Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[Tapioca]

Non-strata rowhomes/townhomes do exist, but they're a relatively new type of home in the Lower Mainland and only found in new subdivisions like Burke Mountain or Willoughby. The main issue I see with strata title duplexes or triplexes is the short term adjustments in the insurance market in which all types of condo housing are being treated as having the same risks as a high rise building with poorly installed pipes and negligent owners.

The pandemic is showing many old school employers and managers that people can be just as productive working from home as in an office. Companies will need to cut costs and will look to downsize office space as a result. I think commuting times will become less of a factor because people will need homes with office space and space for their children. My hunch is that in the medium term, there will be growing interest in larger suburban homes.

[Gerbs]

^ Wouldn't the 10-year warranty be irrelevant since he's planning to live there for another 10 - 25 years? I assume that the older units that are 10+ years will have a lot of issues fixed vs potential issues on a new build after warranty expires.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by Gerbs

^ Wouldn't the 10-year warranty be irrelevant since he's planning to live there for another 10 - 25 years? I assume that the older units that are 10+ years will have a lot of issues fixed vs potential issues on a new build after warranty expires.

Depending on how you look at it, I'd say that the 10 year warranty can be either relevant or irrelevant. As you have said, over the long haul, the 10 year warranty really doesn't matter all that much in the overall scheme of things. At the same time, at least it is there so that any home owner or potential buyer would be protected against any unforeseen deficiencies.

One of the reasons I recommended townhouses in the 5 - 10 year range is because of their relatively new age, and generally speaking, newer stuff is supposed to break down less often. And if buildings are maintained properly and lived in gently, I don't expect repair costs to rise exponentially until the building is really quite old. But that could be a tall order...

A further word regarding the deficiency report / depreciation report on strata property -- I'm pretty sure that at the time when I was still living the apartment live, the required frequency is for it to be renewed / re-done once every 5 years. Googling the information on it now, it seems like provincial law has changed it into getting renewed once every 3 years:

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/h...t-requirements

Esp with the increased frequency, it becomes a great tool to help potential buyers in their decision making process.

[welfare]

Originally Posted by BIC_BAWS

Unfortunately townhomes are typically strata, it's really hard to find a freehold non-strata townhouse/rowhome. It's not even something you can search for as keywords on Rew. I would actually prefer to live closer and sacrifice detached. Granted, all I really want is a double garage (single is fine i just need one).

My mother doesn't drive so I don't think she understands the gravity of a 200km/day commute. FFS. Not much I can do about it tho, I'm not the decision maker, but my input matters since I'll be paying a % of mortgage as well. I also think their biggest consideration is that if we buy detached further out, the potential for property value to rise is higher. Or rather % gain.

What about Aldergrove? Cheaper than both Langley city and Abbotsford, and relatively quick commute to Richmond via 16th ave to hwy 99.
There are some pretty big development plans in the works (or at least were prior to covid), so not a bad idea for investment, imo.
Something to think about at least.

[jing]

Originally Posted by BIC_BAWS

So I'll be buying a place with my parents, due to our financial constraints, it doesn't make sense for me to get my own place (not like I can really afford one anyway) and for them to get their own place, just for me to move back in to take care of them in like 5-10 years. It's not an ideal situation, but it's what I'm working with.

We're approved for a 500K mortgage (legal suite would probably allow for more), have a 200-300K DP, and primarily looking at detached homes (at least 4 bed - 1 needs to be office; pref garage for my toys lol) in the Maple Ridge/Langley area (fml). We're looking at detached specifically because my parents are concerned about strata fees/unexpected $20K bills. That said, I also understand that detached has its own unexpected maintenance.

What are your experiences buying a detached? I imagine a PPI for a home as far more important than a car. How many unexpected costs am I looking at? Or rather, what are some big ticket items that you have noticed? I think inspectors range from $200-$1000, so I can see it adding up if you are looking at multiple properties. However, inspectors can probably help save tens of thousands of unexpected costs when negotiating.

Thoughts? Thanks

Also fun fact, you can cut around 4-5% off purchase price during COVID rn.

https://www.cotala.com/46539

Richmond
Sold $830k Apr 17, 2020
4br 1ba

[Ch28]

Originally Posted by BIC_BAWS

My mother doesn't drive so I don't think she understands the gravity of a 200km/day commute. FFS. Not much I can do about it tho, I'm not the decision maker, but my input matters since I'll be paying a % of mortgage as well. I also think their biggest consideration is that if we buy detached further out, the potential for property value to rise is higher. Or rather % gain.

It's absolutely unreasonable to ask someone to commute 200 km round trip every day for the foreseeable future.

To put it into perspective, if you're commuting 5 times a week then that's ~1000km which is more than half the distance it takes to drive to Winnipeg and Phoenix.

