Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[SSM_DC5]

$2500 is a small price to pay in an example like the following.

You buy a place with no subjects. Within 3 days you get a home inspection done. In the home inspection, the inspector finds poly B, throughout the whole house. You decide to walk and lose $2500 because trying to insure a place with poly b isn't easy (does any company even insure a place with poly b?).

In the end, it cost you $2500 to learn what poly b looks like because you won't be making that $2500 mistake again.

[hud 91gt]

I have zero issues insuring out townhouse with poly B. With a fairly premium plan through my work, with excessive coverage we pay around $800 a year, which has gone up 30% over the last few years.

[Hondaracer]

Honestly inspections are so overrated imo.

So you’ve got Poly B, didn’t someone here replace all theirs? tapioca?

Spend 50k to replace your Poly B. That’s a deal breaker on the house you want?

The vast majority of inspectors have never built a home, they’ve never even worked in the industry imo. There are inspectors out there who literally hang their hat on finding enough “things” that you walk away from a sale. They aren’t trying to work in your best interest persay, they are trying to show you that paying $500 for a 2 hour inspection was actually worth it. Then someone comes a long right after you and says lol, big deal, this house is mine.

I think people think of a house as somthing wayyyy more complicated than it is. New builds are kinda a bit more complicated with all the stupid “green” regulations but take my place for example, it was built in 1911. The exterior is stucco - shiplap - air - lathe - drywall

It’s been here for 110 years, it’s still here lol. Detached home ownership comes with risk and costs. If you can’t stomach a 50-100k bill that may arise, I think it’s probably too much to take on imo. I know that’s saying a lot but it’s just that, risk, in owning a detached home. Maybe the inspector gives you that’s heads up but I guarantee you someone will come shortly after and buy the home if you didn’t

[hud 91gt]

I don’t think I’ll ever get another building inspection. On my place, there was some pretty sketchy plumbing installed without any permit (copper water pipes run externally, using lag bolts (no brackets) to secure/rest on), in the garage. A fairly noticeable natural gas leak and a number of other items. He desregarded the gas leak when I mentioned it, didn’t think the plumbing was a big deal but mentioned the duct tape on the stove ductwork in his report. Unbelieveable. When I had the fireplace maintenance guy in after getting the keys, he said the leak was pretty damn substantial (no one had lived in the unit for half a year) . I should have honestly reported that guy.

I also had to beg him to go check out the attic for any mould issues. I should probably just become an inspector myself. Lol.

[Tapioca]

Yep, we replaced all of the Poly-B in our house. The plumbing itself was about 13K (did it all to code with an inspection), but we have over 30 fixtures in our house plus we couldn't salvage our old shower valves so those had to be replaced as well. It was over 20K all in after all of the remediation that we had to do. Not a deal breaker by any means. Any house built in the 1990s is going to have it. Fortunately, cutting holes in walls was our excuse to repaint the entire house and renovate our great room where we had to cut signficant chunks of the ceiling out. If the house you're looking at has it, it's best to replace it before you do any other renovations.

Family Insurance still insures homes with Poly B. We negotiated 7K off the purchase price once we informed the seller.

[donk.]

I'd disagree on home inspections

Condo unit, yes it's a waste of money, most things are written in strata documents. Unless your an out of province buyer, that has never seen the place and want peace of mind.
If anything, I would give the strata documents to an inspector, and get their opinion

House inspections, well worth the 500$ assuming you get a decent inspector. (On older buildings)
Especially when 500$ is 0.03% of the 1,500,000$ your about to spend....

Then the bonus is, by the time the house is "sold" and "off market" during the 3 day cool down, the last thing the sellers want to do is re-list it.
Especially if they know, the next offer in line, was 30,000$ less than your accepted offer.

Now it's "no longer hot" and need to start over with the stress assuming there's no other offers.
That 500$ you just spent, and if that caught non-listed issues, you bark for 5,000-20,000$ off for a rotten flooring under a carpet, roots in the main drain, or whatever, is a double win

[PeanutButter]

We bought a Van Special and saw poly b right away, but knew that wasn't a huge issue. We were going to gut and reno the entire house anyway so for us the labour was about $5k (probably less) to run pex. Not sure the total cost of replacement as we took down our ceilings added more insulation/sound proofing, etc.

