Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[Hondaracer]

So my tenant is moving out at the end of April unfortunately needing more space :/

Rent increase incoming however lol.. I’m debating writing into the contract to split the hydro as well as 75%+ of my hydro bill is the suite..

[Great68]

Originally Posted by GLOW

if there's a bid date to accept offers, then wouldn't doing a pre-emptive bid and the seller accepting/negotiating when they set a specific date be unethical?

at the very least disingenuous by the seller in having an open/fair bidding process.

I know, it's RE

Yes and no. It's a bit of a "one in hand might be worth more than two in the bush" scenario.

If you're a seller who's in a hurry to sell, and you have what you consider a good offer already in hand, would you want to risk that additional time & effort with the bid date process? You're not guaranteed a better offer (hell, you're not even guaranteed you'll sell), and you're absolutely guaranteed to take more time in the process...

It sucks for RabidRat, but I can understand the reasons, like I said especially if you're in a position where you need to sell quick.

[JDMDreams]

At least they told you, good units don't last. Especially if you are gonna look for detached, the detached supply is just gonna get lower and lower once everything turns into multiplex

[PeanutButter]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

So my tenant is moving out at the end of April unfortunately needing more space :/

Rent increase incoming however lol.. I’m debating writing into the contract to split the hydro as well as 75%+ of my hydro bill is the suite..

I would definitely put the utilities separate in the contract. Most places these days have the rent + utilities. I think that is the norm now.

In my experience, the rental market is so good right now you'll be able to get a good quality tenant at a very top dollar rental price.

[Hondaracer]

Yea, TV, Internet, water, even gas I don’t really care about I’ll eat those costs.

But as I mentioned before, my stupid suite eats up the vast majority of my hydro as it’s all baseboard heating, electric range, in-suite laundry etc.

Before I have new tenants move in I’m going to install programmable baseboard thermostats to at least try and attempt to lower the cost, but it really started to piss me off getting $500-$600 hydro bills in the winter when the only thing in my entire portion of the home on hydro is my dryer (or that is a major drain I’d say)

First world landlord problems I know, woe is me, however, it’s kind of the reality that a tenant should pay their share of their shit, and as everything continues to go up and up, my current tenant, although great, has gotten an amazing deal by basically avoiding inflation through either no rent increases, or the one time I raised it the “max” a whopping $62 a month.

[68style]

Still don't understand how your unit at the sq footage of it is eating that up... it's crazy.

I'm on baseboard electric heaters and in-suite laundry too and I pay $60-80 a month in the winter... $20 in summer. 700 sq ft unit.

And that's with a girl who complains it's cold all the time living with me lol

[PeanutButter]

Yeah, that seems pretty high, even for baseboard electric.

[Hondaracer]

And that’s with all new batt insulation in the suite etc.

Obviously I’m losing mad heat from somewhere.. would be interesting to see if we were to install those smart monitors in the panel and actually see where the power is going.

The suite has radiant heating in the bathroom, as does our bathroom, but according to the fancy thermostat I have in ours, even with regular usage my radiant in our bathroom should only cost like $100 a year

I’ve got very fancy wooden windows in the suite as well (wasn’t my decision) which are probably terrible at sealing the unit off too

[whitev70r]

So if seller accepts pre-emptive offer before open date, essentially, doesn't that mean anyone can make a strong offer? What's the point of waiting for the open date if you really want it or like it??

[underscore]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Obviously I’m losing mad heat from somewhere.. would be interesting to see if we were to install those smart monitors in the panel and actually see where the power is going.

Shouldn't a clamp on meter be able to do that too? Or if nothing else watch the meter and start flipping breakers one at a time.

Hopefully your tenant isn't one of those people who sets the heat to max and then leaves the windows open for fresh air lol.

[Hondaracer]

Well that’s the problem with those stupid knob type thermostats for baseboard heaters, they never adjust. So if she had everything set to 22 when you’re at home, it’s not like she probably adjusted everything prior to going out

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by GLOW

if there's a bid date to accept offers, then wouldn't doing a pre-emptive bid and the seller accepting/negotiating when they set a specific date be unethical?

at the very least disingenuous by the seller in having an open/fair bidding process.

I know, it's RE

Happens all the time and not considered unethical. If someone really wants it they can go in with a "great" offer with an expiration date that's really short. As Jing mentions it's called a bully offer - aka, they're trying to "bully" you into accepting it. Sometimes a selling agent will notify all parties that the seller is open/not open to a bully offer.

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Yea, TV, Internet, water, even gas I don’t really care about I’ll eat those costs.

But as I mentioned before, my stupid suite eats up the vast majority of my hydro as it’s all baseboard heating, electric range, in-suite laundry etc.

