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Vancouver Off-Topic / Current EventsThe off-topic forum for Vancouver, funnies, non-auto centered discussions, WORK SAFE. While the rules are more relaxed here, there are still rules. Please refer to sticky thread in this forum.
most rules governing railways including noise restrictions happen at a federal level which is why it’s important for all levels to unite.
Good luck getting the federal government involved. Harper government's all about big oil and the delivery of said oil (think pipelines and rail). You can complain all you want, but they'll just fall on deaf ears.
Anxious home owners and prospective buyers worried about rising interest rates and faltering condo prices shouldn’t get too worked up, says the head of the country’s largest bank.
Interest rates will remain low for some time, while the Canadian real estate market, while frothy in pockets, is in good shape, Gord Nixon, president and chief executive of Royal Bank of Canada said Thursday.
“As I remind people from time to time, don’t look at Vancouver condos as a proxy for Canada,” Nixon said in an interview. “This is a big country, and when you’re talking about single family homes in Saint John or St. John’s or Regina or even Toronto, it’s a very different market than what the media tends to speculate on.”
As for interest rates, which have moved higher over the summer, a further spike isn’t likely in the cards amid a still-sluggish economic outlook for Canada and the United States, he said.
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“I think interest rates are going to remain quite low for an extended period of time,” he said. “As long as we’re in this slow growth, low inflation environment I think we’re going to have low interest rates. I think they’re with us for awhile.”
Mr. Nixon made the comments as Royal Bank of Canada, the biggest bank in the country, announced Thursday a five-year pledge to contribute a total of $100 million to youth initiatives across the country.
The aim: to improve the lives of one million young Canadians over that time span, through new funds earmarked for after-school programs and charitable grants to organizations made through the bank’s RBC Children’s Mental Health Project.
The pledge is the biggest charitable drive in the history of RBC.
“We felt we could up our game in terms of the success and impact we have on children and children issues across the country,” Nixon said.
Let's ignore condos in: Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver and not focus on SFH sales in Toronto and Vancouver, then its fucking fine!
And don't worry about borrowing because rates will stay low. You know, until inflation from all the money that's been dumped into the economy hits then that will change.
This kind of shit happens all the time. There used to be a landfill/city dump at Edmonds. Then they built condos. Then the people who bought the condos complained that there was a landfill. Then the city closed the landfill. Now the city is applying to build a refuse incinerator because they don't have the space to dump garbage, and are getting in trouble from environmental groups for it.
^
This shit pisses me off. We live in the "Brow of The Hill" neighbourhood of New West, so really not that far from these train tracks and I can tell you that they are some times loud....because there are trains on train tracks! Funny how that works.
These condos are literally on top of these track. In fact, you need to cross one of two bridges to get OVER the train tracks to the Quayside area (where all these tracks are). What the fuck did these people expect?! This area is literally a small sliver of land between, like, 6 train tracks and the Fraser River....where we can hear nightly ship horns (wait for these complaints to start). It should not have been a surprise.
OMFG. my biggest complaint. HEY ASSHOLES! the rail tracks were there BEFORE you bought the place. it's like buying right next to highway 1 and then wanting speed limits to decrease or the highway to NOT expand because it's too noisy.
I say the interest of 99.9% of BC, having a working rail system to deliver goods and resources to help the economy, is much greater than your noise issue.
FCKING CITY AND POLITICIANS NEED TO STOP BENDING OVER FOR INTEREST GROUPS!
yay, loads more condos in vancouver!!! just what we need.
oh, my bad, we need jobs, not construction jobs, but actual jobs for the people who will buy these apartments to work in.
this city is a joke
most of the blame is with the CITY, but lets not let the developers get away with it.
I know working in this industry that the cities (Burnaby and Vancouver anyways) actually want High-tech commercial hubs or office areas around certain parts of town. But most of this land was purchased by developers years prior and they got it for relatively dirt cheap. City wants them to build office towers or high-tech office hubs (similar to what you see at renfrew station). Developers say no way, I want to build condos because it's lower risk and I can make lots more $ and profit selling condos.
city then goes okay, we tried, i love me some more property tax money so lets approve these condos.
city has some options to assist in this which is to sit still and force them to pay property tax or change zoning to commercial which increases property taxes and making it for costly for developers to "hold" these properties and maybe a big player comes in and buys to develop said office buildings.
OMFG. my biggest complaint. HEY ASSHOLES! the rail tracks were there BEFORE you bought the place. it's like buying right next to highway 1 and then wanting speed limits to decrease or the highway to NOT expand because it's too noisy.
I say the interest of 99.9% of BC, having a working rail system to deliver goods and resources to help the economy, is much greater than your noise issue.
