Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[SSM_DC5]

Cars got bigger and bigger over the past 2 decades, but what changes have happened to parking stall sizes?

[whitev70r]

That sounds infuriating, a terrible parking spot would totally ruin the new home experience. Afterall, you avg having to get in and out once a day. So in these new condos, there isn't really any 'good' parking spots. You are either beside a pole or in the middle. I generally see spots in three's.

[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by quasi

You're not alone, my first mortgage was 5.7% on a 5 year term. I was young and just wanted steady payments, didn't even understand how high that rste was.

Same, for our first mortgage, my wife wanted to be able to sleep at night not having to worry about changing interest rates.

Now we know better.

[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by supafamous

Bummer on the spot. I also had a small car spot at my condo and for most years it was ok but just before I moved out the owner of the spot next to me got himself a FJ Cruiser and it was impossible for him to not cross over into my spot. He was generally good enough to park on the street but sometimes he could find anything and parked next to me.

Similar thing happened to my wife. 3 spots in a row and we get the middle spot that is the only small car spot. Next to us, the owner of a Mazda 3, who couldn't park properly to save his life, would always be on the line.
Didn't bother us too much as the owner of the spot on the other side never parked their car there till one day it started being used.
And that new car would always park close to the line because the other side was the fence and gate.

Every day I would hear the wife complain about how hard it was to park her CRV because of those 2 cars.

[donk.]

Infuriating parking in your new condo
L o L

God dam, life is just a disaster in Vancouver

[68style]

You pay fricking half-mill plus for something you expect to be able to at least park your car dude.

[GLOW]

unless you're in vancouver, then they expect you to skytrain, walk, or bike

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by 68style

You pay fricking half-mill plus for something you expect to be able to at least park your car dude.

Well, I paid 1.1m for a duplex 6 years ago and couldn't park the my car (a TSX) in the garage b/c of how small it was and how steep the ramp to get in with (I scraped). A combination of shitty builder and bad zoning regulations.

I rarely see people who live in duplexes park their cars in their garages - some are using it for storage - but most aren't able to get their cars in with the 8' wide doors and barely 9' wide insides (mine was just over 17' long).

[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by supafamous

Well, I paid 1.1m for a duplex 6 years ago and couldn't park the my car (a TSX) in the garage b/c of how small it was and how steep the ramp to get in with (I scraped). A combination of shitty builder and bad zoning regulations.

I rarely see people who live in duplexes park their cars in their garages - some are using it for storage - but most aren't able to get their cars in with the 8' wide doors and barely 9' wide insides (mine was just over 17' long).

We looked at a duplex and that was it. The garage was so narrow, the owners had styrofoam on the walls to prevent the doors from hitting the walls.

[westopher]

Almost every house I ever walk by that has the garage door open, the garage is just full on hoarder status junk storage. I get so mad, cause all I really want that I don’t have is a garage for all my tools and to be able to go dick around with my car whenever I feel like it.

[SumAznGuy]

Does anyone have a recommendation or any insight on getting a hoist installed?

My garage has a 20 ft ceiling, only down side is the garage door might be in the way.
I would like to install a hoist so that I can work on my shitvic.

[whitev70r]

Even in new townhomes, the garage is so narrow that passenger has to get out first, mirrors folded, and just enough for driver to get out. And then tandem parking!

[hud 91gt]

Originally Posted by SumAznGuy

Does anyone have a recommendation or any insight on getting a hoist installed?

My garage has a 20 ft ceiling, only down side is the garage door might be in the way.
I would like to install a hoist so that I can work on my shitvic.

Concrete thickness is a concern for the big
Lifts. If you want unlimited height, install a rolling garage door. Otherwise you’ll be stuck to a certain height.

[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by hud 91gt

Concrete thickness is a concern for the big
Lifts. If you want unlimited height, install a rolling garage door. Otherwise you’ll be stuck to a certain height.

Thanks.

I am trying to convince the wife that we need a new garage door.
Current door is 17 years old, doesn't look bad but it will need to be replaced soon.

