Vancouver Condo Tower Sells Out In 4 Hours!

[Alby]

Originally Posted by sh0n

What I don't like.
- Lower level and west facing units - have fun hearing the skytrain leaving/exiting the station all day/night long
- Enjoy all your neighbours cause its still all industrial sites. Your home is gonna smell like compost and shit. Have fun with the fertilizer sale site half a block away. And did I mention the City of Vancouver garbage and recycling is 5 blocks away? Enjoy the smell of that in the summer and when the prevailing winds hit.
- Oh yeah did I mention about the noise? Enjoy the noise of Marine Dr and also the Airplanes that fly past the fraser river into the Airport.

I'm not sure if the project was a success or if there are 400 blinded souls who are in the craze in the tulip mania (WIKI this). Let's hope these guys complete and won't reneg coming 2015 when the building completes.

Buying 3 year's out is not a certainty in this economic environment. END

THAT. plus with the waste station so close by and TNT, good luck with the rodent problems.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

True. I been looking at different apartments and the ones that's close to the skytrain is so NOISY when you have the windows open >< is not bad with just traffice going by but when a skytrain pulls into the station man is really loud... Image hearing those noises at least 80times a day when u are at home relaxing with windows open on a summer day... not the best idea.

My condo happens to be about a 5-minute walk from the nearest Skytrain station which is IMHO the ideal distance. You're not close enough to hear the trains (unless it's really really quiet during the evening) and you're close enough to walk to the station with ease.

But, as a condo owner who tries to live the "condo lifestyle", you really shouldn't be spending your summer days in your condo. You're supposed to be outdoors and taking advantage of the weather. Therefore, noise during the day is for the most part irrelevant.

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

However there is a great thing about buying per-construected apartments and that is if you are planning to rent it out you have no restruction since you are the first time owners. If you buy 2nd hand almost all apartments have rental restrictions so you might not able to rent it out vs first time buyer you can rent it out as you please.

I can only speak from the experience with my building, but our strata tried to pass a rental restriction by-law on two occasions and in both cases, it was soundly defeated. In fact, during the two AGMs when the rental by-law was on the agenda, we had over half of the owners (or their representatives) attend the meeting which is rare (in most cases, you're lucky to get 1/4 or 1/3 attendance at strata AGMs.) Considering the condo market in the Lower Mainland is heavily investor-controlled, stratas will have a hard time passing rental restrictions (which typically require a 3/4 majority) even if they wanted to.

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

The price seems OK I guess most apartments I seen (near bretnwood mall, Metro town, Royal Oak) is around 400k and up for about 800sq ft to 1000sq ft.

If you really, really want to buy a place, I suggest you consider New West. There's a direct Skytrain downtown (with a far superior service compared to the Canada Line), you're on the north side of the Fraser (which is a good thing - no crossing bridges and no tolls), there's political will to gentrify and clean-up the downtown core on the part of New West council and you've got cheap supermarkets and major chains nearby.

Canada Line is already at capacity? I thought they didn't have enough ridership to be making money? What is the interval between trains at rush hour?

I've taken the Canada Line on a few occasions during rush hour and it's more or less at capacity. I suppose the good thing about the Marine Gateway Project is that you can take either train and get home. If you live in Richmond, you have to wait 7.5 minutes during rush hour AND you have to squeeze in like sardines going home. The trains are considerably slower (and noisier, particularly in the Queen Elizabeth park section of the track) than the good ol' Bombardier ones and their HVAC system downright sucks (poor AC.)

[too_slow]

Originally Posted by sh0n

What I don't like.
- Lower level and west facing units - have fun hearing the skytrain leaving/exiting the station all day/night long
- Enjoy all your neighbours cause its still all industrial sites. Your home is gonna smell like compost and shit. Have fun with the fertilizer sale site half a block away. And did I mention the City of Vancouver garbage and recycling is 5 blocks away? Enjoy the smell of that in the summer and when the prevailing winds hit.
- Oh yeah did I mention about the noise? Enjoy the noise of Marine Dr and also the Airplanes that fly past the fraser river into the Airport.

