Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[Jmac]

Originally Posted by Y2K_o__o

veterinary assistant makes more than an engineer!

My university colleagues who graduated from civil / mech with 6-7 years of experience are still making roughly $80-100K only.

https://ca.indeed.com/Veterinary-Ass...2ceb502e24ae55

I'm seeing <$20/hour for veterinary assistants.

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by Y2K_o__o

My current employer actually pays me in USD equivalent of stock options.

However, base salary here in Vancouver is comparatively lower than that in the US.

As Trump's political and economic policies impact the market, you'll slowly start to see more and more tech companies out of the Bay Area make their way up to Canada (re: Vancouver) to take advantage of the talent pool, the exchange rate, legal fees, benefits, and what have you. This often leads to a lot of cash savings and reduction in operational costs for a business, leading to a healthy balance sheet for investors to drool over.

The limitation of H1-B visas being given to foreign nationals is becoming harder to come by. These companies (particularly start ups) will rock the boat in creating an overinflated market, driving salaries up for Vancouverites, and that will be the new class of people who will buy up our parents homes. A former colleague of mine left Vancouver for the Bay Area a few years ago, and is now back living with his parents because the industry he was working in imploded due to COVID. He did well, but a shame he lost his job due to COVID.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by CRS

Combined provincial and federal ($30,664.76 + $13,915.50 = $44,580.26
Income: $147,473

Taxes paid in percentage for both ($44,580.26/ $147,473) is 30.23%. I don't think you're paying 45.8% marginal tax on 154k since the increase would just the next bracket up for about 7k.

Dude, you have just calculated the effective tax rate for this hypothetical $147k earner. You do realize that the marginal tax rate is not the same as the effective tax rate, right?

Please repeat this after me:

marginal tax rate =\= effective tax rate

[CRS]

Originally Posted by Traum

Dude, you have just calculated the effective tax rate for this hypothetical $147k earner. You do realize that the marginal tax rate is not the same as the effective tax rate, right?

Please repeat this after me:

marginal tax rate =\= effective tax rate

You are correct.

My bad!

[EvoFire]

The tech world has been thrown into disarray by Covid. A lot ppl got laid off even in Vancouver. It's been a job seeker's market for awhile now, but my manager said for the first time they have a pool to choose from instead of trying to poach.

I've been a part of hiring efforts before, the amount of shit ppl out there are amazing. Cap that with some recruiters who throw every resume at you with even the remotest chance of being hired, recruitment sucks.

So the tech salary average is definitely thrown off by people who really don't qualify for the work they are doing. Which then also depresses the top end of the market because companies gauge the market by averages. Does not help that one level of government was actively advertising low salaries in tech to companies. That's not how you try to boost your economy, by attracting companies that want to underpay.


We are looking to upsize, but with two largish car payments we can't do it until those are dealt with in a few years.

EDIT: I don't understand why people say they lose money if they make more. At ~100k salary, you still gain a lot by making more, and there's nothing to lose because you already don't qualify for most benefits anyways.

[Gerbs]

Originally Posted by Fafine

assuming youre putting 20% down, older buildings dont really make sense in richmond

newer example, at 450k - 20% down monthly mortgage at 2.69% 30 year term 1455$ per month
https://www.rew.ca/properties/265721...type=Geography

Vs 20% down, 2.69% 30 year term $1131
https://www.rew.ca/properties/267767...type=Geography

difference of like 325 a month, i wouldnt choose to live in the older building lol.

That listing dropped from like $525k > $450k over the span of 3 - 4 months. I wonder if it's actually not selling or they want a bidding war lol.

Do you think it makes sense to just buy the newer unit if you think you'll upgrade in like 5 - 7 years?

[bcrdukes]

How large is this car payment, and what is the term? Two large'ish car payments are going to hamper your ability in saving to upsize. We all cant' always be rollin' in a Tesla or Integra Type R modded to the tits if we want to climb that housing ladder.

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by Gerbs

That listing dropped from like $525k > $450k over the span of 3 - 4 months. I wonder if it's actually not selling or they want a bidding war lol.

It's possible, yes. If it's been on the market for a financial quarter, chances are, they want to generate interest and sell to the highest bidder, conditions or not. If you do the math, that's a price drop of about 17%, which is unlikely and unrealistic. At $525K, it's possible that the asking/listed price was higher than the market benchmark.