[SSM_DC5]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Honestly inspections are so overrated imo.

So you’ve got Poly B, didn’t someone here replace all theirs? tapioca?

Spend 50k to replace your Poly B. That’s a deal breaker on the house you want?

The vast majority of inspectors have never built a home, they’ve never even worked in the industry imo. There are inspectors out there who literally hang their hat on finding enough “things” that you walk away from a sale. They aren’t trying to work in your best interest persay, they are trying to show you that paying $500 for a 2 hour inspection was actually worth it. Then someone comes a long right after you and says lol, big deal, this house is mine.

I think people think of a house as somthing wayyyy more complicated than it is. New builds are kinda a bit more complicated with all the stupid “green” regulations but take my place for example, it was built in 1911. The exterior is stucco - shiplap - air - lathe - drywall

It’s been here for 110 years, it’s still here lol. Detached home ownership comes with risk and costs. If you can’t stomach a 50-100k bill that may arise, I think it’s probably too much to take on imo. I know that’s saying a lot but it’s just that, risk, in owning a detached home. Maybe the inspector gives you that’s heads up but I guarantee you someone will come shortly after and buy the home if you didn’t

Do you happen to know what the cost might be to replace hydronic radiant floor heating that uses poly b impregnated in cement for 2900 sq ft building?

[hud 91gt]

That would be a really big job, besides insurance, I wouldnt see the point in changing it. The chance of it breaking is very low being impregnated and undisturbed.

[meme405]

I just dont understand why you need a home inspection to determine if there is poly-b.

Just look in the mechanical room, or underneath one of the sinks. You can literally tell by looking at a portion of the plumbing system that it is poly-B.

As for other stuff; home inspectors will often look at the Hot Water Tanks for their age. 10 years is basically time for a new hot water tank. They may look for stickers on the furnace for servicing, or take out a filter to see if servicing has been done. They will often go into an attic space and look for signs of water leaks. Same thing they will go onto your roofs to see if there has been hot patching done, or new sections of shingles. Basic shit like this is what inspectors look at.

Honestly anyone who has experience renovating or building houses, or construction experience can download a checklist online and blitz through a house in a couple hours and let you know if there is any showstoppers.

I dont see the need for a home inspection unless you are completely inept and you know nothing about water, wood, or general mechanics.

Disclosure: I'm in construction and my dad built custom homes for a living, so I might be a little biased towards home inspectors not being helpful.

[68style]

Most people can’t even tell hardwood from laminate… same as car enthusiasts we think it’s easy to know things about cars or different models, the general public has literally no idea.

[HKS PWR]

Originally Posted by SSM_DC5

Do you happen to know what the cost might be to replace hydronic radiant floor heating that uses poly b impregnated in cement for 2900 sq ft building?

The logistics and cost would be cost prohibitive.
Imagine moving everything out of the house, remove all the flooring, and then jack-hammering and removing 30,000+ pound of concrete/pipe. Then you would have lay new pipe and put everything back.
It would be cheaper and less time consuming/less disruptive decommissioning the hydronic heating/boiler and installing a multi-zone mini-split (you get heating AND cooling)

Originally Posted by hud 91gt

That would be a really big job, besides insurance, I wouldnt see the point in changing it. The chance of it breaking is very low being impregnated and undisturbed.

The chances of poly-b breaking while encased in concrete and poly-b break in a a wall/joist space is practically the same. Poly-b doesn't fail because of movement. Chlorine that we used to treat potable water with and high heat plays a major role in failure.
The other issue you have with poly-b in hydronic heating is that it allows oxygen to permeate through and into the closed system (causing issues with ferrous components in the boiler/pumps/etc)

[hud 91gt]

Originally Posted by HKS PWR

The logistics and cost would be cost prohibitive.
Imagine moving everything out of the house, remove all the flooring, and then jack-hammering and removing 30,000+ pound of concrete/pipe. Then you would have lay new pipe and put everything back.
It would be cheaper and less time consuming/less disruptive decommissioning the hydronic heating/boiler and installing a multi-zone mini-split (you get heating AND cooling)



