Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[underscore]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

Fuck realtors, i dont trust them at all when it comes to giving me an honest answer about the build quality of these homes.

I've only dealt with a couple realtors, but I've met/know quite a few and the only ones I'd maybe trust are the older ones who have been doing it for ages and are doing it because they enjoy it, not because they want to make a quick buck. Good luck finding one though. And even then they'd only really be helpful buying older stuff because they might know the history of the homes in the area (ie I was told not to bother looking in one section of town because the soil there meant you need a sump pump running 24/7), newer stuff who knows.

[van_driver]

any recommendations on privacy hedge trees? Looking to get 8 ft hedges so nosy neighbours can't see inside. About 65 ft of hedges

[GIZZ]

Will you DIY them? The ones at Costco in te spring are cheap. Make sure your soil is good, if they don't die in the first year with will probably survive.

If you care how they look you'll have to trim them or pay to get it done.

[hud 91gt]

First year they need a ton of water.

[Hondaracer]

Almost every cedar I’ve bought from Costco has died and I’ve been pretty meticulous with them. They are by far the best deal though for the height, 7-8 footers are $20

Imo if you do buy the Costco ones I’d probably just cut the bottom off the plastic pot and plant the entire plastic pot in the ground. The root balls they come with are just clay and basically fall apart to nothing when you remove them

[meme405]

Originally Posted by SSM_DC5

All the various contractors I've dealt with so far from home renovations all want a large portion upfront when the agreement is made to do work. Reasons I get are to pay for materials or to pay for the labours that they need to start booking. Am I stupid to believe that's just industry standard?

Like I said the home reno's is different, those guys all want money upfront, because they more than likely run job to job with basically no overhead. Very different than the large scale residential/commercial/industrial jobs.

But it is the exact reason that the home reno's market is flooded with thieves and scammers. Buddy guy comes gives you a quote, collects some money, doesnt show up for months, then if your lucky and he feels like he can get more money out of you he will come start demolition, ask for more money once that is done. And at some point once he feels he has the maximum amount of money out of you for the least amount of work will just disappear never to be seen again.

For real jobs/companies it is rare to be paid up front. It does sometimes happen, when a contractor is required to buy a lot of materials ahead of a project, that they ask for money, but again that's the exception not the rule. Most of these companies are buying on account anyway, so they dont pay for that material for 30 days. Meanwhile if they are smart enter their invoice with their client for that material, and once is shows up on site get paid for it within 30 days.

The thing that most people fail to understand, is that if the owner of a project has taken financing on a project, that financing is contingent to the value of the work being completed each period. This isn't like a mortgage where you get all the money upfront from the bank. The general process is more like rounds of funding. For example if you have a 100million dollar project, the bank/lenders will give you 10 mil to start earthworks, as that progresses, they send someone like me, a Professional Quantity Surveyor to verify the amount of work done, before they release the next 10 mil for concrete foundations, as that work progresses the PQS will go back and verify the QTY of concrete poured, next stage might be plumbing or electrical, as material arrives on site the PQS makes sure the value of those materials arriving on site correspond with how much money those contractors are asking for, etc.

This process continues right till the building is complete. The end result is that the lender has faith that the builders aren't going to run away with potentially 10's of millions of dollars, leaving an unfinished project.

This process if done correctly works perfectly for projects anywhere from 1 mil all the way into the billions.

[Hondaracer]

Speaking of buddy guy contractors lol..

A friend of mine came home one day to a couple guys cleaning his gutters.. they were just finishing up as he pulled up so he hops out and is like uhhh.. what’s going on here? Couple brown guys working there barely know what to say etc.

He’s like again.. what are you doing??.. I didn’t ask anyone to clean my gutters..

They finish up and ask for payment and my buddy is like hah.. fuck right off what kind of scam is this? Goes inside closes the door.

The next day their “manager” stops by and he says it was actually the neighbour across the street who had booked the cleaning (and the neighbour legitamitely had because my buddy knows the neighbour they talk etc.) but when you search the neighbours address, the google street view shows my buddies place so these brainiacs just went and started cleaning the gutters without even confirming the address or having anyone home..

