Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[Harvey Specter]

[jing]

A 1br unit we were interested in the Highgate area listed for 298k, and ended up selling for 328k. Ticked all the right boxes for us but we didn't put down an offer, not that it'd have mattered anyway considering the selling price. Echoing the sentiment of many on here, it seems to be difficult to not let emotion become an overriding factor in such a large financial commitment. I'm not ballin by any means on an apprentice's wage but it would be great to lock something down, whether the market continues going up or not.

[westopher]

Originally Posted by Harvey Specter

LOL. Here i just did some math on the CAD
It went up 1 cent in a day so this time next year it will be worth $5.28 USD.

[minoru_tanaka]

Originally Posted by westopher

LOL. Here i just did some math on the CAD
It went up 1 cent in a day so this time next year it will be worth $5.28 USD.

Awesome! All I have is CAD

[mikemhg]

Originally Posted by westopher

LOL. Here i just did some math on the CAD
It went up 1 cent in a day so this time next year it will be worth $5.28 USD.

[jing]

Any recommendations for a Vancouver/Burnaby based condo realtor? The guy I'm currently working with is overly pushy and isn't all too genuine.

[westopher]

I have a friend I could put you in touch with, but he's as new to the game as it gets. He's certainly no bullshitter, but when I say new I mean NEW. Let me know if you want me to put you in contact though and I will.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by jing

Any recommendations for a Vancouver/Burnaby based condo realtor? The guy I'm currently working with is overly pushy and isn't all too genuine.

I unfortunately don't have someone to recommend, but in my limited experience, when it comes to buying a property, most of the work should be done by you, the buyer. A realtor's role is really limited to providing you with comparable sales and being able to move quickly if there's a deal to be had. They can't offer much in the way of an opinion on whether a property is good or bad (beyond the superficial) because they could be held liable. The value of a realtor is based on the data they have access to.

If you're in the market for a condo, you need to go over as many Form B's as possible to understand how buildings are run and where the red flags are. Look for depreciation/engineering reports and read the minutes and bylaws carefully. A realtor may help scan things for you, but in the end, you're the one buying the property and you're the one who will be living in a complex with all of good and bad things. You should understand the area you're also buying into too - read the community plans and scan the local news for any potential redevelopments.

Even in this market, you still have time to go over the Form B. If offers are being accepted one or two days after an open house, then get your realtor to put a subject in your offer with respect to a review of the Form B if it's not available before the offer deadline.

[westopher]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

I unfortunately don't have someone to recommend, but in my limited experience, when it comes to buying a property, most of the work should be done by you, the buyer.

I feel like someone shouldn't be getting $35000 if I need to do most of the work.

[jing]

Originally Posted by westopher

I have a friend I could put you in touch with, but he's as new to the game as it gets. He's certainly no bullshitter, but when I say new I mean NEW. Let me know if you want me to put you in contact though and I will.

I'm all for supporting someone new to the industry, but when it comes to a $300k+ decision, someone with a bit more experience would be ideal.

[westopher]

Totally understand, and to be honest I'd do the same.

[Harvey Specter]

Originally Posted by jing

Any recommendations for a Vancouver/Burnaby based condo realtor? The guy I'm currently working with is overly pushy and isn't all too genuine.

I dealt with Amar Pal for a couple condos of mine and he got me a unit at the Arc when the other realtors I dealt with couldn't. The guy is on the money. Give him a shout, if he can't help he'll put you in touch with someone who will.

[6thGear.]

Originally Posted by jing

Any recommendations for a Vancouver/Burnaby based condo realtor? The guy I'm currently working with is overly pushy and isn't all too genuine.

My buddy has been doing it for almost 10 yrs. He's also working on opening his own brokerage. Let me know.

Originally Posted by westopher

I feel like someone shouldn't be getting $35000 if I need to do most of the work.

$35000 commission on a $300k condo is overkill. What kind of crooked realtor is that? lol In case no one isn't sure, commission can always be negotiable and more times than not they will give you a rebate back.

[pastarocket]

-crazy sale of these condos in downtown Vancouver on Nelson street:

Expert questions huge real estate sale in Downtown Vancouver - NEWS 1130

Properties on Nelson Street sold for nearly three-and-a-half times the initial price

Buyer is being reviewed by the BC Securities Commission


VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Imagine buying a property, selling it for three-and-a-half times what you paid and then finding out it sold again just weeks later for even more money. That’s exactly what happened with a few properties in Downtown Vancouver recently.

And a local real estate expert admits the figures are mind-boggling. Tsur Somerville with UBC isn’t sure he believes the ultimate figure the properties on Nelson Street were apparently sold for.

A pair of developers initially bought the condo buildings for $16.8 million, and then sold them to a consortium of investors organized by Sun Commercial Real Estate (Suncom), for $60 million, according to the South China Morning Post. Just a month after that sale, an individual buyer paid $68 million.

“If the prices are true, and that’s a really big if, because when you’re looking at a transaction that’s being done through the transfer of the company you don’t actually know what prices are and whether or not they’re cash or whether or not they’re a complicated share swaps. In that sense it’s entirely speculative. But you’re looking at prices that are completely out to lunch in terms of what could realistically be developed there with any prices even remotely connected to prices as they exist right now, especially in the condo market,” explains Sommerville.

“I certainly think if you’re getting more transactions like this, particularly on property then you’ve got to be really, really worried about how this plays out. If lots of people grossly overpay for land and they’re not willing to sell that land and take a loss, then you have real supply issues and property challenges going down the road.”