I'm not sure if the project was a success or if there are 400 blinded souls who are in the craze in the tulip mania (WIKI this). Let's hope these guys complete and won't reneg coming 2015 when the building completes.

Buying 3 year's out is not a certainty in this economic environment. END

Good post. I had the some items listed in my cons/risks analysis. The noise pollution from airplanes is a big "minus" for me, and I totally missed the garbage collection facilities.. LOL

[DJ Milk]

I dropped by the presentation center last week to ask about parking and found out it's not available for any 1 bed room units on the lower floors and no option to buy one as someone mentioned in an earlier post. You need to buy on the 19th floor and higher in the north tower and 21st floor and higher in the south tower to get a parking spot. I read that some of the people who waited in line didn't know about the no parking situation and wasn't too happy when they found out . But they still ended up buying anyways

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by Snoop Monkey Monk

I dropped by the presentation center last week to ask about parking and found out it's not available for any 1 bed room units on the lower floors and no option to buy one as someone mentioned in an earlier post. You need to buy on the 19th floor and higher in the north tower and 21st floor and higher in the south tower to get a parking spot. I read that some of the people who waited in line didn't know about the no parking situation and wasn't too happy when they found out

The bottom line is that you need a car in Vancouver despite the biking and public transportation options. The women demand it (unless you happen to not be a yuppie) and you need it to visit your family and friends and for spontaneous trips to Ikea.

[bing]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

$260K for a 465 square foot box? With no parking? Most of the people in the shots were Chinese and I would reckon that the majority are speculators and investors. (see a CTV story for shots of the line.)

Rennie has done a brilliant job marketing the project. The location isn't as great as it seems. The Canada Line is slow and is already at capacity during peak hours. (though if you're a globetrotter, I could see it being very handy with a 10 minute ride to the Airport.) I'd rather live on the old Expo/Millennium Line because it runs every 60 seconds during peak hours. Or perhaps on a well-serviced bus corridor such as Granville. If I wanted to buy in Vancouver, I'd rather buy in the False Creek flats. (lots of development coming online in the area and there will likely be more spot re-zonings in the future.) Or, the Rize development in Mount Pleasant.

After going through it myself, I don't think I would ever buy something pre-construction. You need to see the finished product, the views, how the building's been managed, and what types of neighbours you're going to have.

Mind you, there are limited supplies of the 260k units. They only have enough so they can use it in their marketing materials. Those that are involved in the development of the project had access to buy some of the units before the general public, I would not be surprised if some of those were of the limited 260k units.

"TransLink has a variety of strategies to accommodate increased ridership in the short term, by increasing the frequency and number of trains in regular service. Future ridership capacity can also be added with more cars and longer station platforms (for which a provision has already been made at Marine Gateway)."
Marine Gateway

Hopefully this addresses capacity issues.

[twitchyzero]

Originally Posted by too_slow

Good post. I had the some items listed in my cons/risks analysis. The noise pollution from airplanes is a big "minus" for me, and I totally missed the garbage collection facilities.. LOL

yeah can say all properities in richmond have the airplane noise problem

but seriously great call on the waste facility...most people would not have noticed that.

[bing]

Originally Posted by Snoop Monkey Monk

I dropped by the presentation center last week to ask about parking and found out it's not available for any 1 bed room units on the lower floors and no option to buy one as someone mentioned in an earlier post. You need to buy on the 19th floor and higher in the north tower and 21st floor and higher in the south tower to get a parking spot. I read that some of the people who waited in line didn't know about the no parking situation and wasn't too happy when they found out . But they still ended up buying anyways

Those people should have done their homework. At 262k starting, did they really think there would be parking? there's no free lunch.

[achiam]

My parents thought of buying one but said they were super cramped at the display units -- like HK style cramped!

[heleu]

I'm in construction and saw the suite layouts long before they were released to realtors. The suites are very small for that area; they are more like downtown condo sized.

Honestly, I'm surprised (pleasantly) that they sold out in a day. I'm sure the developer was too. There's a lot of adjacent land to that property, so I'm sure the next phase will be built very quickly...