So the “manager” is like “well you know, your gutters actually did need cleaning so I think you should probably pay”…

[Badhobz]

ha! i would have laughed in their faces and slammed the door.

[Hondaracer]

Yea he said that’s not my problem go away or I’m gonna call the cops etc.

I’m sure some of the headache/charges were passed onto the Neighbor

[Badhobz]

https://www.rew.ca/properties/471370...y&sort=latest#

why is this so cheap? if people can stand the airplane noise in terra nova, or those condo's next to the walmart, this seems like a friggin steal.

[hud 91gt]

Burnsville is such an awesome little community. Super tight knit, which is strange in a small town.

Edit. I don’t know where Burnsville is but also sounds awesome. Damn autocorrect.

[Badhobz]

Originally Posted by hud 91gt

Burnsville is such an awesome little community. Super tight knit, which is strange in a small town.

you mean burkeville?

yeah its the last bastion of the white man in richmond.

[68style]

I don't know about steal... I feel like it would sell for ~2.6 most places in Richmond that aren't Burkeville...

It seems like a nice place if that type of interior design is your thing though!

[Gerbs]

I wonder if the Delta homes for $1 - 1.35M are selling well. Seems like a ton of supply now. I drove to a friend's place there recently and was surprised I got there in less than 20 minutes from Metro.

[Badhobz]

I always like ladner! it just feels more authentically Canadian than ricemond. That tunnel was the only hiccup that stopped me from buying there initially.

[bcedhk]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

why is this so cheap? if people can stand the airplane noise in terra nova, or those condo's next to the walmart, this seems like a friggin steal.

thOse ChEmTrAiLs gOnNa GiVe You CANCEr!

Never get the appeal of marble slabs throughout the house. It's not like we are SE Asia where they want the marble floors to cool off the house.

[bcedhk]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

Fuck realtors, i dont trust them at all when it comes to giving me an honest answer about the build quality of these homes. Every single home we liked, my realtor said it was well built, and implied that at our budget all the homes were great..... yeah you would think so, but thats far from the case.

I mean, you can't expect much from realtors with previous work background in retail, MLM marketing or as a housewife...

Just look at all the BS realtor youtube videos. They offer little to no added value on what is already provided at the pre-sale showrooms.

[Badhobz]

^i agree. I know there are realtors on revscene so im not going to shit on their profession. Im sure there are some who are very knowledgeable, and others who are like you said, just a MLM marketing or a housewife.

I just wished that when i sign a contract with these realtors, that they act in a manner that is in my best interest, and not their own. That contract does not require them to act as a fiduciary and legally they aren't obligated to protect your interest. Hell thats why they have errors and omissions insurance so they can cover their asses when they "forgot" to mention that my drain tiles are clogged to shit.

The problem is the industry and not the individual. It needs to be overhauled and thats why recently me and the wife have just been hunting on our own. When we find a home we like, and did our due diligence, then we call our realtor to make the deal. During of wheeling/dealing process, i dont listen to a god damn thing he/she says and just go purely based on my own gut/budget considerations. I dont need to see your "comparable" i don't give a fuck, ill just pay what i think is fair for that property.

[donk.]

Realtor industry overhaul?
Start by making that 10 week online daycare program into a 2 year degree, and weed out the housewives

[68style]

Most positions for product sales exist because the general populace is kinda stupid though.

If you know a lot about a field, you can do it yourself... but most people don't know shit, so people get paid a lot of money to know it for them.

[Badhobz]

Originally Posted by donk.

Realtor industry overhaul?
Start by making that 10 week online daycare program into a 2 year degree, and weed out the housewives

only problem is that some of these hot ass realtors chicks will be gone and ill have nothing to look forward to when i go view open houses.



i told the wife i sort listings by realtor agent hotness. too bad most of the time i show up, its their ugly ass assistant

[CivicBlues]

Man some of these realtor's profile pictures are touched up so much they'd make an Instagram Thot blush.

[SkunkWorks]

I've seen some realtor videos, they'll do anything for the sale. Also seem very experienced in checking the washer/dryer.

[GLOW]

no different than other retail industries, saturated by people that don't know what they're selling, i guess you can argue with less ethics

[bcrdukes]

Badhobz - Are you white?