Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[immorality]

Originally Posted by donk.

Ive been watching townhouse prices in tri cities for last few months, i think the interest rates are finally starting to cause some damage

Lots of units sitting for months, this one for example, (may need zealty account to view - 2655 bedford st) and the price has been dropped for the 3rd time, 885k>835k over 4 months.
https://www.zealty.ca/mls-R2917728/4...-Coquitlam-BC/

Hopefully this trend continues into 2025

That's close to my place, and we just had a pair of units sell recently near $1m. It's a nice area though, I'm pretty happy here, you basically have the river in your backyard, 10-15 minute walk to DT Poco (I know, what DT, but Patina & the annual car show), lots of young families, close to Coq. center, skytrain, West coast express.

[68style]

Originally Posted by donk.

Ive been watching townhouse prices in tri cities for last few months, i think the interest rates are finally starting to cause some damage

Lots of units sitting for months, this one for example, (may need zealty account to view - 2655 bedford st) and the price has been dropped for the 3rd time, 885k>835k over 4 months.
https://www.zealty.ca/mls-R2917728/4...-Coquitlam-BC/

Hopefully this trend continues into 2025

You can listen to this guy start his car every morning outside your bedroom... or make him listen to yours:

[JDMDreams]

Neighbour has a Corvette too, you can be bff's, I don't think th prices will drop much as the cost go get into detached is a huge jump, and money to space value is there. $800 is like crappy two bed high-rise price and you get like 700 sq?

[bobbinka]

you can also see in the aerial pics that he parks a big ass truck illegally on the grass next to the corvette. you know it's his, cause it blocks the corvette.

[carsncars]

Is the "Den" just a walled off end of the tandem garage? Do you need strata approval for that kinda modification?



Lol Costco Artika ceiling fixtures:

[sonick]

Originally Posted by sonick

Neat to hear some of you are also into vinyl. My dad had some but I bought the first one for myself back in high school (Radiohead's Hail to the Theif) so I've been collecting for awhile. Fortunately my collection is still manageable in terms of storage. It helps now that vinyl are so much more expensive than they used to be.

I like to keep my impulse buys to $20 and under, unless it's something I've been searching for for a long time (like Madvillainy where I found randomly at the record store in Gibsons and had always been on my wishlist.) You can't find much for under $20 these days.

Nowadays if I do buy vinyl it's used vinyl from local shops.

Here's my setup and collection. Vintage Sony direct drive turntable I got from my dad's friend, old pioneer AVR for power (I have a vintage amp but this one is just more powerful and sounds better), and my dad's old JBL speakers that he gave to my bro that I'm just holding for him since he's in Asia.

The vintage console for off FB marketplace actually also has a supposedly working record player and speakers but I've never bothered to test it.

Lol I just remember had this record inside the vintage console I got from FB marketplace



What a banger, really gets the wife in the mood.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by carsncars

Is the "Den" just a walled off end of the tandem garage? Do you need strata approval for that kinda modification?

A townhouse strata is no different than a condo - you're supposed to notify the strata for any renovation to your unit as the strata is responsible for insuring your unit as it was built by the developer.

Turning half of the garage into a den is a pretty common renovation and most people don't disclose these types of renovations to the strata. The developers put in windows in the rear of these garages as almost a wink to future owners to turn the rear half into a living space.

This was poorly done... typically, garage drywall is not painted and only taped at the seams. Whoever did this couldn't even mud the seams properly and sand them down.

[Eff-1]

One of the things I need to do in our new house is change the locks. I know nothign about lock technology nowadays. Should I stick to an old fashioned deadbolt? Or are smart locks a thing that is worth installing? Thanks for edumacating me.

[unit]

i bought weiser locks because they are easy to key alike yourself. locksmith and security guys say weiser sucks, but idk, it seems sufficient. i put a keypad on the garage door instead of a traditional lock so that in case i get locked out somehow i always have a way in. if you want a slightly higher end keypad consider schlage.

[Hehe]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

One of the things I need to do in our new house is change the locks. I know nothign about lock technology nowadays. Should I stick to an old fashioned deadbolt? Or are smart locks a thing that is worth installing? Thanks for edumacating me.

Depends on how secure you want it to be.

