Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[Gerbs]

Originally Posted by donk.

^ just remember every time you wash yours, all that good stuff ends up on the people's balcony below

And when someone washes theirs above you....

Fortunately, this 270 sqft patio sits on top of the row of townhouses that extends the side of the high-rise. There's a bunch of excess rooftop space that I don't have access to. If I hopped my railing, I'd have 2M of space on the left and right side and 1,500 square foot stretching in front of my patio across all the town homes. So it doesn't leak on anyone.

Might go with those portable pressure washers, hope strata doesn't bitch about that.

[Gerbs]

Originally Posted by westopher

What kind of trash let’s their dog shit on their balcony? Jesus fuck.

My coworker had a rental unit where I went to the balcony and it was stinky and yellow stained for 75% of the balcony.

Later I realized their big golden retriever was pooping / peeing freely with no covers on the balcony.

Now that I think of it, that dog be stepping on all that and walking back inside lol

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by SkunkWorks

Same fucks who leave their bags of trash outside the garbage room.

Originally Posted by snowball

How about the fucks that leave their garbage bags in the elevator because they know the concierge won't just leave it in there.

i hated when one of my neighbours left their garbage bags in the corridor by the door, i assume they take it with them the next day but didn't want their unit to smell, but basically made the corridor smell like a garbage bin which was disgusting.

step out of the elevator or your unit an bag, smell of a ripe garbage bin hits you in the face. not cool man, not cool.

[westopher]

I’d pour it out in front of their door if that was a constant issue.

[winson604]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

You run straight seams like that.. really…

Also maybe the most egregious part of the whole thing is that floor grout line meeting wall..uhggggg

Few other points, - hope that crown is PVC because you’ve got steam venting right at it non stop

- disgusting transition where that shower enclosure crown meets the wall

- fixtures mounted overlapping grout lines..

- both the rainfall shower head as well as the controls on the right hand wall look to be off-centred..

Edit* also the placement of the small window and towel rack are pathetic in the design. You’ve got to open your shower door and reach around it for a towel? Even if the door opens inward still terribly akward

It’s just completely careless detail and zero pride taken in your work, which frankly is the hall mark of 90%+ of the EI builds I’ve seen.

Though the truth is the majority of people who look at it will be wowed of how new shiny and clean it all looks and say take my money now.

[Hondaracer]

Maybe it’s just me but I don’t see how anyone could look at that tile and not think somthing was off

[Teriyaki]

First thing that grabbed my attention was the comically small bathmat they chose to use. 4mil house. Cheapest $2.99 Ikea bathmat in existence. Sounds about right.

[mikemhg]

I had a friend that did the same thing, let his dog shit and piss on the balcony. Needless to stay I never went back to his place, fucking gross

We had an issue in our building too where people were throwing their dog's shit bags into the small garbage bin in the mail room, in the lobby, signs had to be erected to indicate not to fucking do that.

People are animals man.

[bcedhk]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

You run straight seams like that.. really…

Also maybe the most egregious part of the whole thing is that floor grout line meeting wall..uhggggg

Few other points, - hope that crown is PVC because you’ve got steam venting right at it non stop

- disgusting transition where that shower enclosure crown meets the wall

- fixtures mounted overlapping grout lines..

- both the rainfall shower head as well as the controls on the right hand wall look to be off-centred..

Edit* also the placement of the small window and towel rack are pathetic in the design. You’ve got to open your shower door and reach around it for a towel? Even if the door opens inward still terribly akward

It’s just completely careless detail and zero pride taken in your work, which frankly is the hall mark of 90%+ of the EI builds I’ve seen.

some poor soul will think that towel rail next to the bathtub is a hand rail.

[gilly]

Originally Posted by GLOW

i hated when one of my neighbours left their garbage bags in the corridor by the door, i assume they take it with them the next day but didn't want their unit to smell, but basically made the corridor smell like a garbage bin which was disgusting.

step out of the elevator or your unit an bag, smell of a ripe garbage bin hits you in the face. not cool man, not cool.

