Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[DA9ve]

For those with tv's above fireplace, get a full motion pull down mount. It'll do wonders and get it closer to eye level depending on the height of your fireplace.

[Alpine]

Originally Posted by roastpuff

There's just so much conflicting information out there it's hard to make a decision, haha.

As I said above, we ended up going with full Bosch. But I wanted a Thermador so bad... couldn't justify spending $13k after tax on a dual-fuel 36" Thermador (with free dishwasher) when the whole Bosch kit cost $9.5k after tax.

Yup, and it doesn't help that people who are more likely to report bad experiences online than good experiences lol. All brands have a ton of horror stories and it feels like a crapshoot so we just went with what we wanted lol. Hopefully these appliances work out for the both of us!

[vitaminG]

Originally Posted by DA9ve

For those with tv's above fireplace, get a full motion pull down mount. It'll do wonders and get it closer to eye level depending on the height of your fireplace.

I got the one from prime cables. Works great pulls out and down away from fireplace. Has a gas shock so it's easy to rretract when needed. It has a temp sensor but I've never noticed my tv get too hot with the gas fireplace on. It's far enough away

Having a place for a decent size tv was a deal breaker when I bought. If my buddy hadn't told me about fireplace mounts I would've never bought my place.

[Hakkaboy]

Originally Posted by roastpuff

Yep! I got it through Perkopolis, which had pretty great prices compared to local appliance stores. The only thing I wished Bosch corporate would do is to be able to add extended warranty for peace of mind.

Awesome! Yeah 30% off is tough to beat, hopefully that will cover any repairs you may need in the future.

When you do receive it, can you update and let me know if they deliver the appliances inside your place? Their website describes that they do "threshold" type deliveries, which may mean they only drop it off at the nearest dry spot outside.

Unfortunately our kitchen is on the second floor of my townhouse, and the last thing I want to do is try and bring up appliances ourselves, even with an appliance dolly. I'd rather use a professional that may remove the doors or something to make it fit up our narrow stairs

[roastpuff]

Originally Posted by Hakkaboy

Awesome! Yeah 30% off is tough to beat, hopefully that will cover any repairs you may need in the future.

When you do receive it, can you update and let me know if they deliver the appliances inside your place? Their website describes that they do "threshold" type deliveries, which may mean they only drop it off at the nearest dry spot outside.

Unfortunately our kitchen is on the second floor of my townhouse, and the last thing I want to do is try and bring up appliances ourselves, even with an appliance dolly. I'd rather use a professional that may remove the doors or something to make it fit up our narrow stairs

I'll let you know but the delivery is scheduled for June 28 - so that's a ways away. The fridge is backordered...

[G0rilla]

Originally Posted by vitaminG

I got the one from prime cables. Works great pulls out and down away from fireplace. Has a gas shock so it's easy to rretract when needed. It has a temp sensor but I've never noticed my tv get too hot with the gas fireplace on. It's far enough away

Having a place for a decent size tv was a deal breaker when I bought. If my buddy hadn't told me about fireplace mounts I would've never bought my place.

Can you post a link what you mean?

[vitaminG]

This the one I have

https://www.primecables.ca/p-364015-...cket-monoprice

[BlackV62K2]

Why home designers think putting a fireplace and the TV spot at the location is a good idea is beyond me.

[sonick]

Originally Posted by BlackV62K2

Why home designers think putting a fireplace and the TV spot at the location is a good idea is beyond me.

Saves space and I think the idea of it sounds/looks good in practice but is shitty in reality.

Also has very 2000's McMansion interior design vibes to it.

[underscore]

I'd rather not even have a fireplace in the living room. They cost a bunch of money, they take up a bunch of space and nobody ever uses them. As I learned when I tried to get mine fixed, they have basically no long-term support and the companies that work on them will only use the official parts for that model. So if something breaks and it's discontinued, you have to buy a whole new fireplace and rip your wall apart.

[Ch28]

Originally Posted by BlackV62K2

Why home designers think putting a fireplace and the TV spot at the location is a good idea is beyond me.

It's to give off a pseudo luxury feel. I mean it works in theory but what if you have a home theatre system or tv box or video game console?

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by BlackV62K2

Why home designers think putting a fireplace and the TV spot at the location is a good idea is beyond me.

same designers who thought California-style stucco would be great for our climate

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by vitaminG

This the one I have

https://www.primecables.ca/p-364015-...cket-monoprice

Kinda cool but pretty ugly to see the mount. But trade off for that eye strain I guess

[Liquid_o2]

We turned our backs on our fireplace literally. Put the sofa in the middle of the room facing our entertainment unit / TV / bookcase. The fireplace has a bunch of plants on top and beside it - we get compliments all the time. I guess the space is sort of wasted, but our TV is at proper eye level and we get to have a proper entertainment unit that we store a bunch of stuff in.

[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by sonick

Saves space and I think the idea of it sounds/looks good in practice but is shitty in reality.