[Bender Unit]

Originally Posted by achiam

My parents thought of buying one but said they were super cramped at the display units -- like HK style cramped!

Yes, I went to their 1 BedRoom & 2 BedRoom display unit as well.
Unbelievable small, They were using scale down kitchen stove, sink, toilet...etc.
Layout were poor. Master BedRoom entrance was at the corner of balcony.
The only big was their balcony

[adambomb]

With no parking for any of the units below the 18th floor. If you live in this South Van neighbourhood, prepare to see a HUGE increase in cars parking on minor streets.

You can try all you want, there isn't enough 5 gallon buckets in the world to stop people from parking in front of those houses.

[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by too_slow

Good post. I had the some items listed in my cons/risks analysis. The noise pollution from airplanes is a big "minus" for me, and I totally missed the garbage collection facilities.. LOL

I've yet to see an airplane fly overhead of Cambie and Marine dr. Even the townhouses out past #4 road and Cambie isn't that bad when it comes to airplane noise. I don't think Cambie and Marine dr is along the low level flight path.

As for the garbage collection facilities, there are houses across the street. If there is any complaints, they'd be the first to complain. I worked at the Superstore warehouse for 5 years and never really noticed the smell in the summer except for the one summer where we could smell the water treatment plant near the airport.

[sh0n]

Originally Posted by too_slow

Good post. I had the some items listed in my cons/risks analysis. The noise pollution from airplanes is a big "minus" for me, and I totally missed the garbage collection facilities.. LOL

Gotta do your own work as a potential homeowner and investor.

Alot of people are too blinded by the beauty and glamor of the marketing materials and display suite. Doesn't help you have a whole herd who is horny for condos

[sh0n]

Oh yeah here's an insider tip.

For the 200 lost souls who brought in the North Tower (Facing North & West) thinking you got a great view of Langara, Marpole Area & North Mountain. I'm sorry but your view will be obstructed.

I'm sorry to break it to you, but the developer PCI and marketer Reenie failed to tell you that there will be another tower that is currently in "proposal" and will most likely to be passed that will permanently obstruct your view.

[sh0n]

Originally Posted by SumAznGuy

I've yet to see an airplane fly overhead of Cambie and Marine dr. Even the townhouses out past #4 road and Cambie isn't that bad when it comes to airplane noise. I don't think Cambie and Marine dr is along the low level flight path.

As for the garbage collection facilities, there are houses across the street. If there is any complaints, they'd be the first to complain. I worked at the Superstore warehouse for 5 years and never really noticed the smell in the summer except for the one summer where we could smell the water treatment plant near the airport.

Some of the plane's summer flight path is through on top of Fraser River pass Oak St & Arthur Lang Bridge.

If you're high up in the South Tower you'll get a great view of the planes and the noise that comes with it

[geelaw]

my gf's mom actually got one in the south tower for her, im excited for her as i will probably be living there as well, just gotta pay the mom a bit of rent. got the two bed room, we thought we lined up early.. got there around 8pm the night before? holy there were tons of ppl alrdy. it was hard sitting in lawn chairs out in the cold for so many hours but it was worth it. by the time we got in most units were sold alrdy so we didnt get what we wanted and the rest of the one bedrooms were no parking which is really inconvient for me since i need my car for work. so we have decided to go for the two bedroom unit with the parking. TnT will make us fat. HAHA kidding.. maybe.

as for the sounds of the trains, apparently you wont hear it. even if you do on the lower levels its very minimal because the units start on 7th floor i believe.

and for the sounds of the plane that we might hear shouldnt be a problem, my bro has a condo in richmond and planes fly by there, bugged me at first when i went there. but my bro and his gf doesnt even notice it anymore. so its okay.

there were only 415 units not 500.

[c3m]

If I'm not wrong Floor 5 and 6 are reserved for social housing.
Also, the North tower facing the mountains would get zero view in a few years because there are going to be highrise right across from you soon.

[AWDTurboLuvr]

The lack of research from buyers is amazing. The only things people look at are the feature list and the presentation centre when they buy it. They don't look into who the developers are, their history, the warranty company and they most certainly don't go to city hall to see what proposed developments are happening around the neighbourhood. I swear to god, some people do more research when they buy their TV's than their homes.