The chances of poly-b breaking while encased in concrete and poly-b break in a a wall/joist space is practically the same. Poly-b doesn't fail because of movement. Chlorine that we used to treat potable water with and high heat plays a major role in failure.
The other issue you have with poly-b in hydronic heating is that it allows oxygen to permeate through and into the closed system (causing issues with ferrous components in the boiler/pumps/etc)

I have no doubt the reason for PB going brittle is due to your reasoning. Have you ever heard of an issue with in floor heating? Concrete gives support against expansion, the heat range is quite a bit lower as well is it not? Im not in the industry but I’ve never heard of an issue.

[sdubfid]

I’ve had an issue with poly b leaking in a slab. Not a huge deal, just find where the temp goes cold and then jackhammer that specific area. Really not a problem to stress over. Just worry about it if it becomes an issue, I would definitely not tear up a whole house to replace it as a preventative measure. Worst case scenario you lose heat in one area. Don’t create a problem that doesn’t exist.

[HKS PWR]

Originally Posted by hud 91gt

.....the heat range is quite a bit lower as well is it not?

Temperature for radiant floor heating and domestic hot water is essentially the same, both between 120-140F

Originally Posted by hud 91gt

Have you ever heard of an issue with in floor heating?

Yes, it happens.
It's just that it's far more common that homes built during that time had poly-b for domestic water (way cheaper and easier to install than copper) versus homes with poly-b for heating (other forms of space heating available i.e electric baseboard, hydronic baseboard with copper piping, force air furnace etc)
Having said that, the saving grace for radiant floor heating is that pressure is regulated to around 15psi vs 50-60psi for domestic water lines and there's an expansion tank for the hydronic system.

[Harvey Specter]

Two homes purchased in March for $2.4m and $2.6m, similar style house just sold for $1.5m. Wow.

[Traum]

That $1.5M is on an odd-shaped plot that is likely smaller and has far less frontage though.

[Harvey Specter]

Originally Posted by Traum

That $1.5M is on an odd-shaped plot that is likely smaller and has far less frontage though.

Lol, what? The house sold at assessment, the other two sold for a million over assessed. And nothing wrong with the lot, it has a massive yard and the house is slightly larger.

[bcedhk]

The 1.5m lot is far more favorable for SFH living. In a cul-de-sac and behind a public trail.

The buyers for the two other lots rode the hype train and overpaid.

[donk.]

In B4, six months from now another house is sold on the same block for 1.1m, and someone says 'buyers for the 1.5 lot overpaid"

[Alpine]

What's even more interesting is 15054 74 AVENUE sold for 1.58m. 80k more than 15081 73 AVENUE, while being 2000sqft smaller (literally half the size).

There's something about 15081 73 AVENUE that doesn't come across in pictures that is impacting it's price.

[Harvey Specter]

Originally Posted by Alpine

What's even more interesting is 15054 74 AVENUE sold for 1.58m. 80k more than 15081 73 AVENUE, while being 2000sqft smaller (literally half the size).

There's something about 15081 73 AVENUE that doesn't come across in pictures that is impacting it's price.

I asked a Realtor friend of mine in Surrey and he said there was nothing wrong with the house, just a lack of offers. He also said the sellers were very motivated and sold at fair market value.

I can't believe people are still in denial the RE market has gone bust. I guess another rate hike will ice the market for good.

[Harvey Specter]

Originally Posted by donk.

In B4, six months from now another house is sold on the same block for 1.1m, and someone says 'buyers for the 1.5 lot overpaid"

Big difference between over paying by $400k and $1.1m.

[hud 91gt]

My realtor just told me the unit in our complex which was listed more or less peak value, just sold for 30k over asking after sitting for many weeks for sale. I don’t know what’s going on. Hahaha.

[van_driver]

Originally Posted by Harvey Specter

Two homes purchased in March for $2.4m and $2.6m, similar style house just sold for $1.5m. Wow.

The one that sold for $2.6m in March was last sold for $2,075,000 in Sept 2021