FCKING CITY AND POLITICIANS NEED TO STOP BENDING OVER FOR INTEREST GROUPS!
Similar issue in Langley and Surrey. They're building condos and housing units closer and closer to both the Highway and ALR land, and the owners of these new homes are complaining about the smells emanating from the farms when they fertilize and the highway sounds when there's large amounts of traffic.
Seriously, did you not think about where you're looking at moving and think about the possible side effects?
fucking
I used to live next to the Langley Gun and Rod club, which is an outdoor gun range. You can hear the shots ring out all day, and it's been there for decades. There's a proposal to triple the population of Brookswood, and I can just imagine the noise complaints once all these new people move in. All I can say is the Langley council had better not shut down the gun range once they start getting flooded with emails and phone calls, since it's their own damn fault for not looking into where they're moving.
Unfortunately for a lot of this stuff, it becomes a matter of eminent domain. What use is in the better 'good' for the area.
The rail yard has the benefit of being large, expensive to use and well, I'm going to say large again because its fucking large.
The gun club won't. It will get shut down.
Farms will get impinged upon. Use less fertilizer at specific times and such.
I have no problem with a collaborative effort towards making all people happy. If there is something that can be done that's relatively low cost, low impact and it cuts down on some noise and smell, then by all means go for it.
But the residents are asking for the rail yard to be moved elsewhere.(Closer to the #1 I think if I remember correctly) It's high cost, high impact and it puts the problem into someone else's neighborhood(which is a hair ghetto-esque which works out well for wanna-think-they're-rich condo owners). And they certainly aren't handing a collection plate to collect the 5 digits a head towards the cost of that plan.
So you can get all the levels of politician involved(NDP as far as the eye can see) and start talking solutions but its an uphill battle to start moving something of this magnitude, and slowing their operations is insane.
Plus, here's my question...what happens if you are successful? You shut down operations between 11 and 7(which I see as the only 'solution'). Doesn't that increase the property values for all the condos as the wise people that say "fuck no" to living there can now come in and buy? Is that just an added perk?
Hell, not that it makes a difference, but I think I'm going to e-mail that to my little hippy love machines that got voted in here.
Don't forget the "bird bangers" in Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge....bunch of middle aged white people losing their mind over normal farm procedures, lol.
I used to live next to the Langley Gun and Rod club, which is an outdoor gun range. You can hear the shots ring out all day, and it's been there for decades. There's a proposal to triple the population of Brookswood, and I can just imagine the noise complaints once all these new people move in. All I can say is the Langley council had better not shut down the gun range once they start getting flooded with emails and phone calls, since it's their own damn fault for not looking into where they're moving.
The Langley Rod and Gun club property's a developer's dream. It will, eventually, relocate to Aldergrove, and townhouses will take its place. I guarantee it.
Sonick is a genius. I won't go into detail what's so great about his post. But it's damn good!
2010 Toyota Rav4 Limited V6 - Wifey's Daily Driver
2009 BMW 128i - Daily Driver
2007 Toyota Rav4 Sport V6 - Sold
1999 Mazda Miata - Sold
2003 Mazda Protege5 - Sold
1987 BMW 325is - Sold
1990 Mazda Miata - Sold
^^I tried looking up what you could buy it for, but couldn't find a 1 bed in the building for sale.
There is a 2 bedroom just a tick under 1 million.
I've never actually lived in a new condo. I rented one once, but it was just a normal little one. Do people actually use the amenity rooms? Gym yes, I get that but like the media room. Do I actually sit there and watch a movie? Study room?
Seems a little too communal for my taste. I didn't live in a dorm for the same reason.
Do any of the condo dwellers here actually use the shit they pay for?
I've never actually lived in a new condo. I rented one once, but it was just a normal little one. Do people actually use the amenity rooms? Gym yes, I get that but like the media room. Do I actually sit there and watch a movie? Study room?
Seems a little too communal for my taste. I didn't live in a dorm for the same reason.
Do any of the condo dwellers here actually use the shit they pay for?
My sister lives in Yaletown, and she actually uses a lot the amenities: pool, hot tub, gym, squash court, etc. The media room use is by reservation.
The Richmond one shown in the previous posts looks like it's stacked with amenities, but the maintenance/strata fee must be sky-high to support all that, unless they have a shit load of tenants to mitigate the cost.
I live in a low-rise condo in Langley. All we have is a clubhouse that has a rec room, media room, meeting room, and small gym. I don't use any of it.
The Langley Rod and Gun club property's a developer's dream. It will, eventually, relocate to Aldergrove, and townhouses will take its place. I guarantee it.
I hope not. Brookswood and South Langley residents are fiercely against any form of mass developments. High Point Estates, the new multi-million dollar equestrian development took, I believe, almost ten years before it was approved, and that was only after the developer conceeded to a bunch of demands including lot sizes, European or country-styled homes only, a giant horse barn, and a bunch of other things.
