Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[westopher]

Developer must be one of Ken sims homies.
Building standards? Oh my no. We only have time to hassle poor people.

[JDMDreams]

I haven't seen much go on even I drove by like last week, I just see it in that tyvek wrap

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by Traum

We've talked about this a quite a few pages ago when supafamous noticed work has resumed on the 2 buildings. Some questioned the structural integrity of the wood -- including the framing -- that has sat exposed to the elements for something like 3 years. From the colour of the wood, I suspect there will likely be some form of dry/wet rotting at certain places, and I would also not be surprised if there are mold / mildew. None of us want to touch those even if we could have gotten it for cheap lol~

Good luck to the future residents who end up living there...

i'm picturing it looking like the green house next to it in no time

back to the education piece when it was gloom and doom during my time, another interesting thing is i stopped at degree, a classmate went on to masters. he had trouble finding a job b/c entry level engineering jobs wouldn't hire for fear of him leaving (they waste time training him up) b/c he was over educated, but he wasn't educated / experienced enough for positions where the min. education was a masters in engineering, or didn't have his PhD when they wanted one, so it put him in a state of limbo for a while.... it was funny not funny that his masters sort of impeded his job hunt for a bit. sometimes you just can't win.

[Liquid_o2]

I also noticed that they have restarted work on the 33rd Avenue property. Used to drive past it everyday and it was just sitting there rotting away. Doesn't it need to pass some type of inspection prior to resuming work?

[RabidRat]

Originally Posted by GLOW

back to the education piece when it was gloom and doom during my time, another interesting thing is i stopped at degree, a classmate went on to masters. he had trouble finding a job b/c entry level engineering jobs wouldn't hire for fear of him leaving (they waste time training him up) b/c he was over educated, but he wasn't educated / experienced enough for positions where the min. education was a masters in engineering, or didn't have his PhD when they wanted one, so it put him in a state of limbo for a while.... it was funny not funny that his masters sort of impeded his job hunt for a bit. sometimes you just can't win.

And that's the reason why co-op is so key now.

Engineering is such a practical discipline that without experience, a kid fresh out of school is basically useless and would need a ton of training (maybe slightly better w/ degreed BCIT grads since at least they offer a more practical curriculum). We need that bridge from the books to the real-world. Something to facilitate connecting the dots so the theory isn't just theoretical.

There's an overwhelming presence of Waterloo grads out here for almost no other reason than that they have a super strong co-op program. It's mandatory for graduation so the kids are all-in, and the school sets them up for success with the internship connections.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by Liquid_o2

I also noticed that they have restarted work on the 33rd Avenue property. Used to drive past it everyday and it was just sitting there rotting away. Doesn't it need to pass some type of inspection prior to resuming work?

an inspector will stick a moisture meter into the walls and get a reading, but not much else.

It's not uncommon to build/seal up a building in the winter/rain (personally if i was building a custom home i'd time it so that the framing and sheathing was done spring/summer for sure) As once the exterior cladding is installed, you can run heaters and dehumidifers inside the building to try the internal framing etc. out until it meets the 10 or 15% moisture requirements.

However, that 33rd build sat out in the elements for at least 2 years of constant rain, snow, etc. with no progress. Knowing what we know from basic drive by's, I wouldnt buy there.

I probably mentioned this before as well but air quality testing is all but useless in the PNW because we live in a rain forest. Generally, air quality testing uses the "base line" of outside air, which again, we live in a rain forest filled with mold spores, etc. So unless you're physically seeing black mold growing, it's very unlikely a air quality test would ever show any readings that indicated anything. Also, if you dig deep into how mold actually effects people, a huge portion of the population are actually uneffected by mold

Obviously you dont want a baby sleeping in a room filled with black mold, but for the most part people are hyper sensitivie to shit like mold but they dont actually understand how/if it actually effects them.

[xxxrsxxx]

OK I remember there were some talks about how hardwood floors should be laid out and staggered in this thread before. I'm about to change to hardwood floors but also have a couple of narrow hallways (4 ft wide) like this one. Should they be staggered or all aligned like in this picture?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Flooring/co...ll_in_hallway/

[Hondaracer]

if your boards are running like they are in that picture, just stagger the joints 6 inches or whatever is recommended by the manufacturer

that looks like total ass imo, having those full planks looks terrible lol

[Phozy]

Interesting, I'd welcome a change:

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/real-est...nada-1.2031892

A lawsuit alleging that the real estate brokerage industry inflates commission fees has been expanded to include all of Canada and an expert says it could bring big changes to the housing market.

The class action suit, filed in federal court last month, names 72 different regional real estate boards, 10 real estate franchisors and eight real estate brokerages as defendants.

