Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[Badhobz]

This got me rolling GLOW

Rimpy = ren and stimpy combined.

[PeanutButter]

CRA priority is income generating revenue.. They don't care if the activity is legal or not. So if you have an illegal suite, but you're producing income, you have to report it..
Same if you're a drug dealer..

It's not CRA's responsibility to determine your by-law adherence, they just want to get paid.

[GLOW]

cra didn't choose the thug lyfe...

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by PeanutButter

CRA priority is income generating revenue.. They don't care if the activity is legal or not. So if you have an illegal suite, but you're producing income, you have to report it..
Same if you're a drug dealer..

It's not CRA's responsibility to determine your by-law adherence, they just want to get paid.

My neighbour is taking 4K cash a month renting his main portion of the house and not claiming it. He just retired and has some trash pension

Feel like an audit is on the horizon lol

[Traum]

$1.35M (asking) freehold detached home in Vancouver -- I can hardly believe it when I saw it:

https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/2...enue-vancouver



Of course there are some catches, but it is still pretty darn amazing to see an asking price like that. How much do you suppose this one would sell for?

[hud 91gt]

1.5ish.

[lowside67]

Originally Posted by Traum

$1.35M (asking) freehold detached home in Vancouver -- I can hardly believe it when I saw it:

https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/2...enue-vancouver



Of course there are some catches, but it is still pretty darn amazing to see an asking price like that. How much do you suppose this one would sell for?

It's 25% less land than even a Vancouver Special and at 1450sf and 3 bedrooms total, it generally is not enough house to accommodate a family with a mortgage helper. It's really not that cheap, it's just less house and land than is normally permitted.

-Mark

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Traum

$1.35M (asking) freehold detached home in Vancouver -- I can hardly believe it when I saw it:

https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/2...enue-vancouver



Of course there are some catches, but it is still pretty darn amazing to see an asking price like that. How much do you suppose this one would sell for?

Assessment is $1.55m but that tree is going to be a problem - city definitely won't let them take it down. I'm seeing full lots listed at $1.6m so I'd guess this one doesn't go for more than $1.4m since it's only 75% of the size.

[bcedhk]

Originally Posted by supafamous

Assessment is $1.55m but that tree is going to be a problem - city definitely won't let them take it down. I'm seeing full lots listed at $1.6m so I'd guess this one doesn't go for more than $1.4m since it's only 75% of the size.

I wouldn't say 'definitely'... City will probably push back against cutting the tree, but there's no rule in their Tree Bylaw that says it can't be cut if it is interfering with the new building envelope. The owner can also hire an arborist to write off the new construction will cause enough root damage to make the tree not survive.

I think this is a good site for someone who is willing to spend the money on a good architect to build something that is efficient and long-lasting. It's a prime location, close to the school and park, so it should be a good long-term investment.

[unit]

we have a 2br condo that we find is not only too small but just doesn't really meet our needs in so many ways. we purchased for 725k 5 years ago, its probably sitting at just over 800k now (listings for similar suites in the building are around 850 or so, but nobodys buying).

we want to move up to a house but unfortunately even the cheapest houses in surrey (i work in surrey), are 100-200k out of our range, even with some savings thrown at it.
i've seen some decent houses for 1.1-1.2 but im sure there will be many offers over asking for those ones. the other ones under 1.1 are super dumpy and non livable. for about 1.2 there are some decent options that come up here and there.
1.3 is simply too high for us right now but that's sort of the starting range for an actually good home on a big lot, but nothing fancy.

also if we want to position ourselves to get anything, we figure we need to sell our place first and wait for the right opportunity. we are lucky enough that my parents have a totally vacant finished basement that we could potentially move into until the right house comes along, so that's an option, to sell the condo and live there while saving money to add to our down payment.

now i just need a reality check here which is why im asking. is this a stupid idea since we still need time to bridge that borrowing gap, and in the meantime houses could very well start ticking up again, and i'll be on the sidelines without a property at that point? could take a few years of eating rice and beans for us to amass that type of savings that could actually get us to where we need to be, but if housing just ticks up 10-15% then we'd be no better off than where we are now. the other option is to rent out the apartment, but i'd still be underwater a little bit after all the expenses, compared to the rental income. that might be the safer route, but it wouldnt position us well if something came up for sale and we wanted to put an offer on it without conditions (sale of the condo).

