Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[westopher]

Originally Posted by Harvey Specter

I don't anticipate a rush to buy homes. Many people are still overleveraged and servicing high interest debt. Depending on what happens over the next few months, we might head into winter with more supply than demand.

People not wanting to spend doesn't make people not need homes. It may not be attractive from a borrowed money to invest standpoint, but those paying $4200/month for a 2 bedroom apartment or those that have no choice but to upsize based on growing families will welcome this news, and that's a lot of people here.

[lowside67]

Originally Posted by Eatman

Damn, this is a good rate... best I got was 5.19 for same term. Which bank was this?

He got that because it was blended with his existing mortgage which is at a lower rate. My mortgage specialist at BMO just offered me 4.99% on a 3-year which I believe is a pretty sharp rate right now. I can pass his contact along if needed.

-Mark

[supafamous]

https://www.zealty.ca/mls-R2882554/2...-Vancouver-BC/

That is a weird garage setup. Looks like on BC Assessment that the gravel area next to the garage doesn't belong to the lot and is city property of some kind.

[Liquid_o2]

Originally Posted by lowside67

He got that because it was blended with his existing mortgage which is at a lower rate. My mortgage specialist at BMO just offered me 4.99% on a 3-year which I believe is a pretty sharp rate right now. I can pass his contact along if needed.

-Mark

Exactly. What pissed me off is they used the rate posted on their website for the blend. They should have been using 5.19 or 5.29, so in the end, we are paying a couple hundred more than I think we should be.

4.99 is solid, haven't seen anything below 5 this year.

[Gerbs]

5.14% is the lowest I've seen for a non CMHC insured 3-year.

Renewal in Dec, 3 years fixed currently at 5.04 to 5.09 post interest announcement.

[68style]

Anyone have experience with either Sense Engineering or RDH Engineering?

My building is experiencing a lot of drama right now because RDH quoted $3.6M for concrete exterior remediation and painting etc which seems like an insane price… the management company is really eager to push it through at a cost of $9-$30,000 per unit depending on square footage and who knows about “cost overruns”

I found out historically they engaged Sense Engineering 2 years ago and got a quote of $600,000 which is obviously a full $3M less and nothing to sneeze at…

Checking google reviews seems like a lot of contractors and employees have been giving RDH 5 star reviews lately which is super sus obviously, yet they’re both at 3.6 but does anyone here have experience anecdotal or otherwise with them?

[lowside67]

Originally Posted by Gerbs

5.14% is the lowest I've seen for a non CMHC insured 3-year.

Renewal in Dec, 3 years fixed currently at 5.04 to 5.09 post interest announcement.

For clarity, mine is a 25-year amortization, non CHMC insured 3-year at a low loan to value and I maintain some other significant assets at BMO. I am not sure everybody could walk in and get that, but our friends and family rate is 5.06 right now and I can for sure arrange to get between 4.99 and 5.06 for any person via the mortgage specialist channel.

-Mark

[GLOW]

@68style fired you a PM, but coles notes: sounds like 2 bids for 2 diff jobs and not apples to apples. did either consultant provide an assessment of the envelope and scope of work and probable cost?

also keep in mind $600k 2 years ago you'll need to include 2 years of % for cost escalation as well.

[CRS]

RDH is a pretty top of the line firm. When I was in a strata, we picked them to do some work for us. They were definitely not the cheapest option but some things you get what you pay for.

[EvoFire]

Slightly off topic, but waiting for the rates to come down more, so I can make that 911 happen in 2 years.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by GLOW

@68style fired you a PM, but coles notes: sounds like 2 bids for 2 diff jobs and not apples to apples.

I would hope they got multiple quotes that they should be able to compare to. I can't imagine doing something that big with zero comparables.

[PeanutButter]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

Slightly off topic, but waiting for the rates to come down more, so I can make that 911 happen in 2 years.

I don't mean to throw shade, but if you want a 911, does a few % in financing actually make a difference?

If it does, should you be considering a 911 in the first place?

[Traum]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

Slightly off topic, but waiting for the rates to come down more, so I can make that 911 happen in 2 years.

Everyone I know who has done the Euro Delivery told me this -- if you are gonna custom order a car, do whatever it takes to make it a Euro Delivery.

The dealership will probably hate you for doing it, and might try to sway you away from it / disallow it. They have more paperwork to do, and there is apparently less profit for them on the car somehow, although I am not sure if that is just the extra paperwork that translates into lost profit, or whether they really get less profit from it.

But plan for it ahead of time, and the process should take anywhere between 8 - 18 months.

[Badhobz]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

Slightly off topic, but waiting for the rates to come down more, so I can make that 911 happen in 2 years.

if you didnt shit out another one, you would be driving that 911 naaaoooo!!!

[Gumby]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

if you didnt shit out another one, you would be driving that 911 naaaoooo!!!

In EvoFire's defense, he's only 50% responsible for having a second child.

[The Producer]

there's an open house in my building tonight? (apparently an actual pre showing, not an agents open before the weekend is a thing?) and in the half hour i've been sitting on my deck 20+ couples have shown up to see it.

everybody has the nervous loud mouth chats going w the other lookers, too many to even get in at the same time

even a tiny rate drop has got the FOMO rolling.

