Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[TypeRNammer]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

Is bus driver worth it? Seems like you're dealing with hobos trying to fight you everyday?

Tough gig on the first year because of the shitty routes and shitty schedules like split shifts. To survive the first year, gotta transfer out of the Vancouver garage.

Takes some time to build your seniority to pick better schedules and routes.

But otherwise I like the job, 8 years in.

[Doubl3_H]

I remember one of my high school PE teacher was driving the #10 bus as a second job, that's how he was able to afford a bimmer

[Liquid_o2]

I know everyone's risk tolerance is different. Is putting 50 to 55% of your net take home income towards housing (mortgage, strata, and property tax) too much? Wife and I need to upgrade this fall - but her parents want us to be conservative. I don't want to move again in 2 to 3 years because we outgrow a place because it was cheaper, but smaller. Also would have to pay property transfer tax again! I feel like we are getting pressured to not take advantage of our larger buying power.

[JDMDreams]

Well as long as you qualify then it's ok? Since it's capped pretty much at around 45% gross. Lol I'm at like 80% of my income going to housing not household

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by Liquid_o2

I know everyone's risk tolerance is different. Is putting 50 to 55% of your net take home income towards housing (mortgage, strata, and property tax) too much? Wife and I need to upgrade this fall - but her parents want us to be conservative. I don't want to move again in 2 to 3 years because we outgrow a place because it was cheaper, but smaller. Also would have to pay property transfer tax again! I feel like we are getting pressured to not take advantage of our larger buying power.

The reality is that most people in real life, not people on the internet, are stretching themselves.

There aren't enough homes, period. If you have a window to make your move, you will probably regret not being more risky if you don't make it. You seldom hear people regret stretching themselves for more house, but you always hear about people who express regret about not doing so.

[Gerbs]

It's also easier to pay 50 - 55% of your takehome, if your remaining 50% is like 4 - 10K remaining vs $1-3k lol.

[underscore]

With all of the costs associated with changing houses (taxes, realtors, moving, etc) I don't think it makes much sense to buy a place if you know you're going to have to change again within 2-3 years.

[yameen]

So today was depressing. Renewing my mortgage and the best TD gave was 6.1% on a 3 year fixed. I looked on ratehub and most banks are doing higher than 6.1% but I haven't signed any papers yet.

I'm choosing a 3-year as opposed to 5.6% 5 year because rates are supposed to drop to 4% by 2025 as I've been told but no one can really predict the economy that accurately.

Also, my 6.1% rate is apparently their best renewal rate and for first time mortgage applications, they may give a slightly better rate to entice people into signing with them.

What do you guys think?

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Liquid_o2

I know everyone's risk tolerance is different. Is putting 50 to 55% of your net take home income towards housing (mortgage, strata, and property tax) too much? Wife and I need to upgrade this fall - but her parents want us to be conservative. I don't want to move again in 2 to 3 years because we outgrow a place because it was cheaper, but smaller. Also would have to pay property transfer tax again! I feel like we are getting pressured to not take advantage of our larger buying power.

Do you and your wife have good job prospects so that you would only be stuck at 50-55% for a few years? Are you expecting kids any time soon (or any other new fixed expenses like new car payments)?

50% of your net can be pretty tough if your lifestyle is more than barebones or you don't have cars. I'm high income and was briefly at 50% of take home going to my mortgage due to rate hikes and I can't say it was fun to think about how little cash flow I had (this is relative - I wasn't exactly living frugally though). I've got a bit of rental income now so I'm down to 45% and expect more rental income soon that'll reduce it to 40% at which point I'll feel much more comfortable with things - able to max our my RRSP/TFSAs, not stressing about any spending.

If you expect the 50-55% to be temporary and you don't have any new fixed expenses coming then I'd go for it - buying another house in 2-3 years is a huge waste of money. Just be ready to hunker down for a little while.

[Liquid_o2]

Originally Posted by supafamous

Do you and your wife have good job prospects so that you would only be stuck at 50-55% for a few years? Are you expecting kids any time soon (or any other new fixed expenses like new car payments)?

50% of your net can be pretty tough if your lifestyle is more than barebones or you don't have cars. I'm high income and was briefly at 50% of take home going to my mortgage due to rate hikes and I can't say it was fun to think about how little cash flow I had (this is relative - I wasn't exactly living frugally though). I've got a bit of rental income now so I'm down to 45% and expect more rental income soon that'll reduce it to 40% at which point I'll feel much more comfortable with things - able to max our my RRSP/TFSAs, not stressing about any spending.

If you expect the 50-55% to be temporary and you don't have any new fixed expenses coming then I'd go for it - buying another house in 2-3 years is a huge waste of money. Just be ready to hunker down for a little while.

