I went on stage in front of a paying audience for the first time as a comedic improviser. Was I funny? I don’t know. The audience seemed to be making the right sounds. They laughed. And just like the first time I kept thinking to myself ‘Oh my God I can’t believe I’m really doing this!’ It ended in a big mess and it was over before I knew it.

I have to thank Alistair Cooke and his company Instant Theatre for making the deflowering an easy process as possible. February 12, 2012 marks one year. Just one year ago I took my first Saturday drop in improv class. A year of taking courses at VTSL, goofing around at the odd Urban Improv challenge night, reading improv books from cover to cover and taking in as many shows as humanly possible. But none of that invited me on stage the way the course work is designed at Instant Theatre.

And just like the first time, I want to do it again.

Yes, this is an actual Vancouver listing. Actively for sale at the time of this writing.

Couldn't they close the cupboards?

This industry, what is it; design, marketing, advertising, web development…all of the above?… it’s a tough business – and I have been in music where there are music reviewers. But we expect that.

Never would I expect another band to publish what is wrong (piece by piece) of another artists recording; Another Architect picking apart the choice of windows in a building he did not design (or understand it may have been the owner’s veto on final choice); or another designer in my competitive market to post an image of a site I designed and pick it a part without any regard to owner influence, budget or version.

The critique I read goes directly after the livelihood of another. The other designer wasn’t trying to dupe someone (like we see in SEO and Social Media Marketing companies) and probably wasn’t paid enough to do the work they did.

I did not design the Windermere Real Estate website but I feel for the company or individual that did. Not because it’s a bad site but because it has been displayed and picked apart by the designer’s direct competition. Some good points were made about the site but it’s a consultant’s job to consult when paid and not just when they are mad they didn’t get the job.

UPDATE: It was just pointed out to me privately by a blog reader that the same company who is now slagging the crap out of Winermere Real Estate’s website had written a glowing report of the site just 2 years ealier (minus a month) with “Great job Windermere” at the end. Maybe there needs to be a blog that critiques the critical because this is ridiculous.

Click to see the full size

September home sales in Greater Vancouver were consistent with activity experienced in the preceding two months across most categories.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that the number of residential property sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 2,220 in September 2010. This represents a 0.8 per cent increase compared to August 2010 and 37.6 per cent decline from the 3,559 sales in September 2009.

In comparison, last month’s residential sales represent a 40.1 per cent increase over the 1,585 residential sales in September 2008, a 20 per cent decline compared to September 2007’s 2,776 sales, and an 11.9 per cent decline compared to September 2006’s 2,519 sales.

“We’ve seen fewer properties coming on to the market over the last three months. This trend, combined with the continued attraction of low interest rates, is likely having the effect of less downward pressure on home prices,” Jake Moldowan, REBGV president said.

Since spring, housing prices in the region have trended slightly downward, with a decrease of 2.7 per cent compared to the all-time high reached in April when the MLSLink® Housing Price Index (HPI) residential benchmark price was $593,419. The overall benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver over the last 12 months has increased 5.5 per cent to $577,174 in September 2010 from $547,092 in September 2009. The current price remains consistent with last month, rising just 0.1 per cent between August and September 2010.

Total active property listings posted on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in Greater Vancouver currently sit at 15,401, basically unchanged compared to last month and a 22 per cent increase from September 2009. Over the last three months, active listings in the region have declined12.3 per cent.

New residential property listings posted in September declined 17.6 per cent to 4,731 compared to September 2009 when 5,746 new units were listed.

“We saw signs of more stability in our marketplace last month than we have seen since spring based on a variety of indicators that we look at each month,” Moldowan said. “At 56 days, it took, on average, three days less to sell a home in our region compared to August. This is the first month-over-month decline we’ve seen in this category since April.”

Sales of detached properties in September 2010 reached 866, a decrease of 39.1 per cent from the 1,423 detached sales recorded in September 2009, and a 58.6 per cent increase from the 546 units sold in September 2008. The benchmark price for detached properties increased 6.7 per cent from September 2009 to $790,992.

Sales of apartment properties reached 971 in September 2010, a decline of 34.7 per cent compared to the 1,489 sales in September 2009, and an increase of 27.1 per cent compared to the 764 sales in September 2008.The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 3.7 per cent from September 2009 to $388,373.

(There are those perpetually happy people who never have a bad thing to say about anyone. How do they do it? They don’t blog. Hell, they reveal nothing personal at all).

Most of the buffoonery I speak of is reactionary complaining. Yes, I am complaining about people complaining. When 20,000,000 people die of flooding, life is pretty darn good when all we have to complain about are things that won’t kill us.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that the number of residential property sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 2,255 in July 2010. This represents a 45.2 percent decline from the 4,114 sales in July 2009, the highest selling July ever recorded, and a 24.1 percent decline compared to June 2010.

