Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[Badhobz]

7-8k lot isn’t that big. I’m on one right now and I do all my own lawn work. It’s not so bad.

I can do it all with one battery on my Costco mower and I got a lot of green space.

But to say you can’t find anything for 5 mil is ridiculous . Your uncles expectations are about as retarded as his requirements. What does he need like 10 bedrooms ? What’s wrong with all the 3 mil new builds in Vancouver ? He wants a McMansion ? Go on government ave in Burnaby then or Port Moody / anmore.
If you want to have a larger 7-8k lot then come to Richmond.

I don’t get it. I don’t think a geezer needs a huge lot especially if his kids have left the house.

[bcrdukes]

It's for his professional whores.

[JDMDreams]

Basically I consider 6000+ sqf house large, I assume lot will be at least 7000 8000 sq?

[radeonboy]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

I can do it all with one battery on my Costco mower and I got a lot of green space.

Are you and your neighbors experiencing problems with grubs / raccoons?

[Badhobz]

Nope. But friggin ants is annoying as shit. The entire neighbourhood seem to have this issue as maybe there’s a huge colony underneath all our houses and now that it’s cold they got nowhere to go but inside.

[PeanutButter]

My uncle lives on a 50ft x 110ft (approx) lot right now, it's an older house.

He has the money, his kids are okay, so I get the feeling he just wants to flex on everyone with a new house.

Though, he does host a lot and his current house is about 4,000 sq/ft and to be honest, it's not that much space when you have like 20 people there, if you have 30 people it's pretty tight. We have a big family so the numbers get up there now that everyone has kids.

[Badhobz]

Your uncle sounds like a douche bag. Point him out so I can avoid him

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by PeanutButter

My uncle lives on a 50ft x 110ft (approx) lot right now, it's an older house.

He has the money, his kids are okay, so I get the feeling he just wants to flex on everyone with a new house.

Though, he does host a lot and his current house is about 4,000 sq/ft and to be honest, it's not that much space when you have like 20 people there, if you have 30 people it's pretty tight. We have a big family so the numbers get up there now that everyone has kids.

I think "flex" might be a bit unnecessary. He's likely at a stage in his life where he can move into a place that's bigger, and if part of what keeps him motivated is to host family get togethers, it would make sense he would want the extra space. I come from a very big family, so I understand the frustrations of hosting in a small house.

Oh yeah, point him out so I can avoid him too.

[Badhobz]

Bet he looks like one of these guys. How terrifying (I mean the flip flops)

Now I don’t even wanna come over for hot pot. Ya Goooofffff

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

Your uncle sounds like a douche bag. Point him out so I can avoid him

Lol

[Hehe]

Nah. Space is something you get used to and it’s hard to go back once given enough space.

When I lived in a 500sqft shoebox, I thought I’d be happy with 1100+.
When I moved to a 1550sqft starter house, I thought how awesome it’d be to have something like 3000.
When I moved to a 3500 home in south surrey, I thought this is good enough. After few years, now we are working on our remodel/rebuild plan that’s going to bring to a whopping 8500sqft that includes my dream garage + workshop and wife’s library and hot house for her plants that she somehow got into now at semi professional level.

As you got space, you just start doing/buying more things. Wife never knew she got a thing for plants. But as we had space and she started her side gig, we just run out of space after she started accumulating equipment and’s materials

[Hondaracer]

Sounds like hoarding

[68style]

8500 sq ft for 3 (?) people is crazy... I went from 638sq ft to 3800-ish (hard to calculate, they don't include basements in measurements in AB) and there's 4 entire rooms I don't even use right now. And that doesn't include the 3 car shop in the backyard.

Am I'm a but of a hoarder... for toys anyway... massive Hotwheels/Transformers/Funko/Lego collection.

[whitev70r]

Originally Posted by PeanutButter

My uncle lives on a 50ft x 110ft (approx) lot right now, it's an older house.

He has the money, his kids are okay, so I get the feeling he just wants to flex on everyone with a new house.

Though, he does host a lot and his current house is about 4,000 sq/ft and to be honest, it's not that much space when you have like 20 people there, if you have 30 people it's pretty tight. We have a big family so the numbers get up there now that everyone has kids.

How old approx is said uncle? Another poster alluded to, it's a lot of work, landscape, snow (if any or flex = heated driveway), etc. Most people think about downsizing. Buy a penthouse condo and use the party room to host.

[radeonboy]

My feedback from elderly people living in a big home is:

• Higher Maintenance Costs: Constant upkeep (more stuff to break), more cleaning, constant yardwork + repairs etc.
• Unused Space: Extra space is nice to hold more people when needed, but doesn't happen as often as originally anticipated
• Physical Challenges: Health/mobility issues make stairs / expansive rooms / yards harder to navigate, and still requires more effort even when healthy.
• Higher Running Costs: Taxes / utilities / insurance etc. feel expensive for the space used
• Isolation: Not sure how big your uncle's current house is, but a large house (4000sqft+) to one person can be isolating. Is your aunt in the picture?

You already mentioned your uncle is financially secure, but not everyone is willing to have their money chipped away with these added running costs. Hired help is expensive and adds up over time that he could've spent on something else. If he's in it to flex, a smaller $5M SFH in Vancouver west side beats 8500sqft out in burnaby IMO.

