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10-02-2025, 12:14 PM
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#36751 | | Los Bastardo owned my ass at least once
Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Van
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I know someone just picked up 16y old concrete high-rise in bby 1100sq for $840.  | 
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10-02-2025, 12:48 PM
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#36752 | | private modder
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Originally Posted by Traum  I am absolutely not disputing the build quality nor the host of problems that you have ran into. But at the same time I just have to ask -- is any of that really new?
My first apartment was built in 2002 or 2003 -- I was only the 2nd owner for it, and I think I bought it in... 2007 or 2008? According to the strata meeting minutes and stories that past strata council members have re-told, the developer was already using the cheapest POS materials they can find that would meet building code. I think our complex had 3 boilers to serve the buildings, and they started failing one after another starting in the 2nd or 3rd year of completion. I think all 3 boilers had already failed at least once by the time the 5 year new build warranty expired, so strata ended up spending big $$$ to replace the whole hot water system with something that would be more reliable, and that system hadn't failed at least until the time when I moved out in 2017 or 2018?
Some air exchanger unit for the common area failed before the 1 or 2 years warranty was up, with some repairs being done -- it worked for a while before failing again, and it dragged on until the 5 year warranty ran out. Strata had to fight (ie. sue or threatened to sue) the developer before they were willing to cough up a sum of money that allowed strata to replace the unit on our own.
The 2 elevators were a little hiccupy, but I think they at least lasted 15+ years before needing major repairs / overhaul. The same cannot be said about the fresh water pipes though. Apparently the developer used the cheapest garbage they can find and pass inspection, and the strata had been dealing with pinhole leaks ever since. Again, it got bad enough by the 10+ year mark where strata had to spend big $$$ to replace as much of the cheapa$$ piping as we can, but there were still places that were deemed too difficult to replace without majorly ripping things open.
The intercom / door opening buzzer / key fob thing needed replacing after 10+ years as well.
I guess our windows didn't leak, but condensation was bad after 10 yrs of use.
I'm sure things are worse with the newer builds, but cheaping out and having crappy craftsmanship just seems like it has been around for much longer than the past 10 years. | I think you and GS8 are right.
Whether it was 2002 or 2022, yes there will always be a wide range in quality and craftsman ship. Our Yaletown condo (2007 build) had the cheapest cabinentry you'd ever see. And the top load washers they sourced all started failing around 5 years in. So some things never change.
I think the biggest difference between 20 years ago and today is things today are SO much more expensive to replace/repair because everything nowadays is so damn complicated and/or fancy. Especially as building codes continue to require developers to be more energy efficient, that usually means more complications when it comes to repairs and maintenance.
Our last condo (2020 build) had some issues with the hot water one time and all units were getting intermittent hot water. I feel like in the old days, a guy with a wrench shows up, finds the faulty part, fixes it, and you're done.
But in our case, it was a computer issue causing it, thanks to our extremely complicated building controls system. It took 2 weeks to replicate the issue, troubleshoot it, and get it back to normal. Not cheap by any means.
Buildings are like cars now. All that new technology can't be repaired easily, nor cheaply like we used to do.
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10-02-2025, 12:59 PM
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#36753 | | private modder
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Few more thoughts actually.
Elevators are all proprietary now to the manufacturer and they hold a monopoly when it comes to repairs and maintenance.
Also, because developers have high costs, they charge $1000k per sq ft, and at that price, people expect "luxury". I think of it like what if Toyota, Honda, Kia and Nissan all disappeared, and the only cars we could buy are Audi, BMW and MB. That's kind of what condos are now.
And now you only have "luxury" condos, with fancy features, all that stuff costs that much more to fix and maintain.
Our developer installed Technogym equipment in the gym and when it died 15 months later, the repair and replacement costs were astronomical. They could have gone with cheaper stuff but didn't.
Or like GS8 said, nowadays everyone gets integrated appliances to create a "luxury" kitchen but all that does is make repairs more of a headache.
At least in the old days, it felt like there was more range in getting cheap vs luxury, and there was more belief that cheap buildings were cheaper to maintain and vice versa.
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10-02-2025, 01:08 PM
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#36754 | | Rs has made me the woman i am today!
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| https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...zero-1.7648947  
Ken Sim wants a 0% increase in property tax rate increases this year (surprise it's just before election season!).
