Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[Doubl3_H]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

How much does everyone pay for home insurance?

Just got our renewal from BCAA and it went up from 2400 to 2700 wtf..

We have a bit of a premium due to our suite but that’s only $300 extra

$26xx, includes basement rental suite and laneway house. No earthquake coverage.

[smokinloc]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

How much does everyone pay for home insurance?

Just got our renewal from BCAA and it went up from 2400 to 2700 wtf..

We have a bit of a premium due to our suite but that’s only $300 extra

We pay about 2900 a year. Its a 2700 sq ft house 5 bedroom with a 2 bedroom suite, built in 1992, over in Nanaimo valued at about $600,000

[jing]

Originally Posted by unit

my gf lives at fraser and kingsway. a developer wants to buy that plaza where sal y limon is and also the adjacent houses including hers. there are 4 houses there that they are interested in. of course she's going to go to the meetings and get some advice from some professionals, but does anyone else have any advice for how to handle such a situation? apparently the typical amount offered is about 1.5 - 1.8x assessment.

Speaking from experience, a developer will offer you a $/sqft multiplied by the lot size and FSR. My parents house was under contract but fell through so the house was tied up for 18 months and empty promise after empty promise, the developer ultimately changed his mind leaving my parents and our neighbour empty handed. The developer does not have your best interests in mind and will tie up your property for as long as possible while they fight with the city over zoning changes and if it falls through, your time is wasted and you lose out on opportunity cost.

[quasi]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

How much does everyone pay for home insurance?

Just got our renewal from BCAA and it went up from 2400 to 2700 wtf..

We have a bit of a premium due to our suite but that’s only $300 extra

Used to be with BCAA was paying close to $2,400 a year switched to TD it dropped almost in half did that for a few years started to creep up went with broker I think I'm around $1,300 a year right now. Detached 2,300sf house.

[Jmac]

$1426, first time home owner (no discounts). I don't recall who my insurer is off the top of my head, got it through Coastal Community Credit Union.

1850 sq.ft 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom detached house built in 1987 on 0.45 acres in Duncan. Valued at about $420k.

I got probably around a dozen quotes while I was shopping for home insurance and they were all over the fucking map. $1426 was the least expensive followed by ~$1500 (Lloyd's of London via Island Savings Credit Union). From there, the rest were between $1700-$2600 per year with most in the low-$2000s.

It was actually shocking how much variance there was for the same coverage.

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by quasi

Used to be with BCAA was paying close to $2,400 a year switched to TD it dropped almost in half did that for a few years started to creep up went with broker I think I'm around $1,300 a year right now. Detached 2,300sf house.

There's probably over a dozen or so people I know who switched to TD to take advantage of the savings, and suddenly within a year or two, it more or less doubles in price out of nowhere. Seems to be the trend with TD Insurance, but purely on the basis of observation and proactively asking close colleagues.

[Hondaracer]

These figures make me feel a bit better about mine however I still feel like I’m paying too much relative to the coverage..

Problem is when you go with some other 3rd party broker etc. And they use a shady underwriter you know they will do everything within their power to not pay out a claim :/

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

These figures make me feel a bit better about mine however I still feel like I’m paying too much relative to the coverage..

Problem is when you go with some other 3rd party broker etc. And they use a shady underwriter you know they will do everything within their power to not pay out a claim :/

I suppose you'd also have to consider where you live, and factor in variables such as property crime statistics, flood zones, earthquakes, age of building and whether or not the raccoons next door have a track record destroying the neighbourhood.

[Oleophobic]

Originally Posted by Hehe

The valuation depends heavily on the FSR (Floor Space Ratio), or basically how many floors the developer is going to be allowed to build.

If they are going to build a fucking skyscraper, don't settle for anything less than 8x or even 10x. But if it's just for a low-rise/duplex kinda thing... I think up to 1.7-3x (depending on how big the project is) is reasonable.

I'd suggest your GF to get their neighbors on board and find a lawyer who specializes in land assembly deals to negotiate in their behalf.

Just wondering how this works for duplexes in which are generally set up like two halves of a house on the same plot of land? Would the developer treat it as two separate properties and apply the multipliers (1.7x-3x to use your examples) to each halves' assessments?

For example, I live in a duplex in an area where developers have taken an interest in the past and its possible something could happen on my block. But my half of the duplex is assessed at $1.3M (2k sqft because 3 floors) and my neighbour's half is essentially the same. The total land size is that of a standard Vancouver lot so it seems to me a developer would be paying double what they would pay if it was just a detached house (one property) instead of a duplex (two properties) on the same lot?

[Hehe]

Originally Posted by Oleophobic

Just wondering how this works for duplexes in which are generally set up like two halves of a house on the same plot of land? Would the developer treat it as two separate properties and apply the multipliers (1.7x-3x to use your examples) to each halves' assessments?

For example, I live in a duplex in an area where developers have taken an interest in the past and its possible something could happen on my block. But my half of the duplex is assessed at $1.3M (2k sqft because 3 floors) and my neighbour's half is essentially the same. The total land size is that of a standard Vancouver lot so it seems to me a developer would be paying double what they would pay if it was just a detached house (one property) instead of a duplex (two properties) on the same lot?

It's never just a slot or 2 in particular. You see the whole project with everything involved to derive the valuation and then split the share. And it's usually just the land that matters, building would have some valuation, but basically next to nothing.

IE: say a developer wants to buyout the entire block consisting of 10 duplexes for a total area of 15,000sqft (that's the total lot size) and their FSR is 3.4 after factoring the green space, public road... etc, it means that the developer can build something that's 15,000*3.4=51,000sqft on 4floors.

So, they aren't going to pay you 3x the money because it wouldn't make financial sense. They still have to take profit, construction cost... etc etc.

So, 1.7 in this case seems about right to me and that'd be the bottom line give or take a bit.

But if the FSR is 30... meaning a high-rise of 30+floors, then 8-10x valuation is justified.

[Y2K_o__o]

I have been looking to buy a rental property which is around 500sqft, 1 bedroom + 1 parking in downtown area. For example, Smith St project, are even more expensive ($700K+) during the pendemic.

I have the impression that renters can't afford to pay rent, eviction is not allowed, airbnb business are dead. What's going with the local real estate market?

[unit]

buying an apartment as a rental property hasn't been profitable in some time has it?
lets say you rent out a small unit in a good area for 2k/mo.
cost of the unit is probably around 600k.. not including down payments, your mortgage + insurance and strata would be somewhere around 3500/mo.

[bcrdukes]

If the intent is to rent out the unit to generate income, it's a tough market. But if it's to sell in the future (assuming it appreciates well in your favour) then sure.

[twitchyzero]

at pre-covid market rate you probably have to eat the cost of the first 3-4 months just to entice a lease signing in the west end

[Hondaracer]

So took my BCAA policy to TD, with this BCIT alumni discount my rate would go from $2700 with BCAA to just over $2000 with TD.. the creep up that is being talked about has my kinda worried but I think it jay he worth it just to save that $700

[Alpine]

If you are looking to rent out a condo downtown you want to list it on airbnb (when the vacation market recovers). That's the profitable way unless you have a 50-100% down payment.

[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by Alpine

If you are looking to rent out a condo downtown you want to list it on airbnb (when the vacation market recovers). That's the profitable way unless you have a 50-100% down payment.

Assuming the strata allows short term rentals. My current TH, old condo, and a lot of my friend's condos all do not allow short term rentals which was put in because of AirBnB rentals.

[Oleophobic]

Originally Posted by Hehe

It's never just a slot or 2 in particular. You see the whole project with everything involved to derive the valuation and then split the share. And it's usually just the land that matters, building would have some valuation, but basically next to nothing.

IE: say a developer wants to buyout the entire block consisting of 10 duplexes for a total area of 15,000sqft (that's the total lot size) and their FSR is 3.4 after factoring the green space, public road... etc, it means that the developer can build something that's 15,000*3.4=51,000sqft on 4floors.

So, they aren't going to pay you 3x the money because it wouldn't make financial sense. They still have to take profit, construction cost... etc etc.

So, 1.7 in this case seems about right to me and that'd be the bottom line give or take a bit.

But if the FSR is 30... meaning a high-rise of 30+floors, then 8-10x valuation is justified.

Thank you. To clarify further for my understanding, in your example above (4 floors, 15k sqft, 10 duplexes). Your 1.7 estimate in that example is 1.7x the value of the land for my duplex? BC Assessment shows $1M for land, $300k for the building. This means they may realistically offer me $1.7M as a final offer? If it were a high rise of 30+ floors, offering 8-10x ($8M to $10M)? That's pretty insane lol

[Hondaracer]

My Neighbor has a friend in Brentwood I’m assuming it’s on the east side of the mall

His house is assessed at 860k and my Neighbor said it’s just some dumpy old house never been renoed, borderline hoarder etc.

A developer is offering 3.2 mill to the guy to buy it, likely to build a high rise. However I guess there is one stickler in the group who built a house in the last 5 years and isn’t budging. Told him to tell his buddy to get the rest of the people on board and each chip in 50k or whatever of their own profit to pay the guy off because fuck, you ain’t ever going to get an offer like that again.

[Gerbs]

Originally Posted by unit

buying an apartment as a rental property hasn't been profitable in some time has it?
lets say you rent out a small unit in a good area for 2k/mo.
cost of the unit is probably around 600k.. not including down payments, your mortgage + insurance and strata would be somewhere around 3500/mo.

If you're going that route, I think the 2 br 70's - 90's condos for < $400k might be within $100 - 500 in covering all the costs

[unit]

depends how much money you got. if you are fairly rich and you just found the perfect plot to build a house exactly how you want and everythings good in life, then i can understand not wanting to move even if the moneys there. well, i can imagine, but i can't quite relate anyway.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by unit

depends how much money you got. if you are fairly rich and you just found the perfect plot to build a house exactly how you want and everythings good in life, then i can understand not wanting to move even if the moneys there. well, i can imagine, but i can't quite relate anyway.

Yea, but your perfect lot is either going to have a high rise next to you, or where there used to be a dozen single family homes will now have HUNDREDS of multi family units

It’s kind of a shit situation because you’re kinda being strong armed by the developer in most cases, but the increase in density alone likely means crime comes into the area, traffic etc.

Even if you built your dream home it’s not gonna be too dreamy for long when they start building around you

[Oleophobic]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

My Neighbor has a friend in Brentwood I’m assuming it’s on the east side of the mall

His house is assessed at 860k and my Neighbor said it’s just some dumpy old house never been renoed, borderline hoarder etc.

A developer is offering 3.2 mill to the guy to buy it, likely to build a high rise. However I guess there is one stickler in the group who built a house in the last 5 years and isn’t budging. Told him to tell his buddy to get the rest of the people on board and each chip in 50k or whatever of their own profit to pay the guy off because fuck, you ain’t ever going to get an offer like that again.

One can only dream of getting an offer like that! I know everyone has their reasons for doing things but I'd be so friggin pissed if one asshat doesn't want to budge causing everyone around them to forfeit $3M each...I just can't.

[Hondaracer]

Sorry to loop back onto home insurance, but we recently talked to someone at the "home insurance people" who have surprisingly, amazing reviews as kind of a middle-man broker type business. They gave multiple quotes, one being just under $1300 which is from

"Family Insurance Solutions" which is underwritten by Economical Mutual Insurance

these guys are also own Sonnet as a branch of their insurance services.

so its like $1500 cheaper than our current policy..

Anyone dealt with family or sonnet? Reviews on insurance are tough because most of the people who leave negative reviews seemingly brought the situation on themselves. With family many of the negative reviews are from people who pay for their policies monthly, miss a payment, and then have their policy cancelled.. which is somthing that would not happen to use as we always pay the full premium up front.

Frankly outside of extreme water damage, or fire, i dont see myself making a claim for stuff like a leaking roof, windows, etc. because it's all stuff i can fix myself, so really i'm concerned with break ins and major damage..

but yea.. anyone dealt with Family or Sonnet? any experiances?

[yray]

you get what you pay for

review in detail