1. strata fees are more than you think. $300 (for condo) is cheap if you can believe it or not. Townhouses, you are looking to start at about $200. As I said a few posts above, for the average condo, you are looking at $400+. And don't forget, like rental increases, strata fees increase yearly as well. I have owned for 5 years...and every damn year I get that letter.
2. In the last 5 years, my property has gone down in value....great for property tax, not so much if I wanted to re-sell. So, a yearly increase to property value may be a bit generous in some situation.
3. Rental increases. They do happen. They are based on inflation plus 2%. Here is a small history of increases:
http://www.rto.gov.bc.ca/documents/GEN-01.pdf. Based on those numbers, if you had rented an apt in 2004 for $2000 and you received a maximum annual, in 2014 your rent would be $2837.
Is that REALLY possible? Probably not....I rented a condo in 2005 for $1000...as a coincidence, I saw an ad on CL for the same condo the other day...they are renting it for $1150.
As for those numbers being "real". They were based on 2 apartments in the same building...one for rent, one for sale. Try it...look on CL for an apt to rent then go find the same one on mls.