I've said many time that property tax rates are way too low in the lower mainland, it's a huge giveaway to homeowners, it robs cities of much needed revenue, AND it causes the wrong use of really valuable land (add more density).
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10-02-2025, 02:09 PM
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#36755 | | Los Bastardo owned my ass at least once
Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Van
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^ Gis collecting boomers would like to have a word with you
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10-02-2025, 02:16 PM
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#36756 | | SFICC-03*
Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: richmond
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this city is unaffordable enough as it is.. we don't have to max out every difficulty slider just cause there's room.
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10-02-2025, 02:25 PM
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#36757 | | RS Veteran
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Excuse me, $250K+ Revscene ballers. I saw all the cars you guys pulled up in last time. Bugattis, private jets (ahem, 68style and GS8) and Rolls Royces. mikemhg downplayed it and rolled up "only" in a new Mazda 3 while whitev70r wanted to maintain his anonymity with a freshly mounted ENVE wheels and nothing less than a Campagnolo Super Record EPS groupset and hand-crafted Columbus steel frame by old-world Italian craftsmen at Colnago.
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10-02-2025, 02:33 PM
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#36758 | | OMGWTFBBQ is a common word I say everyday
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Yall too rich
dukes with the Porsche
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10-02-2025, 02:37 PM
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#36759 | | RS Veteran
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Originally Posted by Gerbs dukes with the Porsche | I'm bitch ass poor. Porsche my ass. 
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Originally Posted by 68style AIYA! Kids! | | |
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10-02-2025, 02:47 PM
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#36760 | | Los Bastardo owned my ass at least once
Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Van
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Weren't you buying a new lucid or tycan
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10-02-2025, 03:13 PM
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#36761 | | I answer every Emotion with an emoticon
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Originally Posted by supafamous Ken Sim wants a 0% increase in property tax rate increases this year (surprise it's just before election season!).
I've said many time that property tax rates are way too low in the lower mainland, it's a huge giveaway to homeowners, it robs cities of much needed revenue, AND it causes the wrong use of really valuable land (add more density). | It should be plain as daylight as to why Sim wants a 0% property tax increase for this year, but I am so cynical about voters these days that I think they might just take this as one of their primary reasons to vote Sim back in.
Based on the temperature that I've read online, I don't think Sim's chances to get re-elected is particularly good. But again, I am not confident my impressions are indicative of the wider voter base's preference.
On the note about CoV's (and maybe also Metro Vanocuver's?) property tax rate being too low, I'd have to disagree. It is only low when you look at it under the light of it being "a percentage of the property value". But the problem is -- our home prices are so high that even a low percentage of its value results in a pretty significant dollar amount. At the end of the day, $8000 is $8000, which is a lot.
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Originally Posted by westopher The whole world has gone down a road no one can recover from, and it's nothing to do with governments, it's because so much of the general public is so fucking stupid. | | |
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10-02-2025, 03:28 PM
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#36762 | | RS Veteran
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Originally Posted by JDMDreams Weren't you buying a new lucid or tycan | Lucid and Taycans are for CHUMPS! Telsa all the way 
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Originally Posted by 68style AIYA! Kids! | | |
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10-02-2025, 03:45 PM
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#36763 | | Rs has made me the woman i am today!
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Originally Posted by Traum On the note about CoV's (and maybe also Metro Vanocuver's?) property tax rate being too low, I'd have to disagree. It is only low when you look at it under the light of it being "a percentage of the property value". But the problem is -- our home prices are so high that even a low percentage of its value results in a pretty significant dollar amount. At the end of the day, $8000 is $8000, which is a lot. | That's sorta the point though - with very, very few exceptions we tax things based on its value and it's generally consistent like GST on a new house or the Property Transfer Tax - both of those just keep going up if the value of the land/house go up (it's mostly the land). If there is a windfall (very rare) some of that money is returned to taxpayers or the rate does eventually get cut (also very rare).
With property tax rates we're distorting the market with artificially low rates rather than face the music and have the necessary conversation about what the best use of the land should be (way more housing) and what ends up happening is that home owners get a massive (like millions of dollars) tax free giveaway. Vancouver is home to some of the most valuable land in the world and we build SFH on them - it's completely nuts, it's like if Manhattan or Central HK were nothing but residential 2 story homes.
