Make a politics arguing room. I'll bring the beer. Glory hole TBD depending on the mood.

I've had talks with my family; 3300sq for 2 people.

1) they never ever want to move to apartment
2) never want to deal with elevators + garbarge chutes
3) they say it's just so company to just drive, park and walk into a house.
4) last but not least.. and this is key. There is an emotional pull / feeling / nostalgia as we have been there for 20+ years.

We also have a ping pong table with 20 foot ceiling so you can't beat that. My other inlaws have his own shed + tools for his woodwork, + then they also do gardening... so all in all, totally no way in hell to beat that and ask them to move.

Extra rooms?

Built in Murphy beds for the guests once a year, use the room as you see fit the rest of the time?

Well the thing is their situation is different. They all won the housing lottery. It all sounds like their houses are all paid off, things will be much more different if they are 70, live off $1000 a month from the government, still owe $600000 that's like $4000 a month they have to come up with. :okay:

I get not wanting to give that up, but it depends on the persons finances if that's smart or not.
2.5 million for my retirement and a condo sounds a lot fuckin cooler than 500k and a house. Some people it totally makes sense not to downsize, but some people need to look at the math a little harder.

Or they get old enough they can't do home maintenance... even my parents I am starting to put the idea into their heads that they might have to consider some options soon... my Mom is pretty healthy (cancer survivor) turning 80 and my dad is 72 with major heart problem history and they're up and down the stairs in their house like 50 times a day... kitchen and bedrooms are upstairs... that's not gonna be possible forever.

As it is they pay someone to come cut their lawn now and do hedges etc. I've brought up the idea of downsizing and my Mom especially has been the one that's instantly broken down into tears saying she doesn't want to change anything. It's rough.

The sooner you get your parents downsize the sooner they die. That maintenance and stairs is keeping them going. The sedentary lifestyles brings on such quick deterioration of health it’s not even funny. Well that’s what I’ve seen at least in my own family.

Never downsize to a townhome.

I’ve said this before but after building like 500 townhomes when I worked for a contractor I saw so frequently people downsize into a nice townhome only to move out within a year or two because it’s nothing but stairs. Getting up and down is one thing but having a fall is basically the end for most people..

Outside my wife’s grandma.. she’s 97, fell and broke her hip at 95, has had Covid twice, pnumonia, was in palliative care 6 months ago, and now she’s back at home living in her detached lol..

At this point I told my wife I’m like fuck she can do whatever she wants who cares, she’s fucking 97 and she’s pretty much won the lotto max in terms of getting out of the hospital 6 fucking times in the last 2 years lol fuck it’s crazy

Their neighbours are an old Chinese couple who are in their 90’s as well and the woman fell I guess, had a stroke and died, and her grandma was so sad saying oh I can’t believe she’s gone etc. I’m like she was 92!!! Don’t worry about it!! rofl

Fuck like an old world Yugoslavian too, had a tough life and still just grinding it out

Oh yah I'm not trying to push them in any way shape or form, just bringing up to them that at some point they may have to think about stairs if their hips go out and they can't actually physically even climb them anymore, etc.

I hope that's never the case but... it happens to all of us at some point.

Thoughts on elevator inside your house? I've seen some in the $3m + range have built in elevator, I've also seen a $1.4 town house with one.

I have no idea what the maintenance needed will be or how much it adds to the electricity bill :considered:

My though is this: If the houses in your neighbourhood also have an elevator, then yes you should have one. For example, I live on a standard lot in East Van, and having an elevator would be ridiculous. Meanwhile my cousin lives in North Van, and he has an elevator, like all the other houses in his area ($6M+, amazing view, big lots, etc.).

if i keep up this eating pace, ill get an elevator installed too. it doesnt look that bad in the home if you do it like this guy

Wish.com Brian Baulmer

hahaha yes, quite mean but yes. dead on.

My parents (mid-70s now) were 2 people in 3900 sq ft in Richmond. Couple years ago they sold and moved into a new 1100 sq ft apartment in Vancouver to be closer to us. With the extra money, they gifted me a $80k car! Now they're free to go traveling as they please and spoil their grandkids...

