Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[Hehe]

I did my HS (well, from grade 7-12 in CDN system) in private school.

IMO, it's better in a sense where the school is better funded and they allow to hire teachers who specialize in certain fields rather than just following the curriculum.

It's useful for kids who are bright in certain aspects and their teacher can identify his/her talent and explore the horizon of it.

Public school puts focus on the curriculum and follow it quite deeply. Thus, kids with talent in one area but lacks in other might struggle in public environment because unless the kid can get into some gifted program, the expectation is for the kid to fulfill the curriculum rather than anything else.

And of course the networking part for parents. If you are in an elite private school like South Ridge, Van College... etc, your peers would be kids from other relatively successful family, and if your parents can take advantage of that, there are some opportunities.

Other than that... I can't think of much else. I went to one where we were mostly a bunch of spoiled kids or Trust Fund kids... and most of us done alright... we have no problem getting into decent universities... but that's about it.

The thing is don't magically expect kids to be able to go to Ivy League just because you are sending them to private schools. It's still up to the parents and kids themselves to determine the outcome.

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

Yeah, the mat leave is a big hit when you're trying to qualify. Hopefully, your wife's company doesn't fire her when she comes back (this has happened to a few of my wife's colleagues).


That's exactly the same situation we're facing - meeting space is at a premium. I've set up a workstation in the kitchen and I've had to take external calls in my garage in a pinch when the kids were too disruptive.


I wouldn't get rid of it. I got rid of my car when we had our first kid, but I regretted it the day I sold it. I wouldn't shut up about getting another car for 3 years until I switched jobs and needed something interesting to drive during my commute.


I think that if you can find a neighbourhood that is surrounded by other like-minded families, you can probably mitigate some of the shortcomings of the public school system. There's a pretty neat tool that's been developed by a local statistician called CensusMapper that basically depicts long-form census data visually.

https://censusmapper.ca/

There's lots of information on there such as median household incomes, the number of children per household, empty households, etc. After reviewing the data for my current neighbourhood, I'm finding that it would be tough to leave.

She seems to still have a job so far
She works for Telus and they just went through a round of layoffs and she wasn't a chosen one. There probably won't be another layoff until she's back to work.

That link was great. Le Wife spent 2 hrs just checking it out, she even turned Netflix off. I wish though now Canada would do a full form census every 2-4 years. That information is out of date. Considering what we were like in 2016 vs now, that information is super out of date. I can also see why city planning etc would very much rely on info from a census.

[EvoFire]

I'm surprised a small comment on public vs private sparked so much discussion. It is useful, and we are still torn as to whether to go public or private.

Originally Posted by Gerbs

Just curious, did any of you guys grow up in private school? If so, do you feel like most of your peers are doing way better than those who went to public school?

I went to private kindergarten
But that was in HK.

To be more serious about it, the average joes that I know who went to private school did not attain higher achievements because they did. They are also not the ones to be able to take advantage of the intangibles of a private school education

Originally Posted by twitchyzero

can someone explain why public system is considered a farce nowadays

is 5 zoom meetings supposed to be a good thing for a 8 year old haha...im trying to delete that app and employers insist on using said platform

I was told this by our elementary school teach friend.

They've abolished the grading system for grade 1-8, and they've just ruled out any way for the teacher to give negative comments:
She used to be able to say: student was not able to complete assignment, or student did not understand the requirements.
Now she has to say: student completed assignment with help
Which does not help the parent assess their kids ability at all.
The system also no longer allows a student to be held back, this is from grade 1-8. I'm guessing that means every kid hits grade 9 even if they aren't there, and then they either fail or drop out from there.
She was able to give incompletes before, but that also entails a mountain of paperwork and a lot of negativity from the principle and admins. If your kids get a teacher who cared less than what she cared about, your kid may be worthless in school and you'll never know it.

Class sizes is another thing. She teaches grade 5+-, she says she has students who can barely read at a grade 1 level, and she has students who can read at a post secondary level. Her energy and time are all spent on the underachievers and the troublemakers that the more capable students don't get the attention or challenge they need or deserve.

Originally Posted by Traum

The continual dumbing down of the curriculum seems idiotic to me. The most infuirating thing for me has to be elementary school math. I saw it in my friend's kid's homework. It was some sort of 2-digit addition, like 23 + 38 or something like that. For something that I view as entirely basic and fundamental, esp when the kid is only in elementary school, what the hell is there to explain? Knowing how to add is the tool you use to do bigger and more complicated things. Just do it old school and memorize the mechanical process so that you can actually do some math.

But nope, the kid is supposed to draw it all out, separate the 23 into 20 + 3 first. Then separate the 38 into 30 + 8. Then do the 20 + 30 to get 50. And separately do the 8 + 3 to get -- wait! -- you need to further break the 3 down into 2 + 1, because then you can move the 2 to combine with the 8 so that you can end up with 10 and 1!

And then you lump your goddamned numbers back together:

- there is the 50
- there is the 10
- and then there is the 1

So now you do the 50 + 10 to get 60. And then you combine the 60 and the 1 to get 61.

Oh, and you're supposed to draw pictures of each of the different groups as well...

Fxxking goddammit!!! Are you fxxking kidding me?! Just do the damn mechanical addition and be done with it!

They've been teaching that garbage for years. I came from the HK school system and thought the way they taught math here was ridiculous. I got poor marks in Math 8 even when I get all the answers right because I didn't show work. And work was similar to the shit you just posted about.

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

EvoFire - Isn't your average household income at the $250K benchmark, or above?

lol............................ On here yes.

Originally Posted by AstulzerRZD

High school teachers that I've visited have mentioned that the increase in access to information has widened the gap in achievement between the highly motivated and those who aren't.

Even compared to when I graduated (early 2010s), the education and learning available online is a completely different story.

That's where some ppl think private school is important, as the less engaged but smart kids can get the attention, motivation, challenge they need. Though obviously they can't fix stupid.

Originally Posted by quasi

To be fair I didn't understand the importance of good grades when I was in school I wasn't dumb but I just did the bare minimum because that was the easy route it wasn't until I wanted to go to university and then realized I was nowhere near where I needed to be. My parents weren't involved in my education at all, they never asked me about it, never helped me choose my classes or asked to see a report card they had any idea how I was doing or even if I went to school or ditched that day to go to the beach with my friends. I always worked and had a car in high school I could go where I wanted when I wanted this was early 90s.

I didn't realize that in order to get certain professions you need special prerequisites, I want to make sure my kid knows what he wants and what he has to do to get there.

I was in the same boat, and I barely scraped into university and I somehow made it to graduation. I am lazy as fuck though, and my parents didn't have the knowledge to teach me what I needed to do. My relationship with my parents weren't good anyways as they were always working. I'm not sure they would have made a difference.

[Spoon]

Can anyone with kids in private school chime in on how their online learning went during COVID?

Both my kids are in public grade school. The child with slightly older teachers (early 40s) had so much trouble getting their MS Teams to work properly that I was losing hope on how they can be educators (communication was a complete clusterfuck). I'm just curious if private school teachers were better in the sense that they kept their skills up to date.

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by Spoon

Can anyone with kids in private school chime in on how their online learning went during COVID?

Both my kids are in public grade school. The child with slightly older teachers (early 40s) had so much trouble getting their MS Teams to work properly that I was losing hope on how they can be educators (communication was a complete clusterfuck). I'm just curious if private school teachers were better in the sense that they kept their skills up to date.

serious note though, teams isn't that hard to figure out, you can even raise your hand...maybe the 1st week i was fumbling around but at least i can now get the basics.

[Y2K_o__o]

Originally Posted by Spoon

Can anyone with kids in private school chime in on how their online learning went during COVID?

Both my kids are in public grade school. The child with slightly older teachers (early 40s) had so much trouble getting their MS Teams to work properly that I was losing hope on how they can be educators (communication was a complete clusterfuck). I'm just curious if private school teachers were better in the sense that they kept their skills up to date.

that's what happen with unionized teachers
i have been tutoring public school students from grade 8 to 12
lots of them found their teachers are really incompetent to explain the fundamental basic theories of science
It's a huge skills & knowledge gap from grade 12 to university

[GLOW]

must be hard to teach science...anyone truly competent in the sciences most likely would work in the field of said sciences or teach at the post secondary level. i don't know how many would want to 'give back to the future generation'.

i'm thinking it must be education students learning the basics of science, the necessary basic formulas to teach it to kids and paroting the text book.

to add to quasi's comment, career counselling is very important too. no one cares what you should do, just tell you to fill out a basic form and what possibilities there are based on your responses. i'm hoping i can gauge interests in my kids and steer them to some education/career options, outlining the pros and cons, and if it's in a field where i have contacts, see if there are open doors for intern/job shadow opportunities. stuff i never had that are significant advantages.

[bcrdukes]

Seeing as we're on the topic of public vs. private education, have any of you considered factoring in The Fraser Institute's School Rankings to determine where you live or plan on moving to in order to fall into a specific catchment area?

Caveat: The Fraser Institute is often criticized as a right-wing think tank, so use and consider this at your own risk. I have zero affiliation with The Fraser Institute, nor do my beliefs align with theirs, but I keep an open mind.

[Jmac]

Originally Posted by Y2K_o__o

that's what happen with unionized teachers
i have been tutoring public school students from grade 8 to 12
lots of them found their teachers are really incompetent to explain the fundamental basic theories of science
It's a huge skills & knowledge gap from grade 12 to university

I would say at least 2/3 of the teachers I had between grade 2 and grade 12 were incompetent, not just in terms of science, and that was 20+ years ago. It definitely seems like it’s even worse now.

[6793026]

Maybe some are incompetent; what I find is kids have no means of attention AND, the value of knowledge is not being appreciated.

Remember how we used to use calculator and didn't give a fuck after grade 9.
"Same for now.. why do we need to know _____________, i can just google"

I think the key is... getting information is easy, being able to get the kids / young professionals to TRY to explain a concept or teach it to someone is close to impossible.

When you say "you know" 10X within 5 minutes trying to explain a concept... you just failed.

[Xu.Vi]

PS teachers will attend more events such as school galas, communicate "more" with the parents, and receive expensive gifts from families. In return, PS teachers take on a lot more pressure not only from the families but also upper management/headmaster if a child isn't performing. Runs off minimum annual donations and "gifts" (a client of mine donated $200,000 to a gala before their kid was even accepted into grade 1...and $300,000 donation towards the school's second campus construction), and most importantly the connections kids will make growing up together.

Not much difference educationally because they must adhere to B.C's curriculum but they will have more opportunity to go on field trips and have well-equipped classrooms/supplies.

[Tapioca]

Okay, another question to get this thread back on track...

Who has used their HELOCs to secure the purchase of their next home? How are people juggling the buying and selling of their current homes, assuming that your down payment would primarily come from existing equity in your current home? I'm considering our options and it's been recommended to us that we get a new revolving-type mortgage with a HELOC so we can go in with a "clean" offer for our next home (i.e. no subject to sale). However, I'm wondering what would be the difference between a revolving mortgage versus obtaining a HELOC as a second charge behind our existing conventional mortgage?

[bcrdukes]

You can get bridge financing in your situation, but also there are a few circumstances/criteria you need to meet i.e. free cash flow, credit rating etc. Assuming you don't have a credit card problem or spend all the money on booze and drugs, or a fleet of BMW E30 M3s, you should be ok. Check with your mortgage broker. Bridge financing often is better than HELOC or revolving-type mortgages.

[JDMDreams]

Bridge financing I believe is easier said than done, you have to have two confirmed contracts on both buy and sell end before the bank will even consider you. Also the interest rate is higher I think. It's tough to buy and sell, as you will face pressure to force sell once you know you have a purchase completion deadline. So you might be forced to accept what ever offer you get cuz you're desperate for the cash to close on the new purchase.

It's much better to put in a buy offer once you have a subject removed contact on your existing home so you know how much cash you have to work with.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

Bridge financing I believe is easier said than done, you have to have two confirmed contracts on both buy and sell end before the bank will even consider you. Also the interest rate is higher I think. It's tough to buy and sell, as you will face pressure to force sell once you know you have a purchase completion deadline. So you might be forced to accept what ever offer you get cuz you're desperate for the cash to close on the new purchase.

It's much better to put in a buy offer once you have a subject removed contact on your existing home so you know how much cash you have to work with.

Yeah, that reflects my thoughts on bridge financing. There's a bit of froth in the strata market right now, so I am concerned about timing and getting a firm deal for our home with sufficient time.

Overall inventory is pretty poor right now, at least for homes we're looking at, so there's no guarantee that we can find a home that would be suitable for us if we decide to put our home for sale first. I'm not keen on disrupting our living situation either - i.e. having to rent another home on a short-term basis while waiting for the right home to come on the market.

[buhdeh]

Was thinking of moving back to Vancouver but haven't really looked into the market in a long time since I left. Is $900k-1M really not enough to get a townhouse around 1100-1200 sq. ft. in Vancouver / Burnaby (closer to the Boundary side)?

I'm trying to limit my budget since I know my earning potential in Vancouver will probably be significantly lower than in Toronto. Conservatively, I expect to hit 175K in Toronto compared to maybe 130-140K in Vancouver.

