I didn't see the listing for this til it was too late. At list price, there's probably over 200k left for reno's before it comes close to comps.

19781 N Wildwood Crescent, Pitt Meadows, BC, House For Sale | REW.ca

Maybe its just me, but anybody who works for me in sales, I always assume they are slimy and douchey. Sales people lie all the time, yet their position ij the chain of life is yet to be threatened. I'm not sure how one can get through life these days assuming everybody will be helping you and holding your hand. Its my responsibility to do my own due diligence. Accountability needs to be a two way street IMO

We made that move just over a yr ago. Grew up east van, lived in kits for 8 years, then out to the burbs. For us it came down to buying a townhouse in bby and staying in the same strata environment, or paying a couple hundred bucks more a month and owning our own land/grass and having full control of our property.

We're technically east Coquitlam, by Austin and Mariner so our access to hwy 1 is quite good vs other areas of Coquitlam we considered. The 'valley' area of coq/poco is a pain to access traffic wise during rush hour. For us, commute to false creek at 7am is 25mins with HOV. For me to get to central Richmond for work on my own avg 1 hr each way. Commute time sucks esp with a young family, but it is what it is and I like my job too much to consider relocating for now. It takes about 25 mins to drive to east van during afternoon rush hour to visit parents, with HOV again and going against traffic flow. Fwiw when we lived in kits it would take the same/more time to get out to east Van during rush hour.

I agree - there is no free lunch. Time is money, just depends on how much you value your time.

Thanks for the feedback - just need to think about it some more. Crazy how insane prices are going now.

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It's absolutely crazy right now, but at least you're in the market and have a property that will have no trouble selling (you will have potential buyers lining up out the door).

Or, have your kid now and make due. It can be done, even in a 1-bedroom. A baby can sleep in a bassinet which doesn't take much space. You may end up co-sleeping anyway. Don't get seduced by Pinterest and the nurseries no one uses.

yep, also in young 30s and got a 1 bedroom condo near brentwood like you too. Have a 11 month old now and put the crib beside my bed, it's a little tight but not too bad.

Bought a preconstruction in october last year and won't be done till late 2017, which would be a good time for kid to have her own room. In the mean time I just keep watching the price go up for both my places till I have to sell.

My wife works in Pitt (coming from Coquitlam), and the traffic heading west on Lougheed is usually bananas. Then again if you're heading west on the Port Mann you're stuck in Burnaby for a while. If I lived in Pitt I would probably look into WCE if I was working in/around Downtown.

IGTBAR-

I also just made the move from VanBurn to Coquitlam. You're right in that once you head out there, you're going to want to find new places that provide services (haircut, tailor, bakery, etc). This is mostly out of laziness because I don't want to drive 20 mins for a haircut when I can walk 5 mins and try a place.

Being Asian and growing up in Van/Burn for almost 30 years, the one knock on Coquitlam that I'm still struggling with are places for quick/cheap Asian eats. I'm thinking viet subs, easy HK noodles, BBQ/roasted pork and even an Asian butcher. There's a number of places that offer these services, but they're nowhere near as good as the places in Vancouver especially.

That said, I love the area I'm in. I don't need to drive anywhere once I am home. I'm walking distance (<5mins for most places) to grocery stores, wide array of restaurants, shopping, trails, water (if you count Lafarge Lake), and on a bad day at most 20 mins from the Cape Horn.

I'm not that old (30ish), but you quickly learn that detached homes are pretty much unattainable for most young workers like my wife and myself. I'm not going to pretend I know you, but you have your priorities and it's great you're trying your best to work around them. But if you're looking to continue to live in VanBurn (and especially in a detached home), I'm guessing you don't need someone to tell you that there will be some major sacrifices in one form or another.

If you can stomach living east of Burnaby in Coquitlam, it really isn't as far or as "bad" as you think.

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Well, townhouses haven't reached a million in the suburbs.