My next-door neighbors are a retired elderly Caucasian couple. Pretty standard fare - one loves to garden and keeps her yard in tip-top shape, and the other handles all the general maintenance and upkeep of the house (power washing, seasonal cleaning, etc.). They’re passionate about curb appeal and highly skilled at maintaining their home, but their workload feels increasingly overwhelming and harder to keep up with as they age.

[Hondaracer]

If you can’t pay for constant landscaping, eventually the property will fall into disarray.

I probably spend hundreds of hours a year doing gardening, landscaping, etc. in a typical Vancouver lot and all my shit is already done, I’ve planted trees and shrubs that come back, hedges that require very little maintenance, a simple lawn, and it still takes non-stop work just for upkeep

[Harvey Specter]

Originally Posted by radeonboy

My feedback from elderly people living in a big home is:

• Higher Maintenance Costs: Constant upkeep (more stuff to break), more cleaning, constant yardwork + repairs etc.
• Unused Space: Extra space is nice to hold more people when needed, but doesn't happen as often as originally anticipated
• Physical Challenges: Health/mobility issues make stairs / expansive rooms / yards harder to navigate, and still requires more effort even when healthy.
• Higher Running Costs: Taxes / utilities / insurance etc. feel expensive for the space used
• Isolation: Not sure how big your uncle's current house is, but a large house (4000sqft+) to one person can be isolating. Is your aunt in the picture?

You already mentioned your uncle is financially secure, but not everyone is willing to have their money chipped away with these added running costs. Hired help is expensive and adds up over time that he could've spent on something else. If he's in it to flex, a smaller $5M SFH in Vancouver west side beats 8500sqft out in burnaby IMO.

My next-door neighbors are a retired elderly Caucasian couple. Pretty standard fare - one loves to garden and keeps her yard in tip-top shape, and the other handles all the general maintenance and upkeep of the house (power washing, seasonal cleaning, etc.). They’re passionate about curb appeal and highly skilled at maintaining their home, but their workload feels increasingly overwhelming and harder to keep up with as they age.

My parents are in the same boat, they're now in their mid-70s, living in a 4,000+ sq/ft home with just the two of them. The house is only about 20 years old but still requires a lot of upkeep which they can't keep up with. They could easily cash out and put a few million in the bank, but nope because my dad refuses to leave Vancouver and move into a condo.

[EvoFire]

As a SFH owner, it's a fuck ton of work.

My parents sold their SFH partly cause my dad no longer wanted to keep up with the maintenance. They traded a few condos until it became clear living in my basement was probably the best scenario (best for them, not for me)

[JDMDreams]

Fwp

I can't wash the car cuz the hose and pipes will freeze, ice up the driveway. Have to shovel snow when it snows even though it's city property, have to rake leaves, cut grass cut trees every year. Have to paint xyz, fence falls over during wind storm, have to talk with neighbors to fix. They say they poor have no money to fix etc. just buy some REITs and call it a day.

[68style]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

If you can’t pay for constant landscaping, eventually the property will fall into disarray.

I probably spend hundreds of hours a year doing gardening, landscaping, etc. in a typical Vancouver lot and all my shit is already done, I’ve planted trees and shrubs that come back, hedges that require very little maintenance, a simple lawn, and it still takes non-stop work just for upkeep

You should have let those buddy guys move into your bsmt and cut a deal lol

[Hondaracer]

A buddy guy actually walked by me one day working on my lawn and he’s like “I’ve got work for you!” I’m like nah bro this is my place lol

[Badhobz]

^you should have scoffed at him and be like …… you can’t afford me

[Hehe]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Sounds like hoarding

I won't deny that.

Of course it's not 8500sqft of pure indoor space. Not the conventional sense at least. Our actual indoor living space will only increase by about 1800sqft to add our proper office (currently we are sharing one room for that), a proper guest room for when in-laws come over and kids getting their own bedroom instead of having to take one room for their toys+music instruments and having them share a bedroom.

My wife's hot-house by itself is almost 3000sqft. It's going to be a glass+metal frame giant sunroom.

Sounds a bit crazy but her side gig is bringing some decent money and the fact that she really enjoys doing it, so we thought it made sense to invest into an expansion. (yes, our zoning allows this "agricultural thing") She's currently working within our existing (smaller) pool room and it's running out of space.

And my garage is going up one floor, more like a loft, for me to accommodate all the tools and my man-cave.

It's by no mean a conventional thing or small undertaking. But wife and I really want to make this our permanent home where we make the house fit our lifestyle instead of us accommodating around the house.

As for the maintenance cost, the way I thought about it is given how we are working on humanoid robots or purpose-specific robots, it's a matter of time all that can be taken care of without spending a fortune.

[PeanutButter]

My uncle just turned 59 last year, I remember because he was pretty choked that he got a letter for CPP. It said that he's able to collect CPP when he's 60 and he got so effin sad. He was like I'm not even that old.

He made the comment that once you start collecting CPP, you're old. So he said he's going to delay it as long as possible, I think 71 or 72 is the max and then they force you to take it?

He's a nice uncle, he always has been, even before he made it. He has been the uncle who always hosts and he hosts a lot, not just for us, but for his friends too. So he really wants a bigger space for that reason.

He worked hard, so he should enjoy the fruits of his labor. He's a great guy, if you came over you would have a drink in your hand just as you took your jacket off.

[noclue]

Is the strategy of taking the CPP early with the penalty still advantageous? Present value of money and you could drop dead before 65.