This past month I came across no less than 3 more articles talking about how Vancouver homeowners are becoming instant millionaires.
How regular folks working 9 to 5 are somehow being cheated and that these newly minted millionaires should not be entitled to these gains.
The latest article profiles a group of East Vancouver homeowners who are in the process of selling their homes as part of a land assembly. The author tries to create a feeling of injustice and animosity towards the homeowners. These types of articles formed the catalyst for my new book (out this Spring 2017) I will leave you with an early review from a US business publication on my upcoming book.
VANCOUVER, BC. - Dec. 20, 2016 - In recent years, Vancouver has seen the rise of a new controversial group. These are the so-called “lazy” millionaires. People who have made their millions just by owning property during Vancouver’s real estate boom.
Having earned their fortunes with seemingly no work, these millionaires have provoked outrage. From scathing editorials to calls for legislation, much of the public seems angered by the apparent unfairness of the situation.
Yet is it really so unfair?
Not according to respected Vancouver realtor Owen Bigland. In Bigland’s view, such millionaires are not to be condemned nor viewed as “lazy”. Instead, he believes they should be seen as proof of the rewards for long-term investing.
Bigland expresses this view in a new book entitled, Along for the Ride. With its release (Mar 2017), the book seems certain to provoke controversy.
Controversy is likely, in part, because of the book’s view on “lazy” real estate millionaires. Rather than condemn, Bigland defends these millionaires. He calls their success justified after holding property during earlier downturns. Where was the outrage, he asks, when the markets were uncertain and these individuals chose not to sell their properties? Where too, is the outrage over early investors in Pepsi and other now-lucrative stocks? People who made fortunes off those stocks simply by holding them into the present? Such “visionary” stock investors are no different than Vancouver’s “lazy” real estate millionaires. For these two groups to be treated differently is a blatant double standard, according to Bigland.
