Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by kr4l

@lomac

I did a super quick MLS search for Richmond and tonnes of properties show up and ridiculously low prices (150k - 200k) they're ugly, but a roof is a roof.

i'm guessing very old (30ish) wood frame low rises? were they leaky? at 200k there could be a $50-100k assessment among other things tied to it bringing it close to a 1 br new build further east. you're right not impossible to find something 'affordable' if it's older but there's definitely more due diligence required. looks could be the last thing on my list when looking for a home in that range. it's the hidden gems. take it from me, owning a condo that's leaky or has assessments going on constantly is NOT fun.

as far as looks... i can slap some paint on the inside and it'll look well enough. you should see my first house, it looks like one of those shacks (people tell me they've seen worse though ) but when they get on the inside they're like it looks great on the inside...i just did some minor renos inside since i live on the inside, outside is for everyone else to look at i don't care about


when did they reno the white spot in burnaby? which location?

[Lomac]

Originally Posted by lowside67

That's not really true. The qualifying rules for a mortgage haven't changed much over the past years and interest rates have historically been higher.

Today, a $67k income qualifies you to borrow about $300k given interest rates just over 2%; the average Vancouver detached home sells for $1.8M.

10 years ago, interest rates were about 6% and a $67k income qualified you for a $200k mortgage while the average detached home sold for $900K.

Housing prices have gone absolutely insane, but my point is simply that if your household only earns $67k, you have not been in any contention to buy a house in Vancouver for many decades, let alone "higher end homes". There has been a disconnect between earnings and house pricing for many years in prime areas of Vancouver, it's just that this recent explosion has pushed it out to all the suburbs as well.

Mark

Sources:
Historical Prime Mortgage Rate
http://www.news1130.com/wp-content/b...2/02/rebgv.jpg

Sorry, should have been more specific. Was thinking more along the lines of pre-Expo86. Parent's bought their house at just under 100k on an inflation equivalent of 67000/year income. Hell, my mom bought a water front house in White Rock around that time for 20k, and on a substitute teachers salary

[kr4l]

Originally Posted by MarkyMark

This sums things up pretty well, those who bought in at the right time and are enjoying all the inflated money their house has gained don't want the good times to end, so they tell everyone else to suck it up and deal with it because this is the new normal. So pretty much "don't fuck this up for me just accept that Whalley is good enough for you, if you want stainless steel work harder".

Let's not try and find out why housing is rising at an insanely unreasonable rate, let's just say that your wage that would normally afford much more is only good enough for a piece of shit apartment. "Hey my daddy worked 20 hours a day and wasn't present in my life so neither should you for your kid suck it up buttercup."

Bitxhing about it isn't going to change the fact that life is the way it is in Vancouver. Sorry man but life doesn't revolve around me, you, or anyone that has first, second, and third world problems. Life goes on, with or without you

[kr4l]

Originally Posted by GLOW

i'm guessing very old (30ish) wood frame low rises? were they leaky? at 200k there could be a $50-100k assessment among other things tied to it bringing it close to a 1 br new build further east. you're right not impossible to find something 'affordable' if it's older but there's definitely more due diligence required. looks could be the last thing on my list when looking for a home in that range. it's the hidden gems. take it from me, owning a condo that's leaky or has assessments going on constantly is NOT fun.

as far as looks... i can slap some paint on the inside and it'll look well enough. you should see my first house, it looks like one of those shacks (people tell me they've seen worse though ) but when they get on the inside they're like it looks great on the inside...i just did some minor renos inside since i live on the inside, outside is for everyone else to look at i don't care about


when did they reno the white spot in burnaby? which location?

I honestly have no idea. I just did a quick 30 second MLS search and places came up. Didn't read the descriptions but they weren't 'modern' obviously. But a roof is a roof and people can stop bitxhing about renting. But they'll end up bitcxhing about something else

[Lomac]

Originally Posted by kr4l

I honestly have no idea. I just did a quick 30 second MLS search and places came up. Didn't read the descriptions but they weren't 'modern' obviously. But a roof is a roof and people can stop bitxhing about renting. But they'll end up bitcxhing about something else

Yes, a roof is a roof. There's no denying it. And, to be honest, I prefer older builds simply because you tend to get more square footage for your money. However, with older homes, you're not necessarily looking at *just* $200k or $300k mortage. In the case of those apartments and townhouses, the monthly maintenance fees range anywhere between $200 (freakin' beware of such a low fee) and $1000. For those limited to a mortgage of $300k, an extra $1000 on top of your monthly mortgage payment can be massive. Hell, even the average of $500 can break the bank. On top of that you can almost guarantee that something will need to be fixed or replaced. It might be leaky plumbing, a furnace that's out of date, a water tank that no longer heats, etc., etc. Think of it like buying an older BMW or Mercedes. It might be cheap to buy, but the repair costs can be astronomical if something is broken.

I rent two homes. One is an older build (circa early 80's I believe) on a quarter acre and is worth roughly $300,000, and the other is a new build on 22 acres, worth about $1.5 million. The old build home has been nothing but problems. Within the first few weeks, I had the landlord tear apart half the house to fix a mold problem that was the result of a then-unidentified leaky pipe in the upstairs bathroom. Then there's the issue of a floating neutral in the wiring somewhere. There's a foundation leak that was only discovered once the snow melted this spring. The A/C leaks water, the pump in one of the toilets died a couple days ago, and the kitchen fan literally goes nowhere (it blows straight back into the kitchen.) All these things added up costs tens of thousands of dollars. If I was looking for a place within that budget and bought this house, I'd be out tens of thousands of dollars fixing all the issues. That $300,000 is suddenly closer to $400,000. I'll let you do the monthly mortgage change on that, but it certainly can suddenly switch between affordable and not. That said, even the new build has had problems (leaking waste pipe resulted in the basement being torn apart and redone,) but that's more of an uncommon problem than anything.

My point is that, yes, there are cheap options out there. But just because they're cheap, it doesn't mean they're affordable.

[westopher]

Originally Posted by kr4l

I honestly have no idea. I just did a quick 30 second MLS search and places came up. Didn't read the descriptions but they weren't 'modern' obviously. But a roof is a roof and people can stop bitxhing about renting. But they'll end up bitcxhing about something else

People have been bitching since the beginning of time. I can assure you your life would be a lot shittier if people hadn't been bitching about social issues since society began to exist.

[kr4l]

^then don't buy?

I agree with what you wrote 100% but this is the stuff I'm talking about.

Renter bitxhes about affordability of housing / landlords

Affordable house and there's no money for repairs

Wants new house but can't afford

Can afford newer house but can't pay property tax

Can afford house but not enough money to furnish

Can furnish but not with mobler but only IKEA

The complaining never ends

[kr4l]

Originally Posted by westopher

People have been bitching since the beginning of time. I can assure you your life would be a lot shittier if people hadn't been bitching about social issues since society began to exist.

I don't disagree with you, but my life isn't simple and I do what I have to do to make things work. I don't just bitxh and pray a miracle occurs.

But I'm sick of people just complaining left and right like they deserve things in life. You're educated, have a degree, working so and so hours a week and can't afford to buy a place. Here's an idea, get outta this city, NOW or stay and do what you gotta do, live within your means.

So you make $40k a year and want a house with a detached garage with a lift in it to mod your e30 m3, work only 40 hours a week, not a minute more, have a family and send your kid to the best and most expensive private school, living in the best community with no crime, ocean and mountain view, etc etc ok got it.

[yray]

a roof is a roof but think 5 - 10 -15 years down the road

buying a house/apartment/condo ain't buying a civic or a corolla, you can't just call in a scraper and hope to get 300 bucks for it

its more like you spent a few grand to put in a new engine (when you bought it was 8 years old and now it 15+)and hope someone on CL will take it for 1000 because the market is shit and has a shitload of 5 year old cars for a few thousand bucks

TBH most millennials have grown up with the mentality of the 70s and 80s where once they graduate university, they can get a nice job and afford a decent place. Nowadays, they have to pour over half their income into a "shack" and hope for the best. God forbid you think of vacations or even a retirement savings plan. Your dad had enough money to buy a corvette before you were born and he sold it because you were in the oven.. Good luck paying for car2go nowadays

[kr4l]

Originally Posted by yray

a roof is a roof but think 5 - 10 -15 years down the road

buying a house/apartment/condo ain't buying a civic or a corolla, you can't just call in a scraper and hope to get 300 bucks for it

its more like you spent a few grand to put in a new engine (when you bought it was 8 years old and now it 15+)and hope someone on CL will take it for 1000 because the market is shit and has a shitload of 5 year old cars for a few thousand bucks

TBH most millennials have grown up with the mentality of the 70s and 80s where once they graduate university, they can get a nice job and afford a decent place. Nowadays, they have to pour over half their income into a "shack" and hope for the best. God forbid you think of vacations or even a retirement savings plan. Your dad had enough money to buy a corvette before you were born and he sold it because you were in the oven.. Good luck paying for car2go nowadays

If you can't afford to maintain the car, take transit

Same goes for housing

[Nlkko]

Originally Posted by kr4l

I don't disagree with you, but my life isn't simple and I do what I have to do to make things work. I don't just bitxh and pray a miracle occurs.

But I'm sick of people just complaining left and right like they deserve things in life. You're educated, have a degree, working so and so hours a week and can't afford to buy a place. Here's an idea, get outta this city, NOW or stay and do what you gotta do, live within your means.

So you make $40k a year and want a house with a detached garage with a lift in it to mod your e30 m3, work only 40 hours a week, not a minute more, have a family and send your kid to the best and most expensive private school, living in the best community with no crime, ocean and mountain view, etc etc ok got it.

You are citing an extreme case to prove a point, which is pointless. Most people would be happy with the medium, we know Point Grey and West Van are the Ferarri and its ok. But when you think fucking Burnaby is worthy as Malibu Beach or a crack shack in Compton... sorry, I meant Whalley... then you are delusional.

1st step to solve the problem is to acknowledge there's a problem. That is how human move forwards. If we all just shut the fuck up and keep our head down there would still be slavery and all other kind of montrosity from hundreds of years ago.

Housing here is overinflated and dont be so quick to think you are safe because you beated the market and bought early. If price double or triple what it is now (a possibility since price has no ceilling) lets see you work that weekend job to pay a few thousands large tax and mortgage a year.

Greed is only good in movies.

[Mr.C]

Originally Posted by kr4l

@lomac

I did a super quick MLS search for Richmond and tonnes of properties show up and ridiculously low prices (150k - 200k) they're ugly, but a roof is a roof.

What, the leaseholds?

[yray]

Originally Posted by kr4l

If you can't afford to maintain the car, take transit

Same goes for housing

This has nothing to do with being able to afford to maintaining a car or not.

Buying a house is like buying a car you can't really sell to a scraper or total it or burn it to the ground. You will have to keep maintaining it until you sell it to someone else.

Last say you decide to rent, when renting is almost at par with a mortgage, what do you do?

[yray]

Originally Posted by Mr.C

What, the leaseholds?

probably these guys

Apple Greene - 8860 No 1 Road, Richmond - BCCondos.net

Sussex Square - 7280 Lindsay Road, Richmond - BCCondos.net


When minoru towers are scoring 230-500 plus... you know the market is fucked
Park Towers - 6651 Minoru Blvd, Richmond - BCCondos.net

[kr4l]

@nikko

I know my example is extreme. I don't mean everyone wants that but it's honestly not that far fetched. Removing a few of those wants won't change much.

I know there's an issue here but money is money. Either you get screwed of not able to afford a place or someone else will get screwed by losing out on profit. Who deserves to lose?

I for one know nothing is for sure and being safe. I didn't beat anything. I own 3 businesses and basically work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. My semi monthly paycheque is never guaranteed and I work hard for what I have. But when and if the time comes and I have to pay a larger tax or higher interest, I will cause I have to because bitxhing won't pay the bills

[will068]

Originally Posted by yray

This has nothing to do with being able to afford to maintaining a car or not.

Buying a house is like buying a car you can't really sell to a scraper or total it or burn it to the ground. You will have to keep maintaining it until you sell it to someone else.

Last say you decide to rent, when renting is almost at par with a mortgage, what do you do?

Then, we may vote for a Donald Trump-like premier where the main policy is to put a "head tax" on any home purchased by a foreigner in the last 15 years.

[westopher]

Originally Posted by kr4l

I don't disagree with you, but my life isn't simple and I do what I have to do to make things work. I don't just bitxh and pray a miracle occurs.
So you make $40k a year and want a house with a detached garage with a lift in it to mod your e30 m3, work only 40 hours a week, not a minute more, have a family and send your kid to the best and most expensive private school, living in the best community with no crime, ocean and mountain view, etc etc ok got it.