Had a neighbour that did that before too. The corridor was heated so it smelled so bad the moment the elevator doors opened.

My wife couldn't handle it anymore and wrote a note on the door. They never did it again.

I heard that it is quite popular in parts of asia to leave garbage/composte outside their front door in apartments.

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by donk.

^ just remember every time you wash yours, all that good stuff ends up on the people's balcony below

And when someone washes theirs above you....

I'm surprised every strata I've lived in, does not have a scheduled yearly or bi yearly "balcony clean day".
Preferably starting at the top floor, working each floor down day by day. I'm probably missing something for good reason

Cost.

And the nightmare of gaining access to each suite, asking people to remove items off their balcony, and the liability if personal items are damaged.

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by Gerbs

I really wanted those big balconies on capital hill for hosting and chilling in the summer. But I realized now that it's useful for maybe 3 to 4 months out of the year. How would you guys keep the patio clean and furniture non rusted?

Currently my place has a 270ish sqft balcony that sits on top of townhouses. But the floors get mossy in a single season, my furniture cover is nasty from the water sitting and the wind almost blows it away every now and then.

In addition, I have to strategically cover the furniture so that it doesn't pool liquid into little pockets otherwise it'll leak through the cover over time. Also moved all the pads / seat covers to storage.

Some of this stuff just comes with the nature of small balconies, specially ones that are higher up with more exposure to the elements.

Replacing patio furniture and covers more often is a cost that comes with a condo balcony imo. Homeowners are lucky sometimes they can move patio furniture to a more sheltered area during the winter season, but condo owners don't have that luxury typically. There is less overhang, more exposure, and no other storage space, so what you are experiencing is pretty typical I think.

As for cleaning the balcony without spilling below or getting the strata council mad, we found a good technique. We bought a bunch of old, large bath towels from the salvation army thrift store. We roll them up and stuff them under the balcony to absorb any water.

Then we use one of those air-pressure garden sprayers to wet the balcony and then we scrub with Mr Clean. Then use the sprayer again to rinse. The sprayer has a fair bit of pressure to loosen any stuck grime. And the towels absorb most if not all water. https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/c...p.0593930.html

You can also attempt to do this on a rainy day. The rain water saves a step of having to pre-rinse, and it's less likely the person below will notice any drippings.

That being said, I am on council and I get a lot of complaints from people upset the person above dripped dirty water on to their balcony and they usually provide photos or video that make it hard for us not to issue fines to the person above, so just keep that in mind.

[Teriyaki]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

Some of this stuff just comes with the nature of small balconies, specially ones that are higher up with more exposure to the elements.

Replacing patio furniture and covers more often is a cost that comes with a condo balcony imo. Homeowners are lucky sometimes they can move patio furniture to a more sheltered area during the winter season, but condo owners don't have that luxury typically. There is less overhang, more exposure, and no other storage space, so what you are experiencing is pretty typical I think.

As for cleaning the balcony without spilling below or getting the strata council mad, we found a good technique. We bought a bunch of old, large bath towels from the salvation army thrift store. We roll them up and stuff them under the balcony to absorb any water.

Then we use one of those air-pressure garden sprayers to wet the balcony and then we scrub with Mr Clean. Then use the sprayer again to rinse. The sprayer has a fair bit of pressure to loosen any stuck grime. And the towels absorb most if not all water. https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/c...p.0593930.html

You can also attempt to do this on a rainy day. The rain water saves a step of having to pre-rinse, and it's less likely the person below will notice any drippings.

That being said, I am on council and I get a lot of complaints from people upset the person above dripped dirty water on to their balcony and they usually provide photos or video that make it hard for us not to issue fines to the person above, so just keep that in mind.

Great tip. Sounds like washing patio furniture is best saved for when its pouring outside.

[Gerbs]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

You can also attempt to do this on a rainy day. The rain water saves a step of having to pre-rinse, and it's less likely the person below will notice any drippings.

