Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[Badhobz]

My mom used to iron shirts for 15 cents a piece in east van. Most of her co workers all bought these Vancouver specials and rented out the bottom.

Every time I see one of these I think of my poor mom ironing shirts and how she refused to buy an old house and instead elected to buy a brand new condo for same money. She kicks herself now but back then she was quite proud to not buy a run down house.

[JDMDreams]

Should have married that ex and free Chinese food for lyfe yo

[6thGear.]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

Should have married that ex and free Chinese food for lyfe yo

Her parents didn't approve of me. LOL. Too much of a "flyboy" for them back then.

[unit]

what is a flyboy

[PeanutButter]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

My mom used to iron shirts for 15 cents a piece in east van. Most of her co workers all bought these Vancouver specials and rented out the bottom.

Every time I see one of these I think of my poor mom ironing shirts and how she refused to buy an old house and instead elected to buy a brand new condo for same money. She kicks herself now but back then she was quite proud to not buy a run down house.

This is an interesting perspective she had. I suppose because she was hustling with her ironing she wanted to come home to a brand new place which surely had a psychological effect on her.

What's more surprising is that she would be okay with the maintenance fee, I know that was a major turn off for my parents generation at the time. They couldn't fathom paying a maintenance fee.

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by 6thGear.

Paid cash for a house for the son and for my ex.

lol you dun goofed

[Traum]

Originally Posted by unit

what is a flyboy

Canto for (small time) gangster.

[SkunkWorks]

It's fei ji, no?

Ricer

[Gerbs]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

My mom used to iron shirts for 15 cents a piece in east van. Most of her co workers all bought these Vancouver specials and rented out the bottom.
.

I remember counting those white / pink / yellow slips she gets for 15 cents then cashing them in for $$$$$

We still got like 100's of those OG lulu / tna logo back when the hoodie were popular.

[Badhobz]

I was always too fat to fit any of the clothes she ironed so we just shopped at zellers. I recall she tried to get the pst saved by saying it’s for kids but they saw me and were like ……. Uhhh you sure that behemoth is a kid ?!

Sad times…. But look at us now !

Yes taping up those slips were an art project for her everyday. God what that poor woman had to do to put food on the table. These kids nowadays have no right to cry about shit.

[6thGear.]

Originally Posted by SkunkWorks

It's fei ji, no?

Ricer

Isn't it equivalent to fuckboi these days? I'm not even sure lol

[Gumby]

Originally Posted by SkunkWorks

It's fei ji, no?

Ricer

Fei ji is either cankersore in Cantonese or airplane in Mandarin.

[PeanutButter]

I had a pretty interesting conversation with my uncle last night at a family bbq.

He currently lives in a Vancouver Special with a two-bedroom rental suite around PNE. The house is paid off and gets ~$1,500 for the suite. He has two children 33 and 31 y.o (both are married, both moved out, both have no children yet). His wife just inherited her grandma's house in the Killarney area, it's worth around $2M+. This would be a close comparible to the house they inherited;
https://www.redfin.ca/bc/vancouver/3...home/157073554

Neither him nor his wife want to move into the Killarney house as it's dated and they don't like the area, he said Killarney is too sleepy. The Vancouver Special they are in right now was renovated about 15 years ago, so it's feeling older. They want a bigger house because they host a lot and are hoping to get grandchildren soon. Their combined household income is probably around $160k

All of their friends and family live in the Vancouver/Burnaby/Richmond area, so they definitely want to stay in Vancouver. They both work from home and their kids each have a condo in the Brentwood area.

They're trying to figure out what the play is for them.

I told them they should probably keep the Vancouver Special as a rental and they can pass that down to their kids and they should definitely sell the Killarney house and look for a newer house with a more functional layout. They had a similar thought, but they couldn't figure out where to buy and what kind of house to buy. I was thinking Mt. Pleasant area would ideal, but i've never lived in that area before. They said they didn't want to be too far west because it gets sleepy the further west you go and they don't like Marpole for similar reasons.

What do you guys think? I feel like they are in the most ideal situation anyone can be in.

[Traum]

If Grandma's house is a close comparison to the listing, then there should already be gobs and gobs of space to host friends and grandchildren. If it gets anything bigger, it's gonna result in more housework for them.

Assuming your uncle is in their late 50's / early 60's, I'd suggest that they want to be mindful of their gradual physical decline -- in the sense that they are gradually going to have less energy to do physical work and stuff. So getting a bigger space than Grandma's house doesn't seem ideal to me.

Additionally, selling Grandma's house, and using the money to buy something else seems like they'd incur a lot of service/labour and transactional type of expense. As a rough estimate, I think you'd be looking at:

property transfer tax: $40k - $50k+
RE agent commission: $$70k - $90k
+other additional fees?