Wife is in a union and will continue to get pay raises every year. She can be in the role for another 25 years until retirement with no issues. Extremely stable job as well. I'm private sector and just received a big pay rise. Cars are all paid off, 0 debt. Twins are turning 1 - hiring a nanny for the fall, but costs are covered in the other 50% (plus a little parental help).

Nervous that we don't get enough room for the boys and have to upgrade again. I feel like we should bite the bullet, cut back spending, and make sure we have enough space for the next 10 to 15 years.

[The Producer]

had a kind of sort of interesting opportunity but I just can't see a scenario where it makes much sense.

Friends are selling their unit 2 floors above us. Few more sq feet, but also ocean view and extra height ceilings

I was trying to scheme a way to make the move while keeping costs down, and also not losing the benefit of the 3 years i have left on my extremely low fixed mortgage rate.

Pretty sure the mortgage co would rug pull that rate no matter how we ported it. Also pretty sure now that the friends have entered a contract w an agent, there's no way at this point to do something creative. In the perfect world, we'd somehow swap units - they could sell ours. In another perfect world I'd go full leverage, buy their unit and keep mine. I'd rent it out (and keep the extra parking spot)

Wish rates were lower - I'd take a flyer and go for it.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by Liquid_o2

Wife is in a union and will continue to get pay raises every year. She can be in the role for another 25 years until retirement with no issues. Extremely stable job as well. I'm private sector and just received a big pay rise. Cars are all paid off, 0 debt. Twins are turning 1 - hiring a nanny for the fall, but costs are covered in the other 50% (plus a little parental help).

Nervous that we don't get enough room for the boys and have to upgrade again. I feel like we should bite the bullet, cut back spending, and make sure we have enough space for the next 10 to 15 years.

You have a public sector income and you have the room in your budget to hire a nanny? Lots of people are way worse off, yet they're somehow finding a way to buy bigger homes.

If you want to save money, put the kids in licensed daycare and claim more savings at tax time. Daycare is way cheaper today than it was several years ago.

[JDMDreams]

Rates are going up on Wed so probably another hike in Sept

[Spoon]

I stopped reading after:

Originally Posted by Liquid_o2

hiring a nanny

Just refer to this:

Originally Posted by Gerbs

It's also easier to pay 50 - 55% of your takehome, if your remaining 50% is like 4 - 10K remaining vs $1-3k lol.

[donk.]

Originally Posted by The Producer

had a kind of sort of interesting opportunity but I just can't see a scenario where it makes much sense.

Friends are selling their unit 2 floors above us. Few more sq feet, but also ocean view and extra height ceilings

I was trying to scheme a way to make the move while keeping costs down, and also not losing the benefit of the 3 years i have left on my extremely low fixed mortgage rate.

Pretty sure the mortgage co would rug pull that rate no matter how we ported it. Also pretty sure now that the friends have entered a contract w an agent, there's no way at this point to do something creative. In the perfect world, we'd somehow swap units - they could sell ours. In another perfect world I'd go full leverage, buy their unit and keep mine. I'd rent it out (and keep the extra parking spot)

Wish rates were lower - I'd take a flyer and go for it.

I wanted to do this a few years back, same scenario but same floor with a north facing unit/w views.

Only way it would work is if you sold your unit first, then bought the upper unit.
Hey maybe the deal will fall through with their current offer, they de-list, then you come in and tell them what's up.

I sold my condo in van, had 2 months to close, bought the house in Regina within that time frame, and ported my 2.5% fixed mortgage over. Think I paid less than 1000$ in bank fees. Then the rest of the money went into the C7
Funny enough, the offer for my Vancouver place came in, as I was sitting on the lake in Regina, just after viewing some houses.

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Liquid_o2

Wife is in a union and will continue to get pay raises every year. She can be in the role for another 25 years until retirement with no issues. Extremely stable job as well. I'm private sector and just received a big pay rise. Cars are all paid off, 0 debt. Twins are turning 1 - hiring a nanny for the fall, but costs are covered in the other 50% (plus a little parental help).

Nervous that we don't get enough room for the boys and have to upgrade again. I feel like we should bite the bullet, cut back spending, and make sure we have enough space for the next 10 to 15 years.

On that last bit, depending on your budget I'd encourage you to find a place with a suite so you have financial flexibility or a place with something that could potentially work as a room for a student.

Otherwise it sounds like you have enough stability that you can deal with a few lean years at the beginning of the mortgage. Just don't have a stroke or anything and have lots of life insurance.

[donk.]

https://www.rew.ca/properties/529720...type=Geography

Very cool 1bed loft in Vancouver sub 600k, minus the fact that it's in the meth union district

[Liquid_o2]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

You have a public sector income and you have the room in your budget to hire a nanny? Lots of people are way worse off, yet they're somehow finding a way to buy bigger homes.

