how the hell does it take 'at least an hour' from bcit to science world... I don't even think the bus takes that long... :fulloffuck: and $300 in gas for that trip?!

Anyways, damn :p

I believe that has something to do with the condos being on leased land and not freehold. SFU and UBC (I think) both lease land to these developers for 99 years or something.

I don't think so. UBC properties have insane prices.

As if we didn't already know this already:

from the Vancouver Sun:
75% of Metro Vancouver neighbourhoods too costly for average family: Sun database

Some golden quotes here: How young Vancouver buyers are crashing the real estate party - The Globe and Mail

The anti-multicartual?

Apparently being an adult means borrowing money from parents to own a shithole, er, 'fixer-upper'.

And lastly:

That *MAY* have something to do with it, but then again the lease was signed for 99 years and I believe that leaves at least another 85-90 years left in the lease.

I know some parts of Vancouver is lease hold but you couldn't tell by the prices.

Also, I know it's just looking for examples on MLS, but some house boats are asking as much as a condo and are the same size as a condo but you get no land or water in this case as you still have to pay docking fees. :heckno:

A lot of FI's will not finance property on leaseland. That in part reduces the value of these properties. I am not sure about the UBC area but alot of the properties around SFU is leased land. I know someone who wanted to buy a condo up there on one of the new developments to rent out to students but a lot of FI's wouldnt give him a mortgage as it was leasehold.

So question for everyone, cell reception. We've started doing some research, and looked at a few places since our landlord is selling the place we are living at right now.

I've noticed a lot of newer condo buildings have problems with cell reception. Are there anyways to fix this issue. I've seen some cell signal repeaters, and really aren't sure if I want to use something like that.

If you (and others) complain enough then the cell company will most likely do something about it. But I'd think you'd probably have to suffer for a while before it gets better

UBC is also leased land for those asking.

SFU is cheaper (besides the obvious lease land)) because well..,it's on a mountain!! Although they've built a great community up there there, convenience (to and from) is really the reason why there is such a price gap when you come back down to a centralized location such as Lougheed/Brentwood area.

Interesting article:

Opinion: Kowtowing to communists wrong approach for B.C.

highlights:

Australia set to help China seize assets of corrupt Chinese officials: reports | Reuters

Australia set to help China seize assets of corrupt Chinese officials: reports

Scumbag Poloz. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...ticle21439305/

Creates one of the least affordable cities to live in.. has the nerve to suggest people work for free when growth stagnates and jobs are minimal.

On a related note, a friend of mine who works at CMHC says the president is going to be announcing the employees tomorrow in what he says is "the most anticipated memo in CMHC history." Possibly massive 'restructuring'. This comes three weeks after firing 6 senior management personnel.

When China's economy and real estate regress to the mean, Canada will go down the shitter with it.

Hahaha... one guess how this guy grew up:

Rich

OR

Poor

what are peoples thoughts for mortgage rates in the coming months....i'm up for renewal in April

I'd probably go with another variable. Given that the feds don't plan to increase rates for a while, it doesn't give the BoC much wiggle room to raise rates.

i wonder about this. bc next year the US will raise rates (unless something totally unexpected happens), which will kill the CAD if the BoC doesn't follow suit, and i'm not sure the BoC wants that (personally, i'd want that all day long as we have commodities, and need to restart our manufacturing economy).

then again, rates are so ugly low, i'd potentially see what a 10 year is, and if i can afford it, lock in knowing that in 5 years, chances are my 10 year will be a bargain...

but then again, i'd never have a mortgage in canada, too many risks (no 30 yr mortgages, huge fees to break mortgages)

They should ask him what he did when he was young, and what his first job was. Sounds almost like he advocates taking advantage of the younger generation, which is a bad, really bad, moving forward.

Maybe some of you are reading too much into the 'story'. His original comments seemed to be geared more toward youth (generally high school aged and below), not the ones who are doing unpaid internships. I don't read any of this taking advantage of the younger generation at all in the story.

The way I read it, and nowadays with how competitive getting into certain schools and programs can be, kids/youth are doing lots of volunteer work and this and that to pad their resumes and gain some life experience anyways. This isn't really anything new, its been going on for years and years. Even once you're into your career, you continue to do what it takes to further and advance yourself above your peers, to make yourself a more valuable asset compared to your colleagues in order to earn a better living, if that's what you want to do with your career. If you aren't willing to make those sacrifices, you can't sit on the sideline and cry no fair; life moves on.

When someone brought up unpaid internships, he simply replied yeah if the opportunity is there take it if you can, understanding not everybody will have equal access to that opportunity. Just like how not everybody can afford a university education. Or how not everybody can afford even a college or diploma education while working to pay rent, food, daycare, etc etc.

There seems to be a sense of entitlement, not dissimilar to the sense of entitlement a lot of younger people feel that they should be able to afford and buy a detached house because that's the way they grew up. Basically boils down to if you want something, you have to be willing to work for it.

Best I could get is a 5 year fixed for 2.99% and that's for a 30 year. It appears that they're to be going up a bit in the next little while...

that a renewal or new? what bank?

That's where you are wrong. People shouldn't have to work for free to gain experience. Image a young graduate with 30k of student loan debt living on his/her own, have rent to pay, bills to pay, food to buy can they afford to work for free? Is not a sense of entitlement when all you want to do is work in the field you graduate in and work your way up.

What Poloz said is basically encouraging more companies to use the "Work for free but we give you reference/experience" in turns more companies start doing this and cutting pay on actually hiring people or even cutting back on their current employee.

Remember a few years back a very famous Vancouver tech start up basically did the same thing with interns? Basically making them work for free but have no intention of ever paying them or even actually filling that position up with paid positions.

Also if our youth generations(not just youth by the whole work force for that matter) why are still allowing thousands and thousands of TFW into Canada every month? Shouldn't we try to protect our own citizens first? Shouldn't we give our youth a chance instead of kissing ass to all the companies who love to TFW to take advantage of them? To be honest I feel this whole TFW is totally BS we have enough people wanting work and jobs.

I just renewed at 2.99 for 5 year fixed about a month ago. Only 32 years left :p