R-E-N-T Owning is not a right unless you live in Libya.

not anymore i imagine

now it'll probably be everyone fends for themselves while the govt tries to take it all away so the foreign oil companies can make their killing

Doable. I own a condo (Surrey, yes, whatever, it's mine, hater's gonna hate, etc), and it's just me. You just have to manage your finances reasonably well. Don't buy a new BMW either. Buy an old one if you must.

Say you make $50k net income. A semi-decent house in East Vancouver will still run you $700000 minimum and roughly $900000 for an actual quality house. So if the down payment is 25%, you will have to somehow save $175000. Even if you manage to save that much money with $50k per year net income, you will have to pay the monthly payment. That's roughly $4000 or so per month.

What is $4000 per month? That's pretty much your entire $50000 yearly net income. What about gas? What about a car? What about bills? Food? Clothing? Leisure?

Bottom line is: live in an apartment.

I think I heard this before...
oh yea, 5 years ago in 2007, everyone was saying samething
and still the prices are going up

There is no housing bubble, that's burst, just accept that we live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world and you need to pay for that privilege. If your to cheap for that, a house would be in your budget in Prince George.

who needs a house anyways? The more and more I think about it, the more and more im starting to think townhouses are fucking sweet.

Everyone has different standards.

Work your ass off overseas for two years, manage your finance well and control your purchase impulse if you ask me.

I have enough to payoff a townhouse in GVRD as of today, could possible shot for a single detached but the whole living thousands of miles apart from my wife and daughter is too much.

I am 28.

Sadly $50K would let you buy a $300K+ condo, and have money left over to lease a Mercedes.

Prices are mostly flat this year, inventory and MOI at highs, and sales near decade lows. Homes increasing in price is masking what is happening in the condo market as there is a glut of inventory. Prices have fallen virtually everywhere in BC outside of Vancouver and Richmond, just no-one talks about it.

That's what my friend in Australia said, until prices started to fall there recently. Prices will always be higher here than elsewhere cause its nice, yet current prices are not sustainable.

no hate but i swear you said this years ago...

tell truong his s2k got wrecked :troll:

I've been saying it for 4 years, so no worries. I didn't anticipate rates being lowered to rock bottom and rules loosened, I don't think anyone could have. Yet I can say that's not sustainable, its just when will we hit the tipping point.

IIRC, when that mortgage comes up for renewal, their interest rate will go up to the new rate. Some may not be able to afford it, hence selling is the only option. Open mortgage may be an option for a lower rate but it can keep going up and you can get screwed that way too.

wait till you have a townhouse and realize you still have to shut the hell up in your own home. nothing beats having people over late, making noise, NOT hearing babies crying, NOT hearing neighbors fighting, etc.... also a decent sized backyard, which you'll never have with a townhouse.

and people who say theres no housing bubble, they probably have mortgages on a home and are praying that the bubble doesnt burst. it will..
not to mention interest rates are on their way up within a few years. yeah, im cool with renting for now and saving/investing my money.

A decent backyard you can grow and herb garden and have fresh veggies on hand.

A place where you can have friends over for BBQs.

Build a smoker to make real bacon.

Make your entrance look like the TARDIS.

Ugh, so much more work still do :concentrate:

Those numbers are great for illustrative purposes, and everyone should keep in mind the numbers you have up are just for that $700k house, not a more 'average' $900k house, although $900k can still you get you a pretty nice above well average house IMO. That and things like savings, retirement, future family expenses (why else would you need a house, haha), are not even considered yet. And netting $50k a year is equivalent to roughly $80k gross... let's not kid ourselves $80k/yr is not an easy salary to achieve.

The thing I think buyers must consider, in this example if you are taking out a $525k mortgage to buy this $700k house, IF the housing bubble bursts and your once $700k house drops in value to say $400k, what would you do in that situation? You would likely owe more to the bank than what your house is worth now. If your job stability is shaky, then you are really putting your family into jeopardy. If you hate your job, guess what you've just chained yourself to it for life.

As it stands right now, I think prospective buyers really need to weigh what they want vs. what they need. Sure it'd be great if I could move into a detached home right now, save myself a move 10-15 years down the road. I had to wrap my mind around the fact that owning a home =/= owning a house, and getting into a house is somewhere MAYBE years down the line, many years. In the meantime, work hard, enjoy life, and build equity.

The reality of the situation is that you either get size/land or location, you can't have both unless you have the big money available. You can still move into a comfortable house in Surrey/Langley for $500k. If you don't like Surrey, hey too bad looks like you're buying a condo/townhome in the 'nicer' parts of town.

You sound like you are in a profession where overseas demand is huge, and you can make a lot more overseas than here. Not every profession has this potential. What will happen to your income when you come back here to work because you want to spend the time with your family?

I really respect your approach to this. For me, what is the point of getting married and starting a family, if you cannot be there to enjoy and grow with the family. I know you are working your tail off to provide the best for your family and to make things easier for them, but my take is that contributions to family run much deeper than just money. It sounds like you are feeling that too.

I think it's time

Just as you point out, a regular income people can't afford to buy a place and renting makes a lot more financial sense. This will sooner or later hit the RE market. It hit back in 2008 and the BoC countered it with rock bottom interest rate. Since interest rate can't go anywhere else but up now, expect the RE to tank if a wave hits.

Just remember... In Canada, we always get hit by whatever happens south of the border, just a matter of time. If you think the US RE market decline is bad, hold on tight, the ride up here might not be pretty.

I owned a townhouse, and if its built well noise is not an issue. The house next door had 5 college kids renting and threw parties all the time, no problems.

Decent sized backyards are overrated. My townhouse backyard was 20x30' while singles in the area were 33x30' or 50x30'. I had a huge deck, hammock and small landscaped area. All they had extra was a little bit more lawn to mow and not enough room to throw a football. I'd rather live backing onto a park, the city mows it.

The only thing I hated about my townhouse was having a normal sized garage. A double wide garage would have been sweet.

The US Housing Market TANKED 2 years ago when the "depression" finally hit them hard. There are stats out there that 1 of every 10 homes in Florida are abandoned.. I watch HGTV and see how houses (4 or 5 bedroom) go for as low as 225k.. and that's maybe 20-30 minutes form these "main downtown hubs."

I do really hope that the housing bubble does burst in the next 5 years, considering I'm 21 with a professional job.. I'm just holding out and hoping prices stop going up.. I'd love to live in Burnaby still once I get a place and not move across a bridge.

I went the townhouse route in the burbs first, did that for 5 years and then I bought a house after building equity. I've been in this house for almost 3 or 4 years now (I can't remember) again building equity. I was lucky because when I bought my townhouse because prices hadn't gone to out of control at that point but I didn't get a discount when I bought my house.

I live in the suburbs and I love it here. I'm surrounded by new homes, new schools and young families which is great for bringing kids up in. I don't have the answers and I couldn't tell you if buying now or later is the smart thing to do but I will say for me I'm glad I never waited. At this point even if the bottom fell out or interest rates go to 1980 levels I know I'll be fine.