When Local Bloggers Depart

Posted on March 13, 2007

The blogger at the Vancouver Housing Market Blog was blogging regularly until one day readers of the blog loaded up the site's homepage (or their RSS reader) to find this shocking message.

Things have changed on the off-line front. I have to go now. It has been a lot of fun. I might be back sometime in the future, but I need to stop for awhile anyway.
TaTa For Now.

And just as things are looking pretty grim on the housing front especially in the subprime market. The departure of the blogger at the Vancouver Housing Market Blog (VHB) resulted in this article appearing in The Tyee called, "Pop Goes Real Estate Bubble Blogger." The article says some of the blog's daily readers were shocked to read the blogger's goodbye message.

Usually, the VHB provides links, charts, stats and commentary (like about the number of properties on the Vancouver market and their average prices, historical patterns, comparisons between Vancouver and other cities) that have the implicit questions -- is this a bubble and will it crash?
His last post on Friday left no indication that a halt was in the works, so those who visited his blog on Monday morning expressed surprise. "This is very sudden and I am sad to hear that the mysterious VHB will no longer be making the prescient posts I have become used to reading over the past 12+ months," said a commenter named Mohican.
"Please!!! Don't go! She'll come round!! Just involve her more...She can do some graphs and you guys can research, together," said a commenter named Mighty Mouse.

When a local blogger covering a niche subject like the housing market disappears it can leave quite a hole. All that good fresh coverage and insight just stops coming. Since leaving the VHB blogger has returned to leave this message.

Thanks to all who have posted such nice things over the past few weeks. Life is going very well, thank you. I do miss blogging in a way, but on the whole it is better to get on with the coolness that is life. Enjoy the crash! (Whenever it comes . . .) VHB out.

It look like someone else will have to pick up the slack in local housing market coverage for Vancouver.