Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[RiceIntegraRS]

I do feel pretty bad for her. Most of us have been thru buying our first homes and it isnt easy. And this happens to her....

[bcrdukes]

Tough situation to be in. She's lucky she was living at home and managed to save up while paying a small portion to rent to her mother.

[Gerbs]

Should be okay, a $12,000 bump shouldn't be a major issue if you're buying a $300K+ Property imo. Otherwise, you're buying without an emergency fund, which is high risk without a bail out from bank of M&D

[westopher]

Yeah but that 12k could be her emergency fund, now she’s buying a place without one. It’s not realistic to think that people are saving 50, 100, or whatever thousand on their own and saving another 10-15k as well to have that emergency fund. That’s reserved for people who have help for the most part. It’s such a grind to get into the market to begin with at this point, most people don’t have the luxury until they are older, established, or have help.

[Hondaracer]

Well don’t see how that’s any different than everyone else that bought at the peak

I know a few people who literally bought at the peak of the peak and are probably down 150-200k since March in terms of property value. She had bad timing, like a lot of people. Her little dip is a lot more palatable than most

[JDMDreams]

Yea $12000 is a lot if you're barely scraping by to buy a $300k place that's 4% of the purchase price. I mean if you're buying a million place we know you got it, what's $12000.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

Yea $12000 is a lot if you're barely scraping by to buy a $300k place that's 4% of the purchase price. I mean if you're buying a million place we know you got it, what's $12000.

Lol so had a convo on the weekend with my wife’s cousin. His mom lives in north van and I guess has a friend who’s kids were adamant about being in N.Van, a detached

They stretched their budget for literally every penny they could so they could say they own in north van. Bought the house without an inspection etc. they know nothing about houses. Turns out all the wiring is Aluminum and the drain tile is so filled with roots their basement has been leaking during these short periods of rain in the summer. He said they literally have -zero- money left to even repair this stuff. They can’t get insurance due to the issues and don’t even have money to rectify the issues in order to get insurance lol..

But hey, ya living in north van

[yray]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

But hey, ya living in north van

hasn't complained about the coal dust from neptune yet

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by yray

hasn't complained about the coal dust from neptune yet

My wife’s aunt probably lost 2 mill digging in their heels and not selling. Now they get the coal dust wind and a sweet view of the silos.

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Well don’t see how that’s any different than everyone else that bought at the peak

I know a few people who literally bought at the peak of the peak and are probably down 150-200k since March in terms of property value. She had bad timing, like a lot of people. Her little dip is a lot more palatable than most

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

Late bank appraisal proves costly for first-time buyer after Cloverdale apartment drops in value

Lol "threw in four random gift cards to Canadian Tire, Starbucks, Home Depot and a gas card, worth $175 in total." Sounds about right you're lucky you still got approved


https://vancouversun.com/business/re...2ecd0480b/amp/

I believe this will be the first of many articles that share stories similar to this one.

Here's another:

https://dailyhive.com/toronto/scotia...yment-increase

In both of these cases, I think I'm 100% on the side of the buyer. Both banks didn't do their job well enough and the buyer is left paying a penalty. That shouldn't happen no matter what the market conditions are.

The worst part is in both cases the banks basically said "whoops but too bad so sad" with no real recourse for the buyers.

[Hondaracer]

Yea I definitely agree there shouldn’t be any amount to “make up” like in her case that’s just stupid

[Great68]

There's nothing inherently wrong with aluminum wiring. There's still Aluminum installs happening today, totally allowed by Canada Electric Code.

The issue lies at the connection points, and those need to have been done properly. Ie: proper device with the proper rating (for aluminum wiring) and proper torque.

All those stories in the 70's aluminum wiring causing fires was because they were using the aluminum wiring with copper only rated devices.

[Gerbs]

^

In that Scotiabank case, I think buyers should always educate themselves on loans. Whether it's investments, fixed vs variable. Shouldn't rely on only one party. Find the information yourself then make an educated decision. Don't assume people are always correct, especially people who are making a fat commission.

