Luckily for my ex-coworker, no downgrade was needed moving several blocks east from Cambie to Main. In fact, his family easily came out on top given that along with their neighbours, they were paid off by a developer to the tune of something like a cool million for the inconvenience of having to relocate. Win-win for both sides!

yup.

i've lived in langley,newton,fleetwood before and I am so glad I got the out of there.

I know everyone has their own likes, but for me personally, I cant stand the commute, I would pay a premium to save myself from commuting and dealing with terrible drivers.

Not to mention that although you have a giant house in those places, a lot of places in surrey are now becoming crowded. soo many illegal suites and cars parked on small side streets/roads. surrey also already have their own crime problems.

Live where you work. Commute time is priceless.

Theres no need to be shitting on anyone neighborhood. Gastown, Hastings, Chinatown, Main Street etc. Atleast these properties are somewhat affordable and have lots of upside.

I agree with your point, some of it, I think. But I don't see how you can represent the view of "a lot of people". I can also say a lot of people who have owned in Van-West are old and don't really care where they spend the last 10 years of their lives. They can and do cash out, help the next generation and the one beyond that in doing so. Because when they die and the inheritance gets passed on, that's what ends up happening anyways except cashing out now there's a certainty in gains, and they don't have to worry about price correction to what the fundamentals say they should be.

I have "a lot" of friends I went to a West side high school with who are now happily living in east Van, bby, Langley, Richmond, etc etc. And they grew up living "the life" of a westsider, but seem to be doing just fine in their new neighbourhoods, better than just sticking it out I would say. The alternative is staying in your parents' basement to live "your west side life", that's sticking it out IMO.

and perhaps this brings us to the crux of the discussion, when one has to make a choice like this for the sake of ownership in a questionable time of valuation.

as i've said a million times now, you can rent for less than the cost to own, over the long term, renting and investing the difference will come out ahead (always tough to use historical rates, but it's the same for either side).

so, instead of living in what is still not a great neighbourhood in a small box for what is effectively 1/2 a mil, one could rent a really nice place in yaletown, coal harbour, west end, etc. for way less.

having traveled as much as i have this year around the world, it makes even less sense how expensive in absolute and relative terms vancouver is. but that's ok, bc renting is quite affordable, so at least residents have a choice.

i'd think my last 10 years of my life should be those in the most comfort as, i've worked all my life, why should i sacrifice my last ten? but ppl probably do not see life the same as me, and that's cool too.

Lol three hour round trip?

At 5pm any weekday I can get from 152nd and 104 to first and nanaimo in 20 minutes.

Time is precious. I used to spend, at least, 90 min in traffic, every day. I did that for 6 years. That's well into 300 hours per year wasted in the car. 8 years ago, I got a new job, and bought a place near the office. Costs and stress are way down. Despite the housing explosion in Langley, I'm still able to get to/from work in 8 min. It frees up a lot of my time to relax and do nothing ;).

That is probably the most truthful thing ever, and my change wasn't even that great.

I used to spend 40mins driving each way to work. Now it takes me 20mins to skytrain to work, with the option of working from home.

Stress levels are way WAY down, and the savings are incredible. Not only is it gas money, but also insurance, and wear and tear on my car. I can justify putting max performance summer tires on it and not worry about having to get new tires in a year.

Its so nice to be home at 4:30-5:00pm instead of 6pm.

100% agreed with your first point, however to address the second.
We aren't "shitting on neighbourhoods." We are having a reasonable discussion about what makes/doesn't make a neighbourhood livable. The communities being discussed have a REAL problem that should not be swept under the rug.
I've been looking quite intently for places as of late, and there just isn't anything thats jumping at me. Prices for the 350-450k homes seem to have stayed consistent or even dropped slightly over the last year and a bit from my experience, however there has been a massive drop in places for sale in this range over the past couple of months. Its going to take something special for me to throw down the premium to own over rent, but that being said I still want to at some point moderately soon. I also really want to blow this down payment on something way more fun.:okay:
There were 1 or 2 places I probably would have jumped on in the summer, however the funds were tied up at the time.

What neighbourhood are you looking at?
I am going to assume you are looking at a condo or townhouse at this price level?

I live in a condo up on SFU and for whatever reasons, the prices are abnormally low compared to houses and town homes at the bottom of the hill.