Hahahahahahaha

I like how he starts the video off by telling us, like we could never know on our own, that stairs are challenging to people in wheelchairs!! Wow... revelation.

And then that there's not always someone strong like him to carry someone upstairs.

Dude is so insecure it's tangible.

his wife looks like return pile wish.com version of Amanda Seyfried

https://media4.giphy.com/media/AC1HrkBir3bGg/giphy.gif

god she's. hot... i love amanda seyfried


ARRGH SO HOT RIGHT NOW

My sister asked to go to Costco with me since we live near each other now (she lives in a low rise condo)... holy f*ck what a pain in the ass it was to get everything into her condo. I didn't realize how insane it is to load and unload when you live in a condo.

I can see why people wouldn't want to move into a condo. That was brutal. I guess if we had a dolly it would have been easier, but damnnnnnn. What a pain in the ass.

I'm not even old yet (relatively speaking) and I'm on the first floor but that trip from the parkade to the door with shit is painful especially if you forget stuff in the car or need multiple trips. Gotta load 'er up and try to do that ish in 1 session or die trying.

I quite often catch myself looking at ranchers or split levels house wise. I only look at multi-level homes when I check stuff out in Calgary cuz I like the idea of a theatre in the basement or sporting room which 75% of the houses there seem to have. We don't really have legit basements here anywhere.

I tell my friends living in condos to keep one of these foldable dollies in their vehicles for their Costco trips - load their stuff inside those cardboard boxes then stack them on the dolly.
https://www.costco.ca/magna-cart-fla...100681132.html

Not sure what your budget and style is but this seems (relatively) decent with room for 4 cars out in Tsawwassen. The area's pretty nice to live outside of limited food options.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9...14539743_zpid/

Don't get a split level, my place is a split and it sucks. To get in the front door, stairs, leave the entry way, stairs, go to the family room, you guessed it, STAIRS. When we move after the kids are done school we're getting a rancher with a basement. It's fine for adults obviously but a pain if you have kids and need to baby proof stuff or have older relatives, my grandparents can't come over very easily because the way the house is laid out you can't really add railings to most of the small staircases.

Staying active with stairs and maintenance is great and all til you take a fall and then it's game over. If they stick to their limits it's one thing but everyone's always stubborn and then you're worrying about the 90 something year old trying to put up Christmas lights. That's where those seniors complexes are great, either the houses where they're all ranchers with flat roads and the heavy maintenance is taken care of so they can stick to the lighter duty things, or the condo buildings with a bunch of amenities and events and lots of people their own age to interact with.

So I ended up following the advice here about talking to my mom about house succession and wills. Ended up convincing her to potentially split the house into 2 down payments for me and my brother whenever we wanna get married / have kids and she can live with both of us. Ideally similar neighborhood aka east van / south van.


My mom at 72 has never travelled and worked her entire life. Got her first down-payment at 52. She hardly knows any countries let alone reading a map of the world. I bought a map so she can point at a bunch of locations and I'll show her what's over there and see where she wants to go. I want to plan all her vacations / trips over the next 8 years, while she's healthy and able to walk 40 - 70,000 steps daily. Just can't do any intense activity.

She currently spends $6K/year on dim sum and living expenses, saves $24K/year on pension + investment income, we pay for all the housing costs for her. If I don't start blasting away her money and spending for her, she's going to leave us an extra $24K/year inheritance that I we don't need. It's also sad to watch someone work their whole life and pass it down.

Does anybody have a general idea how quickly the elderly body degrades from 70 - 90?

Anyone purchased earthquake insurance here? If so, did you buy a secondary insurance that covers the deductible of the earthquake insurance?

Grats on the early "inheritance!" I firmly believe that's the way to go if the parents want to help their kids. Also slow it down and take it easy lol. 40-70k steps daily is insane, particularly for someone in their 70s.

Lol sounds like a scam..

Also that has to be a typo.. no one walking 40k steps a day. In Disneyland I hit 29,000 one day which wa somthing stupid like 21kms and I’m pretty sure that was the most I’ve ever walked in a single day walking from 630am till 10-11pm lol