Hahaha.

One of the reasons I moved out to South Surrey was because I didn't want to be looking into my neighbors (and them looking into mine) window when I look outside.

Now I've got no house on 2 sides (across and one aside), backs into nothing but nature and it'd take a binocular to even see my only neighbor's roof. Thanks rich neighbor to have a giantic lot and yet a tiny house!

what's the longest length approximately that a plumber can snake a scope/camera?

That's exactly why we moved to the house we're in now. Our old house was probably nicer it was much newer but it was a fishbowl, I never wanted to open the blinds. A lot more yard work in this house but it's so private and I can actually throw a ball for my dog to fetch and I know long term the land will appreciate better with almost 4x the lot size.

https://i.ibb.co/G9QC4qQ/FB-IMG-1685888214541.jpg

How is South Surrey? It must suck if you don't work from home, everything requires a drive and it's all just chain, strip mall restaurants? Going anywhere requires tunnel or bridge. Flood zone?

You definitely need a car to get around. Being close to WR and Crescent Beach is great. Also having the border right there is a big plus. Bellingham Costco is just as close as Surrey Costco but a way better experience. No real flood zone unless you're next to the Ocean.

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I'm looking at Calgary Airbnb's specifically studio/small 1BR's, planning to make a trip on there. Does anyone have anything bad to say about investing there?

My friend has 100+ reviews, cleaners, logistics set-up, experience and I'm planning to buy 50/50 with him on another unit and bum off his account and experience.

ROI on Downpayment atm,
3% Interest = 19.5% Return Airbnb, 13.53% Long-term tenant
4% Interest = 15.43% Return Airbnb, 9.65% Long-term tenant
5.47% interest (Current 2 year fix) = 9.58% Return Airbnb, 3.93% Long-term tenant

My good friend bought there pre covid for Airbnb purposes. He is essentially doing a little bit better than breaking even. If he were to purchase now he'd certainly be losing money.

Before diving into investing into the Calgary market, look at historic market fluctuations. Prices will rise and drop very suddenly with the oil and gas markets so you need to do your homework on this.

Not exactly the best example, more so anecdotal, but a college friend of mine invested into a condo in Calgary without doing research. Oil and gas market took a toll. He freaked out, lost his tenants, couldn't afford the payments anymore and lost $250,000. If you have the discipline and want to play the long term game, it's okay to do, but given the market, you'd make more money on a blue chip car.

not sure about longest but my plumber went 50'

Snaking blind costs $350, adding the camera, get this cost... an EXTRA 400....

He should have rented out his address for super car owners to register their rides in AB. At least that’s before they closed the loop hole.

I heard you can still do it by creating an LLC in AB and then having the LLC buy the car. Then sell it to you personally after 4-5 years or whatever the hell the limitation

The way to do it is the following, but it only really works if you've got a fleet of cars, don't ask me how I know:

Creates an Tax-Cheating... sorry... Tax-Optimizing Exotic Rental LLC in AB. Buy supercars, do fleet insurance (minimum is 5 last time I checked), then "rent" it to you wherever you are in Canada. Switch cars once every 6mth -1 day.

All depreciations, maintenance, insurance, taxes, even storage fee... etc can be written off as expenses.

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Back to topic

South Surrey is amazing IMO. For people who claim West Van or Van West is the epitome of good living, I think they are so overrated.

I mean... maybe some areas in Van... like Southland, where it's still possible to acquire houses with acreage, I'd give you that... but everything considered, the environment is so much nicer in South Surrey, especially in the area along Crescent Road, Elgin, Chantrell.

You've got big ass trees everywhere you go, the lowest precipitation in metro van, and most importantly... not living 6fts apart from your neighbors. And all that at 1/3 of the price for similar-sized lots in Vancouver.

Yes, the traffic can suck sometimes. But really... unless you work downtown Vancouver or North Shore... Burnaby/New West/Richmond are all 30min or less. And if you go EV and get access to HOV, it's usually not all that bad. With the upcoming expansion of HOVs on both sides of Massey Tunnel, the daily commute should be a breeze compared to the traffic nightmare you face on all other cities in YVR.

I am biased AF since I'm in the area. But really... if you compare objectively what we got here vs. Van West or West Van... I just find South Surrey to be so much nicer.

Re-ran numbers with the new approval rates at 5.47% + Updated Cleaning fees.

Very very marginal now lol. Pretty much GIC level returns, but we'll be close to nice returns if rates are sub 3-4%

If gic rates are back to 3-4 stonks should be back to 5+ lol :okay:

I still prefer westside of Vancouver or West Van. South Surrey is nice and so are parts of Langley but it's too isolated and give it 10 years or so before all the large lots are sold off and converted to subdivisions.

There have been many attempts to rezone those RA (residential acreage) zonings into something else. But all voted down by residents complains.

Unless BC gov't nullifies all single house zonings, nothing much would change.

+ 1 for South Surrey. Grew up there and my parents still live out there.
It has almost everything you need around there from big chain grocery to sungiven (chinese version wholefood) and all the bars and restaurants that you can think of.
I still have a lot of friends from high school that started a family there while working in other cities (Burnaby, Richmond, Vancouver).
As long you get out of the city by 7am onto hwy99 you are pretty much traffic-free.
Another thing I like about South Surrey is that weekdays after 6pm the roads are pretty much cleared of any traffic. Something I can really appreciate now that I'm in Richmond :alone:

Question for you guys:

We're thinking of selling our home and a realtor has offered to give us an appraisal (his estimate of what we can sell for). I'm curious, would this put us under any obligation to sell with this realtor?

Nope, unless you sign a contract.

No, you're not obligated until you sign the agreement with the realtor.

When we sold our place we met with 2 or 3 Realtors to hear their pitch and plan, and decided between the one we felt was best for us.

Turned out great as the service was amazing, the marketing plan was solid and included staging, and we ended up selling for highest value in our building. The commission was pretty much the same, but each realtors vibe and approach was very different.

appraisal? what he's going to show you comparables that sold next to you (zealty can tell you that for free) or just print out a BC assessment paper that shows what your assesment is at?

Seems like just a way to get his foot in the door.

You'd have to sign a contract with the realtor to have him represent you in the sale. If you have not done that, then you are under no legal obligation to stick with him.

Whether there are any moral or implied obligations is another story though.

The BC gov't has already announced their intention to do this in the fall for all urban areas and I don't think South Surrey will get a pass as Surrey is on the hit list for forced housing targets.

Thanks for the advice. Seems like a tactic to get his foot in the door. He wanted to take a look at our property and give his thoughts on what we could list/sell for.

if he/she is reputable I don't see why not, sometimes they can offer great advise on house staging and other useful information to get you a higher selling price.
you can always check their previous sold properties and see where they are at. If they were just bunch of 1bed 2bed condos then yeah...maybe not

Make sure you get at least 3 different realtors to go through the possible sale of your property

You can really tell who doesn't give a shit and who actually wants to be invested in selling your property

Furthermore you can find out pretty quick who is orientated with the area, marketing, experience, etc, by a simple conversation