home ownership irrespective of market conditions. Global wealth distorts a fair market here for Canadian home buyers and has a ripple effect as lottery winner house sellers in the majour cities buy in outlying markets jacking up prices there. The wealth of Asia has exploded over the past 2 decades much from environmental pillage of their own countries. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/...na-Is-Now-An-Unrepairable-Ecological-Disaster
Last year the number of millionaires in Asia increased 9.4% to 5.1 million. There are 600 billionaires. Corruption is epidemic. Dirty money is finding easy pickings in Van and TO. Bids tens of thousands of dollars over ASKING price are common. China admits to having issued one million arrest charges for corruption within their country. Our residential housing stock is being criminally devoured by corrupt wealth who got that way from criminality and sacrificing the environment of their own people. Australia, UK, Switzerland ...even Hong Kong and China all have onerous restrictions on foreign ownership of their realestate. http://sherrycooper.com/articles/restrictions-foreign-ownership-real-estate/ Setting a per centage limit of foreign ownership goes a long way to dealing with this problem. We would at the very least be following the spirit of our own laws of them "not profiting" from the proceeds of crime and prevent the common practice of paying off resident "front men" here to buy for them. Asia is becoming increasingly virtually uninhabitable. Canada is not. All we would be doing to protect our own people is to do what these countries have already done for themselves ..... or are we just too naively polite to a fault? This is well worth a look:
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top