Google Maps says it takes about 1h 34m to get from that house to Richmond Centre right now with good traffic. That's a 3 hour round trip drive. If you factor in rush hour traffic and/or an accident and you're looking at easily 5-6 hours.

Your mom is being absolutely unreasonable and you're being stupid if you think this isn't a big deal. Your parents need you to pay part of the mortgage so you should have just as much of an input in this huge decision as they do.

[Presto]

^^^
Ugh.. that reminds me of my poor mom when my parents bought a place in Mission, but still had to commute to Vancouver. My dad was already retired. Fortunately, they sold it after a year because a bunch of good circumstances lined up, and made off with a profit. My mom was so happy to be back in Coquitlam. Still, an hour commute, but she was used to that.

[6thGear.]

Originally Posted by jing

A unit we're interested in is listed as having the GST already paid by the seller. However, it has never been occupied. Assuming we end up purchasing, that means GST is payable again on the final purchase price, right? eg. 700k sold price = 35k GST. Would I qualify for a GST new housing rebate, even though I'm not buying from a developer anymore?

There would be GST on the difference of what the seller paid from developer and what you're final purchase price is. IE seller paid GST on presale price of $500k. Sells to you for $700k. There would be GST on $200k difference however if you're realtor is smart he can include a clause in the contract that all outstanding taxes/fees are paid for by the seller.

[Jmac]

The 10-year new home warranty is:
- 2 years labour and materials
- 5 years building envelope
- 10 years structure

So if you’re buying a 5-10 year old home, only the structure is still under warranty. There’s also limited liability of $100k for strata units and $200k for detached non-strata.

[BIC_BAWS]

Anyone know anything about the Southwest Maple Ridge area, by Ridge Meadows College? There's this detached we're looking at: 5 bed, 3 bath (2 bed 1 BA unauth suite but legal for bank purpose). Unfortunately single car garage, but at least kitchen looks dope and renovated. We'll be likely using the suite as an office tbh.

97.1 KM commute; Using the most time stated on Google Maps for arriving in Richmond at 9AM and leaving Richmond at 5:30PM, total commute time is 140 minutes.

I don't mind this one because seeing that it's right off Golden Ears, it's easy access to Coquitlam (for the hunnies [ok and my friends]), Burnaby, Surrey, and Richmond. Plus I guess it's close to my favorite back road and the race track.

My only concern is that the current sellers bought on May 6, 2019. In just a bit over a year of ownership, it's back on the market.

[westopher]

I wouldn't be all that concerned about the short ownership. It might be worth asking about, but circumstances are changing so drastically for people right now, and a lot of people could be looking to downsize to free up capital.

[Ch28]

The one year sale date wouldn’t bother me considering the economy and how a portion of the population is laid off. Could very well be the mortgage is cutting too much into their savings and they need to downsize.

[twitchyzero]

Originally Posted by jing

https://www.cotala.com/46539

Richmond
Sold $830k Apr 17, 2020
4br 1ba

needs at least another bath, single garage, steps from a runway that accepts a380s

[Harvey Specter]

Another prediction...

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Now isn’t the time to buy real estate if someone is willing to wait for a better deal, according to a local analyst who predicts condo prices in the Vancouver area are set to decline for years.

Eitel Insights founder Dane Eitel says it’s not the time to try to catch a falling knife, or rather the longer someone holds on to a property they can’t afford, the harder it will be to get rid of it.

He’s advising buyers who can afford to wait for a better price to hold off until at least next year since “need-based selling” will be coming into the market in 2020. He says many investors facing hardship because of the pandemic are also feeling mounting pressure to sell.

“So, I would definitely hold off purchasing a condo. You could really almost sell your condo property right now and go away for a long time, come back and you’ll see that similar type property at extremely lower values.”

The average price for a condo is more than $660,000, but he says that’s going to change.

“For the condo market, January 2018 was the peak at $750,000. Currently, we’re down 12 per cent from that. We’re right at $660,000 for roughly six months in a row in the condo market average sale price,” Eitel explains.

Within two years, he says that price should fall to $525,000 in a few yeas, and heavily-mortgaged owners may soon be forced to sell.

“There are buildings that have been completed and they’re roughly 60 per cent available –30 per cent for sale, 30 per cent for rent– so, all these investors that purchased are going to be put in a tough place and you’ll see a continuation of increased inventory,” Eitel says.

He adds as of April, nearly 4000 condos are listed for sale across the Lower Mainland, but just under 400 sold.

However, Eitel also says the situation is not as bad for single-detached homes where the average price in that market could drop below $1.4-million dollars, down from more than $1.6-million it is now

[Gerbs]

Originally Posted by Harvey Specter

Didn't end up listing because of the lock down. I'm looking to list in May, my realtor said the the market right now is on ice plus he said he can't do open houses so no point of having the listing sit for a month.

