Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[underscore]

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

I would say getting your own apartment/house is still going to cost more than say renting. With owning you have to pay for strata/maintance, property tax, hydro, insurance(not sure if rental insurance is higher than home insurance).

Month to month sure, but how does it pan out over your lifetime?

[twitchyzero]

Originally Posted by fliptuner

people need to get off their entitled ass and realize they're not above a 40 minute commute or living in a small, old place. If you're not lucky enough to have family money, put your head down, do some work and improve your situation. No one owes you shit. Sick of hearing about living wages and affording to live in the city. Motherfucker, I can afford to live in the city but I still commute cause I have other priorities.

Originally Posted by fliptuner

It's the fact that I keep reading about affordable living. Just cause you work DT, doesn't mean you should be able to afford to live there. Take a train/bus to Surrey or the Tri Cities.

Hell, when I was a teenager, my family moved from East Van to Coquitlam but I didn't want to change schools or work (DT). Before I got my license, I'd catch a ride with my dad in the morning and be at school at 7:30 and wait for him to pick me up at 4:30. If I had work, I'd bus DT, then bus back to Coquitlam.

My son lives in Poco and decided to take a course at Langara, off Cambie and he likes his job in N. Van. He has a car but chooses to bus at 5:45am. I thought he was crazy but whatever, he's sticking with it, so kudos to him. He doesn't have a wife and kids, so he has all the time to focus on work/school, as he sees fit.

Bottom line, there are a lot of lazy, whiners, that should be putting more energy into bettering their situation.

except the situation is now more like moving from bby/coquitlam to mission/abbotsford/langley and dealing with not one but multiple bottlenecks unlike 20+ years ago

i don't see most insisting on living in the west end; but north van/rmd/east van/bby and still having reasonable commutes

as much as i look forward to my drive home after a long work day, sitting in the car for most of the waking hour is not reasonable

taking transit to north shore from poco might work if you never plan to have a family

[JDMDreams]

It's also life choices, if you "work" in DT most likely you ain't working min wage jobs. I mean it's most likely some sort of career that pays the bills. If you had to go into DT to work a min wage job at Star bucks, I really think you should reconsider your life choices and find a job closer to where you can afford to live rather than complaining about living in Van being expensive.

[GS8]

Originally Posted by fliptuner

Bottom line, there are a lot of lazy, whiners, that should be putting more energy into bettering their situation.

Yeah but the more time spent on bettering one's life, the less time spent on social media crying about the world is mean to them. We demand our dopamine hits!

/s

[320icar]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

It's also life choices, if you "work" in DT most likely you ain't working min wage jobs. I mean it's most likely some sort of career that pays the bills. If you had to go into DT to work a min wage job at Star bucks, I really think you should reconsider your life choices and find a job closer to where you can afford to live rather than complaining about living in Van being expensive.

Finally something in this thread I can agree on. Commute really sucks but as far I know EVERYWHERE is hiring. If you worked at a coffee shop, or store like Home Depot/Canadian Tire, just transfer to closer to where you live.

Only issue is the middle class folk. Make maybe $30/hr. Somewhat skilled trade or job. Can’t afford to buy anywhere in gvrd with that wage, so you have to move way out. But your well established job is here so you are forced to commute. I think many have made the comparison on commuting and such being a ‘tax on the poor’

[twitchyzero]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

It's also life choices, if you "work" in DT most likely you ain't working min wage jobs. I mean it's most likely some sort of career that pays the bills. If you had to go into DT to work a min wage job at Star bucks, I really think you should reconsider your life choices and find a job closer to where you can afford to live rather than complaining about living in Van being expensive.

it would be nice to not have the urban sprawl/bedroom communities and there's definitely a step in that direction...but even professionals multiple times the min wage are finding little breathing room when it comes to affordability in the immediate suburbs

[6793026]

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

I would say getting your own apartment/house is still going to cost more than say renting. With owning you have to pay for strata/maintance, property tax, hydro, insurance(not sure if rental insurance is higher than home insurance).

Not going to go down the math route, but when you own, after 20 years, the house is yours rent free (aside from property tax / mgmt fee etc). If that is not better, you do not live in the fear of being kicked out.

Year over year rental increase is a given.
Say you're renting at $1400 a month, and even after 10 yr down the road, if all of a sudden you are being kicked out, HOLY F, you'll realize WTF is going on, I can't find a place for rent at $1400 anymore.

Originally Posted by SFU_wmc

Any upcoming condo presales? Or are they all quietly disappearing, and developers are not starting new projects in this economy?

