Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by Stormspirit

New apartment inspection tomorrow. what should I look out for?

Make sure everything is running working (laundry, washer, drying, plumbing, electric outlid, sink etc etc.... stove is on) make sure there are no dents and everything is even, hardwood floor are all even.

[StutteR_]

Bring post notes and stick them where ever you see any scratches, dents, or anything that needs to be fixed.

[blkgsr]

Everyone pull our your crystal balls.....

Thoughts on mortgages as mines up at the end of the month...right now I'm with Scotia being offered 2.79% 5 year fixed and Prime - .55% (2.3%) for a 5 year variable

Meeting with RBC tomorrow (who i bank with) but already over the phone i've been told 2.65% 5 year fixed and Prime - 0.65% (2.2%) for 5 year variable

anyone else i should check out? for the next few years i'm not going to be worried about who let's me prepay more etc as i'll be travelling and any extra money from the rent will be used on that.

my question is fixed or variable????

[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by blkgsr

for the next few years i'm not going to be worried about who let's me prepay more etc as i'll be travelling and any extra money from the rent will be used on that.

my question is fixed or variable????

You've just answered your own question.

[blkgsr]

uh no....

[VR6GTI]

variable

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by blkgsr

Everyone pull our your crystal balls.....

Thoughts on mortgages as mines up at the end of the month...right now I'm with Scotia being offered 2.79% 5 year fixed and Prime - .55% (2.3%) for a 5 year variable

Meeting with RBC tomorrow (who i bank with) but already over the phone i've been told 2.65% 5 year fixed and Prime - 0.65% (2.2%) for 5 year variable

anyone else i should check out? for the next few years i'm not going to be worried about who let's me prepay more etc as i'll be travelling and any extra money from the rent will be used on that.

my question is fixed or variable????

It all depends on your risk tolerance and your views on where the Canadian economy is headed. If you're traveling for a few years, do you think that the Bank of Canada will raise the interest rate?

It might be a good idea to run a few scenarios with a mortgage calculator and see how much a 1-1.5% interest rate increase will affect your cash flow with a variable rate.

If you don't care about prepayment options, why not try a smaller lender that offers better rates? There are lots of smaller lenders being parroted on places like RedFlagDeals if you simply want a no-frills, lowest-rate mortgage.

[SumAznGuy]

If you take a fixed rate mortgage, your month payments will be the same for the X number of years.
You end up paying a little more $ in the long run, but it gives you a little piece of mind as you and your wife are on your travels.

With a variable mortgage, you save some $ that you can spend on your travels, but *When* the US raises their rates, the Bank of Canada will follow suit and your variable rate may go up by 1-2%.

Ask yourself this. How much prinicple do you owe? How much of a difference will it be each month between the lower fixed rate and variable rate?
Is the difference that much that it will affect you during your travels.

For me, I think the simplest answer if fixed rate and enjoy your travel with the misses.

*** Rates have been too low for too long. It isn't that hard to imagine the US raising their rates and the BOC raising their overnight lending rates in the next year or 2. ***

[heleu]

It depends on your risk tolerance. If you are even worrying about it, you probably should go fixed. I sleep fine with variable.

I also recommend shopping around. If you spend 10 seconds, ratehub has 5 year fixed for 2.47% and 5 year variable for 2.00%. A lot of banks will match if you show them a comparable rate.

I got a mortgage 3 years ago at prime -.9. My updated mortgage agreement is now at 1.95% variable.

[blkgsr]

ya i hear you guys...

my broker got back to me and says he can get me 2.44% 5 year fixed with MCAP MCAP - Residential- Commercial - Mortgage Lending

anyone heard of them??

[blkgsr]

only issue right now might be i've only been employed for 2 months with my company and being away last year my 2014 T4 was minimal....i've asked him if a signed rental lease will help. hoping to have that locked down this weekend

[quasi]

One thing about going open variable is if you decide you're going to keep traveling and want to sell in a year or two you won't be paying penalties like you will locking in. The way you've kind of been flipping between renting and selling I'd keep my options open but to each his own.

[willcls]

just go with the 5 year variable 2.20% renew with Scotia they can get that rate. there is no income verification on renewals.

[blkgsr]

he can also get me 2% variable

[Adrenaline Rush]

I've heard rumours that the rates may drop even further over the next couple of weeks - certainly not good for the economy but may ramp up even more home buyers.

[blkgsr]

ya head something is supposed to be announced on wednesday??