He says he trusts the $60 million figure is true. “But the second transaction of the $68 million — there’s a whole lot of reasons why that might not necessarily be a realistic transaction, and I’d certainly be a lot more concerned about the legitimacy around Suncom and their business model and their actions.”

Suncom is being reviewed by the BC Securities Commission

[unit]

Originally Posted by Harvey Specter

eventually money will flow to another hot city when prices continue to escalate. the money won't stay here forever

[westopher]

Originally Posted by 6thGear.

$35000 commission on a $300k condo is overkill. What kind of crooked realtor is that? lol In case no one isn't sure, commission can always be negotiable and more times than not they will give you a rebate back.

A) I'm being hypothetical on an average real estate transaction in GVRD
B) Its a fuck of a lot more than 300k.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by unit

eventually money will flow to another hot city when prices continue to escalate. the money won't stay here forever

^^ True, but I'd say the important questions to ask are:

- When will that happen?
- When it finally happens, what sorry state will the city be left in?
- More importantly, what sorry state will the city's residents be left in?

As far as I can see, the future for Vancouver and its residents look very grim. We already have RE property prices that are beyond the reach of regular working class people. As a result of this, families' disposable income gets stretched to the limit, and you see the core / pillar age groups (late 20's to early 40's?) either moving away to raise families, delay their family planning, have fewer children, etc. None of the vast ripple effects down the line are good -- schools enrollment drops across the board over the next 15 - 20 years, employment opportunities diminish, the average age of the population grows (meaning higher medical expenses for the government with fewer people to support the tax base), etc. just to name a few.

Vancouver is my home and I love it to death. It breaks my heart to see this beautiful city heading towards a downward spiral.

[westopher]

But Carl Johnson said it's the best so nothing bad can happen here.

[buhdeh]

Yeah, don't worry. I heard Vancouver was the best city to be in economically.

Originally Posted by Traum

^^ True, but I'd say the important questions to ask are:

- When will that happen?
- When it finally happens, what sorry state will the city be left in?
- More importantly, what sorry state will the city's residents be left in?

As far as I can see, the future for Vancouver and its residents look very grim. We already have RE property prices that are beyond the reach of regular working class people. As a result of this, families' disposable income gets stretched to the limit, and you see the core / pillar age groups (late 20's to early 40's?) either moving away to raise families, delay their family planning, have fewer children, etc. None of the vast ripple effects down the line are good -- schools enrollment drops across the board over the next 15 - 20 years, employment opportunities diminish, the average age of the population grows (meaning higher medical expenses for the government with fewer people to support the tax base), etc. just to name a few.

Vancouver is my home and I love it to death. It breaks my heart to see this beautiful city heading towards a downward spiral.

Don't forget all the brand new office towers sprouting up with no tenants.

https://www.biv.com/article/2016/3/w...office-market/
https://www.pwc.com/ca/en/real-estat...te-2016-en.pdf

There also are some concerns about office vacancy rates, which at 10.4 percent in the second quarter of 2015 are Vancouver's highest in a decade. The high cost of living is making it harder to attract head offices and other major firms to the city, and it's not at all clear how long it will take for the market to absorb all the space that is available now-or becoming available in the next year.

[Carl Johnson]

Originally Posted by westopher

But Carl Johnson said it's the best so nothing bad can happen here.

Just because we have a differences of opinion you shouldn't take it too personal. I might be a bit bullish on the market but given the stellar performance over the years and decades you can't really blame me for a bit of optimism. I understand all your bearish point of views too because I was a bear for a long time but at some point I realized my thesis for a crash/correction was unfounded and made the prudent decision, in my humble opinion, of buying instead of renting.

[westopher]

I'm just busting balls at that point to be honest. But as usual extreme opinions for either side usually turn out to be just that. Extreme.
I made the decision to purchase almost a year ago. At a time where the market was sitting fairly stable. The place I purchased was well within my price range, corresponded with rental prices fairly well, and it appeared even if I bought at the top, it wasn't going to drop much. After months of exponential increase, people need to realize that right now simply isn't likely a good time to buy. People paying 1100 a square foot for new builds is absolute insanity, and unless Vancouver is going to become a bunch of rich investors that don't work here, it can't really climb much more. In which case it becomes a shit place to live because all of the art, food, music and culture that makes it a great place to live can no longer exist.

[CorneringArtist]

Originally Posted by pastarocket

-crazy sale of these condos in downtown Vancouver on Nelson street:

Expert questions huge real estate sale in Downtown Vancouver - NEWS 1130

It's a longread so it's difficult to cross over, but here's the SCMP article in question.

Stampede: the inside story of Vancouver?s wildest property deal, gone in 7,200 seconds | South China Morning Post

[dat_steve]

So what's the big fuss?

The final buyer was "screwed" because they could have paid less, or the seller was "screwed" because they could have made more? It's a zero sum game and always will be. The buyer/seller accepted what they perceived to be market values of their respective transactions. Yeah it's shady as fuck that the "shadow flipper" makes away with a chunk of change for essentially doing nothing, but that's just arbitrage in action.

I feel the media is painting this with some sort of criminal element, which I'm finding a bit hard to see. Could someone shed some light?

[jing]

Money laundering, anyone? That would be the most obvious point of the article.

[dat_steve]

yeah that makes sense.