Unfortunately Jim Pattison owns a ton of land there, now, and he's pushing for that new proposal to triple the population density of South Langley. One of the reasons why I love Brookswood is because there are no lots smaller than 1/3rd acre, and more than half of them are still full of old growth evergreens. Sure, I'd love to buy a house in the area, but it's priced hugely out of my range (average home is between $6 and 700k). One of the main arguments the developers are using is that people want to live up here because of the relatively secluded feel, what with all the trees and low traffic. However, introducing another 30,000 to a small area will absolutely destroy the uniqueness of the neighbourhood that inspired them to move there in the first place. Traffic going down 200th already snarls up during rush hour, and all the wooded lots will be razed in favour of condos.
It's going to turn into another North Langley/Willoughby clusterfuck, and that will destroy Brookswood/Fernridge.
I think the move-in for Phase 1 was just a few months ago, if that.
$2,800 is a little high, but it's ALMOST right (based on what I saw on mls).
It really depends on the selling price (see below for my response for Gridlock).
You can rent a little bigger, 1,200 sq. feet, 2 beds, brand-new, at Steveston Village right, waterfront, right-across from the Starbucks there for $2,500.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gridlock
^^I tried looking up what you could buy it for, but couldn't find a 1 bed in the building for sale.
There is a 2 bedroom just a tick under 1 million.
From what I remember, it started at $600,000+ and Phase 1 sold out in a day or two.
I think the move-in for Phase 1 was just a few months ago, if that.
$2,800 is a little high, but it's ALMOST right (based on what I saw on mls).
It really depends on the selling price (see below for my response for Gridlock).
You can rent a little bigger, 1,200 sq. feet, 2 beds, brand-new, at Steveston Village right, waterfront, right-across from the Starbucks there for $2,500.
From what I remember, it started at $600,000+ and Phase 1 sold out in a day or two.
Just once again, cause like, some people aren't getting it
NOT EVERYONE WANTS TO LIVE DOWNTOWN!
I don't doubt that this condo in Richmond is super nice. Well, the building, amenities and grounds are nice, the kitchen looks cold. The point is exactly that...this building JUST finished which means the owner: bought it as an investment, OR had a life change while building and couldn't sell the thing.
Either way..he's got an uphill climb, because $2800 puts him into a very small category of renter. Someone out there can probably name them by name. That small. Have fun.
I'm sure the price is right IF based on the sale price of the unit. But the issue is that value is WAY more than its actual worth in the rental market, and therein lies the rub. Posted via RS Mobile
I'm sure the price is right IF based on the sale price of the unit. But the issue is that value is WAY more than its actual worth in the rental market, and therein lies the rub. Posted via RS Mobile
Not sure why we're comparing the rental price to what it sold for.
In most markets, it's a reasonable approach, but in Vancouver real estate prices have decoupled from their fundamentals, as such, saying "its sale price was "XYZ" multiple of the rental price, thus the rental price makes sense" doesn't work in this city.
Bubbles are defined as just this case, decoupling away from fundamentals, on a near term basis - near term being the optimal term here, as we'll go back, either through massive salary increases, and accompanying rental hikes (hahahahha, ya, right, with this joke of an economy), or prices will come down
That place in Richmond looks alright, but only alright, but fundamentally it's a small box, with likely a poor view, and is in Richmond, what I think is one of the ugliest areas in Vancouver (just streets, condos, townhouses, ugly place)
Just once again, cause like, some people aren't getting it
NOT EVERYONE WANTS TO LIVE DOWNTOWN!
I don't doubt that this condo in Richmond is super nice. Well, the building, amenities and grounds are nice, the kitchen looks cold. The point is exactly that...this building JUST finished which means the owner: bought it as an investment, OR had a life change while building and couldn't sell the thing.
Either way..he's got an uphill climb, because $2800 puts him into a very small category of renter. Someone out there can probably name them by name. That small. Have fun.
Friends don't let friends buy condos.
Agreed, I live downtown, and I have to say I have no more desire to live downtown - took me 3.5 years to tire of the douchebag yaletown crowd and surrey jacks coming downtown every Friday and Saturday acting like they own the place, before they go back to surrey to live with their mums...
4444...I think what he's saying is the 2800 makes sense TO THE OWNER as he takes his mortgage and his strata and prop tax and bundles it up to $2600, and he adds $200 because he's a property owner dammit and he's entitled to profit and makes a rental price of $2800.
the douchebag yaletown crowd and surrey jacks coming downtown every Friday and Saturday acting like they own the place, before they go back to surrey to live with their mums...
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BAHAHAHAHAHA are you fucking kidding me.
