Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[bcedhk]

Most cites require a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio for replacing mature trees, but that's a new tree with a DBH of <20cm.

With the recent updates to infill and 'affordable housing' demand, I don't think City staff delay development over a single tree if it means adding an addition 2-3 units to a lot.

[Great68]

My japanese plum is looking pretty good right now though :P

[quasi]

I had some small trees in terrible locations in my current place when I moved in, they magically disappeared one day before they had a chance to get too big and cause issues down the road.

I like trees but when morons plan them within a few feet of the house you have to wonder what they were thinking?

[xxxrsxxx]

Speaking about trees, so I have this big tall tree on city sidewalk but it looks like the roots has made it's way into my property. My indoor sidewalk is lifted up and is not a hazard to walk. I call the city and the inspector said there's nothing he can do about it because it's on private property, even though the main cause is from a city tree....
It's up to me and at my cost to fix the issue on my side of the property which sucks. What are the risk if I leave it alone in terms of house structure, can it continue to grow and damage the house?

[JDMDreams]

What about elder care? Will you eventually need to move back home? Or you parents downside move to condo as they get older? Parents take care of your kids? Inheritance? Cuz there's no point of stretching to buy a detached if your parents will hand you one 10 20 years down the road. Or yea move further out, the maple ridge? Cuz I don't really need a detached it's just nice to have to space to hoard cars and possible rental income.

[sdubfid]

Hey unit,

What if instead of eating rice and beans for a couple years you devote that effort to increasing your income? Nothing wrong with the rice and beans but I feel there needs to be a longer term goal or you will be in the same position a couple years down the road. Also even if your rental is slightly cashflow negative you are still building equity and get the appreciation. Not ideal but it’s not crazy bad. Appreciation in the lower mainland can be more than most peoples full time jobs.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

What about elder care? Will you eventually need to move back home? Or you parents downside move to condo as they get older? Parents take care of your kids? Inheritance? Cuz there's no point of stretching to buy a detached if your parents will hand you one 10 20 years down the road. Or yea move further out, the maple ridge? Cuz I don't really need a detached it's just nice to have to space to hoard cars and possible rental income.

I'm not hearing kids in this situation as a reason for upsizing.

What's the point of inheriting a detached house when you're 60 years old and can't do the things that you want to do, like gardening and building space for your pets?

Prior to the pandemic, I was super motivated to get our family into a larger home. In my opinion, I think this whole thing about waiting for moments that may not come is somewhat harmful. Most people in this thread who are serious about upsizing are likely in their late 30s or early 40s. Realistically, there's not much time left to make these types of moves. If you know what you want, you might as well be honest with yourself and take your best shot, instead of settling.

[Hondaracer]

It’s like people who wait to renovate their place till right before they sell.

You could have enjoyed the renovation and gained the added value etc. of having it done the entire time but you renovate right before you sell and never enjoy it? What’s the point lol

[unit]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

What about elder care? Will you eventually need to move back home? Or you parents downside move to condo as they get older? Parents take care of your kids? Inheritance? Cuz there's no point of stretching to buy a detached if your parents will hand you one 10 20 years down the road. Or yea move further out, the maple ridge? Cuz I don't really need a detached it's just nice to have to space to hoard cars and possible rental income.

i wouldn't say 'no point', since nothing is guaranteed in life. so many things can happen in 10-20 years, and i don't want to wait till i'm an old man to live in a detached house unless i truly can't afford to.

Originally Posted by sdubfid

Hey unit,

What if instead of eating rice and beans for a couple years you devote that effort to increasing your income? Nothing wrong with the rice and beans but I feel there needs to be a longer term goal or you will be in the same position a couple years down the road. Also even if your rental is slightly cashflow negative you are still building equity and get the appreciation. Not ideal but it’s not crazy bad. Appreciation in the lower mainland can be more than most peoples full time jobs.

that's a good point, but i run my own business and pay myself this salary that is more than enough for me, except for securing a massive loan apparently lol. even if i increased it now it wouldn't do me much good to secure a bigger loan for a few years since they take a 2 yr average. also i hate paying so much in taxes so i like to keep my salary somewhat modest. buying a second place would be hard since it's cashflow negative, i would need even more money from the bank and i already have the problem of not having enough.

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

I'm not hearing kids in this situation as a reason for upsizing.

What's the point of inheriting a detached house when you're 60 years old and can't do the things that you want to do, like gardening and building space for your pets?

Those sound exactly like the hobbies of a 60-80 year old

[underscore]

Originally Posted by quasi

I like trees but when morons plan them within a few feet of the house you have to wonder what they were thinking?

That it looks pretty now, who cares what'll happen in a decade or three!

[JDMDreams]

Also have you run the math on how much you can afford now? Cuz the rates are still super high and your payments are most likely gonna be way more expensive than your current MTG plus additional borrowed amount. That's why it kinda sucks to upgrade now cuz your qualified borrowing is less plus your payments will be much higher.

[68style]

How oome a 2 bedroom doesn't work for 2 adults? Is it just the shape of the place or layout maybe?