“The class action is quite substantial and it’s pretty huge,” Walter Melanson, co-founder and market analyst at PropertyGuys.com, told BNN Bloomberg in a Monday interview.

The lawsuit comes after an original suit was filed in federal court in September on behalf of home-sellers in the Greater Toronto Area against the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB).

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

The latest price-fixing suit alleges that an unwritten arrangement known as the “buyer brokerage commission rule,” which has become the norm for many residential real estate transactions, violates competition laws.

When a home sale closes, the seller typically pays a broker commission fee, which is a percentage of the entire sale amount. The fee is normally then split between the representatives of the seller and the buyer, and is customarily shared evenly.

This was the case with Milton resident Kevin McFall, the named plaintiff in the class action suit. In the court documents, McFall alleges he sold his home in May and paid a five per cent commission on the sale, half of which went to the buyer brokerage.

The suit claims that this system incentivizes buyer brokerages to direct their clients away from sellers offering lower commission fees, artificially inflating them over time.

“We're talking about rules that drive policies and policies that drive behaviours and behaviours that drive outcomes,” Melanson explained.

Case follows Missouri court decision
The Canadian class action comes on the heels of a similar case in the U.S.

In a precedent-setting October decision, a Missouri court handed down a guilty verdict in a price-fixing lawsuit brought against major U.S. real estate players including the National Association of Realtors and RE/MAX.

The plaintiffs in that case were awarded US$1.8 billion in damages.

“When it comes to Canada, it's the same types of allegations,” Melanson said.

“The lawyers behind this class action are saying that certain rules prevent competition in the buyer brokerage industry, which lead to falsely inflating real estate commissions, so that's really what the focus is.”

[Hehe]

I don't see the reason for residential RE realtors to exist anymore in this age.

The amount of work they do vs. the amount being paid to them is ridiculous.

In commercial RE, it makes sense to have realtors because good CRE realtors go to events and other social gathering shit to approach potential sellers (and hence things for sale). So, as a buyer, you'd want to keep a good relationship with them because that's how good deals come along.

But in residential RE... everyone is looking on MLS already, there should be just a nominal fixed fee to list there and done. Maybe there should be services that sells home prep for MLS listing... but that should be it.

[JDMDreams]

^^ but they offer bj and sex to clients like bad hobz

[Badhobz]

stupid spy balloon wouldnt let me hire ..

[donk.]

Originally Posted by Hehe

there should be just a nominal fixed fee to list there and done. Maybe there should be services that sells home prep for MLS listing... but that should be it.

The fee is 500$, FSBO + MLS package, i tried this out 3 years ago

Knowing what i know now, i would not use FSBO in major cities, its a circlejerk between realtors. Smaller or mid size city i would give it another go

My favorite part of the experience was getting phone calls from dozens of realtors saying they can sell my property 100% if i relist with them.
To which i replied, if your so sure you can sell it, then you should have no problem bringing a buyer, followed by crickets

[68style]

I think nobody every expected values of homes to be where they're at, so being percentage based is ridiculous when the minimum home value is $1.6M in a city, they should have max out fees at various levels like X amount of $ between $0-1M etc.

Originally Posted by Hehe

I don't see the reason for residential RE realtors to exist anymore in this age.

The amount of work they do vs. the amount being paid to them is ridiculous.

In commercial RE, it makes sense to have realtors because good CRE realtors go to events and other social gathering shit to approach potential sellers (and hence things for sale). So, as a buyer, you'd want to keep a good relationship with them because that's how good deals come along.

But in residential RE... everyone is looking on MLS already, there should be just a nominal fixed fee to list there and done. Maybe there should be services that sells home prep for MLS listing... but that should be it.

I can only partially agree with this, we all have access to MLS, but they can see stuff on there a lot faster than we can -- ie: my friend who is a realtor sends me stuff and I can type in the code on MLS and I can't see it yet, that matter of hours can be a big difference in a hot market and some of them have ties to developers or ins for pre-sales... it's not really any different than your commercial realtors in that regard.

There's a lot of costs to being a realtor too, the license fee and staging and videos and drones... I went down the path of becoming one at some point but then decided to do a 180... there's a lot of competition and underhandedness as there always is in anything that's such a cash cow.

Vancouver is a weird place to be involved in real estate in any way.

[Hondaracer]

Your mortgage broker and your realtor can go share a bag in the handicapped stall of Cactus after they did 5 minutes of work for 50k

[68style]

Well like when we sold our farm, our realtor pocketed something like $45-50k I can't remember... did I think he deserved $45k? No, I do not... but at the same time, he did hire someone to come out and take aerials with a drone and he did have a tonne of knowledge we didn't have about possibly buried oil tanks and how to get those scans done and legal liabilities for things on the property... and he showed up when my dad dragged his feet clearing shit out to help move stuff on the last possible day before handover. So he didn't do nothing and got his hands dirty... but to say those 2-3 weeks of on/off showings and the stuff he did do was worth a $45-50k pay day IS ridiculous to me. That's most people's entire year of slavery.