I'll post how things go, my realtor is still confident I'll get a good price but things are changing everyday so at this point it's anyone's guess what happens with prices.

How's the listing in May?

[Harvey Specter]

Originally Posted by Gerbs

How's the listing in May?

Sold my unit in 5 days, around $6k under ask but I had room to play. Going to sit back and see what opportunities pop up.

[Gerbs]

Awesome, glad to hear everything worked out

[SSM_DC5]

Will prices really go down though if everyone has been already been sitting on their money waiting for prices to drop? Those people might jump at the slightest price drop, which would in the end keep prices from falling any further and perhaps go back up.

I'm still seeing detached homes priced around 1.6m that are sold within 2 weeks.

[hud 91gt]

The ratio of people sitting on money waiting to buy vs. those maxed out riding the CERB wave will determine the answer you desire. You won’t see the results from those for another 4+ months.

My buddy just negotiated 25% off rent from a beautiful townhome in Kitsilano, which is an interesting indication.

[Great68]

Originally Posted by Presto

How much is your time worth?
Time is also money.

A 200KM commute sounds like a 3 hour roundtrip on a good day.
250 days x 3 hours = 750 hours per year = 1 month spent in the car, commuting.

I commuted from Coquitlam to Richmond back in the 2000s. Hated it so much. 14 years ago, I took a pay-cut to work in non-profit. IMHO, it was the best career decision I have made. My job is <10min from home, and I don't think my stress can be lower.

Depending on the work you do, would there be any job opportunities close to the real-estate you're interested in?

Agreed.

I can't imagine ever doing a commute longer than 15 minutes by car again in my life (my previous commute, and even that was pretty good because it was all country backroads, only impacted by traffic if something happened on the highway). Now it's a 20minute walk.

It's not just the time & cost savings, but the stress relief which is huge and immeasurable. I can't remember the last time I've listened to a traffic report, I don't think about it because it doesn't matter anymore.

A McMansion out in the boondocks means nothing to me if the only time I get to enjoy is when I'm sleeping.

[Hondaracer]

When I was working at Trump tower we had an employee who was essentially a labourer probably made MAYBE 20/hour

The guy drove from Sardis to Trump Tower.. literally hitting the worst of rush hour in both directions. I told him I’d rather work at McDonald’s making whatever they pay as opposed to doing that.

He replied that the drive time was his time to relax and unwind..your idea of relaxing is sitting in bumper to bumper gridlock for 3 hours a day?...

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

The guy drove from Sardis to Trump Tower.. literally hitting the worst of rush hour in both directions.

That's just terrible.

My daily round trip commute is about 70KM per day. On average, it takes me about 45 minutes each way (on a good day) and on a bad day, it's between 1 to 1.5 hours. Should I ever go to the Downtown office, a commute is at minimum 45 minutes to an hour. It would take me 1.5 hours to get home by car over a distance of 9KM. Transit would take about the same time so there was no winning.

I thought about moving closer to work, but even the traffic near the office would take 45 minutes, so fuck that.

[TouringTeg]

Listings going up in Victoria. I think all the empty airbnb are going to be a factor.

You either rent it out or sell. Rents are likely falling and there will be more empty units in tourist hot spots like Victoria and Kelowna.

Everyone needs a home but I think it is an awful time to buy an investment property.

[yray]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

That's just terrible.

My daily round trip commute is about 70KM per day. On average, it takes me about 45 minutes each way (on a good day) and on a bad day, it's between 1 to 1.5 hours. Should I ever go to the Downtown office, a commute is at minimum 45 minutes to an hour. It would take me 1.5 hours to get home by car over a distance of 9KM. Transit would take about the same time so there was no winning.

I thought about moving closer to work, but even the traffic near the office would take 45 minutes, so fuck that.

no bike to work?

[The Producer]

5 minute driving commute for me - 4 if I catch the lights. Great easy walk through the marina when I feel like it too.

Maybe once a month I have to sit in traffic to go somewhere. If I have to sit for even 10 minutes I find myself wondering how anybody can stand to commute.

I suppose it never occurred to me to have a career that required it - learned it from my dad I guess. He still goes home everyday for lunch and to walk the dog - has done for 40+ years.

One of the few silver linings to the covid situation is I hope some of the work at homes start to wake up to the amount of their lives they waste commuting. My friend has driven from north van to Port Kells everyday for 20 years. He's been home now for 2 months - he can't believe the difference. It just hadn't really occurred to him before how much time he was wasting.

BIC BAWS - I won't pretend to understand the cultural requirement that says you have to move back in w your parents anyways in 5-10 years, but FOR SURE don't do it until you have to. How far do you live from your job now? Find a rental within a few minutes of your workplace. It will change your life.