But re-keying for the whole house is not cheap. When I did mine, they ran about 400 a piece. I only had 3 done and made them keyalike.

I used Assa Abloy's products. Yes, anything can be picked given enough dedication and time.

But there are only a handful of people in the world who can pick it relatively fast.

Or just use Google/Yale where there's nothing to pick. Just reinforce the surroundings and you are good to go.

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

One of the things I need to do in our new house is change the locks. I know nothign about lock technology nowadays. Should I stick to an old fashioned deadbolt? Or are smart locks a thing that is worth installing? Thanks for edumacating me.

There's different classes of locks. I installed dumb keypad locks on all the exterior doors. I enjoy not having to bring keys but I also don't trust smart locks.

I have two Yale and a Schlage. A locksmith friend recommended the Yales, and the Schlage is something that I was using before.

[quasi]

Originally Posted by carsncars

Is the "Den" just a walled off end of the tandem garage? Do you need strata approval for that kinda modification?

Did they apply the mud to that wall with their hands before paint, no sanding required? I actually walked into a Commercial project once and witnessed this in progress, the GC wanted us to give them a price to fix it and I just laughed and said you're on your own well doing an exit stage left.

[AstulzerRZD]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

One of the things I need to do in our new house is change the locks. I know nothign about lock technology nowadays. Should I stick to an old fashioned deadbolt? Or are smart locks a thing that is worth installing? Thanks for edumacating me.

Unless you are a high profile resident known for keeping large amounts of cash or valuables at home, most standard residential locks is all that is needed. Common thieves don't often pick locks.

Most thieves simply kick in a door or go in through an unlocked window or break a window.

If fearful of burglary, I would look more towards reinforcing door frames/jambs for added security. Best lock in the world is meaningless if the door/frame can't survive a few good kicks.

[Hondaracer]

Make sure ya install some nice long deck screws in the latch side as opposed to the dinky little 2” ones that typically come with it. Careful not to suck the frame away from the door though.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by quasi

Did they apply the mud to that wall with their hands before paint, no sanding required? I actually walked into a Commercial project once and witnessed this in progress, the GC wanted us to give them a price to fix it and I just laughed and said you're on your own well doing an exit stage left.

Given that expansion joint is still visible on the left there I’m assuming no mudding was done and they just painted the unfinished walls as they were

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

There's different classes of locks. I installed dumb keypad locks on all the exterior doors. I enjoy not having to bring keys but I also don't trust smart locks.

I have two Yale and a Schlage. A locksmith friend recommended the Yales, and the Schlage is something that I was using before.

Yeah I think I am leaning this way. I don't know how comfortable I am with the idea of having my locks connected to the interwebs.

If I install a dumb keypad lock on say one door, and just regular deadbolts on the other 2 doors, and they are different brands, how do I make it so they all use the same key?

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Make sure ya install some nice long deck screws in the latch side as opposed to the dinky little 2” ones that typically come with it. Careful not to suck the frame away from the door though.

How do you mean? You mean put screws in the door frame to reinforce the frame? Or are you referring to installing the locks?

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

Yeah I think I am leaning this way. I don't know how comfortable I am with the idea of having my locks connected to the interwebs.

If I install a dumb keypad lock on say one door, and just regular deadbolts on the other 2 doors, and they are different brands, how do I make it so they all use the same key?

It depends on the cylinder they use. The lower end Schlages uses the same keys Weisers use. The basic keys are all the same but rekeying the cylinder is the question. I don't know anything about it, and honestly don't care if they do because I don't use keys for any of the outside doors anymore. For the cost of getting all of them rekeyed, you might as well just buy a keypad lock for all of them and have all the different keys on a keyring in the house or in the car.

[jing]

Originally Posted by Hehe

Depends on how secure you want it to be.

But re-keying for the whole house is not cheap. When I did mine, they ran about 400 a piece. I only had 3 done and made them keyalike.

I used Assa Abloy's products. Yes, anything can be picked given enough dedication and time.

But there are only a handful of people in the world who can pick it relatively fast.

Or just use Google/Yale where there's nothing to pick. Just reinforce the surroundings and you are good to go.

If you paid $400 per door to rekey then you got hustled hard. When we moved in to our place now it only cost me a case of IPA from a very good locksmith.