There are lots; you shoudl see the incentive's they are giving to purge them. Those that are not selling; they are pre-selling in China + Hong Kong. Why? Cause a 2 bedroom 1.4 M is EXPENSIVE for us, in Hong Kong, it's considered a steal with a legit ocean view.

[JDMDreams]

I think a lot of it is to do with needs vs wants, my coworker just bought a 2 bed room apartment for under $680 at River district. With 2 peoples income and some help from parents. Let's say at 20% down 30y amortization sub $130k income should cover it. It's more than enough space for a young couple to start a family. She could have found something cheaper closer to $600 but they spent more on a bigger newer unit. I've personally looked at 3+ bedroom townhouses that starts at about $650k for something new in New West. But I've also heard people's comments about not wanting to venture past Burnaby. So I definitely feel there are affordable places all within Vancouver area but whether you think you are too good to live there is another story.

[Acura604]

question: are "open houses" effective in finding a buyer? i've had 2 so far... and while there's been decent activity , no offers at all. I'm going to shift to 'appointment only'.

[quasi]

Originally Posted by Acura604

question: are "open houses" effective in finding a buyer? i've had 2 so far... and while there's been decent activity , no offers at all. I'm going to shift to 'appointment only'.

All my offers came from private showings, open houses are a way for your agent to network and try and find new clients IMO. For the most part it bring in tire kickers that are thinking about listing and want to see what's out there.

If I list again I'm doing private showings only and I'm only making my home available 1 day a week with a 3 window for those, so many time wasters.

[JDMDreams]

^^ I'm not sure if that will be an effective strategy as I've usually go on a weekend open house cruise and pack viewings all together. I don't think I've gone to an appointment only place unless it's super cheap or the ad is very attractive. Only time I've done it was for a place that my realtor knows the sellers realtor. Usually these appointment only ones puts me off as it makes me feel there's something to hide, ie beat up or Tennanted

[Traum]

I'd say different buyers prefer different viewing arrangements. I used a mixture of both open houses and private appointments when I bought my current place. I had specific neighbourhood in mind, so I kept scouring realtor.ca for listings. If there is a listing that I am interested in, I'll make sure I get to look at the place in person, whether it is through an open house, or from a private viewing appointment. From then on, it just depends on the place. If I like it well enough, I'll put in an offer. It doesn't matter whether the viewing was done through an open house or private viewing appointment.

[Alpine]

Originally Posted by Acura604

question: are "open houses" effective in finding a buyer? i've had 2 so far... and while there's been decent activity , no offers at all. I'm going to shift to 'appointment only'.

Just completed on the sale of my condo last week. All of the people that placed an offer came to an open house but they also made a 2nd (or 3rd in some cases) appointment for a private viewing afterwards.

My realtor held an open house every weekend (sat & sun) for almost 2 months (Late May to early July). Buyer was subject to sale so subject removal was almost 2 months after the accepted offer. First open house weekend was very busy (10+ groups each day) but each successive open house had fewer groups until we were getting 0 to 3 groups each weekend.

Unless it's a major inconvenience for you I would just have the open house. You're paying the realtor for their time & services anyways and it'll force you to keep your place in tip top showing condition.

[JDMDreams]

^^ TWO MONTHS FOR SUBJECT REMOVAL? Was that the only offer you got?

[Acura604]

...re: open houses.

I have to add its for a detached home...which isn't doing so well on the market. Most potential buyers want some sort of rental suite as a mortgage helper..for this house i'm selling i elected NOT to have a basement as I hated dealing with renters.

secondly, the so called 'stress test' is making it quite difficult to afford a $1,000,000+ home which could be part of the problem.

condo market seems very good... so comparably, i may not bother with open houses any longer.

[Alpine]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

^^ TWO MONTHS FOR SUBJECT REMOVAL? Was that the only offer you got?

No, it wasn't the only offer. We weren't in a situation where we had to sell (we were planning on moving back in with my mom to take care of her. Selling the condo was optional as it was mainly to free up more $ to renovate her house.) so we decided to take a risk. If it was for any other reason we probably would've taken another offer.

[quasi]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

^^ I'm not sure if that will be an effective strategy as I've usually go on a weekend open house cruise and pack viewings all together. I don't think I've gone to an appointment only place unless it's super cheap or the ad is very attractive. Only time I've done it was for a place that my realtor knows the sellers realtor. Usually these appointment only ones puts me off as it makes me feel there's something to hide, ie beat up or Tennanted

Perhaps, but I'm in the I'd like to move then again I don't care if I don't space.