The price/sq-ft is no cheaper than anywhere else in Metro Vancouver. In fact, without parking, they stripped out a lot of the value.

[hsh4]

good post on the pros cons. my parents usually have some kinda vip thing whenever new condos are out and they can go in before the line ups n everything. they caught on to pretty much everything you said about this particular one. one more thing they took note of was that if you look at the floor plan closely, majority of the 2 bedrooms have walls are slanted which wastes a lot of space given that its so small already. def not worth investing. terrible floor plan

[too_slow]

^My grandparents do property investments in HK. One of the best advice they have given me was "imagine the unit without all the fancy decor, paint, fancy electronics/appliances for a sec.. does the floor plan makes sense? is the area desirable/convenient?" Like you said, I've met a lot of buyers that never review the strata minutes/developer's history. They go buy units based on how pretty it looks with the granite counter-tops and hardwood floor. I guess people don't realize the counter-tops/SS appliances and fake h/w flooring is only worth $12,000 (the unit stickers for over $390,000)

[sh0n]

Originally Posted by geelaw

my gf's mom actually got one in the south tower for her, im excited for her as i will probably be living there as well, just gotta pay the mom a bit of rent. got the two bed room, we thought we lined up early.. got there around 8pm the night before? holy there were tons of ppl alrdy. it was hard sitting in lawn chairs out in the cold for so many hours but it was worth it. by the time we got in most units were sold alrdy so we didnt get what we wanted and the rest of the one bedrooms were no parking which is really inconvient for me since i need my car for work. so we have decided to go for the two bedroom unit with the parking. TnT will make us fat. HAHA kidding.. maybe.

as for the sounds of the trains, apparently you wont hear it. even if you do on the lower levels its very minimal because the units start on 7th floor i believe.

and for the sounds of the plane that we might hear shouldnt be a problem, my bro has a condo in richmond and planes fly by there, bugged me at first when i went there. but my bro and his gf doesnt even notice it anymore. so its okay.

there were only 415 units not 500.

I'm curious you mentioned you will be living there. Did you buy a suite as well or do you plan to move in with your gf and gf's mom?

[Soundy]

Originally Posted by AWDTurboLuvr

The lack of research from buyers is amazing.

Why do you assume that people snapping these things up are doing so with no research? Maybe these are simply people with different priorities than you when it comes to what they want in a property.

The price/sq-ft is no cheaper than anywhere else in Metro Vancouver. In fact, without parking, they stripped out a lot of the value.

And why do you assume EVERYONE gives a fuck about the parking? That might be a rhetorical question considering this is a CAR forum, but believe it or not, there are people out there who get by just fine without a car. If a place costs less BECAUSE it doesn't have associated parking, maybe that's a "pro" for them, rather than a "con". Why would you want to pay more for an amenity you'll never use?

Bill Good had Bob Rennie on talking about this development the other day, he noted that his producer, Jessica, was quite interested in the concept of the development, because she lives (or had, one point) exactly that type of lifestyle - working downtown, not having a car, etc. There ARE actually people that find this appealing, and that doesn't mean they "haven't done their research".

[sh0n]

Originally Posted by too_slow

^My grandparents do property investments in HK. One of the best advice they have given me was "imagine the unit without all the fancy decor, paint, fancy electronics/appliances for a sec.. does the floor plan makes sense? is the area desirable/convenient?" Like you said, I've met a lot of buyers that never review the strata minutes/developer's history. They go buy units based on how pretty it looks with the granite counter-tops and hardwood floor. I guess people don't realize the counter-tops/SS appliances and fake h/w flooring is only worth $12,000 (the unit stickers for over $390,000)

Exactly, you gotta go into the display suite and strip out all the furnishings, design elements (kitchen, flooring, countertops, bathrooms) etc and see if the layout is a good fit for your needs.

[geelaw]

Originally Posted by sh0n

I'm curious you mentioned you will be living there. Did you buy a suite as well or do you plan to move in with your gf and gf's mom?

the suite is for her, not for her and her mom.