[JDMDreams]

^^ how much can you realistically save if you moved in with your parents? $2000 a month? $24000 a year isn't really gonna help you out much in terms of a detached, I'm sure just with inflation prices will go up more than that on a detached. What about slightly further out or duplex large town house?

[Traum]

Looking at it purely from a practical and security point of view, IMO the most effective way for you to bridge that gap and build up some funds is to move back into your parents' basement, and rent out your current apartment. The rental market is still supposed to be pretty tight, and if you are starting fresh as a landlord, you can charge the market rate instead of some undervalued amount with no hope of meaningfully increasing it. Even if rent isn't enough to cover your mortgage payments, the extra funds from rent should still help a long way, and it will free up room for you to build up that down payment war chest.

Originally Posted by unit

now i just need a reality check here which is why im asking. is this a stupid idea since we still need time to bridge that borrowing gap, and in the meantime houses could very well start ticking up again, and i'll be on the sidelines without a property at that point? could take a few years of eating rice and beans for us to amass that type of savings that could actually get us to where we need to be, but if housing just ticks up 10-15% then we'd be no better off than where we are now. the other option is to rent out the apartment, but i'd still be underwater a little bit after all the expenses, compared to the rental income. that might be the safer route, but it wouldnt position us well if something came up for sale and we wanted to put an offer on it without conditions (sale of the condo).

[Eff-1]

I'm curious, would you consider a town house if you are looking for extra room but can't afford fully detached? That's the boat we are in at the moment. The leap from condo to detached is realistically too big.

[unit]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

^^ how much can you realistically save if you moved in with your parents? $2000 a month? $24000 a year isn't really gonna help you out much in terms of a detached, I'm sure just with inflation prices will go up more than that on a detached. What about slightly further out or duplex large town house?

we're already saving a good amount per month but yes the additional would be around $3k per month by not living in the condo. also if we did sell it it would mean we'd be positioned to buy without conditions. yeah the issue is mainly that we don't really have enough money to bridge the gap to get the mortgage we need for a desirable property. we can afford the monthly if we get the mortgage, but the bank won't take a lot of our income into account since a lot of changes to our income happened recently.

[ilovebacon]

Originally Posted by PeanutButter

CRA priority is income generating revenue.. They don't care if the activity is legal or not. So if you have an illegal suite, but you're producing income, you have to report it..
Same if you're a drug dealer..

It's not CRA's responsibility to determine your by-law adherence, they just want to get paid.

Dont worry, this is why digital ID and digital currency comes into play.

[tofu1413]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

I'm curious, would you consider a town house if you are looking for extra room but can't afford fully detached? That's the boat we are in at the moment. The leap from condo to detached is realistically too big.

medium to bigger town houses (1400-2200 sq ft) are a great fit.

Currently have a 1500sq ft and if it wasnt because the amount of crap lying around, i'm sure I can have 2 more people in my house easily.

and the greatest perk is having your own garage for storage (and car guy stuff)


was really thinking heavily upgrading to detatched but both the wife and I are rarely home, so the town house works for us so far since strata takes care of the exterior of the place. We might consider another town house in the future but with a bigger floor plan closer or over 2000sqft.

[unit]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

I'm curious, would you consider a town house if you are looking for extra room but can't afford fully detached? That's the boat we are in at the moment. The leap from condo to detached is realistically too big.

its the yard that i really want for gardening and our pets, but if we really cant afford more then the space gained moving into a th would be a big plus, especially if there is a 2 car garage. also even if the house is just ok, at least we can plan to build a new but modest house on the big lot 10+ years later.
in surrey the lots are like 6000 for a small one and 8000 for a decent one, and even 10000+ for a bigger one. they are massive which is what we want.

[Tapioca]

If you're a car guy, a pet owner, and a gardener, a large townhouse isn't going to do it for you long term.

Unless it's an older townhouse complex with a large footprint, you won't have a driveway long enough to park your daily car(s). If you buy an older townhouse, you will probably hate the layout and will have to work with the strata to ensure that all of your renovations are above board. Good luck knocking down walls without hiring structural engineers to sign off the work, for example. Add an additional 30% in costs to have everything done with contractors that are properly insured and with the necessary permits if you want to renovate an old strata townhouse unit.

Also, even if you have a yard, your strata may not permit you to actually grow anything in the ground. You will have to use standalone planters, which kind of dashes your hopes of growing your own seasonal vegetables, etc.

