Real Estate Talks

Hello RET'ers,

First of all, we are in Fuzhou for my family's journey, (http://www.AroundTheWorldIn80Anthems.com), NOT business. However, as a 16 year Vancouver Realtor, I thought I'd offer some thoughts. I am writing this from a land computer in Taipei as my ipad does not like RET very much (anyone else have this problem?). I can post some of the pics I took when I get back but I cannot post them from this hotel computer.

Wow. Just wow. Fuzhou is China's 44th largest city. It is absolutely MASSIVE. Personally, I was born and raised in Mississauga, ON so I am used to the size of Ontario landwise and the development there, which always seemed more substantial than BC. I went to the University of Guelph and I visit annually. Ontario's development, I thought, was pretty crazy over the last 20yrs. Note this is also our 29th country on this journey. I have been to NYC, London, Singapore, Taipei... I have seen my share of massive cities. I have NEVER seen the development going on like I saw in Fuzhou.

I personally saw 20 to 25 developments of a minimum of 6 towers each. Each tower is at least 40 stories and many in the 60 story range. I saw also developments of 8-12 towers each with each tower hovering around 50 stories. I saw more cranes in this city then anything I have ever witnessed in my life. No exaggeration. Each one of these develoments dwarfed anything I have ever seen in British Columbia. Each one was like the complete makeover of the Brentwood Mall area in Burnaby. I also noticed that the 12 towers in our area that seem finished are empty. There are no people in them. There are also no insects, no birds, no squirrels....anywhere. Absolutely nothing. It is rather apocolyptic. I was told by the Hilton hotel staff that people will move in when the large mall is finished but it seemed odd as there was hardly anyone walking around this massive neighbourhood at all. The area nearby is very busy with people. But I do not see how these towers can be so easily inhabited by the locals. Everything is massive. The highways. The intersections. We drove from Fuzhou airport to an area about 2 hrs away. During that drive, I saw even more development of 8-12 tower clusters. The haze of pollution was also pretty disturbing. It was constant.

I should also note that even the taxi drivers did not know their way around the city very well due to it's size and infrastructure (no, they weren't simply lying to us, they genuinely did not know the way before the meter was running).

I have no idea who is financing all of these buildings but they must have endless pockets. I also noticed 'The Construction Bank of China' had many banks around the areas mentioned. I fully admit my ignorance here regarding who owns what or who is financing what. All I know is that considering it isn't even in the top 30 cities of China, this was a very eye-opening and rather imposing first impression. Holy smokes.

That's all the time I have. Sorry for the pointform-ish writing. I was in a rush.

Tom

The East is Red. The Dragon awakes. This is China's century. What does it mean for us?

The implications are more profound than $$$ for Vancouver. Will there be a Trump-style resistance movement? Will we invest enough to stay ahead? Can we complement or compete against China? Your children's future is at stake.

Hi Tom, you are probably witnessing a biggest human population movement in history: Chinese government let billion of farmers move into cities, to free mussel and land for new technologies. As I read, it is just the beginning, the program is for 10 years from now.

You are right about Fuzhou, a city in China like Windsor in Canada.

The sheer scale of infrastructure spending has many a fixed income analyst confused. It has never been tried before without significant fallout via lower GDP growth and a rough few years of rebalancing. Maybe China can do it because reasons but if not that's one giant hangover.

The sheer scale of infrastructure spending has many a fixed income analyst confused. It has never been tried before without significant fallout via lower GDP growth and a rough few years of rebalancing. Maybe China can do it because reasons but if not that's one giant hangover.

Thats assuming you believe anything that their govt says.

If it's so good there, why the rush to leave? mind you, I would hate to live there too.

The East is Red. The Dragon awakes. This is China's century. What does it mean for us?

The implications are more profound than $$$ for Vancouver. Will there be a Trump-style resistance movement? Will we invest enough to stay ahead? Can we complement or compete against China? Your children's future is at stake.

mostly envy thats all

The East is Red. The Dragon awakes. This is China's century. What does it mean for us?

The implications are more profound than $$$ for Vancouver. Will there be a Trump-style resistance movement? Will we invest enough to stay ahead? Can we complement or compete against China? Your children's future is at stake.

mostly envy thats all

You will 'envys' too.

It's kinda funny, when the British came to HK it could be considered at the time and presently "Hong Kong Version 2.0"

Now we have Vancouver in a similar revision with HK coming to "British" Columbia

it's "Hong Kong Version 3.0"

a different kind of Hong Kong

can you blame them?

the locals and natives here had it good here for so long, maybe didn't realize the value and just receded into the complacency of it.

but the Chinese and HKers saw something different. They saw a new beginning. A new civilization for the Chinese people and their children. A place to procreate in the first world that is safe and welcoming to their children. Where their children will find other Asian/Chinese children and they will mate in the large population to choose from.

Chinese don't think in 5 year plans, they think in century plans and thousands of years.

Is it a bad thing? there are so many hot Asian girls here. Everyone wants a good choice of mates to choose from.

LOL - I thought China was so great.... why is everyone rushing for the exits?

LOL - I thought China was so great.... why is everyone rushing for the exits?

because it's too much of everything. people, polllution, competition, factories, pretty much everything good and bad lol

Canada is peaceful, clean and safe and throw in the Asian population and it will be the destination for those able to leave and the elite for the forseeable future.

LOL - I thought China was so great.... why is everyone rushing for the exits?

because it's too much of everything. people, polllution, competition, factories, pretty much everything good and bad lol

Canada is peaceful, clean and safe and throw in the Asian population and it will be the destination for the forseeable future.

LOL - until too many Asians come and they say, ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww...we left China for this?

LOL - I thought China was so great.... why is everyone rushing for the exits?

because it's too much of everything. people, polllution, competition, factories, pretty much everything good and bad lol

Canada is peaceful, clean and safe and throw in the Asian population and it will be the destination for the forseeable future.

LOL - until too many Asians come and they say, ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww...we left China for this?

could be for some, they won't like it but for many it's a new beginning.

Canadians should stand up for themselves and stop being politically correct.

you can go to the USA and join Trumps campaign for that.

Why do Americans and similar minded people/Caucasian people from UK/Europe bring their hatred here to Canada?

what a poison to society they are to this beautiful country.

one thing is in common, they want something for nothing!!! self entitlement and false sense of self righteousness

you can go to the USA and join Trumps campaign for that.

Why do Americans and similar minded people/Caucasian people from UK/Europe bring their hatred here to Canada?

what a poison to society they are to this beautiful country.

one thing is in common, they want something for nothing!!! self entitlement and false sense of self righteousness

it's only Caucasians eh?

but that's not racist of you to say, right?