Also has very 2000's McMansion interior design vibes to it.

I remember one of the PNE prize homes from a few years ago that had a fire place in every room. I think we counted 14 fire places in that house.

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Kinda cool but pretty ugly to see the mount. But trade off for that eye strain I guess

Wonder why the mount wasn't installed lower. Would be less of an eye sore.
That being said, our current TH has an outlet and the tv plug mounted high up on the wall for the TV to be mounted on the wall and angled down.

[cafe22]

Originally Posted by SumAznGuy

Wonder why the mount wasn't installed lower. Would be less of an eye sore.
That being said, our current TH has an outlet and the tv plug mounted high up on the wall for the TV to be mounted on the wall and angled down.

Probably to give room for the owner to place items on top of the fireplace mantel

[DA9ve]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Kinda cool but pretty ugly to see the mount. But trade off for that eye strain I guess

i agree but the secret is to get a 75"+ TV

[vitaminG]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Kinda cool but pretty ugly to see the mount. But trade off for that eye strain I guess

A 55" would easily cover the whole mount when the tv is retracted, you wouldn't see it at all. You can adjust where you mount the bracket to the wall and where the tv sits on the mount as well, it's pretty versatile.

[SSM_DC5]

Looks like whoever installed the mount put it equal distance between mantel and ceiling without thinking of the final position when it's pulled down.

[westopher]

Not Vancouver, but a good read. It's not just those millennial CEOs driving prices lol.
Copy and paste of the graphs and photos didn't work but you can check them in the link.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-you-...Q-RyW7kh81ZuRs

A bidding war broke out this winter at a new subdivision north of Houston. But the prize this time was the entire subdivision, not just a single suburban house, illustrating the rise of big investors as a potent new force in the U.S. housing market.

D.R. Horton Inc. DHI 1.42% built 124 houses in Conroe, Texas, rented them out and then put the whole community, Amber Pines at Fosters Ridge, on the block. A Who’s Who of investors and home-rental firms flocked to the December sale. The winning $32 million bid came from an online property-investing platform, Fundrise LLC, which manages more than $1 billion on behalf of about 150,000 individuals.

The country’s most prolific home builder booked roughly twice what it typically makes selling houses to the middle class—an encouraging debut in the business of selling entire neighborhoods to investors.

Total value of U.S. rental homes
Source: John Burns Real Estate Consulting
.trillion
RECESSION
2006
'10
'15
'20
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
$4.5
“We certainly wouldn’t expect every single-family community we sell to sell at a 50% gross margin,” the builder’s finance chief, Bill Wheat, said at a recent investor conference.

From individuals with smartphones and a few thousand dollars to pensions and private-equity firms with billions, yield-chasing investors are snapping up single-family houses to rent out or flip. They are competing for houses with ordinary Americans, who are armed with the cheapest mortgage financing ever, and driving up home prices.

“You now have permanent capital competing with a young couple trying to buy a house,” said John Burns, whose eponymous real estate consulting firm estimates that in many of the nation’s top markets, roughly one in every five houses sold is bought by someone who never moves in. “That’s going to make U.S. housing permanently more expensive,” he said.

The consulting firm found Houston to be a favorite haunt of investors who have lately accounted for 24% of home purchases there. Investors’ slice of the housing market grows—as it does in other boomtowns, such as Miami, Phoenix and Las Vegas—among properties priced below $300,000 and in decent school districts.

“Limited housing supply, low rates, a global reach for yield, and what we’re calling the institutionalization of real-estate investors has set the stage for another speculative investor-driven home price bubble,” the firm concluded.


A bidding war broke out for the Amber Pines 124-unit rental-housing community built by D.R. Horton.
The bubble has room to grow before it bursts, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting. But it is inflating fast. The firm expects home prices to climb 12% this year—on top of last year’s 11% rise—and increase at least 6% in 2022, a period of appreciation reminiscent of 2004 and 2005.

That boom was different, fueled by loose lending that enabled individuals to speculate on home prices by racking up mortgages they could repay only if home prices kept climbing. The money party ended a few years later when home prices stopped rising. The ensuing crash wiped out $11 trillion in U.S. household wealth and brought the global financial system to the brink of collapse.

U.S. home prices, year-over-year growth
Source: John Burns Real Estate Consulting
Note: Burns Home Value Index
%
RECESSION
1982
'90
2000
'10
'20
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
Financiers stepped in starting in 2011 and gobbled up foreclosed homes at steep discounts. They dispatched buyers to courthouse auctions with duffel bags of cash. Smartphones and tablet computers—new then—enabled them to orchestrate the land grab and manage tens of thousands of far-flung properties thereafter.

They dominated the market for a few years, accounting for about a third of sales in some markets and setting a floor for falling prices. There wasn’t much competition. Stung by losses, banks made it harder for regular home buyers to get a mortgage. Millions of Americans were underwater, owing more on their mortgages than their homes were worth, and unable to move.

