My criteria for a townhouse is that it must have a side by side garage for two cars. The longer garages seem annoying

This can end poorly.

My parents sold their house to downsize, in a prime location, then had 3 months to "immediately" buy something else.
What ended up happening? They ended up settling for a house during the last month, because they didnt find / and or were outbid for the properties they did like. Thinking back, they probably thought "yeah we can find out next dream home in 3 months"

I still dont understand why they even bothered. Just live in the bigger original house, and forget you have a floor to "downsize"

Or sell, rent, and buy a house you actually want , once the opportunity shows its self.

In theory, I still think it's best to try to buy immediately after you sell, especially if you're upsizing. Only because you don't know what the market is going to do.

That being said, I can see how you may be forced to buy something you don't want. With any of the scenarios you could get screwed.

well it can go so many ways. seen it too many times.

1) if you buy first... oh great.. now you have 3 months to try to sell... In this shit market, you'll have to drop your pants or learn to be super resonable to not be getting 20% that you were expecting.

2) Yes you can have a tough time finding a shit house. Cash is king.

My friend always said it right - it's always better to be the guy paying for a lap dancing than being the person having to give one. Fact you have to provide means you've already lost already (daddy issues).

^your friend is a male stripper!??!?!!? :fullofwin:

:fulloffuck:

If you're trying to buy first you can at least use a "subject to sale of existing home" clause for some protection. As long as you don't get super emotionally invested into the house you're trying to downsize into you don't have to drop your pants on the price.

Most places in Vancouver would just laugh at you if you put that as a subject, but it's possible. There's no real other scenario where you don't put yourself in a pinch though, either for buying or selling depending what you do first.
We did a long closing on the place we put in an offer on to give us a chance to sell. It sold first week, but we at least had the cushion so we weren't gonna have to take a bullshit offer in a panic.
Your realtor should be giving you guidance on a tactic if they are worth anything. There's lots of shitty ones out there, but the guy I worked with definitely changed my opinions on the value of a good realtor.
Most of them are still pieces of shit though. Do your due diligence and I'm happy to share who I worked with if anyone is looking north shore stuff as that's what he's focused on.

I think in the current market a subject to sale would be possible/acceptable

side by side garage is not only better because of the actual garage, it means your unit is more square and less of just a giant hallway

Sellers are taking subjects now. Most places are only getting 2 or 3 offers, if that. I have a friend who was looking at Coquitlam, and it seems like it's barely moving out there or it's a chunk under asking.

Went to view a detach last night in Richmond
Asking 1.8, assessed is 1.6
Realtor said if you come in at assessment, it'll be a done deal.
Currently tenanted both upstairs and downstairs at 2.4k each

welcome to RICEMOND!!! come for the food, stay for the incompetence

Old houses on big lots seem to be selling to redevelop as multifamily but condos are radioactive right now. My friend listed her condo at a good price compared to other units in the building but it’s been 3 weeks and not a single showing.

This is how I ended up in Poco. It was the closest 2 car garage to downtown that I could afford. I've done the tandem parking in an underground townhouse rental. It worked out alright at the time because I had a summer and winter car, so one would always just be parked for months at time. It would be terrible if it was you & a partner that were often in and out.

There's a smattering of side by side garages in the Lougheed Mall area, and a smattering of them around Richmond. But most are tandems and it's annoying when you have a couple who both works. Chances are the one who leaves first will be the one that comes home first so it doesn't make any practical sense.

Considering double (wide) garages are barely wide enough to fit 2 cars they aren’t all that great. In fact, I decided to build a “tandem” garage on our property. Fun car is a bit of a paint to get out sure, but 2 real parking spots and way more wall space. My old townhouse tandem was amazing, it was also 14’ wide at the rear section which was unreal, for a legitimate workshop. If it’s 2 daily drivers, then yes not suggested at all.

Yea, side by side isn't that big, they make it barely wide enough for the car, let alone your garbage can, and wheels storage. Can you even open the door. There's usually no room for storage on side by side. So you better be good at parking. Also, if you don't have a driveway it's gonna be a bitch, you have to park in your garage every time and can't just dump the car on the driveway for short trips.

This, leave it in the "driveway" for 5 mins and you'll get a bylaw fine because some overzealous neighbour ratted on you. There's at least one of those in every complex and they make it a point to patrol the complex.

^ also the visitor parking nazi

There is only one townhouse complex within 15-20min walking distance of Lougheed Mall with a side by side built within the last 10yrs. I bought into the complex 2yrs ago for a regretful premium as its the only and last complex with a garage and driveway in the area. Some of the 2-car garage units can also fit 2 on the driveway but go for around 1.35mil

The only other th complex I know with a garage is further down near government road built about 20yrs ago and they also go for between 1.2-1.3 mil

I'm so happy im finally able to afford a detached house in my area :)

We started our search looking at townhomes but then quickly realized we actually qualify for a lot more than we thought due to the equity in the house and our income changing over the last 10 years, I thought I would be stuck in a condo/townhouse forever.

Edit: and we also have the luxury of searching around and not worried about houses selling while we explore.

If you notice also, the living spaces are a lot tighter with the same sq.ft as the side by side. When I was looking at townhouses i automatically disqualified tandem garages. Even though we work from home, the big thing for us was having a wider living space on the upper floors.

Is there any reason not to go with a mortgage broker and just deal with banks yourself? Any possibility of a better deal?

I went both to get more info, went to my bank and a few others on my own as well as had a mortgage broker look into it for me, I ended up getting a better rate at my own bank than anywhere else. I informed the broker, she said she can't match or better and told me to take the bank rate. (in 2022 for renewal)