Before I have new tenants move in I’m going to install programmable baseboard thermostats to at least try and attempt to lower the cost, but it really started to piss me off getting $500-$600 hydro bills in the winter when the only thing in my entire portion of the home on hydro is my dryer (or that is a major drain I’d say)

First world landlord problems I know, woe is me, however, it’s kind of the reality that a tenant should pay their share of their shit, and as everything continues to go up and up, my current tenant, although great, has gotten an amazing deal by basically avoiding inflation through either no rent increases, or the one time I raised it the “max” a whopping $62 a month.

i'm in a similar scenario except i never bother increasing as it's negligible at this point and not worth rocking the boat with good tenants.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Before I have new tenants move in I’m going to install programmable baseboard thermostats to at least try and attempt to lower the cost, but it really started to piss me off getting $500-$600 hydro bills in the winter when the only thing in my entire portion of the home on hydro is my dryer (or that is a major drain I’d say)

Is your hydro bill really that surprising?

I know someone living in a 800 - 900 sq ft apartment with baseboard heating and massive glass walls, and their winter hydro bill is in the $500 range as well.

[Hondaracer]

Well yea, it’s hard to gauge as 68 said he has a similar space and his bill is nothing compared to mine.

When they move out going to actively try and look for holes etc. or any way to improve heat retention

[whitev70r]

Renter bill of rights coming - https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/gov...ghts-1.7157206

When will Landlord bill of rights come out?

[JDMDreams]

I heard that on the radio, so they don't want land lords any more, fine. All the immigrants can sleep at crab park. Welcome to communist Canada, where the government can tell you what to do with your house.

[Hondaracer]

The day I have to report to the govt. that my tenant is paying on time and how much is the day my suite isn’t rented anymore.

After colossal fuck up after fuck up at all levels of govt. now instead of actually fixing issues they created they just pass the buck to people who in turn, get fucked.

The amount this liberal govt. has encroached into your home in the last few years is fucking grossssss. Fuck off already

The only saving grace is the govt. is so completely incompetent I don’t beleive they will ever be able to implement a system that links paying rent to your credit score.

[yray]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

And that’s with all new batt insulation in the suite etc.

Obviously I’m losing mad heat from somewhere.. would be interesting to see if we were to install those smart monitors in the panel and actually see where the power is going.

The suite has radiant heating in the bathroom, as does our bathroom, but according to the fancy thermostat I have in ours, even with regular usage my radiant in our bathroom should only cost like $100 a year

I’ve got very fancy wooden windows in the suite as well (wasn’t my decision) which are probably terrible at sealing the unit off too

gas or electric hot water tank?

I got smart thermostat and can adjust displayed temps by 5c tenants can blast heat to 27c but it's only 22c

[JDMDreams]

How the fuck will they know if the renter paid on time. I think it's another cash grab to weed out who's not declaring tax. Fine rent is free but I charge with pussy and visa gift cards. also an envelope filled with hundreds.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by yray

gas or electric hot water tank?

I got smart thermostat and can adjust displayed temps by 5c tenants can blast heat to 27c but it's only 22c

Gas hot water. And we have a fully gas range. Only major appliance is our dryer which is a condensing dryer and I believe they generally use less electricity

[Great68]

Aren't landlords already reporting to the government how much their tenants are paying on their income tax? (At least they SHOULD be), so that part's not too outrageous.

The part about reporting payments on time could be a double edged sword. I think there are plenty of landlords out there that probably do not push the immediate 10-day pay to stay notice and otherwise sometimes give their tenants some leeway. If it has to be reported, then that leeway may diminish.

I heard that they might require landlords to disclose what previous rental rates for that unit. I'm curious what impact they think that's going to make? Do they think prospective tenants are going to see that a landlord doubled their asking rent from previous and steer away? That might work in a market that isn't in a shortage of units, but if people are desperate for a roof over their heads they'll pay the going rate.

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Gas hot water. And we have a fully gas range. Only major appliance is our dryer which is a condensing dryer and I believe they generally use less electricity

In our townhouse we had a heatpump dryer which is supposed to be the most efficient. We are talking like 1/3 the power usage of an element dryer. I can, based on the electricity usage chart from Hydro, see which day my wife did laundry, and which day she did two loads.

This is a townhouse that had electric baseboard heating on the upper floor and a gas fireplace on the main. We ran the baseboard heat in the winter for all 3 bedrooms because we used all of them. Granted when we renovated, we replaced all the old dumb heaters with a new one with temperature sensors that are supposed to double the efficiency.

[RabidRat]

Originally Posted by CRS

This sounds similar to what happened to my in-laws.

Was this also in PoCo?

Nope, Toronto. Hope they found something they liked in the end!

[Alpine]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Gas hot water. And we have a fully gas range. Only major appliance is our dryer which is a condensing dryer and I believe they generally use less electricity

Our hydro bill is also 500-600 during winter months, and 75% is from our tenants. 2bd newly renovated basement suite, all electric appliances, electric baseboard heating, and gas hot water.

I believe our tenants have it permanently set to 22-23, but due to building codes we have stupid 4" air vents (they might actually be better than 4") to circulate fresh air into each bedroom + living room. I've tried to close them off but they still let some air in and I think those vents are the main culprit to the high energy bills.

Add: Oh, we also have an 8" vent for the range hood. That lets cold air in too.
Add: Thankfully they pay 30% of the utilities. Our gas bill is about $150 a month in winter and their only gas usage is hot water, plus our living space is 2x theirs and we have 3 people vs their 2.