[melloman]

Originally Posted by Alpine

Looking to move out within the next year or two and it is increasingly frustrating to see what people are willing to pay...
Apologies for the upcoming rant...

Spoiler!

Checked out shoreline, the new development by polygon at Kent & Kerr in East Van. 2Bds start from 400 and run to about 550 (roughly $500/sqft), but strata fees are estimated to start at $0.38/sqft! That only covers heat, hot water, gas and the city water bill. Amenities will be restricted to a fitness room & a shared common lounge. The first phase was about 40% sold (most, if not all of the cheaper 2bds were taken) but I cannot imagine paying $360-400 a month in strata for those amenities. In comparison, the units at false creek that I've looked at were estimating strata fees at $0.35/sqft but that includes security, concierge and A/C in addition to covering heat, hot water and gas.

I've been following the alleged housing bubble and MOI/sales for the past year or so and my real estate outlook is quite bearish... but going out there and visiting some of the presale condos has me quite frustrated and confused.

I have to agree with others. I don't know what your budget is, but if it isn't around $300-450k you won't be getting a 2 bedroom in Vancouver/Burnaby thats brand new. Typical 1 bedrooms I've seen are around the $235k mark, for a brand new development. (And don't forget, this will be for maybe 600 sq.ft.)

You can't have your cake and eat it. Lots of compromises have to be made.

Spoiler!

I'm looking to move out in the next 2-3 years. I've kept my eyes on lots of older concrete buildings. Structurally sound, no "leaky condo" issues, the only downside to concrete is the plumbing. Yet if done correctly there should be any issues.

Concrete built in Burnaby was in the mid-late 80's early 90's. The buildings will stand the tests of time as they were mostly built right. To give you a price/sq. ft. example: 900-1100sq. ft. for around $240-$280k. And these buildings are all around Brentwood, Lougheed, Edmonds skytrain stations.

If you want lots of space, don't look at something new. You'll never get it without spending $1 million.