Originally Posted by Gerbs

Do you think it makes sense to just buy the newer unit if you think you'll upgrade in like 5 - 7 years?

Yes. I'm at the pivot point where I want to upsize because:

1. My area has more or less peaked in terms of appreciation (My building is 4 years old, and I'm the original owner of the unit)

2. I would say if you crunch the numbers, I've made a pretty penny on my unit, and the price point meets the requirements of most, if not, all first-time home buyers. They would be my target market and demographic when I put it on the market.

Now to find a place with a 2-car garage. #broke

[Fafine]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

It's possible, yes. If it's been on the market for a financial quarter, chances are, they want to generate interest and sell to the highest bidder, conditions or not. If you do the math, that's a price drop of about 17%, which is unlikely and unrealistic. At $525K, it's possible that the asking/listed price was higher than the market benchmark.



Yes. I'm at the pivot point where I want to upsize because:

1. My area has more or less peaked in terms of appreciation (My building is 4 years old, and I'm the original owner of the unit)

2. I would say if you crunch the numbers, I've made a pretty penny on my unit, and the price point meets the requirements of most, if not, all first-time home buyers. They would be my target market and demographic when I put it on the market.

Now to find a place with a 2-car garage. #broke

Depends how you plan to upgrade, if you plan to rent it out and take out the equity on that first apartment, or if you plan to sell it entirely and get another place. Location is everything though. The apartments by kwantlen are cheap 350-450k older units but they rent for good money- something like 2 bedroom for 2g.

Unit 506 8988 sold for 480k back in Oct,
unit 1510 8988 sold for 445K Feb, so them asking 450k isnt too far off.
As for the bidding war issue, you'll have to do your research when it comes time to buy in order to learn what the market value is for different units. After awhile you'll gain a good understanding of what type of unit goes for what price, and anytime something looked too good to be true- it was always because they wanted a bidding war or they wanted to generate traffic. And if it was legit just being sold for less, they usually got scooped up fast. So you have to be ready to go in view it asap and throw down an offer.

Sign up at Zealty.ca if you haven't already, lots of good info that you can use to your advantage.

[bcrdukes]

You have to factor in capital gains. That shit is a bitch.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by Gerbs

Do you think it makes sense to just buy the newer unit if you think you'll upgrade in like 5 - 7 years?

Crunch the numbers on the costs of moving and see?

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

How large is this car payment, and what is the term? Two large'ish car payments are going to hamper your ability in saving to upsize. We all cant' always be rollin' in a Tesla or Integra Type R modded to the tits if we want to climb that housing ladder.

2018M3and2019X3

Together they are about 2k a month for payments.

I just dropped cash burning a hole in my bank account on to the mortgage today if that helps. If I didn't I would probably have bought mods

We've paid off about 1/3 of our 320k mortgage since we bought our place 4 years ago. Being a car enthusiast doesn't help my finances.

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

2018M3and2019X3

Together they are about 2k a month for payments.

I just dropped cash burning a hole in my bank account on to the mortgage today if that helps. If I didn't I would probably have bought mods

We've paid off about 1/3 of our 320k mortgage since we bought our place 4 years ago. Being a car enthusiast doesn't help my finances.

Damn, son. Are you one of those $250K+ household income people?

Cars are an expensive hobby. This is why we all can't afford a place.

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

Damn, son. Are you one of those $250K+ household income people?

Cars are an expensive hobby. This is why we all can't afford a place.

We are close, we are ~200k when we are both working. Wife is on mat-leave right now though.

If it wasn't for being a car enthusiast, I'd say our mortgage would be about half paid off now instead of 1/3.

[DA9ve]

Originally Posted by underscore

A mortgage is a long-term investment though, the rates may be low now but if they go up later you've got a higher rate on a larger loan amount. I don't have the time to try to build a calculator in Excel to play around with how differing rates over time and extra payments affect the total paid over the lifetime of the mortgage but from my understanding the earlier you can pay extra the less you end up spending overall, even if the rate is low now.

Yes the earlier you pre pay the more it goes towards your principal. What I'm getting at is at these levels of interest rates, the opportunity cost to take your money to invest in something else is a lot more favourable.