With that being said, we bought to live in so the price changes doesn't really bother us too much, other than if the assessments went down so we pay less property taxes. :fuckyea:

It's only a sacrifice if you think and feel its a sacrifice, which you clearly do. Life is full of sacrifices for a variety of reasons; to provide for your family, to provide for your future, realizing you are living a life of excess, etc etc. I'd rather think of them as compromises.

When I become housebound there's nothing that I could do in a house in Shaugnessy that I wouldn't be able to do in a similar or even nicer house in say Burnaby.

Assuming my kids don't throw me into a retirement home.

If you live near a skytrain station there isn't really a need for a car. I take the skytrain to and from work everyday. Only takes 40mins vs driving would take at least an hour.

That's cool... If you only ever go to work and come home...

Today I had to buy a couple pieces of lumber, and some plywood, i'd like to know how public transportation addresses my needs...

I'm the opposite. Takes me 25 minutes on a bad day to drive to work.
30-45 minutes to drive home.

It takes me 1 hr to B line/walk or bus/Skytrain/bus/walk to work.
It takes over 1 hr to transit it home.

We're renting near work now (UBC) but there really isn't much around here that is in our target price range that isn't a 1 bedroom or 2 very small bedroom apartment style place. We could buy here, but we're trading the lack of commute for a house with a yard and space to grow.

In a way the dogs are driving our decision. Not that I can guarantee that we would have opted to buy a small condo at UBC without them, but the wife and I want our weekends spent at home watching our dogs play in the yard and having friends over. 1.25 hours a day in the car is a pretty steep price to pay, time wise, but other than the proximity to work, we don't really like living here. Nothing wrong with this area, and if I were younger and still in school this area would be awesome, but we're not spring chickens anymore and living amongst wealthy undergrads is becoming tiresome with respect to the late night noise and having to take an elevator to take the dogs out, navigating the puddles of puke from the previous evenings debauchery. Plus, rent around here is high so our future mortgage is shockingly only going to be $260 more than what we pay now in rent for 4X the square footage.

No offense to the likely high number of undergrads on RS. Not criticizing undergrad life at all...I did it too...it's just that I'm old now and not cool anymore (or perhaps never that cool to begin with LOL).

even though hipster dufus gregor likes to give the view that Vancouver is a great city for transit, the fact is, it's not.

as said, you may be ok going from home to work, but going to most parts of richmond, burnaby, etc. yes the skytrain will get you somewhere in that region, but boy is it not great at all.

sadly, most ppl still need cars in vancouver - i wish it were different, but it's not.

20 Over 5. A new initiative you will be hearing more of!

Came across this rent versus buy calculator by nytimes.com:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...abt=0002&abg=1

I think it is as accurate a calculator I've seen so far.

I used it, and it's revealing in many ways.

Live in BBY(around BCIT) and work around Science World. Seems decent to take the bus and skytrain.

If you live near a mall with skytrain (IE Metrotown brentwood mall) there is really not much need for a car. You get shop around where you live. The savings you get from not having a car is pretty huge as well ($300 for gas , $200 for insurance $200 for maintance). Also if you do need to use your own car for a day or two you can try getting a membership from car2go.

Depends on your lifestyle too. I guess.

what do these numbers represent? if monthly, damn you have a gas guzzling POS (maintenance of $200 per month!)

thing is, you've said it yourself, you'd have to shop where you live, or live near a mall. that's limiting an awful lot of ppl to a very limited number of properties.

apparently it's a really good thing i bought


also is this a US based calculator....they make reference of taxes and mortgage interest being deductible

NYTimes, yeah I think it is US based.

I've played with this one before. Not sure how accurate it is, but it is Canadian.
1.877.987.1420 : CanadaMortgage.com

Yeah, the maintenance seems a bit high. I've spent less then $100 a month to maintain 3 vehicles over the last year and a bit. I do agree though that vehicles are expensive. I guess it would depend on the age of the vehicle but still.

My past job they used to give me a new truck every 3 years, pay for maintenance, gas and insurance it saved me so much money.....those were the good old days. I used to drive a lot in my last job though, this one I'm in the office 95% of the time.

Imagine being able to work 4 days a week @ 10 hours each day for your 40 hr work week.
Or as you said, having a company vehicle that you can take home and your shift starts the minute you get into the car and ends the minute you get home and you get out of the car.
Or, having the ability to work remotely from home. :fuckyea:

Just like being Multicartual, paid to be at home surfing RS and pron and rubbing one out. :fappery: