Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[yray]

Originally Posted by Digitalis

Back in their era you could raise a family with multiple kids on one income. They went and both worked for decades only to find out that they can't even pass on their legacy/home to their offspring.

You'd be surprised many would rather give to a charity than pass it on. The mentality is they worked their whole lives for this house so it will be over my dead body till they give up on it. My castle my rules.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by yray

You'd be surprised many would rather give to a charity than pass it on. The mentality is they worked their whole lives for this house so it will be over my dead body till they give up on it. My castle my rules.

Really? I can understand parents not wanting to hand over their assets to their kids while they're still alive. But giving it away to charity instead of passing it down as inheritance? Really?

[CivicBlues]

There's no complete lack of sympathy from my part either. Many have worked, scrimped and saved for 30+ years to pay off a mortgage only to have their property taxes grow by leaps and bounds every year to the size of a small mortgage payment itself.

Not everyone who lives in the west side is a wealthy college professor or offshore investor (yet). Many working/professional class people lived (and continue to) in the area settling for a smaller house and a shorter commute. Its just the neighborhood upsized itself so drastically in the past 2 decades. If I lived there all my adult life raising 2 or 3 kids in my cozy house finally paying off the mortgage in my 50s you're damn right I would be pissed to.

[yray]

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

There's no complete lack of sympathy from my part either. Many have worked, scrimped and saved for 30+ years to pay off a mortgage only to have their property taxes grow by leaps and bounds every year to the size of a small mortgage payment itself.

Not everyone who lives in the west side is a wealthy college professor or offshore investor (yet). Many working/professional class people lived (and continue to) in the area settling for a smaller house and a shorter commute. Its just the neighborhood upsized itself so drastically in the past 2 decades. If I lived there all my adult life raising 2 or 3 kids in my cozy house finally paying off the mortgage in my 50s you're damn right I would be pissed to.

Yes, I would be pissed off if I was them.

But young people are pissed off too when they can't even get into a one bedroom shoebox.

This city is dying.

[Great68]

Kind of ironic that the whole idea of home ownership is intended to provide stable long term housing for people, yet we talk about forcing some people out of the homes they own to do it.

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by yray

Yes, I would be pissed off if I was them.

But young people are pissed off too when they can't even get into a one bedroom shoebox.

This city is dying.

so instead of turning on each "other" (Boomers vs Millenials, Vancouver vs Suburbs, renters vs owners, Immigrants vs old stock)

We should direct our ire towards the government decision makers that got us into this mess. Pitting one group against another is how these ineffectual governments stay in power since time immemorial.

[Bouncing Bettys]

Ineffectual is a matter of perspective. Governments around the world seem to serve their masters well as those at the top own a growing majority of the wealth.

[lowside67]

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

Many working/professional class people lived (and continue to) in the area settling for a smaller house and a shorter commute. Its just the neighborhood upsized itself so drastically in the past 2 decades. If I lived there all my adult life raising 2 or 3 kids in my cozy house finally paying off the mortgage in my 50s you're damn right I would be pissed to.

I hear this all the time, yet when I offer to pay somebody's property taxes on the West Side of Vancouver for the next 20 years in exchange for all the appreciation of their real estate over the last 20 years, nobody seems to take me up on my offer - why not? If you only wanted a home to live in and didn't care that you were becoming wealthy on paper because you just loved the neighborhood...

I have no sympathy for these sob stories - I am so sorry that the pace with which you became wealthier on paper was faster than wage growth... The government will allow you to defer property taxes, to be collected upon sale, for exactly this purpose - no cash drain while you live there and only to be paid when you cash in your big ass lotto ticket.

-Mark

[westopher]

There is literally zero downside for these people to defer their taxes. Their families will not be left with crippling debt when they die and inherit their multi million dollar homes. 20 years of property tax at lets say 10k is 200k. So that leaves someone with about 3 million to figure out that bill.
Figure it the fuck out. They say the same thing to poor people who can't get into the market, and those people actually can't even afford a place to live. Not be worried about having to sell their panamera turbo to pay for the next 20 years of living expenses.

[MarkyMark]

Homeowners say "work harder if you want a house" and then bitch about losing their $570 homeowners grant causing them hardship when their house is worth over 1.6 million dollars.

Yes, $570 that you have a whole year to save up for.

[Digitalis]

Say that when your at their age.
Should they still be saving for that "rainy day" when your about to croak?
Short of a flood/fire/burglary should they be saving one day to pay almost double in taxes what they paid a year ago?

Originally Posted by Ch28

If being back in debt is such a major issue then sell your golden nest egg and downsize into something slightly smaller. The extra 1-2 million from downsizing will cover your taxes for the rest of your life.

Like Traum said, a college professor makes a pretty penny for their salary, so if they both worked then they'd have easily pulled in 6 figures. It's not the government's responsibility that they're unable to learn the concept of saving money with an income level like that.

[Ch28]

Originally Posted by Digitalis

Say that when your at their age.
Should they still be saving for that "rainy day" when your about to croak?
Short of a flood/fire/burglary should they be saving one day to pay almost double in taxes what they paid a year ago?

[Manic!]

What's wrong with the daughter? Can't she pitch in?

[Jmac]

Originally Posted by Ch28

They've basically gained 6.35 million from the house and they're unable to find a way to pay a measly 12k?

I'm sorry, but them going to the media is going to do nothing but get them hate.

It's $27k, assuming the article is correct, and could possibly skyrocket if house prices continue to climb (0.2% per year on assessed value between $3M and $4M and 0.4% per year on assessed value above $4M)

I've seen people suggest they downsize and pocket the difference, but factor in land transfer taxes, closing costs, moving expenses, etc. to move into a $2M house just to be hit with the same taxes several years down the line when the assessed value of the new house exceeds $3M seems like a shitty cycle to get into.

Class warfare isn't the cause of or solution to the housing crisis in this province and, while I'm not particularly sympathetic to their plight, I do empathize with them.

[twitchyzero]

Originally Posted by Digitalis

I know alot of us look onto this couple as a bunch of complaining millionaires.... but think about it this way...


Back in their era you could raise a family with multiple kids on one income. They went and both worked for decades only to find out that they can't even pass on their legacy/home to their offspring.


Great they are sitting on millions... but nowdays to get by the average husband wife each need 1.5 jobs. Does that really sound like a quality of life improvement?

My parents immigrated here so they could "keep what they worked for" yet it appears what they worked for isn't as much as they thought. They rarely took vacations or sick days and for what? I probably missed more school days then they did work days.


Sure it's better than the communist hell hole they came from but .... is this the direction we want to head down?

can the majority of 2.4M fit comfortably in SFH? Probably not even if we have 10+ living under one roof like many South Asians etc.

should 350sqft cubes be at least accessible, either renting or purchasing? if the govt and society wants a community, I think so

[yray]

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

We should direct our ire towards the government decision makers that got us into this mess. Pitting one group against another is how these ineffectual governments stay in power since time immemorial.

ndp, liberals, greens... they will all have the same mentality as the shaughessy mansion home owners

Even if young people came together, there won't be enough votes to bring change like the social credit years.

[yoursyumiko]

A brand new house I was looking was built on a land with a previous underground oil storage tank. I have not talked in detail with the realtor, but is it a common sense that it would be completely removed before city approved the building permits?

What's your opinion on this? Will it have any negative effect even it's completely removed?

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by yray

ndp, liberals, greens... they will all have the same mentality as the shaughessy mansion home owners

Even if young people came together, there won't be enough votes to bring change like the social credit years.

All I'm saying is that the politics of division is in every Government's playbook to staying in power. Divide and Rule motherfuckers! Who has time to hold the real culprits accountable (i.e. elected officials, bureaucrats, developers, RE industry) when they're too busy blaming each other for the housing crisis (i.e. Chinese, Boomers, Westside residents)

[G]

Originally Posted by yoursyumiko

A brand new house I was looking was built on a land with a previous underground oil storage tank. I have not talked in detail with the realtor, but is it a common sense that it would be completely removed before city approved the building permits?

What's your opinion on this? Will it have any negative effect even it's completely removed?

Most likely will need to be looked or approved by the City. Also an environmental report is usually required to determine if the soil is contaminated or not.

[yray]

Originally Posted by yoursyumiko

A brand new house I was looking was built on a land with a previous underground oil storage tank. I have not talked in detail with the realtor, but is it a common sense that it would be completely removed before city approved the building permits?

What's your opinion on this? Will it have any negative effect even it's completely removed?

if the tank has not been removed and the soil is contaminated, you might as well buy a floating home

[Great68]

I find it hard to imagine that the City of Vancouver would allow a new home built on a property without requiring removal and remediation of an old in-ground oil tank first.

[Digitalis]

Originally Posted by Ch28

Imagine a few decades after you work and your shoebox condo is worth 3M or whatever X number they decide to use.... You'd be perfectly fine with being told to sell or GTFO out the city because you can't afford it? First world cities have no need for your kind, pack it up and move to a second rate or third rate city you old git!

Can't even pass on what you earned to your kids (having the option to). Is that really getting ahead in life? If your ok with that then we may as well all be renters and let the gov own everything.

Everyone was cheering when he went putting blame on the evil foreigners driving up housing costs, now he goes targetting the middle class and that isn't a problem.

They "fix" one thing with the foreign investors and come up with another way to get more tax money.

Gov mismanagement of funds is clearly the problem. You people want to roll over to this then expect more taxes to come. Just make sure to blame yourself and not the politicians when that happens.

[Hondaracer]

Things change.

Because they bought in 1984 and feel like they’ve paid their debt doesn’t exclude them from the ever changing political climate and realities of living in a city like this.

Honestly until enough people rise up and actually cause “change” what incentive to I have to start that change? People work hard to get where they are at and you’re suppose to endanger that situation to essentially prop up others?

I work for a company that I could potentially lose my job if I was vocal enough on a political stance. And for me, losing my job wouldn’t be the end of the world. For a lot of people, it would be the difference between having a roof over your head and being homeless.

[Blueboy222]

http://thelinkpaper.ca/?p=68258

Home Sales Down 27.4 Percent In Vancouver Hitting A 17-Year Low For April

[Blueboy222]

Next city booming.

?Neglected child? no more, Montreal is the next hot housing market | Financial Post