I won't argue with that just hate to see a thread with good info eventually go south this is RS afterall and real estate talk tends to bring a lot of hate :)

There is never a good or bad time to buy. Is when you want to buy that's a good time. If you aren't flipping it or anything just buy when you have the money to do so.

No one can tell you what to do. But if you do want options I wouldn't suggest asking on RS. Some people here do give good advice but most of the time the advice is bad lol. Go get some professional advice (from a few different sauce), see what they say, studying the market a bit and base your descion on it. Remember it is your money, your house, your stress all the people giving you advice it doesn't matter to them if buy your house now and paid 700k or if you wait a year and buy it for 800k or 500k. After all the gain or debt is on you and not others.

But honestly a 700k house in Vancouver can people who actually work in Vancouver afford it now? My parents house in Burnaby just got the estimate from the Gov is it is around 700k (500k land and 200k house value). I mean even if there say a family of two people both getting high paid jobs asy combie income is 180k (90k each) Assuming after income tax take home pay is around 130 to 140k. Then there is the mortage, property tax, insurance, uility, food, cable, internet....... even with such a high income it still seems pretty hard on the family. I still haven't factor in say the couple have a kid and have to pay for daycare.........

I think for our generations unless we have some sort of support from family, it will be pretty hard to own a house in vancouver unless we move out to someplace far or live in an apartment or townhouse or duplex.

Stock indexes have dropped more than 50% during the crisis, ever seen vancouer prices drop the same?

Gambling with the fact that you'll never have to paint/replace appliances/spend money for a bailiff because tenant wont leave in 25 years. Good luck.

^i did caps "ASSUMING".

i'll say it again, what i posted was merely the plan. no plans run perfectly smooth throughout, especially if its a 20+ year plan. there will be ups and downs. but for the next year, he only be paying 100 a month. yes, he has factored in all interests, taxes, maintainences etc.

im not telling anyone to go buy a place and rent it out. im simply sharing a method/route that CAN POTENTIALLY be worth while, regarding investing into property. Too many people keep holding off because of the high costs. im just here trying to remind people that depending on what you do with that property, the costs MAY not be as bad as you think.

on a side note: another reason my brother chose to quickly invest in this is because of his job. he works in the movie industry and gets taxed a butt load. by putting money into a mortgage can help you save some from taxes. (he had a bunch of money piling up and getting owned by the taxes).

hope my stories dont influence people the wrong way. my intentions were for people's benefit, and hopefully spark some new ideas with investing ;]

:alone:

there are much better markets in canada and the usa to make money from if you want to go the real estate route. The gains you will get in vancouver are very very poor unless you have alot of $$ to play with and are building condo's.

holy crap this thread got long. I take back what I said about it being a bad time to buy... That was just word of mouth from other people that I know. There werent any real facts behind it. There are many variables involved in house pricing which I dont know.

One thing to REALLY watch out for is the age of the place. If you go for an apartment make sure you talk to the management and see if there are any lingering issues that need to be fixed. Also take in account future renovations because they are super costly.

Example: My girlfriends 10 year old apartment complex decided to do some renovations... each suite had to pay 20 gs towards that. BE CAREFUL!

^^ That doesn't sound like renovations. Sounds like mandatory repairs!! Regardless, that sucks.

Secondly, age of a place is irrelevant. But yes, knowing the background through strata, management or even word of mouth is important. Just because a building is 30 years old doesn't mean its in bad shape.

Lastly, if you're looking to buy real estate as an investment...heres what i tell all my clients:
1. Investsments are never meant to be short term. If you make money short term....great! Consider it a bonus. But an investment is time and money.
2. No where in the definitition of an investment does it say that its guaranteed a monetary return.

So, if you're looking to buy a property with hopes for a gain in 2 years time....you're gambling. Really the condo market can only go so far.

So, if you're looking to get a condo as a primary residence as an alternative to paying rent, paying it off gradually and using the equity to upsize......OR.....having a condo as a secondary property to rent out for 10+ years, sure its reasonable.

Otherwise.....NO i don't think its a good time to buy.