Under a million is still selling and basically the max people can afford due to the mortgage stress test and qualifying rules.

Got a letter in the mail from Colliers about if teamed up with a few of my neighbours that we sold our houses, could give rise to new low rise apartments rezoned. Mentioned how the high end of my house being sold would yield around $300K gain. Just want to email back the VP to tell him to fuck right off. After all the expenses, not really any gain because essentially selling the house to get another house of similar value.

Do you guys get those kinds of letters in the mail?

they sound desperate

My parents get them all the time since they live by Oakridge, but the realtors never put a price in the letter. A $300k profit is sort of insulting. Wanna share the names of the realtors with us? :)

Those situations can bite you when your neighbors all sell though

My wife’s aunt lives in north van above the silos there on first ave or whatever. They held out, held out essentially not wanting more money just saying they could never get the view/location again no matter how much they got over value

Now they are just building townhomes/low rises surrounding their house and it will likely turn into a ghetto as usually happens in these situations.

You’ll want to stay in the loop if your neighbors are selling

If your parents are receiving these letters it would be a good idea to reach out to the neighbours and form a coalition of sorts. You'll have a lot more negotiating power vs. developers if your neighbourhood sticks together.

Ahh yes, the 600k new build one bedroom condo ghettos that are all over north van.:drunk:

The problem is renters. No matter the area when you have a high concentration of investment owners who will rent to anyone it brings in unsavory characters. Might be a little lesser in N.Van but it will still happen especially where they are because where there used to be MAYBE 60 homes there are now going to be 400

Morgan Creek/Crossing is a prime example of this. Old timers sold their acerage yo developers and built literally thousands of units where there used to be a hundred houses. A few years back there used to be news stories all the time about rampant break ins etc.

That's still Surrey VS N.Van but I feel like it applies almost anywhere

Honestly man most of these lesser developed areas over there are the ghetto, or as ghetto as north van gets. Lower middle class people that have been there for decades are who get pushed out often over there in development. Remember Lynn valley used to be for “poor people”
The big thing in NV is all the homeless living in the woods, or people living in vans/cars. As these places get developed all the NIMBYs push them out.
I live in what was referred to yesterday by someone just walking down the path by my condo, “the forest of crackheads” haha.
Now it’s just people like me. The 6 figure fake ballin working poor and young families.

When I first got into home (condo) ownership, I was like "I'll buy into a brand new building that's kind of expensive, that will weed out all the losers!"............. nope... not crackheads though, at least in Richmond it's a whole new problem -- small but proportionately destructive groups of careless/classless mainlanders who DGAF about anything. Not all, usually younger kids who party all night and sleep all day because they don't work or can't be bothered to sort recycling or take care of their dogs they always buy and they move to whatever the newest building is until it's not the newest building anymore.

I've made the same mistake driving... oh this person has a $140,000 car they must have SOME intelligence because somebody paid them enough money to buy that thing... nope... WRONG. lol

I agree that the unstudied side of density is how the area can turn into a social cesspool much easier and much more noticeably.

I agree you're slightly more prone to getting transient tenants

but with high density becoming the norm, it's only gonna be 'ghetto' like how main/fraser/joyce used to be ghetto

how many actually live in 2M+ detached neighborhoods?

^
In my area where homes range from 1.5mm - 3mm detached, most of the owners bought in years ago. So they aren't technically weathy, unless they sell off their homes. However, seems like the problem in the area is the tenants are usually shady. I've saw cops come cause tenants beat their wives or just a shady group of guys sitting on the curbs every night till like 2am.

rent them out per room and run down the house

they just want the land value, building is depreciating assets anyways

Under the new mortgage stress test, do you basically need a 100k salary to afford a 500k condo? Is that the rough estimate?

If thats the stress test, it seems pretty reasonable. Before the lending rules were pretty dangerous for most people.
500k with 20% down is 2350 a month + probably $250 for condo fees.
Lets say $2600
$6150 take home puts you at over half your income put to your housing/internet/phone/home insurance/hydro/etc.
That $2500 left doesn't go far if you do things like eat, drive, and wear clothes. You need to make a fucking lot to live here.

Around there assuming you have no debt, 20% down at $100g and 30y amortization

I calculated it at 25y with a mortgage calculator. And yes, no debt, 100k down, which is far fetched for most.

I remember that time I bought my first condo with 5% down and 40 yr amortization.

Received speculation tax forms for my two houses today in Saanich and at my rental in Langford. Both my spouse and I had to declare online. As expected our documents went to the rental and I had to pick them up.

I think there will be a lot of people who don't receive their document. It has numbers on it that you need in order to declare.

The other thing I found interesting is there was no requirement to show proof of tenancy (tenancy agreement).

40-yr amort!

i don't want to be doing payments when I get to Betty White stage

but seriously though...even if bldg is depreciating asset...how many can actually afford freehold? not even talking detached, just duplex, or those odd townhomes that come up now and then

I had a lot more down, but I also did the 40yr mortgage. My payments were like $650 a month. This was in Edmonton, 10 years ago.

650/mo is like paying only property tax these days

no wonder the boomers are so grouchy LUL

Boomers/seniors can defer their taxes

Thanks, I wanted to get a general idea if I could even afford a condo on my own or if I’d need dual income with someone to share. Looks like I’ll just have to keep saving for that large down payment.

i believe most of the big banks have a quick affordability sniff test on their website you can try applying...not sure if they've been updated with the new stress test data though

When I lived in Richmond, it was in a condo full of wealthy people so naturally I thought they'd have some semblance of sanitation to match their rather clean and tidy appearance.

My dreams were shattered only two weeks into residency when after flirting with an attractive woman in the elevator, she told me I was standing in a puddle of dog piss. I mean who walks into an elevator expecting to stand in a piss puddle? It didn't even smell! Can't say it got much better from there. Some days I preferred to take the stairs.

Everyday I'd play 'find the random pile of trash' because everyday was different. Hell, trash bags even ended up in beside my car in the parking lot!

What a wonderfully sane life I had in that building.

Contrast to the 3 floor low rise I'm in now that's chock full of seniors and people on all sorts of government assistance and it's a better environment. People actually say hi to each other and hold the elevator open for a straggler. Sure the person across from my suite is a transgendered FTM who answers the door topless despite faulty breast reduction surgery and her GF has spastic seizure induced raging temper tantrums.

Every building is a Kinder Surprise...