You do something...no you do something.....

The bank CEOs on one side and the Regulators on the other....Carney, Flaherty and Dickson of OFSI.

The bank CEOs like Clark of TD are pretty much begging the regulators to DO something. Tighten the rules, raise rates, rein in the CMHC...do something to stop us from lending!

Meanwhile Carney et Co are asking the lenders to show restraint.

The message from the CEO's is simple. We cannot hold back. We have to push the envelop. please staple the envelop so we don't push it as far. We can't help it. the music is playing, we have to dance!

Neither are doing anything.

Neither did anything to stop this bubble from reaching huge proportions and it could have been prevented.

We had the example of the US to see exactly What-Not-to-do, and yet we did it. Same crap.

Insured high leverage mortgages, cash back mortgages, CMHC expanded even as Freddie and Fannie were going bankrupt in the US, CHMC insurance for rental and investment properties, document-lite mortgages- you name it , we did it.

Now the chips will fall where they may.

We are 48 hours +/- away from January's Average numbers

What do I expect?

A smaller drop than December in the SFH, because we have had a couple of huge sales which will skew things, perhaps a larger drop in condos and attached is always a crap shoot.

We MAY then get a small bounce in Feb. depending on how many HAM buyers have shown up and bid up the high end of the market, since most of their New Year's buys will show up in early-mid Feb.

If they don't show up then we may just see more of the same or a flat market.

March will be the big tell. If buyers don't show up, then the MOI will quickly balloon and as Jesse has shown in his graphs, MOI correlates well with prices.

We have already seen MOI expansion and price drops outside of Vancouver....The Sunshine Coast, Victoria and the Okanagan. Now we have it in Fraser valley, with Surrey sporting some high numbers. We may be in for a bit of a shocker soon if Richmond and the Westside sales don't pick up.

Words That Really Matter

Romans 5:1-2 

 ¹ Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. ² Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

(NLT)

Bank Liars

The Bank CEOs have become veritable Pinocchio's. They or their economists keep sounding the alarm about the highest level of consumer debt ever, the housing bubble etc and yet the banks are trying to convince consumers to take on even more debt!

Contrast what they have said with what the banks are doing:

1) Nixon. CEO of Royal Bank:

"When you look at markets like Vancouver and Toronto there is a level of caution from a risk perspective that is higher today than it would have been a couple of years ago," he said.

"When you look at the condo side there is probably vulnerability ... it is the area which is most vulnerable with respect to Canadian housing."

2) Downe CEO of Bank of Montreal

Bank of Montreal president CEO Bill Downe agreed there is a risk of a downturn in the housing market, saying the best hope is for a soft landing.

"There is no question that the warning signs around the Canadian housing market have been visible for more than a year," he said, also mentioning Toronto and Vancouver specifically.

3) Clark CEO of TD Bank

However, given that the ratio household net debt to income levels sits at a historic 150% — meaning mortgage and other debts are 1.5 times a Canadian household's average income — it would be risky if debt levels rise further.

Here's what their banks are doing:

Bank of Montreal just had a gimmicky 5 year 2.9% mortgage to squeeze a few more buyers into debt before the 'best case soft landing ' comes along.

TD Bank is teaching their loan officers to convince borrowers to take out equity from their homes.

Hat tip to VREAA

Royal Bank is pumping their cash back mortgages.

Meanwhile here's what Scotiabank says: However, household spending gains will be dampened by weak job creation and rising consumer debt, now at record levels.

You know Scotiabank, they guys who have come up with the 'You are Richer than You Think' ad line. What does that mean?? Most of us are more indebted than ever and are suffering with stagnant wages and yet we are supposed to be richer??

......................

BTW how much do they get paid. About $8 -16 M a year- then there are benefits and pensions to add in.

......................

Surrey including Whiterock (where there have been some HAM sightings)

1682 SFH listed.

102 sales since Jan 1st

167 if you go back all the way to Dec 15th to date.

Either way a lot of inventory and not much interest. Haven't been there for a while, but I think I will go down next week-end and see the forest of for sale signs where there used to be real forests :)

Revamped Dresser

Time for the reveal! Here is the "after" shot of the dresser I made over for E's room.

Remember the "before"? A tad different, isn't it?

 I found this dresser at the thrift store two weekends ago for $15...yep, that's right! They were having a 50% off sale on all furniture. I almost had a heart attack thinking someone else would try to swipe my pet fur, mouse poo & dust infested dresser before I had the chance...but luckily, no one else was interested:o)

So I started by deconstructing the whole piece. That was the easy part:o)

 The tough part was making the MDF box to go in the center of the dresser. This was my first attempt at using a table saw, and let me just say that there was a lot of heavy praying going on while using it. On three different occasions, MDF literally shot off of the table saw..thankfully I wasn't on the receiving end!

