Vancouver Condo Developer Pays People $1800 To Line Up

Vancouver Condo Developer Pays People $1800 To Line Up

Last week a couple of people contacted us to ask why we’ve never covered the massive lineups for condos. Seemed a little weird at the time, since even China and Russia are talking about how overheated the Vancouver real estate market is – but it didn’t stand out. Then we found out that a developer was using a publicist to hire people to line up for a condo, and it started to make sense. Desperate developers are looking to build pre-sale demand (actually they might have been doing this the whole time), and are seriously screwing with how in-demand real estate really is in Vancouver.

Publicist Offers $1800

Before you quit your job to stand in line for developers, there’s a catch – it’s $1800 for almost a week. According to the now deleted post on this Vancouver jobs Facebook group, the publicist was looking for people that would camp in line for a new condo development from November 28 – December 3. The 5 day long working stint works out to $15/hr, less expenses. Oh yeah, because you’re an independent contractor, you’ll need to provide your own “chair, food, and sleeping bag.” Not the worst gig, but definitely not the most lucrative one either.

Vancouver Condo Developer Hiring People To Line Up
Vancouver listing offering to pay people to line up. Unfortunately the listing was removed from the Facebook job group, but lucky for us Garth Turner had saved a copy. 

Demand Is Actually High

Despite developers paying people to stand in line, Vancouver’s condo market is still hot. It’s just not the smoldering pit it was earlier this year. Condo resale absorption is currently sitting at 68%, which places it a full 48 percentage points into a sellers market. Unfortunately for developers, it’s not the 88% we saw last year at this time. The days of lining up for new condos are probably over, but did they ever exist?

Diving Speculation

Speaking of high demand that developers are pretending is at Everest levels, this is driving an insane amount of speculation. Last week we found out that 1 in 10 homes being resold in Vancouver have never been lived in – sometimes for years. You would think that’s soft demand, but it’s the opposite. These homes are being absorbed by buyers at a much higher rate than the industry averages.

This tiny job posting speaks volumes about the Vancouver real estate market. Developers have convinced speculators that demand is so high, there’s enough room for the average person to make an extra few dollars flipping condos to regular folks. Now that regular folks aren’t fighting to buy pre-construction, this may be the first sign that speculative capital is drying up.


Photo of Vancouver condos by David J Laport

 

9 Comments

COMMENT POLICY:

We encourage you to have a civil discussion. Note that reads "civil," which means don't act like jerks to each other. Still unclear? No name-calling, racism, or hate speech. Seriously, you're adults – act like it.

Any comments that violates these simple rules, will be removed promptly – along with your full comment history. Oh yeah, you'll also lose further commenting privileges. So if your comments disappear, it's not because the illuminati is screening you because they hate the truth, it's because you violated our simple rules.

  • Reply
    Alice 7 years ago

    Always figured they were doing this. Nice to know how much they pay.

  • Reply
    Sean 7 years ago

    Or as Garth calls says, “lawn Asians” wanted.

    • Reply
      Dave Calhoud 7 years ago

      That’s incredibly racist. Most developers in Vancouver aren’t even Asian.

  • Reply
    Get a job. | Vancouver Condo Info 7 years ago

    […] Of course you could go to the source of the money fountain and flip condos or become a realtor, but if you don’t have the time for a 2 week course here’s another opportunity: Condo Lineups. […]

    • Reply
      Already got a job 7 years ago

      Maybe study the real estate course while getting paid to stand in line? Best of both worlds!

  • Reply
    Dave 7 years ago

    I like how the news last night covered the condo, but didn’t figure out that people were being paid to do it. MSM is getting shadier by the day.

  • Reply
    James 7 years ago

    So..how do we know it is the developer that put this on? I don’t see how they have tied this to the developer. This is most likely for The City of Lougheed which has already sold half or more of the building before public opening, and as of yesterday had 187 people camped out (not staying all day, checking in and keeping their chair in line). So..did they paid 187 people? What would be the value in 15 of 187 chairs being fake buyers be? I don’t see the value to the developer. However, the rules for this project state “one condo can be purchased per person in line” so most likely this advertisement is from a realtor wanting 15 people to stand in line for 15 of their investors that want to buy.

    • Reply
      Turdeau Morneau 7 years ago

      No idea what The City of Lougheed is, but typically you pay people to seed a line. The line then creates FOMO for actual buyers. It’s a trick event promoters that typically do music venues use.

    • Reply
      David 7 years ago

      This is the dumbest “theory” I’ve ever heard. So what, there’s a limit of one per person, so these people are committing fraud and applying for loans in their names for $1800? It’s a condo, not a pair of sneakers. It’s going to be in that person’s name.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *