Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[Great68]

Originally Posted by twitchyzero

no one likes a major surprise like that though
it's like spending a good coin on a collector car then you find rust bumper to bumper underneath the carpet or something was fixed improperly...how much disruption and headache will that new fix cause you?

That's not a great analogy because that amount of problem with a car amounts to a much, much larger portion of it's overall value.

Yes I understand it's an inconvenience to deal with, so you have to go in with a financial contingency and the expectation that you will find something that needs fixing and then be happy if you don't.

I think home inspections are a bit of a racket anyways. If you have any basic knowledge of home construction you pick out 99% of issues yourself, if you read their contracts you'll see that they try really hard to absolve themselves of any liability whatsoever should they miss something. I used one when I bought my house, I don't know why, he didn't tell me anything I couldn't tell for myself. What a waste of $500.

[twitchyzero]

because like a vehicle ppi you can use it as ammo to have a bit of price reduction/condition to fix before closing, should pay for itself easily

in a more balanced market of course, not when you have absurd bidding wars

[Hakkaboy]

Originally Posted by Great68

That's not a great analogy because that amount of problem with a car amounts to a much, much larger portion of it's overall value.

Yes I understand it's an inconvenience to deal with, so you have to go in with a financial contingency and the expectation that you will find something that needs fixing and then be happy if you don't.

I think home inspections are a bit of a racket anyways. If you have any basic knowledge of home construction you pick out 99% of issues yourself, if you read their contracts you'll see that they try really hard to absolve themselves of any liability whatsoever should they miss something. I used one when I bought my house, I don't know why, he didn't tell me anything I couldn't tell for myself. What a waste of $500.

By that logic, what's $500 relative to the total cost of your house?

It's in the event that he/she may catch something you didn't, and gives you a chance to back out or negotiate a better price.

My home inspection netted me 6 grand back on my TH.

[westopher]

The point is people aren’t letting people put subjects, like home inspections. It’s not about the $500, it’s that you need to come in 25% over asking and be ready to make the deal that day to have a chance.

[Ch28]

The ridiculous part is you could be coming in with 25% over asking with no subjects and still be rejected

[twitchyzero]

what's the latest word on the street about strata/insurance this year? is it still out of control?

[Special K]

Originally Posted by stylez2k4

I managed to get a $750k loan on a $105k income, presumed $1200 monthly rental income, and 25% down-payment.

Before 2018 or after when those new lending rules come into effect?

[Special K]

Originally Posted by Ch28

The ridiculous part is you could be coming in with 25% over asking with no subjects and still be rejected

If I was the seller, a no subject offer would be most attractive. The seller probably don’t know (and don’t want to know) what’s wrong with their house.

For sure, there are people who will take the chance to squeeze $50k-100k more on a $1.5-$2M house and go with subject offers.

[Tapioca]

Quite a few people here live in the Tri-Cities. This recent sale caught my eye:

2604 Harrier Drive
R2541943
List: $1,298,000
Sold: $1,560,000

I guess someone really wanted a flat lot within walking distance of the Skytrain and Port Moody...

[donk.]

Originally Posted by Special K

Before 2018 or after when those new lending rules come into effect?

Would not matter
100k income = 450k loan by bank, 550k loan by private
Every 1000$/mo rental income gets you an extra 200k
Add in a downpayment, this and that, stretch those numbers up/down by 20%

[soymilk]

Originally Posted by donk.

Would not matter
100k income = 450k loan by bank, 550k loan by private
Every 1000$/mo rental income gets you an extra 200k
Add in a downpayment, this and that, stretch those numbers up/down by 20%

I can attest to this. Was approved for a $1M mortgage on a $70K income and $5K/mo of rental income, however only needed $800K. Credit union lender.

[rb]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

Quite a few people here live in the Tri-Cities. This recent sale caught my eye:

2604 Harrier Drive
R2541943
List: $1,298,000
Sold: $1,560,000

I guess someone really wanted a flat lot within walking distance of the Skytrain and Port Moody...

WTF.... I grew up with kids that lived in those houses on Harrier and Raven. They're pretty much cookie cutter 80's homes with shit build quality.

[stylez2k4]

Originally Posted by Special K

Before 2018 or after when those new lending rules come into effect?

This was Q3/Q4 of 2020 through BlueShore.

[eclipseman]

For those questioning no-subject-offers and purchasing without an inspection, you can always do an inspection before presentation of offers. Well worth the $4-500 and peace of mind going into any negotiations, especially in this climate.

Yes it will cost you, especially if you don't win the bid, but as someone else mentioned, it's a drop in the bucket when you're spending $1m+.

[JDMDreams]

^^ would the sellers even let you though? Considering there's probably other offers on the table in this market

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by twitchyzero

no one likes a major surprise like that though
it's like spending a good coin on a collector car then you find rust bumper to bumper underneath the carpet or something was fixed improperly...how much disruption and headache will that new fix cause you?

are 7-figure loans actually pretty common now? i'd figure it's mostly equity/cash if you're closing 2.3M homes fending off 12 other bidders

7 Figure loans are common. I'd say most houses being sold in Vancouver and Burnaby are going to carry a 7 figure loan.

Originally Posted by Traum

A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation (guess?) would suggest that to qualify for a 7-figure loan, you'd need an annual household income of $250k, and it is still going to be a 30 year debt. If the bank is crazy enough to lend you $2M, you'd need at least a $500k combined income -- probably more -- to qualify for it.

If you are a power earner, would you really do that? I am probably thinking small here with my decidedly small time thinking, but I wouldn't be comfortable taking on a debt that large...

Real talk no BS cause we are in the market:
200k household income
500k equity in our town home
We are good for a 1.3m loan
$4500/month 30 years or ~5200-5300/m 25 years

At 30 years it gives us ammo to buy a 1.8m house and can own the whole damn thing and not rent it out, with a tight budget.
We can rent out the basement or whatever it is and live a comfortable life and pay down extra

Other things we have on our plate:
$1100/m daycare
$750/m car payment on the family car
Potentially paying out the M3 or selling or transferring it. Looking like I'll just buy out the lease as the bank cares about the payment and not the car.

It leaves us with around 8-10k yearly surplus after some semi-clear budgeting.

Originally Posted by Special K

If I was the seller, a no subject offer would be most attractive. The seller probably don’t know (and don’t want to know) what’s wrong with their house.

For sure, there are people who will take the chance to squeeze $50k-100k more on a $1.5-$2M house and go with subject offers.

Talked to some friends who sold recently. They went no subject with a lower offer to guarantee a sale. The different was something like 15k on a 700k townhouse.

[eclipseman]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

^^ would the sellers even let you though? Considering there's probably other offers on the table in this market

Yes, I did this on a house recently prior to the seller's realtor presenting all the offers. According to my realtor, this typically gives you a leg up on competition as the sellers will see you as an extremely serious buyer. Obviously, your offer has to be competitive as well.

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by eclipseman

For those questioning no-subject-offers and purchasing without an inspection, you can always do an inspection before presentation of offers. Well worth the $4-500 and peace of mind going into any negotiations, especially in this climate.

Yes it will cost you, especially if you don't win the bid, but as someone else mentioned, it's a drop in the bucket when you're spending $1m+.

Originally Posted by eclipseman

Yes, I did this on a house recently prior to the seller's realtor presenting all the offers. According to my realtor, this typically gives you a leg up on competition as the sellers will see you as an extremely serious buyer. Obviously, your offer has to be competitive as well.

Alternative to this would be to bring a friend who's either an inspector, a contractor, or just knows their way around houses to look at things when you are at a showing. Even a cursory glance can reveal a lot of things because they know what to look for and what needs to be done.

[rb]

Trying to understand things... Assuming that not all of these crazy deals are all-cash, doesn't the bank still have the final say of whether to approve of the mortgage or not for the final sale price? It may not be an inspection subject or a subject to financing but I've seen instances where the bank has to assess or inspect the place before releasing the funds.

[carsncars]

Originally Posted by rb

Trying to understand things... Assuming that not all of these crazy deals are all-cash, doesn't the bank still have the final say of whether to approve of the mortgage or not for the final sale price? It may not be an inspection subject or a subject to financing but I've seen instances where the bank has to assess or inspect the place before releasing the funds.

Yes, absolutely. At minimum the bank will want an appraisal on the property (which to be honest isn’t much - just checks that the agreed price isn’t incredibly whacko).