And of course, even if you live in a townhouse strata complex, there may be restrictions on the number and breeds of the pets you may have in your unit. For the most part, neighbours are good as long as your dogs are trained, but it just takes that one person...

Might as well buy a house in Aldergrove or Abbotsford.

[hud 91gt]

I don’t think that’s a true statement.

I have a shop bigger than 90% of homeowners. It’s tandem but works well for the enthusiast. Parking for 3 vehicles. My rear patio is covered in garden boxes where we grow an array of vegetables every year… when we have the family pets, I don’t see any issue as long as you like to walk.

Maybe I’m biased, having grown up in a townhouse in a single parent household, where the lack of maintenance was huge. You certainly have the option to do whatever you want as long as you get along with your neighbours and have the right layout.

[Tapioca]

Fair enough. I also speak from experience living in an early 2000s townhouse complex with pretty lenient enforcement of the bylaws.

My in-laws had a mid-2000s, 2000 square foot townhouse with a driveway, but they eventually upsized to a detached on a 7000 square foot lot because they wanted room to pursue their gardening hobby.

[Euro7r]

@unit - coming from a similar situation as you as well. Wife & I had a one bedroom, and wanted to upgrade to detached. We skipped the townhouse and duplex because I hate sharing LOL. Well not exactly, more so the math made sense where we could be spending the same amount for older detached versus new duplex. We weighed out our options whether to keep the condo and rent it out, while pursuing detached. The numbers didn't make sense at current interest rate levels to rent out as our rent didn't cover all the overhead, so we decided to sell it and move back to my parents for time being. Once we sold, we were aggressively looking because you don't want to wait too long, as things start going up (keeping in mind we didn't have the condo to at least keep up with the market increases). If you decide to sell, then you gotta make sure your ready to be active in looking every week.

My dad kept telling me, just take your time and there isn't a rush. He doesn't understand math and the market, so he never will understand why we do what we do. Say you stash away $30K savings each year living back at home. Say home goes up $100K every year you stay living at home, you pretty much have fallen behind and hard to catch up that gap. If ur savings is in par of home increases, can take all the time you need.

There are a lot of things to consider and definitely stressful just thinking about it. I got into a lot of family arguments because everyone has their own fucking opinion.

[unit]

yeah you're correct, the best reason to move back home isnt to save that $3k/mo it's to be ready to put an offer down at a moments notice. if i can't really bridge that gap then there's not much point of doing that yet. i think the best option would be to make sure we have the ability to get the mortgage we need to get the type of property we need, and then sell at that point and live in the parents place while looking aggressively.

if we can't afford it yet, no point. maybe the only other option is to look into the th option or just keep saving money and hoping the market stays stagnant for a few more years, but somehow i doubt that's going to happen.

[donk.]

Originally Posted by supafamous

that tree is going to be a problem - city definitely won't let them take it down.

200$ will get rid of that tree "accidently"

[Hondaracer]

A few copper nails in it over a year or two would do it in lol

I have a weird thing with trees lol hate cutting them down especially mature trees. Swear as you get older you seem to become obsessed with cutting down fucking trees lol both my neighbours on either side asking me about trees on my property etc. I’m like don’t fucking touch them, do you know how long trees take to grow ffs?

I’d rather shoot a deer than cut down a nice tree lol

[Great68]

Does Vancouver not require tree replacement if a new development needs to take out existing trees?

Saanich & Victoria are super strict on this.
Besides special protections for some species (Arbutus, Garry Oak, Dogwood, Yew, Fir, Maple, Western Red Cedar), ANY species of tree that's over 60cm in diameter at breast height is a also automatically protected.

And they will review any development application and will only allow these trees to be removed if absolutely necessary. AND if it is necessary, the trees must be replaced on the property at a 2:1 ratio.

I have a Deodar Cedar tree in my back yard that's close to the 50cm mark that I'm watching and considering cutting down at the 59cm mark just so it doesn't cross that protected status line.

Trees are great, but they're a fucking mess. I'm constantly raking the cones and needles of the Deodar, it'll fill 12 of those 120l rubbermaid garbage bins with shit it drops per year. The best thing about my yard is that the big oak trees surrounding my are all in my neighbour's yards. I get to look at them, they get the lawn full of acorns and shit to deal with.