How thick does the floor need to be for a hoist?

[ssjGoku69]

a 2 post bendpak will need thicker concrete with rebar
https://www.bendpak.com/car-lifts/co...-requirements/


The concrete thickness requirement and cost for a 4 post is less

[sdubfid]

Originally Posted by SumAznGuy

Does anyone have a recommendation or any insight on getting a hoist installed?

My garage has a 20 ft ceiling, only down side is the garage door might be in the way.
I would like to install a hoist so that I can work on my shitvic.

Look into liftmaster jackshaft mounted opener, then you can raise the door to the ceiling. Roll up doors are generally less insulated. My 2 post has 10” thick rebar concrete which is overkill. I would like to add a 4 post behind the 2 post so I can store a car against the ceiling and still have room underneath to drive to the 2 post. 4 post you can move around if you need to. For my uses I would actually prefer a 4 post 80% of the time. You can get Supports to raise the wheels if you need.

[Eff-1]

Speaking from the POV of a strata council, there is little if anything the council can do to help with changing a parking spot. Changing a spot involves a lot of paperwork and the spots are filed with the land title office. You'd have to get a notary involved, etc etc. The strata doesn't assign parking and the strata can't move spots around.

The developer is the best bet if they are willing to play ball at this early stage of move ins. If not, then your only other option is make an arrangement with another resident. You could rent a spot from someone else and then rent your spot to someone else and maybe break even each month.

[Euro7r]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

Speaking from the POV of a strata council, there is little if anything the council can do to help with changing a parking spot. Changing a spot involves a lot of paperwork and the spots are filed with the land title office. You'd have to get a notary involved, etc etc. The strata doesn't assign parking and the strata can't move spots around.

The developer is the best bet if they are willing to play ball at this early stage of move ins. If not, then your only other option is make an arrangement with another resident. You could rent a spot from someone else and then rent your spot to someone else and maybe break even each month.

I initially emailed strata manager yesterday and then read 6thgear post about strata can't do anything since it's the developer that owns the spots. Sent an email this morning to the developer to outline my reasons why I would like to request for a bigger spot, and even offered to pay administration fee (crossing fingers since we've only started taking possession a few days ago). Also not all units were sold, so I know there is luck out there to swap still (I'm hoping).

No resident would want my spot since it's "small" car spot LOL and it's at the lower level too.

[winson604]

When I moved into a newly built pre sale over 3 years ago the 2 things I was afraid of most were shitty ass neighbours/strata and a terrible parking spot because I knew neither would be in my control and could make living there a really shitty time.

Thankfully I lucked out on both but not everyone did in regards to parking. We had 60 parking spots (each unit assigned 1) and something like 5 visitor spots. I requested at the time of purchase to give me a good spot and whether that helped or not I don't know but I definitely got like the top 3 in spots. Also for sure it was randomly assigned because some of the other best spots were assigned to 1 bedrooms while some 3 bedroom people got shitty ass spots. The people who got assigned "small car" spots really got the shaft hard though. They were 2-3 spots in a row between pillars and like others mentioned there's practically no way everyone can fit their car in and get out if they had even a regular size car. So I joined Strata council from day 1 and the solution we came up with (won't work for all buildings) is our took away the visitor spots and unofficially assigned them to people who were affected.

So for example for spot #1-3 we told the person who had #2 that their new unofficial spot was Visitor parking #1. So now the 2 households that were assigned spot #1 and #3 get to park their 2 vehicles in essentially 3 parking spots. All the visitor spots btw were regular sized spots not small car spots. Based on the number of visitor spots we had and the number of people affected it worked out perfectly. Yea it's all unofficial but it has worked and everyone is happy.

[hud 91gt]

Does the developer own the spots? I thought they were limited common property? Aka the strata owns them. Problem is, you all do. Lol. Time to start making 269 Christmas presents along with reimbursing every unit for whatever the associated costs are. Long story short, it’s not going to happen unless you have something against regulation.