[Badhobz]

Originally Posted by Gumby

In EvoFire's defense, he's only 50% responsible for having a second child.

Yeah true. I feel bad for his ManGina

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by Traum

Everyone I know who has done the Euro Delivery told me this -- if you are gonna custom order a car, do whatever it takes to make it a Euro Delivery.

The dealership will probably hate you for doing it, and might try to sway you away from it / disallow it. They have more paperwork to do, and there is apparently less profit for them on the car somehow, although I am not sure if that is just the extra paperwork that translates into lost profit, or whether they really get less profit from it.

But plan for it ahead of time, and the process should take anywhere between 8 - 18 months.

I'm probably gonna go used, so no Euro Delivery. I can't really justify a 270k 911.

Originally Posted by PeanutButter

I don't mean to throw shade, but if you want a 911, does a few % in financing actually make a difference?

If it does, should you be considering a 911 in the first place?

I was originally planning on ordering a new 911 GTS, which at the old rates would have put me around $2500/m. My mortgage went up by $3.5k/m over the last few years due to the rate hikes.

Would I be stretching it a little? Probably. Was it unfeasible? No, could totally make it happen. I was also banking on income increases too. From the moment I was think about it till now, I make 50k more before taxes. It's just a combo of disposable income going down the drain and also the payment becoming untenable

Originally Posted by Badhobz

if you didnt shit out another one, you would be driving that 911 naaaoooo!!!

I was planning on the 911 after the second one. But you know, the world economy got in the way

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by 68style

Anyone have experience with either Sense Engineering or RDH Engineering?

My building is experiencing a lot of drama right now because RDH quoted $3.6M for concrete exterior remediation and painting etc which seems like an insane price… the management company is really eager to push it through at a cost of $9-$30,000 per unit depending on square footage and who knows about “cost overruns”

I found out historically they engaged Sense Engineering 2 years ago and got a quote of $600,000 which is obviously a full $3M less and nothing to sneeze at…

Checking google reviews seems like a lot of contractors and employees have been giving RDH 5 star reviews lately which is super sus obviously, yet they’re both at 3.6 but does anyone here have experience anecdotal or otherwise with them?

So as CRS said, RDH is kind of the cream of the crop when it comes to depreciation reports and strata maintenance.

My brother used to also work for RDH doing engineering reports for windows and they are extremely thorough.

My take is, they are among, if not the best, and you pay a premium for it. They are probably one of, if not the biggest “leaky condo” consultants and the big firms like travellers etc. who warantee fixed leaky condos use RDH almost exclusively.

That inspector clown with the YouTube channel I used to know through an aquaintance and he would always shit on RDH because he thought they were no good bla bla bla basically he figured he was as good as they were and “cheaper” but he’s one guy without a building background.. RDH has dozens of actual engineers.

If you want something fixed properly, by a company that knows what they are doing when it comes to building sciences, they are likely the best.

It kinda goes back to that roofing discussion we had a few pages back. Can someone do the same thing or similar for cheaper? Depending on the complexity, absolutely. Are you willing to pay for the peice of mind hiring a company that almost guaranteed knows what they are doing? That’s for you to decide.

If your building has a lot of overhangs, stucco, flashings, complicated decks and window details, I’d lean toward using RDH.

[68style]

It's an all concrete building... jut grey painted concrete everywhere...

It's the Mandalay building in Richmond 9371/9373 Hemlock Dr...

To my undereducated eye, something doesn't sit right with their report, the figure are sky high.

Also boo to the strata for not rolling this out in segments, which is what most responsible buildings do.

It's just extra annoying becuase I'm selling this summer, so I gotta pay it right before I sell lol

[Hondaracer]

What are they proposing for the work?

[68style]

They made a 60 page document with pictures of them pointing at little cracks in people's patio planters and stuff like that...

There's a couple areas where a crack has opened up and the rebar is rusting which is expanding the concrete, I can see why that needs to be addressed... but it's largely cosmetic from my viewing.

I can send you the report if you're interested lol

[blkgsr]

Originally Posted by 68style

here's a couple areas where a crack has opened up and the rebar is rusting which is expanding the concrete, I can see why that needs to be addressed... but it's largely cosmetic from my viewing.

you said planters with cracks and rebar rusting, if in fact it is just a non structural planter then yes that's cosmetic but will cause further and increasing degradation of the bar.

but if there's any portion of the structure (exterior envelope, balconies, slabs etc) where you have large cracks developing from the settling that would be happening in richmond, then those can become a major concern

[68style]

Oh yah I'm not suggesting nothing needs to be done or there's not a few spots of significant re-sealing.

I am just questioning that it's 3.6M worth of work. I mean, that's a massive amount of $ for concrete work... half of it seems to be on the amenities building too... I feel like you could quite easily build a brand new amenities building from scratch for that lol

[Great68]

All this talk of concrete cracks and exposed rebar makes me think of that surfside condo collapse:



If there's an example out there of the worst that can happen if you ignore water ingress and concrete damage, it's this one :P