[Badhobz]

he doesnt take home 45-50k though, remember he has to pay his brokerage usually half of that and then the rest is tax deductible.

its not a great gig if you ask me. Too much dealing with people

[Hondaracer]

All realtors are not created equal which I think causes a lot of the hate of the profession

My wife had a realtor when she bought her first place that actually picked her up and drove her around to showings because she didn’t have a licence, he also was proactively going through listings based on her demands and eliminating showings which probably would have paid him a pretty penny but they weren’t what she was looking for

Of course a seemingly honest guy like that apparently couldn’t make it work here and ended up moving back east lol.

I’ve had mixed experiences but the realtors I have used were “bigger” ones who were pretty great, very communicative, they did the showings themselves and only passed the listing onto their peons or partners once the sale had been finalized.

I think the system as a whole is stupid though as at this stage of the internet, glut of photographers, stagers, etc. you don’t really need a realtor to be your project manager for a sale. For the most part people know what a house is worth with a tiny bit of research.

[Badhobz]

So our place sold with one of the "big" chinese realtors. Shes actually pretty good. She sent her assistant to do most of the showings but even the assistant was pretty decent and ultimately got us a decent price we wanted.

Throughout the process, she was pretty communicative and we relied on her connections to builders/developers as we were hoping to sell to them instead of your joe shmoe (who would then nickel and dime us on the house inspection bitching about how a 40+ year old house is 40+ year old and requiring money off here and there)

I think she was worth the $ we gave her. She gave me a huge fruit basket as thanks

[Liquid_o2]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

i enjoyed eating her lychees

[Gerbs]

Originally Posted by 68style

I can only partially agree with this, we all have access to MLS, but they can see stuff on there a lot faster than we can -- ie: my friend who is a realtor sends me stuff and I can type in the code on MLS and I can't see it yet, that matter of hours can be a big difference in a hot market and some of them have ties to developers or ins for pre-sales... it's not really any different than your commercial realtors in that regard.

You can technically release the MLS to the public so we can all have access to the faster system.

But most realtors will block this and gatekeep the industry. My friend who runs a brokerage once said why would we ever let you gets have access to everything and we lose our $300-500K+/year job

[freakshow]

I don't know a lot about the industry, but wouldn't you just use that '1% realty' company?

[Traum]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

So our place sold with one of the "big" chinese realtors. Shes actually pretty good. She sent her assistant to do most of the "showings" [snipped]

Throughout the process, she was pretty communicative [snipped]

I think she was worth the $ we gave her. [snipped] i enjoyed eating her lychees

Based on my interpretation of what you have said, I am not surprised you think your realtor was worth the $$$ you gave her.

[Hehe]

Originally Posted by 68style

I think nobody every expected values of homes to be where they're at, so being percentage based is ridiculous when the minimum home value is $1.6M in a city, they should have max out fees at various levels like X amount of $ between $0-1M etc.



I can only partially agree with this, we all have access to MLS, but they can see stuff on there a lot faster than we can -- ie: my friend who is a realtor sends me stuff and I can type in the code on MLS and I can't see it yet, that matter of hours can be a big difference in a hot market and some of them have ties to developers or ins for pre-sales... it's not really any different than your commercial realtors in that regard.

There's a lot of costs to being a realtor too, the license fee and staging and videos and drones... I went down the path of becoming one at some point but then decided to do a 180... there's a lot of competition and underhandedness as there always is in anything that's such a cash cow.

Vancouver is a weird place to be involved in real estate in any way.

It's got nothing to do with how much the deal is worth.

In CRE deals, often 10M+ or even 100M+, the commission is still there. But for sellers, the agent would really go out of their ways to find the right buyers. And for buyers, their agent would invest in stuff that find them the deals they want.

It's about actively going after people (landlords, people in business either struggling or succeeding) to make deals happen before there's an interest to buy/sell.

They earn their commission because they have the right connection to it.

It's not... "client's looking for a place in this area, let's open MLS and see what's available"

Worse yet... if a buyer agent sees that it's a FSBO, some choose to skip those listings or make a negative spin out of it. That's fucked up.

[Great68]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

he doesnt take home 45-50k though, remember he has to pay his brokerage usually half of that and then the rest is tax deductible.

its not a great gig if you ask me. Too much dealing with people and you gotta suck a lot of dick both metaphorically and physically

It's also seems like a line of work where you're always "on". Evenings, weekends, clients don't care.

Some people like that. It's not for me. (I mean, sometimes working evenings & weekends in my line of work happens, but it's an exception, not the norm)