[Hondaracer]

Half duplex are going for 1.2-1.6 in some cases

900-1.2 will likely only get into an older townhome or a smaller unit in a new development.

Frankly I think you’re insane to pay 1.2-1.5 for a newer duplex or TH when you’re into older detached at those prices. I know people don’t want to live in some older shack but Jesus having your own detached regardless of condition in most cases has seemingly sooooo much more value imo.

[Sw0op]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Half duplex are going for 1.2-1.6 in some cases

900-1.2 will likely only get into an older townhome or a smaller unit in a new development.

Frankly I think you’re insane to pay 1.2-1.5 for a newer duplex or TH when you’re into older detached at those prices. I know people don’t want to live in some older shack but Jesus having your own detached regardless of condition in most cases has seemingly sooooo much more value imo.

i guess you didnt see the comments a few months ago where people were shutting down Van Specials and would only buy it if they literally updated the whole house..

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by Sw0op

i guess you didnt see the comments a few months ago where people were shutting down Van Specials and would only buy it if they literally updated the whole house..

Lol well I was one of those saying I hate them. But if I had the choice I’d take a cat piss soaked Van special with a garage over a 1300sq half duplex

[6793026]

There's is a rule in BC which you can't graduate and get a BA if all of your classes were online.

[Y2K_o__o]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Half duplex are going for 1.2-1.6 in some cases

900-1.2 will likely only get into an older townhome or a smaller unit in a new development.

Frankly I think you’re insane to pay 1.2-1.5 for a newer duplex or TH when you’re into older detached at those prices. I know people don’t want to live in some older shack but Jesus having your own detached regardless of condition in most cases has seemingly sooooo much more value imo.

Some concrete townhouse in Brentwood & Metrotown are about 1.3 mil. The strata fee is like $600+ / month.

Annual Strata = $7200+
Property Tax = $5k+

That's nearly the cost of owning a detach property.....
i noticed that these units have been up on the market for months

https://www.rew.ca/properties/250818...type=Geography

https://www.rew.ca/properties/249698...type=Geography

[twitchyzero]

drive by that almost everyday
LOL didnt realize they want 1.4 for it

[sonick]

My inlaws just listed their house in East Burnaby area to downsize.

7 bed, 5 bath, 3900 sqft, 2 storey with finished basement suite. Built in 1999.

No idea what the market is, but they are asking 1.8m. Is that optimistic or inline with the market?

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by Y2K_o__o

Some concrete townhouse in Brentwood & Metrotown are about 1.3 mil. The strata fee is like $600+ / month.

Annual Strata = $7200+
Property Tax = $5k+

That's nearly the cost of owning a detach property.....
i noticed that these units have been up on the market for months

https://www.rew.ca/properties/250818...type=Geography

https://www.rew.ca/properties/249698...type=Geography

Lol! Those fucking places for that?!! With your sweet view of imperial? Jesus

There is plenty of inventory in East Van for 1.3-1.4 but then you wouldn’t be in that clusterfuck that is Metrotown I guess?..

The fucked up part and the reason why the market is so ducked though is that people will buy those units for those prices. Overseas buyers or not people would rather have that shit than buy an older detached and not have to deal with any issues. Even though the strata fees and property taxes on those places would probably cover a decent Reno on an older detached.

[hi-revs]

Wife and I are thinking of selling our 10yr old, detached house, on Burke Mountain, in coquitlam, in order to move back closer to Vancouver/burnaby.

Lifestyle in Coq is great for the years we lived there. However, commuting downtown everyday was tiresome.
We've moved back to my inlaws now for the past couple of years, and we love it! Both of us grew up in E.Van so our life had always been out this way.
Plus with having a dog and a baby, its great to have family help, with even the smallest tasks.

Our Coq property is in the $1.3-$1.6 range based on current market value and what the area is currently selling for.
To buy a place in van/burnaby, we're not planning on taking on too much more mortgage. Maybe around $300k tops.

I'm estimating we'll sell around the $1.5range, +/- $500k.
So with around $1.5mill to shop with, and in factoring in the style of interior/reno-styles we like (new and modern), options left are really just new duplexes.
Or if we wanted detached homes in that range, it'll be an old house which prob needs about $300k in renos.

What would you personally do, and why?
Anyone able to share horror stories of owning a duplex?
Is it a bad idea to drop $300k to reno a house listed around $1.1mil?

Family will likely grow with another child, but they could share rooms for the next 10yrs or whatever... so I'm thinking about this as well. But dint need the extra space immediately, although more space would be great.