Looking back further, last month’s residential sales represent a 3.7 percent increase over the 2,174 residential sales in July 2008, a 41.8 percent decline compared to July 2007’s 3,873 sales, and a 17.5 percent decline compared to July 2006’s 2,732 sales.

“With the pace of home sales and listings easing off in our market, we’ve begun to see a levelling of home prices from the record highs seen in the spring, creating greater affordability,” Jake Moldowan, REBGV president said. “Activity in today’s marketplace is clearly trending in favour of buyers.”

The number of properties listed for sale on the market has been trending downward since spring, with 4,138 new listings in July compared to April’s peak of 7,648. New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) declined 17.9 percent in July 2010 compared to July 2009, when 5,041 properties were listed for sale.

At 16,431, the total number of property listings on the MLS® in July declined 6.5 per cent compared to last month and increased 33 percent compared to July 2009.

“It’s currently taking home sellers who work with a REALTOR®, on average, 45 days to sell their property, which is a historically healthy timeframe for people on both sides of a transaction,” Moldowan said.

Since spring, housing prices have decreased 2.8 percent compared to the all-time high reached in April when the residential benchmark price was $593,419. Over the last 12 months, the MLSLink® Housing Price Index (HPI) benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver increased 9.1 percent to $577,074 in July 2010 from $528,821 in July 2009.

Sales of detached properties in July 2010 reached 908, a decrease of 43.7 percent from the 1,614 detached sales recorded in July 2009 and a 9.8 percent increase from the 827 units sold in July 2008. The benchmark price for detached properties increased 11.5 percent from July 2009 to $793,193.

Sales of apartment properties reached 979 in July 2010, a decline of 42.7 percent compared to the 1,708 sales in July 2009 and an increase of 1.3 percent compared to the 966 sales in July 2008.The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 6.2 percent from July 2009 to $387,879.

Attached property sales in July 2010 totalled 368, a decline of 53.5 percent compared to the 792 sales in July 2009 and a 3.4 percent decline from the 381 attached properties sold in July 2008. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 8.6 percent between July 2009 and 2010 to $490,995.

This picture is of the guard shack just after crossing the Upper Lillooet bridge and climbing a short gravel road hill. The bridge is normally well above the river and so this area is quite a distance above and in fact is posted as a “safe zone”. You can see the safe zone sign just behind the little shack. The bridge deck floating in the debri is not, I have read, the Upper Lillooet bridge but I am not so sure about that. It looks a lot like it and seems to be in the right position.

The next “Safe Zone” was the Upper Lillooet Campground which I am told is surrounded by debri but otherwise OK.

So here it is, blurred name and contact but everything else left exactly as is. An original hand drawn info-graphic of bad things happening to bad people. Even the skewed layout is original. Click the image to see every methodical detail that went into this beauty.

And that’s all I’m going to say. What do you say?

UPDATE August 3, 2010
I syndicate this blog to my Twitter and Facebook page which is where most friends tend to comment. I’m not sure what to do about that. If they all commented here it would be a party and the blog might get more comments and exciting things might happen like an exiled Eastern Europian Czar might join the conversation and be enlightened by all of our comments and the extreme grooviness and funked out flavour of my friends that he would invite us to his castle in some Autrian hide-away for a 3 week party…but no.

Here is one such comment (from Facebook) which explains the reason for an update:

“That’s actually a pretty famous old woodcut, it’s popularly referenced in the personal development movement. It’s pretty emblematic of the editorial cartoon style of the day as well. Even Matt Groening did ‘a slapdash homage to a great old illustration’.

http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/preview6.jpg

Compared to a lot of Realtor ads that urge buyers to ‘buy now or be priced out forever!’ or claim that ‘prices are only going up!’ this one is actually pretty nice, if a little off-topic.”

I do have focus: Real Estate.

I like the real estate industry and position I am in. Never bored. Everyone is always in a decent mood. Right now websites are flying out the door and people seem to want to push technology to the maximum as a form of proof of (insert your communication here). Hopefully advertising campaigns will come back like lawn bowling once everyone realizes that being the first in technology is … just being the first in technology. Or that they might want to communicate something more.

The real problem I have with the real estate industry is this: Real Estate Agents are viewed as being lower than used car dealers. Real Estate developers are viewed as the reason people are homeless and living on the street. (There is an anti-real estate development poster on the wall of the complex I live in). Talk about friendly neighbours.

This is why when I see work like this flier I cringe. When I tell people I do real estate marketing, do they think I do this?

This person needs more than just listings. She needs more than a new picture photo-copied on canary coloured paper. She needs a plan that doesn’t involve bringing down the entire industry.

I put it up for you to have a laugh. For me? it’s not that funny.