That being said, I am on council and I get a lot of complaints from people upset the person above dripped dirty water on to their balcony and they usually provide photos or video that make it hard for us not to issue fines to the person above, so just keep that in mind.

280026435_539430397845092_2162079636368086456_n by , on Flickr

The balcony is like this, there's no balconies below me. Can I just go ham and pressure wash. It's like 12 x 6 tiles. Each tile also started having some leaves clog in between the cracks if I didn't sweep them in time. I also wonder how I clean the other side of the balcony / glass.

It's only 20% covered. Fortunately that means at least half my patio furniture can chill in a corner and be somewhat fine.

[donk.]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

Cost.

And the nightmare of gaining access to each suite, asking people to remove items off their balcony, and the liability if personal items are damaged.

I meant organized by strata, but it's each owners choice if they want to DIY clean

I know some buildings have those window cleaning guys do it with a pressure washer, roped to the side of the building, I think this is only in higher end towers tho

[PeanutButter]

You know what's really annoying. Selling realtors who don't include a floor plan for their listing. I just found out that a floor plan is like a $100 for places under 1500 sq/ft. Like WTF are these realtors doing. They're so fucking cheap, they won't spend $100-200 on a floor plan?

For some odd reason, I thought floor plans were like $1,000 or something, but I just found out they're only a couple hundred dollars.

[Badhobz]

^realtors…. If it wasn’t for their errors and omissions insurance I’m not even sure what value they add to transaction. The house sells itself. So does the neighbourhood. What do they actually do here….

[underscore]

The weird thing is I'll see a floor plan all the time for cheaper places, but not for high end places.

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

^realtors…. If it wasn’t for their errors and omissions insurance I’m not even sure what value they add to transaction. The house sells itself. So does the neighbourhood. What do they actually do here….

When I was house hunting back in 2020, I often wondered this myself. Given that I was not a local or considered a native of the GTA, having a good realtor helped us a lot. Having said that, we had to interview half a dozen until we found the right fit.

One of our criteria was someone who specialized in a particular area and was willing to put in the time and commitment to show us the good, the bad, and the ugly. That, and someone who was willing to prepare market data to share with us so we could make an informed decision, including understanding municipal by-laws etc. Some firms and agents are better than others.

Often times, yes, a neighbourhood will sell itself, and I fully agree. But there are times where there is more than what meets the eye and we have found (in our situation any way) that some things are not as obvious as they appear to be and our realtor called it out for us. In one extreme example, we found what we had considered our "dream home" until we were told about the level of crime and sky high insurance rates in the area. Thank goodness for that, or else we would have been paying through the nose for annual insurance. There is value in a real estate agents, but I feel that it depends on what you are after at the end of the day.

[westopher]

Like any job, there are great realtors who bust their asses and are well worth their salary for what the accomplish for their clients, and there’s the other 90% that loaf along that make their money because of who they know, who their parents are and their ability to bullshit and take advantage of people that don’t know any better.

[Badhobz]

Very true. We dealt with our shares of realtors and it seems most of them are utterly useless with a few that provided some useful information but ultimately just wanted us to buy buy buy or sell sell sell. A lot of scare tactics was used and ultimately none of them acted as a fiduciary. Not saying they need to be, but it’s clear that their interest aren’t necessarily aligned to the party they are representing. Same in Germany, thank god we had local friends tell us what’s what and where to buy.

[winson604]

I'll never forget going to an open house within my complex and the listing agent was wearing sweat pants lol

[sonick]

Lol at the nitpicking on some of the issues in recent listings reminds me of the old 2/10 would not bang sharp knees memes, except grown up:

[westopher]

Yeah except to bang it’s 3.7 million dollars. I’d expect pretty fucking nice everything, including knees at that price.

[Badhobz]

i told the wife, if we are going to buy/sell a new place just pick the hottest realtor for me to oggle at. at least i get something for my money.