I'm doing 1 and a den for 2 adults and 2 dogs... it's not bad... no ideal but not bad. 2 bedroom would be perfect I think. That said I'm on the ground floor and have a big patio too.

[carsncars]

Originally Posted by 68style

How oome a 2 bedroom doesn't work for 2 adults? Is it just the shape of the place or layout maybe?

I'm doing 1 and a den for 2 adults and 2 dogs... it's not bad... no ideal but not bad. 2 bedroom would be perfect I think. That said I'm on the ground floor and have a big patio too.

I'm guessing a few factors involved including preferences. My friend and his wife live in a 2 BR condo, but both WFH 5 days/week, both are homebodies, and they're itching for more space.

Then in my case we live in a 1+den but we both work long hours out of the house, and generally prefer spending time off out of the house.

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by unit

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.

Bridge loans are your friend in this situation - they're easy to get from the bank and they buy you enough time to sell your current place if you need to buy something else. Interest rates can be fairly high for them but they are just a short term bandaid so you can get a place without conditions if needed.

We did that with our current purchase - bought with a completion date that was about 10 weeks out then listed our previous place and needed about a month of a bridge loan. Bank had no problem with it.

[unit]

Originally Posted by 68style

How oome a 2 bedroom doesn't work for 2 adults? Is it just the shape of the place or layout maybe?

I'm doing 1 and a den for 2 adults and 2 dogs... it's not bad... no ideal but not bad. 2 bedroom would be perfect I think. That said I'm on the ground floor and have a big patio too.

i have 3 cats so ya.. lol

it does work but we just want a little more room especially a hobby room, or a yoga/exercise room.
right now our second room is basically half storage half cat room. they have their litter bins in there and their cat trees. also i have so much sports gear... 5 bikes between the two of us, skis, tons of hiking/backpacking/climbing gear. our building has a gym but its mostly full of stuff i dont use. i like using my road bike on a bike trainer not the spin class keisers they have in there. right now my bike is in my living room on the trainer. also we like stretching/yoga and the gym doesn't have a lot of areas to do that without disturbances and bright lights.

yeah overall it's just a really big nice to have, not an urgent need.

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by supafamous

Bridge loans are your friend in this situation - they're easy to get from the bank and they buy you enough time to sell your current place if you need to buy something else. Interest rates can be fairly high for them but they are just a short term bandaid so you can get a place without conditions if needed.

We did that with our current purchase - bought with a completion date that was about 10 weeks out then listed our previous place and needed about a month of a bridge loan. Bank had no problem with it.

There's a caveat with bridge loans, some banks might not bridge you unless you have a signed offer on hand for your place. That was the case for us when we bought our house and sold our TH after.

You can however push out your closing date 2 months out so to give yourselves more time to sort out your moving business.


For the discussion of space. We really hurt for space during covid because we both worked from home and we were too meeting heavy to be in the same room and that's why we went house hunting. We are still both FT wfh but we have a lot more space now even with the 2nd child. We needed the space and can understand why two adults need more than 2 bdrm.

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by bcedhk

Most cites require a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio for replacing mature trees, but that's a new tree with a DBH of <20cm.

With the recent updates to infill and 'affordable housing' demand, I don't think City staff will a development over a single tree if it means adding an addition 2-3 units to a lot.

I think you have too much faith on city staff when it comes to zoning issues. I haven't spoken directly with city staff but those who have (builders, urbanists, housing advocates) universally say that city staff (planning and zoning) don't believe there's a housing crisis and, even if they do, they don't believe that they have anything to do with resolving it. It's not just bad local leaders that are the problem with housing but city staff who don't think anything needs to be done.

They're not interested in helping with housing (example):

https://twitter.com/424ds/status/164...GRRqquclpKGBaA

[supafamous]

https://twitter.com/andreawoo/status...igPiPUKMJkjmkA

Pretty messed up that this DTES room rents for $1300.

[Badhobz]

Originally Posted by supafamous

https://twitter.com/andreawoo/status...igPiPUKMJkjmkA

Pretty messed up that this DTES room rents for $1300.

this shit looks like it belongs in saw or something. totally has horror movie vibes to it.

[GLOW]

to be fair, someone had to beat the shit out of it first, at least in the link it notes it's undergoing reno vs left as-is to try to rent out. if it came with it's own washroom it's a step up from many SRO's

i think a fairer assessment would be post reno, how much is invested to make it rentable...

if this is an SRO, and if they put in stainless steel fixtures/counteres to make it more durable, someone will complain that it looks too institutional

[JDMDreams]

The price you pay for down town living they make it sound like you are forced to live there

[Hondaracer]

Whether it’s SRO’s or COOP’s,many people given these opportunities treat their homes like shit. No pride of ownership.

Working as a telecom tech for 6+ years and going into these places regularly id say half, if not more of the govt. subsidized coops in this city are in appalling shape. For “regular” people to treat their homes like this is embarrassing. Especially when given an opportunity to live in a community for basically half or less of market rent

[Tapioca]

Why would there be a "pride of ownership" if these people rent?

[GLOW]

that's his point, there is none b/c they don't own it so it gets treated like shit like a rental car