If you want to save money, put the kids in licensed daycare and claim more savings at tax time. Daycare is way cheaper today than it was several years ago.

Nanny only because no other options. On wait lists for 20+ daycares, but we know friends who have been waiting for two years and no luck. Plus we need two spots. Can claim a portion of the nanny at tax time. Parents are also helping out with part of that cost. Wife has to/wants to go back to work now that her mat leave is winding down.

I agree that we are better off than many, not going to argue that. We have always been conservative like our parents and haven't ever taken the risk of maxing out our budget and going big. I think we are just going to have to bite the bullet and take that risk. I like how Tapioca said - you rarely regret not being more risky if you don't make it.

[donk.]

Gvrd daycare requirements are on the same level as construction requirements, you could say excessive

There's a good reason there is a very limited amount of daycares available....
You need to adhere to a 23 page document, just to apply for a permit. Not to mention the leasing, construction, location, staffing, and everything else that goes with it

Otherwise operating a daycare is very profitable, in other less regulated cities

[6thGear.]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

You have a public sector income and you have the room in your budget to hire a nanny? Lots of people are way worse off, yet they're somehow finding a way to buy bigger homes.

If you want to save money, put the kids in licensed daycare and claim more savings at tax time. Daycare is way cheaper today than it was several years ago.

You must not have kids or had kids in daycare like 10 years ago. Most daycares are almost 2 year wait. $10/day daycares, especially in my area of RD/South Van/Burnaby won't even accept applications to be on a waitlist. We waited 1.5 years before 1 spot opened up for us behind Lougheed Mall, which only because the operator knew my wife and offered it to us. It's been slightly over 2 years since we started applying and only 1 daycare in our area just recently notify us of a September opening.

During the time of last year while waiting for a daycare spot, we ended up hiring a nanny part time and fuck me, it was not cheap. It was something like $1000/month for like 10 days of her service. Also daycare is only "cheap" if your household income qualifies for full subsidies.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by 6thGear.

You must not have kids or had kids in daycare like 10 years ago. Most daycares are almost 2 year wait. $10/day daycares, especially in my area of RD/South Van/Burnaby won't even accept applications to be on a waitlist. We waited 1.5 years before 1 spot opened up for us behind Lougheed Mall, which only because the operator knew my wife and offered it to us. It's been slightly over 2 years since we started applying and only 1 daycare in our area just recently notify us of a September opening.

During the time of last year while waiting for a daycare spot, we ended up hiring a nanny part time and fuck me, it was not cheap. It was something like $1000/month for like 10 days of her service. Also daycare is only "cheap" if your household income qualifies for full subsidies.

We put 2 kids through daycare and just finished the daycare years about a year ago, before the current subsidies were introduced. Daycare subsidies are no longer income tested:

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/f...-opt-in-status

My sister in law is a doctor and pays like 500/month for a fully licensed daycare for her son. We were paying over 2000/month at one point for full time daycare.

Sorry to hear about the lack of spaces. We moved to the Tri Cities once we had kids and have never had an issue finding licensed daycares. There are lots of them around and parents can be picky.

[JDMDreams]

There's lots of lofts in this building in New West. I'm still not really sold on them, the high ceilings seems to waste a lot of space. And your cooking smells go everywhere, can't have loud sex? Neighbors see you naked all the time.

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

My sister in law is a doctor and pays like 500/month for a fully licensed daycare for her son. We were paying over 2000/month at one point for full time daycare.

$500/mo! Hot damn! I'm still at $1200/mo in my last year of daycare. One thing to keep in mind is that after daycare there's after school care which, in my area, is quoted at about $500-600/mo so not a dramatic saving. Add in any extracurricular classes like sports or music and there may be no cost savings once the kids are in school.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by supafamous

$500/mo! Hot damn! I'm still at $1200/mo in my last year of daycare. One thing to keep in mind is that after daycare there's after school care which, in my area, is quoted at about $500-600/mo so not a dramatic saving. Add in any extracurricular classes like sports or music and there may be no cost savings once the kids are in school.

We pay under $400 per kid for after-school care, which is run out of our kids' school.

Still a far cry from the $2000+ we were paying back in the day.

Sounds like daycares in Burnaby and Vancouver are lazy and don't want to do the administration to get their money from the government.

[Traum]

I feel like the so-called after school care at my kid's elementary school is... paid free play time. On a nice day, they might round up the kids and take them out for a walk or something. But most of the time, it is just one or 2 adults letting the kids roam free and do whatever in the classroom or in the gym. My kid was totally bored out of his mind, and we figured it just wasn't worth our while when we have to pay several hundred dollars for him to be bored.

I am thankful that I have a flexible enough work schedule to be able to take him back home after regular school ends. But for parents who do not have that luxury, I guess they are stuck with it.