[VR6GTI]

Can you still get a 30 year mortgage in Canada? If so what’s involved?

[CRS]

Originally Posted by VR6GTI

Can you still get a 30 year mortgage in Canada? If so what’s involved?

Yes and the nothing different from RBC.

[Jmac]

Originally Posted by VR6GTI

Can you still get a 30 year mortgage in Canada? If so what’s involved?

Yes but it requires >20% down payment

[buhdeh]

Originally Posted by Gerbs

I wouldn't say it's easy, you put in work but it's something that is definitely achievable as a developer. A $120k base salary is pretty rare in Vancouver and is usually at public companies. However, you should exceed $120k total compensation after you factor in stock compensation and bonuses for most devs working at Shopify/Amazon/Microsoft/Salesforce. Shopify was planning on hiring 1000+ employees for a possible Vancouver office. But they might transition to working remotely so they'll be hiring all across Canada/US.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/shop...work-from-home

My friends that recently graduated accepted offers of $90k at EA and $82k at Deloitte. Not everyone makes the $100k+ salary that you hear about. But they think that'll change once they hit senior roles/job hop.



That's so true, everyone is moving east or south because there's more opportunity and the pay is significantly higher.

Originally Posted by AstulzerRZD

Here's a widely used resource for tech salaries. You can filter by location and compare the 'levels/titles' across companies.
https://www.levels.fyi
https://www.levels.fyi/Salaries/Soft...gineer/Canada/

100-120 New Grad in Vancouver is definitely doable if you end up at one of the big 4.
EA and KPMG/Deloitte are a bit lower as far as TC goes.

Splunk, Asana, and some other big Cali names have started moving into Van. TC is great if you're at the skill level they're looking for.

Toronto salaries are kinda misleading... they're maybe 10-15% higher but the cost of living is also a fair bit higher. Downtown core rent seems slightly higher, strata fees are 80 cents/sqft, and car ownership is really helpful even if living downtown. If you have to be in Canada though, advancement opportunities there are better.

I don't know where you guys are getting this information from but no one comes into Deloitte as a new grad making $82K let alone $100K unless you're talking post-MBA. I work in their STRATEGY consulting group which is paid higher than technology consulting and MBAs with experience generally come in at around 85-90k as Senior Consultants. This is what I see in Toronto. The numbers will be lower for Vancouver as well.

[Hondaracer]

People probably come in getting 65k a year, lie to friends and family saying they are getting 85 a year then get on dat 3 series lease ASAP

[quasi]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

People probably come in getting 65k a year, lie to friends and family saying they are getting 85 a year then get on dat 3 series lease ASAP

Lol, this one boggles my mind and I see it quite often. Just because someone will give you credit doesn't mean it's a smart decision, this actually translates to real estate as well.

I mean I shouldn't throw stones I bought a new truck a few years ago which is honestly a dumb purchase and a waste of money but at least I saved up for a few years and paid cashed. It still doesn't make it a good decision but I have friends who don't even look at the cost of borrowing money as long as they can make the monthly payment they figure it's in their budget.....

[unit]

^this is why car financing goes up to 84 months now

[bcrdukes]

Some companies offer up to 96 months.

[Hondaracer]

96 months on dat new Z06

I’ll preface this by saying I have been very fortunate in my life situation in many ways, however, looking back now at friends and acquaintances (and even myself to some degree) early out of high school and into their mid to late 20’s and even early 30’s man, what an absolute mistake it was to think it was a good idea to spend money on cars, clothes, ‘da club’ gambling, etc in order to look cool or keep up some sort of social status.

You know what’s cool? Driving some car within your means and sitting on your couch not stressing the fuck out about payments and bills lol..

[Harvey Specter]

So a friend who's in the mortgage business told me that Vancity deferred mortgage payments on 7000+ properties. According to him, around 60% have told Vancity they can pay interest only payments next month whilst the remaining 40% can't. The amount of deferrals is a huge number considering the size of Vancity.

He also said the bigger banks have even higher deferrals and predicts lending will get even tougher in the months to come. He was also telling the amount of debt some people are carrying is insane and there's no way he can even get banks to remortgage clients because the ratios are so bad and banks are now factoring in declines in RE even though publicly they keep claiming everything is fine. He's expecting for the first time in a long that we'll start to see foreclosures in the coming months.