But as a buyer you can go no-subjects and take on that risk yourself. The risk is that you end up with a signed purchase contract but no bank willing to front the mortgage... so you could lose your deposit backing out of the deal if you can’t find another lender. I don’t know if people are taking this risk but my realtor was very careful to explain it to me - not that I would’ve done a no subject offer anyways.

[Sw0op]

Originally Posted by rb

Trying to understand things... Assuming that not all of these crazy deals are all-cash, doesn't the bank still have the final say of whether to approve of the mortgage or not for the final sale price? It may not be an inspection subject or a subject to financing but I've seen instances where the bank has to assess or inspect the place before releasing the funds.

yes but if you go for a pre-approval you can get a "rough" amount on what you can get..the final say will depend on whether or not they think the house is worth the amount youre taking out in mortgage and also along with your qualifications but generally you should be okay in a rising market unless you're grossssly overpaying and/or youre leveraged up the ying yang

common misconception ppl have is the preapproval though...it doesnt mean that you're guaranteed that amount

[westopher]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

7 Figure loans are common. I'd say most houses being sold in Vancouver and Burnaby are going to carry a 7 figure loan.



Real talk no BS cause we are in the market:
200k household income
500k equity in our town home
We are good for a 1.3m loan
$4500/month 30 years or ~5200-5300/m 25 years

At 30 years it gives us ammo to buy a 1.8m house and can own the whole damn thing and not rent it out, with a tight budget.
We can rent out the basement or whatever it is and live a comfortable life and pay down extra

Other things we have on our plate:
$1100/m daycare
$750/m car payment on the family car
Potentially paying out the M3 or selling or transferring it. Looking like I'll just buy out the lease as the bank cares about the payment and not the car.

It leaves us with around 8-10k yearly surplus after some semi-clear budgeting.



Talked to some friends who sold recently. They went no subject with a lower offer to guarantee a sale. The different was something like 15k on a 700k townhouse.

Do you have more savings you’d put into the down payment? That just seems very tight to me.
We have about 300k equity in our condo. Our household income is just shy of 200k. No day care, no debt, no kids. We are trying to save quite aggressively as this income is pretty new to us, and money was tight before.
I couldn’t imagine taking on more than a 5-600k mortgage, but I’m pretty risk averse, also we like to take lots of trips over the course of a year, albeit small ones. Budgeting tightly like that is really scary to me, as things pop up, people move jobs, need time off for a multitude of reasons. I understand peoples priorities are different however, but I just can’t make those sacrifices for an address without a unit number in front of it. If we worked from home, or could I think my thinking would be different.

[quasi]

Originally Posted by westopher

Do you have more savings you’d put into the down payment? That just seems very tight to me.
We have about 300k equity in our condo. Our household income is just shy of 200k. No day care, no debt, no kids. We are trying to save quite aggressively as this income is pretty new to us, and money was tight before.
I couldn’t imagine taking on more than a 5-600k mortgage, but I’m pretty risk averse, also we like to take lots of trips over the course of a year, albeit small ones. Budgeting tightly like that is really scary to me, as things pop up, people move jobs, need time off for a multitude of reasons. I understand peoples priorities are different however, but I just can’t make those sacrifices for an address without a unit number in front of it. If we worked from home, or could I think my thinking would be different.

I feel I'm in the same boat, income we're probably even a little under you as a family. We don't have any debt other than my mortgage and I don't think I'd want to take more then 500-600K either.

[is350]

Originally Posted by westopher

Do you have more savings you’d put into the down payment? That just seems very tight to me.
We have about 300k equity in our condo. Our household income is just shy of 200k. No day care, no debt, no kids. We are trying to save quite aggressively as this income is pretty new to us, and money was tight before.
I couldn’t imagine taking on more than a 5-600k mortgage, but I’m pretty risk averse, also we like to take lots of trips over the course of a year, albeit small ones. Budgeting tightly like that is really scary to me, as things pop up, people move jobs, need time off for a multitude of reasons. I understand peoples priorities are different however, but I just can’t make those sacrifices for an address without a unit number in front of it. If we worked from home, or could I think my thinking would be different.

Ya it's tight if you take that damn multiple vacations per year or use a substantial amount for fun per year.

You can't be fucking greedy... I want the best damn location, I want a single house, I want to have fun, I don't want to have kids, and I want to live in Vancouver, of course it's a tight budget if you want to have everything...

[twitchyzero]

not a knock at all on the dinks but if you did get a sfh what would you use all the rooms for?