For a standard 1400 square foot, 3 bedroom/2 bathroom townhome with a tandem garage and small yard (possibly 2) that was built 3-5 years ago, you're looking at 600K in the Tri-Cities. Do they have character? Not really, but they're perfectly functional for a young family.

If the going rate for a 1-bedroom condo in Brentwood is 370-400K, then you're looking at another 200K to get into something that will serve you for the next 5 years, at least. Not cheap, but not back-breaking either, particularly for an upper class couple. If you can stomach the carrying costs of the new mortgage at 4% (worse case scenario in 5 years), then you can make the leap.

As a relatively new father myself, your perspective on what's important will change once you become a parent. You may want to go back to work right away, or you may never want to go back. I understand the desire to buy a detached, but if you think about what our parents did, the small bungalow was the starter home, like the condo is today. I've become a big advocate of buying what you need for the next 5 years, as opposed to buying what you think need. Staying in Brentwood if you decide to have a child may not be such a bad thing. In my experience, having the mall, a local community centre, and a Winners helped my wife a lot during the first few weeks. Staying home, sleep deprived, with nothing around can make you depressed in a hurry.

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I was in town last week, looking at a project for one of our corporate customers in North Van.

Man, after 9 years on the Island I really forgot how much commuting during rush in the lower mainland sucked.

Sure makes me appreciate my 14km, 2-traffic light country road drive to work over here (soon to be a 1.7km walk from my house when my office moves next year)

Totally your preference. When we lived in kits even, we always had an end destination in sight and rarely made unplanned stops. Now with a couple little ones time is at an extra premium so every stop is planned days in advanced.

You did bring up a good point about your friends though. Something to consider if/when you and your circle have family, will access be an issue? Will they be in a close-ish proximity?

Fwiw I hated driving through city traffic. And I hate it even more now when we have to go 'into town' to run errands

For us part of the decision to move up to a detached house was this is planned as a longterm home, 10-20yrs maybe even more. We don't like the prospect and process of moving, house hunting, house selling, moving in, unpacking, rearranging, refurnishing. With a 12-1400sf townhouse, we would have likely wanted to move again in ~5-8yrs

When goddamn Sotheby's is worried and making people sign documents, shit is about to hit the fan. These guys have been in business for a long, long time.

Give it six months or a year...

Looking to relocate to White Rock. What area is recommended for a young family?

Wife and I went there to visit a relative, and we really love the little town feel of it. Of course, my relative is retired and live near the beach, but there's no fucking way for me to afford that particular location and it's kinda far from highway to go into town and big stores. So, not really sure where to start looking. Any idea?

Morgan crossing is turning into a ghetto ala Clayton heights in surrey.

So Much density there and people buying as investments renting out to unsavory types.

https://www.realtor.ca/Residential/S...olumbia-V5R3M8

My neighbourhood keeps getting crazier. 1530sf front duplex listed for $1.3M.

2000sf duplexes were going for $1M just a year ago.

Ocean Park if you don't need to be in White Rock proper. Great family environment, good elementary schools and Elgin HS is really high rated as well.

Rosemary Heights if you really need to be near the highway.

imo a bassinet is a waste of money that doesn't get used for very long. cost effective crib or mattress on the floor/low bed i say.

Same here! I am seeing Duplex being sold close to $1M. like WTF is not even that big. House are being sold for 1.2+M and a lot of them are being taken down to make Duplex which is sad because the House looks pretty nice and unique but the Duplex looks so the same and lame......

Website run by Shanghai-based company lists Vancouver properties | Vancouver Sun

www.vanfun.com

Probably nothing new but interesting how they can list online before they are advertised locally.

Realtors pressure potential buyers into making offers with no conditions so they don't miss the opportunity to buy. Make them sign a waiver so they have no liability. Not even sure what the point of a realtor is in majority of situations.

They have basically zero liability for anything. Drive you around and make phone calls.

We're already seeing the condo market heat up and looks like the condo market will rise further...