After doing over 70 private showing and 3 open houses this time around I'm going to make sure everything works around my schedule next time. If someone is serious about the house they'll make sure their available to view it when it's open, if not go buy someone else's house cause this isn't a match for either of us.

Lol, a few weeks ago when we were still doing showings I had someone cancel on me 10 minutes before the showing after my wife rushed home from work early to get the dogs out and tidy up. My realtor called me the next day and told me they wanted to rebook another time, I told him to tell them to fuck off and find another a house. Near the begging of the process I was so accommodating by the end I was the house nazi.

I'm so jaded

[Alpine]

Originally Posted by Acura604

...re: open houses.

I have to add its for a detached home...which isn't doing so well on the market. Most potential buyers want some sort of rental suite as a mortgage helper..for this house i'm selling i elected NOT to have a basement as I hated dealing with renters.

secondly, the so called 'stress test' is making it quite difficult to afford a $1,000,000+ home which could be part of the problem.

condo market seems very good... so comparably, i may not bother with open houses any longer.

Seeing that too. All investors want basement mortgage helper & laneway potential and potential owners "need" at least a basement mortgage helper to afford the mortgage... Houses with only one/or none are selling for a steep discount relative to houses with both.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by Alpine

Seeing that too. All investors want basement mortgage helper & laneway potential and potential owners "need" at least a basement mortgage helper to afford the mortgage... Houses with only one/or none are selling for a steep discount relative to houses with both.

Unless it is a much newer house though, how many of those "basement suite" units are legitimate suites? It's a super major PITA to retrofit an old house into compliance if the home owner wants to do things legitimately.

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by Traum

Unless it is a much newer house though, how many of those "basement suite" units are legitimate suites? It's a super major PITA to retrofit an old house into compliance if the home owner wants to do things legitimately.

You will be surprise how many of these basement are illegal and the city just turn a blind eye. The city know if they actually enforce the rules a lot of people wouldn't have a roof over their heads. Just look at VanSky/Vanpeople 95% of the ads for basement to rent is illegal. Is pretty easy for the gov to check. Every person I know who rents out their basement suite is doing it illegally.

And to add to my post earlier rent vs buy. All I am saying is that some people who rent thinks that owning they will end up paying the same they pay rent. Reality is you pay more when owning (at least till the mortgage is paid off). Others on here also suggest when renting they can invest what they save and make more money from it. At the end of the day it just depends on your lifestyle. Is like leasing a car vs buying. If you feel like moving whenever you like, don't want to have a baggage with you, want to explore the world, with a good investment send then renting might be a good idea for you. For others they like owing because it gives them a feeling of security, they have a family and want to plant their root or simply they aren't smart with investment and owning a place is the best investment.

[quasi]

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

You will be surprise how many of these basement are illegal and the city just turn a blind eye. The city know if they actually enforce the rules a lot of people wouldn't have a roof over their heads. Just look at VanSky/Vanpeople 95% of the ads for basement to rent is illegal. Is pretty easy for the gov to check. Every person I know who rents out their basement suite is doing it illegally.

And to add to my post earlier rent vs buy. All I am saying is that some people who rent thinks that owning they will end up paying the same they pay rent. Reality is you pay more when owning (at least till the mortgage is paid off). Others on here also suggest when renting they can invest what they save and make more money from it. At the end of the day it just depends on your lifestyle. Is like leasing a car vs buying. If you feel like moving whenever you like, don't want to have a baggage with you, want to explore the world, with a good investment send then renting might be a good idea for you. For others they like owing because it gives them a feeling of security, they have a family and want to plant their root or simply they aren't smart with investment and owning a place is the best investment.

The city of Surrey threatened to do something about it last year, they had a plan in place to deal with it but backed off when people pushed back.

[twitchyzero]

looks like Burnaby will take a hardline on demovictions

https://www.burnabynow.com/news/hous...lan-1.23901084

[Mr.HappySilp]

^^ Sure do that and the landlord will just never do any reno to the buildings till everyone move out and then sell it or developers will simply develop area where there are no older apartments nearby.

[Hondaracer]

Honeslt I’ve been into a majority of the buildings around Metrotown which are subject to these “demovictions” and for the most part they are places you wouldn’t go with gum boots on.

And as happyslip said, the landlords and building owners don’t give a fuck about the people living there until they move out. Laundry services all broken down, appliances not working, etc. a lot of these people I’ve met don’t even have a contact to complain about this stuff they just drop a letter in a slot with their monthly rent or else you get evicted

It’s a sad state but on the other hand, the people and buildings are fucking disgusting

[Great68]

Enjoy your slums Burnaby.