[HKS PWR]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Lol so had a convo on the weekend with my wife’s cousin. His mom lives in north van and I guess has a friend who’s kids were adamant about being in N.Van, a detached

They stretched their budget for literally every penny they could so they could say they own in north van. Bought the house without an inspection etc. they know nothing about houses. Turns out all the wiring is Aluminum and the drain tile is so filled with roots their basement has been leaking during these short periods of rain in the summer. He said they literally have -zero- money left to even repair this stuff. They can’t get insurance due to the issues and don’t even have money to rectify the issues in order to get insurance lol..

But hey, ya living in north van

I'm assuming they paid cash for this house/no mortgage payment?
Otherwise, I wouldn't think any bank or lending institution would be willing to hand over any sum of money on a property that is uninsurable.

[Great68]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

I believe this will be the first of many articles that share stories similar to this one.

Here's another:

https://dailyhive.com/toronto/scotia...yment-increase

In both of these cases, I think I'm 100% on the side of the buyer. Both banks didn't do their job well enough and the buyer is left paying a penalty. That shouldn't happen no matter what the market conditions are.

The worst part is in both cases the banks basically said "whoops but too bad so sad" with no real recourse for the buyers.

For the cloverdale one, this is the only line in the article that matters:

"She said Schaffer made the offer with no subjects, including one to financing,"

She screwed herself here. The problem is that she seems to have confused "pre-approval" with "actual financing approval"

[Hondaracer]

I’m not sure of the exact circumstances but it may be that they can’t afford the high risk premiums. As Great68 said it shouldn’t be a huge issue however they may be subject to those high risk insurance premiums which can be double or more your standard policy

When we had knob and tube we still had a “medium” risk premium added onto our insurance which basically added another 35% or so of the total premium extra.

[JDMDreams]

The ppl that bought at the peak is fine, as long as they can make their payments the bank isn't really gonna revalue your place. That's the price of fomo and you gotta ride it out. The ones that get fucked are the ones that can't close, then that's too bad. The bank isn't a charity you could offer $10 million for a place that doesn't mean it's worth that much and the bank agrees with that valuation, they gotta cover their ass. You can thank the bank of Canada for this and Canadian gov still trying to fuck over the oil industry.

[Acura604]

SO - what's everyones 'trigger rate'

looking at my RBC statement, mine is 4.724% - currently sitting at 3.5% variable.

with the absolute certainty that BoC will raise interest rates in next few months, guess I gotta be ready to pony up some cash monies...

[CivicBlues]

Mine was triggered after the first rate hike

[6thGear.]

Originally Posted by Gerbs

^

In that Scotiabank case, I think buyers should always educate themselves on loans. Whether it's investments, fixed vs variable. Shouldn't rely on only one party. Find the information yourself then make an educated decision. Don't assume people are always correct, especially people who are making a fat commission.

Playing devils advocate here but didn't they read what they signed? Never trust the person sitting across from you asking for your signature. As much as the bank fucked up, onus is still on the buyer to know what they're getting into.

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by Gerbs

^

In that Scotiabank case, I think buyers should always educate themselves on loans. Whether it's investments, fixed vs variable. Shouldn't rely on only one party. Find the information yourself then make an educated decision. Don't assume people are always correct, especially people who are making a fat commission.

The bank straight up ADMITTED they provided her incorrect information. She also had her lawyer review it but by that time it was too late to seek alternative financing. Blaming the customer here isn't cut and dry.

Scotiabank messed up. All Scotiabank would need to do is say sorry and change the terms of her agreement to fixed payments in lieu of their employee misrepresenting the agreement. They could even do it and have her sign a NDA.

But the fact they are digging their heels in and partially blaming the customer is terrible, so they deserve the bad press.

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by Great68

She screwed herself here. The problem is that she seems to have confused "pre-approval" with "actual financing approval"

I'm not sure I see it that way. The core of the issue is bank didn't bother doing the appraisal in a reasonable amount of time and that's ultimately why she was left in a bad spot.

If the bank had done the appraisal in the customary amount of time, there would have been far less chance she'd be stuck with such a large financing gap.

[PeanutButter]

Why is she putting 20% down on a $300k place? couldn't she get away with only 5% down with CMHC insurance? That way she can use her down payment to float the difference in purchase price?

[westopher]

Why would you pay extra money for 25 years if you had the option to not do so?
I can't fathom why anyone would ever defend a big bank.

[JDMDreams]

Cmhc is $12160 if you only put 5% down on $320k so you're wasting extra $12k plus interest on top.