When negotiating a presale I negotiate my parking spots. Probably not able to do so in this rape and pillage type of market. Helps to have a connected realtor with the developer.

The only way I could see getting a spot changed were if there were any unsold unit, or unassigned spots. Or switching directly with another unit. All those options require expensive paperwork.

[whitev70r]

Whatever solution ... sounds like a huge PIA! In pre-sale, I think they should also have a map of parking spots and let you pick one as you purchase ... first come first serve.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by whitev70r

Whatever solution ... sounds like a huge PIA! In pre-sale, I think they should also have a map of parking spots and let you pick one as you purchase ... first come first serve.

Those spots go to the VIP pre-sale buyer who isn’t going to use the spot anyways

[Traum]

Originally Posted by supafamous

Well, I paid 1.1m for a duplex 6 years ago and couldn't park the my car (a TSX) in the garage b/c of how small it was and how steep the ramp to get in with (I scraped). A combination of shitty builder and bad zoning regulations.

I rarely see people who live in duplexes park their cars in their garages - some are using it for storage - but most aren't able to get their cars in with the 8' wide doors and barely 9' wide insides (mine was just over 17' long).

I am not really understanding this -- if it is a duplex unit, why make the garage so small? If I were the duplex builder, how can I sell a unit with a non-functional / barely functional parking spot? It isn't like I have to jam in all these parking spots into this available space...

1 functional parking spot -- in the garage for a duplex. You'll be paying at least $1.5M for that right now? And the freaking garage is non-functional...

[Euro7r]

Originally Posted by Traum

I am not really understanding this -- if it is a duplex unit, why make the garage so small? If I were the duplex builder, how can I sell a unit with a non-functional / barely functional parking spot? It isn't like I have to jam in all these parking spots into this available space...

1 functional parking spot -- in the garage for a duplex. You'll be paying at least $1.5M for that right now? And the freaking garage is non-functional...

If I'm spending this kinda money and don't even have a decent size functional garage where I can open both sides of my car doors, I rather live with my parents and be called a momma's boy (grown up ass adult) LOL. Rather be called that than fork out $1M+

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Traum

I am not really understanding this -- if it is a duplex unit, why make the garage so small? If I were the duplex builder, how can I sell a unit with a non-functional / barely functional parking spot? It isn't like I have to jam in all these parking spots into this available space...

1 functional parking spot -- in the garage for a duplex. You'll be paying at least $1.5M for that right now? And the freaking garage is non-functional...

Technically it's a triplex (2 in the front, coach house in the back) so it was a 41 ft wide lot that needed 3 garages. Minimum side yard on such a lot is 4' on each side so you're left with 33 ft for the garages. Best case scenario once you account for the walls (2 exterior 6-8" walls, 2 interior 4" walls) is 31 ft for parking but in this case it was a corner lot so the setback on the street facing side of the coach house needed to be larger by a few feet so now there's only 28' left on interior space so ~9'4" per garage.

But my particular case isn't unusual - every duplex built in the Norquay-Collingwood area (RT-11 zoning) is like this (I'm a snoop and go by every unit while it's under construction). Reasons why this is the case are:

- There's a minimum amount of surface area that has to be permeable on a lot (grass/gravel) so the bigger the garage the smaller the house can be depending on lot size.
- To allow for a legal suite you must have a parking spot (inside or outside). To fit that in on a 33' lot requires a garage that is no wider than ~21 ft on the outside meaning it's. It's not till you hit a 45' wide lot that the garage will be a reasonable width.

In my new neighbourhood (Central Park) this is also not uncommon even for detached houses - most of the ones I've walked by look like they have pretty small garages (they're attached and at the front) and I see a lot of minivans and 3 row SUVs parked outside. It's 8' doors and what I'd guess are 10' wide garages. My builder wasn't a loser so I'm lucky, mine is a 9' door with 12' inside the walls.

Zoning rules on garages are stupid - understandably a lot of people use it for storage but when it's used for cars they are horribly designed.

And yeah, I sold my duplex with the non-functional garage for over $1.5m so yeah