Charging real tax rates would force turnover of land - turnover that would result in more housing being built which would then keep housing prices closer to normal and subsequently actual property taxes would be lower for most people b/c there'd be more people to share the burden.
I'm not advocating that we immediately triple or quadruple property tax rates but the game we're playing makes no sense - we never should have kept lowering tax rates, if we just had let property taxes naturally increase it would have forced cities to rezone and build more housing (and more businesses etc) to spread the tax burden across more residents. Instead we let ~90% of residential lands be controlled by ~20-25% of the residents (estimates based on the few data points I've seen).
I'm under no illusion that if we do what I propose that my property tax bill would likely triple - I'm zoned for 3FSR (8 stories) but I'm at barely .5FSR but I should be taxed based on best use and value and it'd be my choice to pay it or move.
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10-02-2025, 04:47 PM
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#36764 | | OMGWTFBBQ is a common word I say everyday
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I can't imagine I have to pay Toronto rates though. And a significant chunk of our annual "taxes" aren't just property taxes but a bunch of other fees.
Though if I need to double my annual payment, I would seriously just consider renting a house instead.
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10-02-2025, 05:18 PM
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#36765 | | OMGWTFBBQ is a common word I say everyday
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It's become a circular problem though.
House prices too high
Property taxes too low
We can't raise taxes because the housing costs are too high, but at the same time infrastructure in Vancouver is abysmal. School are overcrowded, recreation centers are overburdened, underbuilt, and old.
We've hogtied ourselves into a cycle of mediocrity.
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Originally Posted by MG1 In Mike we Trust | Quote:
Originally Posted by westopher LOOK AT ME IM MIKE AND I HAVE A BIG HOG AND I DRINK TEQULA AND WORK OUT AND LISTEN TO CHARLI XCX ON THE BEACH IN BERMUDA
Grow up fuckin Peter Pan and get a good nights rest. | | |
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10-02-2025, 05:25 PM
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#36766 | | OMGWTFBBQ is a common word I say everyday
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It's a catch 22 problem similar to Translink.
We need more capacity to convince more people to abandon their cars.
We need more money to build capacity.
We need to collect more fares to get more money
We need more capacity to get more fares.
They've upped density significantly without updating infrastructure. But so much of this density isn't revenue generating for the city but yet still draws on the same infrastructure so now there's more people but the same bucket of money. They need to find some way to draw more money from the rental group, but there's no good or real way to do it.
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10-02-2025, 05:34 PM
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#36767 | | Performance Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Richmond
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Not to be one of those people who just yells from rooftops, but it's quite telling to me when all it takes is something like the OLYMPICS to come along and suddenly there's $2B dollars to build something (Canada Line) that completely changed the face of commuting and traffic for pretty much the entire lower mainland when you think of how much of South Surrey/White Rock/South Delta feeds into River Rock by bus nevermind all the airport traffic in and out plus the hour long bridge lineups out of Richmond every morning completely disappeared the day it opened.
It couldn't happen because it was the right thing to do or 2 alleviate traffic for decades and save everyone so much time and emissions to be decimated, it had to happen to support a 2 week long fucking sporting event. Priorities manggggg  | |
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10-02-2025, 06:54 PM
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#36768 | | Willing to sell a family member for a few minutes on RS
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wait.. people take transit?! the fuck......
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10-02-2025, 06:55 PM
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#36769 | | Los Bastardo owned my ass at least once
Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Van
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Nah we love being mediocre at best
Vancouver’s latest international ranking — 36 on a list of 48 cities — is a red flag https://vancouversun.com/opinion/col...-is-a-red-flag | |
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10-02-2025, 09:23 PM
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#36770 | | RS has made me the bitter person i am today!
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Originally Posted by mikemhg We've hogtied ourselves into a cycle of mediocrity. | Canada is so great. Quote:
Originally Posted by JDMDreams | We should be less like Hondaracer and be ok with mediocrity.
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10-02-2025, 09:45 PM
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#36771 | | OMGWTFBBQ is a common word I say everyday
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For anyone saying public transportation, it doesn't work, at least not how we have planned now.