You seem to want to make this personal by bringing that last comment into it so I'll give you a little insight into where I'm at.
I'm plenty happy with my brand new 1 bedroom condo with mountain view 4 blocks from the ocean, with my underground car wash for my e36 m3, and I work just plenty to get all this with 1.2 incomes while my wife finishes school.
You think that this issue is about me? Its not. I'm doing just fine, and I'll continue to do just fine as long as me or my wife don't have something happen to our well being.
I'm not interested in the humblebrag here, but you seem to think that I'm just some whiny fucking kid that thinks he deserves everything. I assure you I work plenty fucking hard to get where I'm at.
Me believing that someone should be able to raise a family with 2 working parents with a bachelors degree each is hardly thinking I should have a mansion with an e30 m3.
You seem to not understand varying degrees of what constitutes reasonable expectations from wanting everything in the world.

[kr4l]

Originally Posted by westopher

You seem to want to make this personal by bringing that last comment into it so I'll give you a little insight into where I'm at.
I'm plenty happy with my brand new 1 bedroom condo with mountain view 4 blocks from the ocean, with my underground car wash for my e36 m3, and I work just plenty to get all this with 1.2 incomes while my wife finishes school.
You think that this issue is about me? Its not. I'm doing just fine, and I'll continue to do just fine as long as me or my wife don't have something happen to our well being.
I'm not interested in the humblebrag here, but you seem to think that I'm just some whiny fucking kid that thinks he deserves everything. I assure you I work plenty fucking hard to get where I'm at.
Me believing that someone should be able to raise a family with 2 working parents with a bachelors degree each is hardly thinking I should have a mansion with an e30 m3.
You seem to not understand varying degrees of what constitutes reasonable expectations from wanting everything in the world.

First of all, how does this have anything to do with anyone personally? And why did it turn into a shitfest of me hating on you. I don't even know you or anything about your life.

[yray]

Originally Posted by will068

Then, we may vote for a Donald Trump-like premier where the main policy is to put a "head tax" on any home purchased by a foreigner in the last 15 years.

The majority of foreigners are buying up British properties. Your 50% tax to them will be peanuts and better money invested than the Chinese economy. I say we impose a 50% multiple property tax for everyone that will make the babyboomers dump their properties in a blink of an eye.

[kr4l]

Originally Posted by Mr.C

What, the leaseholds?

Possible. Quick 2 second browsing

[westopher]

Originally Posted by kr4l

First of all, how does this have anything to do with anyone personally? And why did it turn into a shitfest of me hating on you. I don't even know you or anything about your life.

The comment seemed pretty directly at me. Anyone in here that knows me on here would likely be able to see it. Either way, I'm not concerned with your thoughts on me, and I don't take it as you hating on me. Just you poorly trying to prove a point by using extremes.

[kr4l]

Before anyone jumps to any conclusions that I'm hating on you, please understand our beliefs and opinions are different, but there is no way I want to take this personal. You live your life how you do and I do with mine. Believe me I want the housing market to jump down 50%, but my opinion is that it won't happen.

I also don't know anyone here so why would I shit on you? I'm expressing how I feel and you're expressing how you feel. No ones really right or wrong in a way.

I drive a damn 2000's caravan so why would I hate on what you have?

Edit: @westopher then I'll apologize because I didn't mean to direct it to anyone

[westopher]

Originally Posted by kr4l

Before anyone jumps to any conclusions that I'm hating on you, please understand our beliefs and opinions are different, but there is no way I want to take this personal. You live your life how you do and I do with mine. Believe me I want the housing market to jump down 50%, but my opinion is that it won't happen.

I also don't know anyone here so why would I shit on you? I'm expressing how I feel and you're expressing how you feel. No ones really right or wrong in a way.

I drive a damn 2000's caravan so why would I hate on what you have?

Edit: @westopher then I'll apologize because I didn't mean to direct it to anyone

No I didn't mean like a personal attack anyways. I meant it more based on that you seemed to think my opinion of what I deserve was something which it wasn't. Either way seems like I read into it wrong.
I'll apologize as well. Well we certainly are arguing our points here, I don't think either of us are intending to be disrespectful.

[GLOW]

i'm feeling one of these moments gais


i'd love to have an M3 and probably need a caravan

[hud 91gt]

kr4l. Your opinion has some merit. It stems along the lines of "tough love" when growing up, or the philosophy of "keep your head down and work a little harder". These were real in my upbringing. It is great for personal gain. You will get ahead of the crowds around you but it does nothing for the greater good of people.

Bitching will change policy. Sucking it up and working a little harder will not.

There will always be people bitching. Some of it legitimate, some of it not. .ut when an entire generation is bitching about the same thing (A recent poll stated 89% of ~20-35year olds feel regulation needs to be made) i'd say something is fucked up and working a little harder is not the answer.