 Since we currently are no longer in possession of a miter saw, I had to use a miter box to cut the trim pieces, which was A-O.K. with me after the frightening experience with the table saw! I used 1 1/4 inch trim to frame out the box, and base board trim for the base.

 

 I filled in the gaps with some wood putty, and got it ready for paint.

 It now resides in E's room with new hardware. 

 He is extremely excited to have it in his room now....

 So much so, that he thought it was a great place to climb on top of and leap to his bed...BAD IDEA!

Mommy worked waaaaay too hard on this for little grubby feet to be climbing on this puppy:o)

So anyway, that's that!

To see where I got my inspiration, check out 

THIS LINK

Participating here:

Bernanke Speaks...

..and basically throws in the towel.

Two years of no rate rate hikes.

We will keep buying our own bonds.

We will print more money.

We will stop when Goldman Sach's share price hits $200!

Bernanke and Grenspan make our Carney seem like the epitomy of wisdom and monetary conservatism.

Remember this crisis in the US COULD HAVE BEEN prevented. If only the regulators weren't in bed with the Wall Street sharks, they could have reined in the irresponsible lending, and the housing bubble.

It's not like there weren't enough people like Schiller repeating that a crisis was coming, it's just that this bunch is used to easy money, and like a drug addict, stopping it now would kill the addict, so they shake there heads and keep injecting.

The problem in the US was almost no one saved any money. They just spent with wild abandon. Now that it has hit the fan- the few who did save must be punished and forced to either have their savings reduced to worthless paper or be forced to spend it too on worthless crap they don't need.

That's how ponzi economies work.

BTW- some good news. The 2.9% five year mortgage from BMO ended yesterday. I was actually thinking of closing my account with BMO. The jerks offer me almost nothing for my deposit account and yet are trying to get more financial crack out to home buyers.

Bill Downe the Bank of Montreal CEO JUST SAID

Bank of Montreal president CEO Bill Downe agreed there is a risk of a downturn in the housing market, saying the best hope is for a soft landing.

"There is no question that the warning signs around the Canadian housing market have been visible for more than a year," he said, also mentioning Toronto and Vancouver specifically

That's from two weeks ago..just before they started this idiotic 2.9% gimick. Mr DOWNE What the &^$% are you doing????

Do you even know how stupid this makes you look?

You say that the best case is for a soft landing and then your bank offers crack rates!

How can you still justify your many Million dollar salary and benefits package?

It's like saying -Jim here looks like he may die of liver cirrhosis if he doesn't quit drinkng and then offering him a bottle of Wild Turkey!

Is it just me or does it seem like we live in a world where no-one is accountable for anything.

My New Bedding & a Sneak Peak

I got some new bedding...and I love it!

I feel like I have a completely different room:o)

I decided one day to stop by Pottery Barn to see what they had..not really expecting much in the sale department...and low and behold I found this duvet cover for $31...a steal, I know.

I needed to accessorize this new awesomely cheap bedding...

So I went into Mission-Pillow-Hunt at Stein Mart. They had one pillow sham that matched the duvet perfectly...but only one. Ahhh! Panic mode had set in. I called all of the surrounding Stein Marts including some in Tennessee. I only needed two more people!!  Apparently this is a popular pillow because all of the stores except for one (just outside of Nashville) were sold out...and that one had only two. Talk about

 luck! Thankfully my mother happened to be in the area the next day and was able to pick them up for me...such a sweet little momma:o) 

Aren't they pretty?

Did you happen to notice the ruffly pillow? Wanna know what it was BEFORE it was a pillow? A table runner! I found this table runner at T.J. Maxx for $12.99. They had a few colors to choose from, but this color suited my room the best.

 It just so happened that my shabby, well-slept-on king size pillow was the perfect size to slip inside.

 So I ripped the seams at one end.

 Slid the well-slept-on pillow inside, and stitched it back up.

 Fancy:o)

Are you loving it? I know I am:o) Next on the "to buy" list is a new bed skirt. I want a fru-fru bedskirt that is really full and girly:o)

 And this is a sneak peak "before shot" of the dresser I am working on for E. I have changed it up a bit and finished painting it today. I'm hoping to share the end results with you all either Thursday or Friday.

You won't believe what I paid for it...any guessers? 

No Kidding Bat-Man...

The art of the under-statement from our own Mr Carney!

You would think the fact that local buyers have to go into a ruinous amount of debt to buy anything beyond a 1 bed condo would make it more than just 'probably or likely'...no?