Home-rental firms, including Invitation Homes Inc. INVH 1.54% and American Homes 4 Rent, AMH 1.14% thrived. Renting suburban homes proved so profitable that landlords hit the open market and added properties at full price once foreclosures dried up. Many now build houses explicitly to rent.


The coronavirus pandemic sparked a race for home-office space and yards. Occupancy rates reached records and rents are rising with home prices. The ecosystem of companies that service, finance and mimic the mega landlords is booming.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

Have you encountered investors in the housing market? Join the conversation below.

Burns counted more than 200 companies and investment firms in the house hunt: computer-assisted flipper Opendoor Technologies Inc., OPEN -5.67% money managers including J.P. Morgan Asset Management and BlackRock Inc., BLK 0.87% platforms such as Fundrise and Roofstock that buy and arrange for the management of rentals on behalf of individuals and builder LGI Homes Inc., LGIH 2.94% which now reports wholesale home sales to bulk buyers in its quarterly results.

Spring brought a fresh stampede of buyers.

Related Video
How Mortgages Work in the U.S.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

UP NEXT


0:00 / 2:441:13
How Mortgages Work in the U.S.
How Mortgages Work in the U.S.
The U.S. mortgage market involves some key players that play important roles in the process. Here’s what investors should understand and what risks they take when investing in the industry. WSJ’s Telis Demos explains. Photo: Getty Images/Martin Barraud
PCCP LLC, which typically invests in apartment buildings and office towers, said it bought rental-home communities in the Southeast, the start of a $1 billion pact with Calstrs, California’s $286.9 billion teachers’ retirement system.

Home builder Lennar Corp. LEN.B 0.89% announced a rental venture with investment firms including Centerbridge Partners LP and Allianz ALIZY -0.40% SE to which it and potentially other builders will supply more than $4 billion of houses.

Growth rate since summer 2005
Source: John Burns Real Estate Consulting
%
RECESSION
Single-family rental homes
All U.S. housing units
2006
'10
'15
'20
0
15
30
45
Madison Realty Capital moved into rentals with clients that used to focus on developing apartment buildings and owner-occupied subdivisions. On Thursday, it closed a $110 million loan on a project in Los Angeles, where 220 of the nearly 700 home sites are being sold to investors. The original plans, derailed by the housing crash, didn’t envision any rentals.

“A lot of things that would have been for-sale housing are going to be for-rent housing,” said Josh Zegen, Madison’s managing principal.


Bruce McNeilage began building houses to rent out around Nashville, Tenn., in 2005. After the housing crash, his Kinloch Partners expanded into other Southeastern markets, flipping occupied rentals to bigger investors.

Kinloch was financed mostly by community banks in the cities where it rehabbed foreclosures and built rentals. These days Kinloch can borrow far more from Walker & Dunlop Inc., WD 1.52% a commercial real estate lender forging into suburban rentals. Mr. McNeilage’s problem is that others are bidding up houses and lots.

“I am boxed out,” he said. “There’s too many people chasing things and they’re willing to overpay. It’s silly money right now.”

[trd2343]

How do you guys go about looking for an agent (for buying a property)? I had an unpleasant experience with the one that was referred to me by a friend. I found out the hard way that at the end of the day, I'm the only person I can trust, so I'm not sure how I should look for a new one. Or do you guys meet them always through other people's referral?

[Hondaracer]

Use a reputable one that sells homes in the area you’re looking to buy?

[trd2343]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Use a reputable one that sells homes in the area you’re looking to buy?

How would you define reputable? I never had any luck when I'm using online reviews to gauge how reputable the person is (plumber, repair technician), they always turn out to be duds.

What would you look for in a reputable agent?

[Infiniti]

Originally Posted by trd2343

How would you define reputable? I never had any luck when I'm using online reviews to gauge how reputable the person is (plumber, repair technician), they always turn out to be duds.

What would you look for in a reputable agent?

Friends of mine literally carried out interviews. Arguably the biggest investment of your life, why rush into bed with someone.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by trd2343

How would you define reputable? I never had any luck when I'm using online reviews to gauge how reputable the person is (plumber, repair technician), they always turn out to be duds.

What would you look for in a reputable agent?

I’ve only ever needed one as the selling agent. And in that position you have all the power so people are basically begging you to go with them in most cases.

When I was thinking of selling most recently I interviewed 5 different realtors and had them come through my property. It gave me a great overview on people’s personalities, how they approached the sale etc.

Obviously you have much more leverage in this situation however, if a realtor isn’t willing to simply meet with you to discuss your needs as a buyer, I’d say that’s enough to cut them out.

To me communication is probably the biggest thing. Some realtors are huge, well known, “expensive” but they will reply to emails and calls almost instantly. Where as some garbage realtors who should be begging for your business couldn’t be bothered to return a text