The New Year arrived, as predicted and on time on January 1st. We know it did as that occurrence is now in the past AND they reported it in the Vancouver Sun newspaper. Your scribe and his equally crazy wife have the photographs and two buttons reading ‘English Bay Beach – January 1, 2015 Vancouver Polar Bear Swim Club’ to prove it, a first for us and a steady shrinking of bucket list items! I guess this activity helps to link things like climbing Everest, frigid water and the question WHY?
What the foregoing clumsily illustrates is the ease with which we can “predict” the past, or things that have happened. Crystal-balling the future is murky at best. I will admit to plagiarizing some thoughts after reading a well written column by Daphne Bramham in the Vancouver Sun (…you remember, the ones that, in the preceding paragraph predicted/confirmed the arrival of 2015) produced Jan 3rd thus confirming their dedication to factual journalism by waiting until The Day had arrived! Ms Bramham’s column was headed “Its a New Year. Let’s all slow down, check our facts and think”. It was a plea for less ‘uninformed criticism and opinion’ and can be accessed at rem.ax/1FOTK5F
Part of her treatise focuses on our upcoming Federal election and the challenge we all face in the “(negative) attacks …eroding citizens trust in politicians, politics and even democracy”. She refers to Kirk LaPoint, (Gregor Robinson’s) major opponent in the recent Vancouver Mayoral election, saying that he would quit if his party went negative. It is not for me to say if his party (or he) did, you make that call, but a defamation suit was filed against him.
Enough quoting! The key message of the column was, I believe, to i)give credence only to those claims that are based on verifiable data and ii)be wary of “endlessly repeated ads, strident social media (tweets), knee jerk reaction or ideological cant (passed off) as opinion. Likewise opinion on Real Estate not based on factual data should be questioned. Consider the many commentators over the past 10 years who have assured their disciples that ANY increase creates a ‘bubble’ that MUST burst. My strong belief in the cyclical nature of Real Estate values, is I know, evident and clearly borne out by statistical data over time. Please see the REBGV data covering the year to date changes for 2013/2014 shown below. We will however follow with interest the impact of petroleum prices on the residential market. More to come……