It sounds like your uncle is obviously in a comfortable financial situation, but the cheap bastard me still thinks $100k - $150k is a LOT of money, and it's money that can be used towards doing a LOT of other things.

Victoria from 33-ish all the way down to 54th is lined with shops and restaurants, and is only a stone's throw away from Killarney. And Marpole is bustling with activity along Granville as well, so I find it a little surprising that they are calling both areas "sleepy".

[supafamous]

Would the current house be big enough to host if they kicked the tenants out? If so, I'd just do that and do a nice little renovation to make it more family friendly.

If it isn't big enough I'd knock it down and build a new house on it ASAP - the rules are changing on detached houses and by end of year or early next year you'll only be able to build 2400sf on a standard lot versus 2700 right now. Make it a passive house and you're pushing 3000sf, put in an elevator to deal with the mobility issues they'll run across as they get older and they've got a dream house. Figure $1-1.2m for a new build and they don't have to move away from their current neighbourhood.

To pay for the new build take a mortgage out on the inherited house while you rent it out to pay that mortgage so no property transfer tax or agent fees from selling and you can write off the mortgage interest.

[sdubfid]

What about selling the house and investing for 10k per month passive income. Be able to enjoy life while not old fogies and still leave the principal for the kids/grandkids.

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by supafamous

Would the current house be big enough to host if they kicked the tenants out? If so, I'd just do that and do a nice little renovation to make it more family friendly.

If it isn't big enough I'd knock it down and build a new house on it ASAP - the rules are changing on detached houses and by end of year or early next year you'll only be able to build 2400sf on a standard lot versus 2700 right now. Make it a passive house and you're pushing 3000sf, put in an elevator to deal with the mobility issues they'll run across as they get older and they've got a dream house. Figure $1-1.2m for a new build and they don't have to move away from their current neighbourhood.

To pay for the new build take a mortgage out on the inherited house while you rent it out to pay that mortgage so no property transfer tax or agent fees from selling and you can write off the mortgage interest.

At the current rates that builds are going at, a passive house with elevator will probably be closer to 1.5m, though I'm on a similar thought path as you though.

Start shopping for a development firm and figure out who they want to build a new house, get the permits in and wait. In the meantime rent out the Killarney house. Once the permits are ready, kick the tenants out at Killarney and move there while their current plot is rebuilt. The whole permits to move back in process will probably take them around 2-3 years.

Once they've moved back into the PNE house, they can either rent out the Killarney house again for some income, or sell it and invest. I would say you can't lose with either way. If they keep both houses that means both kids will eventually have a SFH to move into when they are older, or a wad of money.

I don't see moving away to be really that ideal. If Killarney isn't what they want then probably the only other area I can think of is the Renfrew Heights area. Victoria Drive would probably be too far from the kids. We live in the Fraserview area and we aren't big fans. Sleepy would be a great adjective to use.

[JDMDreams]

What's wrong with Killarney area? There's some pretty big lots houses there, don't you want the space and lot to entertain. I like how quiet it is there, they wfh anyways, and it doesn't sound like they can't afford a car. Everything is within 15 min drive. Unless you combine and get something around Burnaby lake, deer lake. Can easily head over to Kingsway for all the Asian you need, Metro, Crystal Mall

[bcrdukes]

Isn't all of East Van sleepy?

[Badhobz]

They should sell everything and go enjoy their lives. Why bother working at that age ? Just go travel and enjoy yourselves.

2m for Killarney and 1.8 for PNE means almost 4 million bucks worth of RE.

Sell all that shit and go put half in index funds and the rest spend it on luxury travel.
Save some for the little shit ass kids if you want but honestly I’d just pull the plug and ditch.

Frankly once her parents are gone and my parents are gone I’m pretty sure this is what we are gonna do. I have no interest in being here anymore.

[Hondaracer]

Hastings sunrise > Killarney all day imo

I think another question regarding this scenario is are these people even the type to build/move/rent etc. or are they the typical people who will hum and haw about things over a decade and never make a move?

It’s nice to imagine building a new home or doing some huge renovation but it’s somthing most people aren’t willing to stomach. Even if they have a contractor doing everything

[68style]

My plan is to hire hondaracer to build everything

[Hondaracer]

I’m somewhat back in that construction project management side again and it makes me realize how fucking stupid people are all over lol..

Or at least how oblivious people are to reality

[JDMDreams]

I demand $800 rental units with no rent increases you fat cat slum lord's

[68style]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Or at least how oblivious people are to reality

I assume this part was directed at me lol