[ImportPsycho]

????????? ????57???? | ?????? | taiyangbao.ca

bidding war still going on?
east van? omg...

[4444]

Originally Posted by Adrenaline Rush

I've heard rumours that the rates may drop even further over the next couple of weeks - certainly not good for the economy but may ramp up even more home buyers.

idiots will continue to buy, w/e, their financial funeral

USD will rise relative to CAD, great for ppl like me (that have their wealth more weighted to USD, especially as i'll be bringing some over soon)

[Z3guy]

Originally Posted by 4444

idiots will continue to buy, w/e, their financial funeral

USD will rise relative to CAD, great for ppl like me (that have their wealth more weighted to USD, especially as i'll be bringing some over soon)

really now? It is very funny to know who is profiting and not profiting on real estate in Vancouver. Anyone who bought dirt in Vancouver even 12 months ago, has seen their property value increase by +30%. Regardless, you have been preaching everyone is so dumb who buy in Vancouver, but if they didn't listen to your rhetoric they have made a nice tidy tax free profit. Since you have no clue about Vancouver, you would not know developers are trolling the West side of Vancouver to buy houses above asking to developed them. With the changes to high density zoning in Vancouver, prices still continue to climb because developers know you can still make money.

Keep bragging about how smart of an investor you are and I will keep laughing at you! haha!

[blkgsr]

been crunching some numbers: i've got approx $280,000 left

this is all accelerated weekly

5 year fixed at 2.44% (25 year) is $311.49, (20 year) is $368.48
5 year variable at 2% (prime - 0.85%) (25 year) is $296.70, (20 year) is $354.12

on the 25 year amortization there's approx a $3600 difference over the 5 years (approx $15 per week x 4 weeks/month x 12 months) i know that's not exactly but close enough

WHEN rates go up, in a couple years that margin closes pretty quickly....

[Mr.HappySilp]

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/04/b...-davie-street/
Could micro-condos help address Vancouver’s housing supply and affordability issues?

Reliance Properties plans to build a 25 to 30-storey tower at 902 Davie Street, a site at the southwest corner of Davie and Hornby streets that is currently occupied by a 7-Eleven convenience store.

The tower will be comprised of micro-units between 175 and 275 square feet, with outdoor gardens every few floors and a rooftop space as well as amenities such as a dining spaces, an electronic library and a study hall.

According to Retail Insider, the tower’s podium includes a grocery store between 20,000 and 35,000 square feet in size. Although one of the building’s renderings suggest a Whole Foods store for the location, the grocery chain has not been confirmed for the site.

Some will love the facade design for the contrast it provides, but others will perhaps hate it for breaking the city’s condominium ‘cookie cutter’ homogeneity of green and blue-coloured glass towers.

Los Angeles-based Neil M. Denari Architects (NMDA) is responsible for the tower’s design of a bold, black ‘bee hive’ that highlight the perimeter dimensions of each micro-condo unit.

“Each one of these strata or blocks includes a corner void that has been cut out of the original form that creates local cantilevers and momentary disruptions in the extrusion of the mass,” writes NMDA on their website. “The treatment of the facades articulates the tension between foreground and background, with ironically, the negative spaces positioned as ‘unique’ elements within the field.”

“In combination with the highly impastoed red surfaces of the voids, the overall graphic and formal effect of the project contrasts the straightforward against the sculptural.”

The building is located on the same city block as the Jim Pattison Group’s Burrard Place, which is another Reliance Properties project and accounted for in the renderings. Construction on the three-building project, which includes a 54-storey and 36-storey residential towers and a 7-storey office building, is expected to begin soon.

902 Davie Street has yet to reach the City of Vancouver’s formal application stage. But if approved, this will be Reliance Properties’ second micro-unit condo project in Vancouver.

In 2011, the developer transformed Burns Block on 18 Hastings Street into a 30-unit micro-condo development consisting of units between 226 to 291 square feet in size.

275sq ft units. I guess the ones from surrey (300 sq ft) is bigger lol. Guess soon we will be like Hong Kong.

[sdubfid]

YouTube

[red_2]

^


its funny cause its true

[josel_atr]

hello RS.

is it possible to request for a thread listing new developments that are potentially good buys?

[Mr.C]

Originally Posted by josel_atr

hello RS.

is it possible to request for a thread listing new developments that are potentially good buys?

As time goes by, I am more and more convinced there's no such thing as a "good buy" in Vancouver anymore. I'd seriously rather rent and invest elsewhere.