Come out of the closet Mr Carney, you too can say the bubble word. It is liberating. And remember you will be absolved of even more guilt if you call it now, rather than AFTER it bursts like Greenspan and his pet Bernanke.

Some Canada property markets likely overvalued: BoC

Sun Jan 22, 2012 3:09pm EST

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TORONTO (Reuters) - Some parts of the Canadian real estate market are "probably overvalued" and policymakers are monitoring to see if further steps are needed to cool it, the head of the country's central bank said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

It was the second time in recent days that Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney voiced concern about property prices, which surged after the financial crisis as borrowing costs tumbled.

"We see that in a number of real estate markets in Canada, valuations are at a minimum, firm; in others, they're probably overvalued. So there are risks there. We're watching it closely. We're working with our partners, the federal government, the superintendent of financial institutions," he said in an interview on "Question Period" on CTV.

"Measures have been taken. They've been effective. We'll keep up that vigilance. If more needs to be done, I'm sure the appropriate authorities will take those measures."

The federal government has tightened mortgage regulations several times in a bid to prevent a property bubble from forming. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on January 17 that the government is watching the housing market closely and is ready to intervene if needed, but is not about to do so now.

Carney once again warned Canadian exporters that they should look for opportunities beyond the main U.S. market, given the country's economic troubles.

"The nature of the U.S. recovery is, it's going to take a number of years before they get back to the U.S. that we used to know. In fact they're not, in our opinion, ultimately going to get back fully to the U.S. we used to know. So we need new markets," he said, noting the Chinese market is a tremendous opportunity for Canada.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Words That Really Matter

Our memory verse this week...have you guys jumped on board yet?

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

2012 The year of the Water-dragon Starts

And what will it bring for the crazy housing market of Vancouver.

Will it bring the expected throng of Mainland flying in to buy more Multi-Million Dollar homes?

Or will they be a no-show?

Will the inventory build up continue?

Will we get any weakening and if so, will the Fed panic at the first sign of weakening and dive in again to save it from the long over-due correction.

Will Carney grow a set of cajones and stop punishing prudent savers?

How about Flaherty, will he actually mean what he says? He says he won't intervene when the bubble bursts- how likely is he to keep his word when the power of the RE lobby and late-to-the-market owners start complaining.

..May the dragon's tongue of fire burn all the speculators and absentee owners and bring with it a scorching of the edifices of wood that sell for gold and allow the sprouting of new hardy plants which have not been able to reach the sun's rays...

Ideas to Make Life Easier

Here is an email I received today. Thought I would share this tips with you all!

Enjoy!

Hull strawberries easily using a straw.

Rubbing a walnut over scratches in your furniture

will disguise dings and scrapes.  Rubbing a walnut

over scratches in your furniture will disguise dings

and scrapes.

Remove crayon masterpieces from your TV or

computer screen with WD40.

Stop cut apples browning in your child’s lunch box

by securing with a rubber band.

Overhaul your linen cupboard, store bed linen sets

inside one of their own pillowcases and there will

be no more hunting through piles for a match.

Pump up the volume by placing your iPhone & iPod

in a bowl.  The concave shape amplifies the music.

Re-use a wet-wipes container to store plastic bags.

Add this item to your beach bag.  Baby powder

gets sand off your skin easily, who knew?!

Attach a Velcro strip to the wall to store soft toys.

Use wire to make a space to store gift wrap rolls

against the ceiling, rather than cluttering up the

floor.

Find tiny lost items like earrings by putting a

stocking over the vacuum hose.

Make an instant cupcake carrier by cutting

crosses into a box lid.

For those who can’t stand the scrunching and

bunching: how to perfectly fold a fitted sheet.

Forever losing your bathroom essentials?  Use

magnetic strips to store bobby pins, tweezers

and clippers, behind a vanity door

Store shoes inside shower caps to stop dirty

soles rubbing on your clothes.  And you can

find them in just about every hotel.

A muffin pan becomes a craft caddy.  Magnets

hold the plastic cups down to make them

tip-resistant.

Bread tags make the perfect cord labels.

Bake cupcakes directly in ice-cream cones, so

much more fun and easier for kids to eat.

Microwave your own popcorn in a plain brown paper

bag.  Much healthier and cheaper than the packet

stuff.

Install a tension rod to hang your spray bottles.

Turn your muffin pan upside down, bake cookie-dough

over the top and voila, you have cookie bowls for fruit

or ice-cream.

Freeze Aloe Vera in ice-cube trays for soothing

sunburn relief.

Create a window-box veggie patch using guttering.

Use egg cartons to separate and store your

Christmas decorations.

Pretty cool, huh?