Edit:
I should add that in my case it was done more as a favour. Same locksmith does charge an arm and a leg for corporate enterprise level clients but not $400 in most cases.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

How do you mean? You mean put screws in the door frame to reinforce the frame? Or are you referring to installing the locks?

So on the frame side you’ve got the catch for the handset and the little square frame that the dead bolt slides into

If you remove the old screws that are typically 1.5-2” and replace them with some 3-3.5” heavier screws, in theory, these will reinforce the latch portion of your door. Basically it adds strength in the case of a door getting kicked in etc.

However if you’ve got a shitty door, if someone kicks the door in the lock portion will probably just stay latched and you’ll get a hole in your door

[Hehe]

Originally Posted by jing

If you paid $400 per door to rekey then you got hustled hard. When we moved in to our place now it only cost me a case of IPA from a very good locksmith.

Edit:
I should add that in my case it was done more as a favour. Same locksmith does charge an arm and a leg for corporate enterprise level clients but not $400 in most cases.

Well, i don’t think my locksmith was particularly cheap or expensive. But the locks I installed were Abloy Protec 2. They aren’t cheap to come by at retail. No idea what it cost at wholesale though.

But they are really good though. I used them exclusively in my commercial properties and never had an issue. There were attempts, but never breached. Knock on wood.

[jing]

I'm no locksmith but know those aren't cheap. I thought you meant $400 was just for rekeying the cylinders. If new hardware is included then I retract what I said. 99% of homeowners won't know or spend the difference but then again you are a 1%er!

[carsncars]

Originally Posted by unit

i bought weiser locks because they are easy to key alike yourself. locksmith and security guys say weiser sucks, but idk, it seems sufficient. i put a keypad on the garage door instead of a traditional lock so that in case i get locked out somehow i always have a way in. if you want a slightly higher end keypad consider schlage.

I also went with Weiser SmartKey locks. Until you go to the next tier of stuff I didn't see much difference between Weiser and the other Home Depot stuff. I also rented my place out for 2-3 years and it made re-keying really easy. It also gives me the flexibility to change the keys on my front door, basement suite door, and (detached) garage door to the same key vs. different keys.

[PeanutButter]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

One of the things I need to do in our new house is change the locks. I know nothign about lock technology nowadays. Should I stick to an old fashioned deadbolt? Or are smart locks a thing that is worth installing? Thanks for edumacating me.

For us, it comes down to two things.

1. Safety
2. Convenience

A smart lock can auto-lock. Sometimes we just forget to lock the door. So many times I would wake up in the morning to leave for work and our dead bolt wasn't locked. Now, that is not an issue with auto-lock

Also, everyone has their own key code so I know who's coming through the door. When my mom comes, my dad, my mother-in-law, etc.

Next to safety, the convenience of not needing a physical key is just a luxury. Have you ever walked around your house outside and the back door is locked? Not an issue, just enter your code and you're in.

Schlage Encode is our preferred lock. If you've assembled IKEA furniture before, you'd be able to install a new lock. It's not rocket science.

For tenants, I prefer smart locks. I wouldn't give them the physical key. I would just give them the keycode. Saves you from having to re-key anything.

[Mikoyan]

Originally Posted by Hehe

Well, i don’t think my locksmith was particularly cheap or expensive. But the locks I installed were Abloy Protec 2. They aren’t cheap to come by at retail. No idea what it cost at wholesale though.

But they are really good though. I used them exclusively in my commercial properties and never had an issue. There were attempts, but never breached. Knock on wood.

These Abloys are aren't your normal keyways for those that don't know. In addition, Key blank access is restricted as well, you're not going to home depot and getting keys copied with those.

Even for picking those, you're going to need a disc pick, much different from your normal pin tumbler lock we're most familiar with. But for security purposes? install an anti pry shield, decent dead bolt, longer screws in the jamb, don't forget the hinge side too. Block your sliding windows with a solid bar.

They're going to kick in your door or pry open your windows before they're going to try to pick it.

That said, the old non smartkey weiser keyways are scarily insecure. I picked up lock picking during Covid, and you can pick some of those in a couple of minutes.
I've got the light commercial Schlage deadbolt/handles on my house when i replaced the locks.