We don't have anywhere near the density required to make Translink viable, let alone profitable. Translink runs one of the longest (if not the longest) service distance in the world for metro transportation, and yet we are far far from being one of the most populous metros in the world.
The only viable solution for YVR Translink is to get every city mayors to sit down and agree on a major plan change. No if or buts, either you are in or you'd be left out. Simple as that. Each city needs to run their own network independently according to their needs and fundings, and such network all connects to 1 or 2 hubs with huge parkings (like towers or soccer fields worth of parking) in their city, and then translink build a underground fast transportation that runs only through these hubs (no more than say 2 in each city).
Keep throwing money into something that doesn't work is not going to magically solve its problem (low ridership average vs. the service area).
A lot of people I know who drive into the city doesn't mean that they really want to. But going with public transportation means adding an hour or 2 to their daily commute/other travel.
I don't mind being taxed move on property tax if that's meant to truly improve public transportation. But how the Translink is proposed/laid out right now, not a chance they would get another cent from me.
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Nothing for now
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10-02-2025, 10:56 PM
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#36772 | | RS has made me the bitter person i am today!
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you guys actually read the report right
hong kong is one rank higher than vancouver in economy 
__________________ There's a phallic symbol infront of my car Quote: |
MG1: in fact, a new term needs to make its way into the American dictionary. Trump............ he's such a "Trump" = ultimate insult. Like, "yray, you're such a trump."
| bcrdukes yray fucked bcrdukes up the nose
dapperfied yraisis
dapperfied yray so waisis
FastAnna you literally talk out your ass
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10-02-2025, 11:01 PM
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#36773 | | RS Veteran
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I am can't seem to wrap my head around BIC_BAWS since he came back from Asia. I can't tell if he's been hacked, brainwashed, or a very confused young man who just saw the world outside of Vancouver. 
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Originally Posted by 68style AIYA! Kids! | | |
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Yesterday, 03:38 AM
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#36774 | | I contribute to threads in the offtopic forum
Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: NYC
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| Low key I hate hong kong transit.
There’s no express trains so a 15 minute hop between boroughs in NYC is a 45 minute ordeal from the island to MK/KT/Sha Tin. I drive a lot in HK. feels like car guy life is hard
Cops aren't just coming after honda ricers, VW is no go too.
Why tf is parking more expensive than Manhattan … and salaries lower ? Sure there is "less" crime
But maybe you didn't go to North Point at night?
Did your parents never get robbed because mine defs did, even in the nice parts. It's also more expensive than New York.
Are you doing private housing in Sheung Wan / South Island, or government subsidized in KT/Lohas Park?
I can kind of afford Sheung Wan/Mid Levels but most of my QoL would be the my parents - parents spot at fam garage, Clearwater bay membo
In NY tho, I'm moving into a Gramercy / Park Ave address next week & if I want to be cheap, I can get a room in Bushwick for $1300, be around the best techno music and creatives in the city.
Are you paying for private school? In NY I can send a kid to Stuy / Brooklyn Tech for free and land them in the Cornell > IB/PE/Big Tech pipeline Specific to Van
JDMDreams/Hehe got the whole funding issue right with translink, perhaps the wrong structural suggestion..
1) WTF have you seen what happens when each city does its own thing? York Region/Peel Region got like 6 different shitty bus systems.
2) Translink are already starting MTR style land development project https://buzzer.translink.ca/2023/03/...20Metro%202050.
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Last edited by AstulzerRZD; Yesterday at 04:16 AM.
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Yesterday, 03:47 AM
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#36775 | | I contribute to threads in the offtopic forum
Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: NYC
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Originally Posted by JDMDreams | There's literally nothing wrong with being a resort city for international retirees.... but it's also why our transit, economy, nightlife, art museums suck.
Real estate is a huge sink, money is unproductive for like 4-5 years.
Canada just made it the whole economy
while it's just a tax avoidance scheme / leverage play in the US.
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2002 AP1 S2000 "Mustard"
2024 F150 Lightning
Past:
- '09 Ducati Monster 696 "Ketchup"
- '20 Dodge Charger R/T
- '20 Ford Mustang GT Convertible
- '04 Acura TL 6MT
- 🛴 Lime Scooter 🛴
- '16 Golf 1.8T
- '09 MB E63 AMG
- '06 Honda Accord V6 | |
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