While the points you make are entirely valid and true, you have also conveniently neglected to mention how the "unfinished" basement often gradually gets turned into a partially or full finished level by the owner bit by bit. When my parents bought our bungalow back in the 80's, the previous owner has turned part of the basement into a bar, part of it into a nearly finished rec room, 2 minimally finished bedrooms, and enclosed the carport himself into a garage. There is room to grow as long as you are willing to put in the work (or pay someone else to do it).

Other people use their unfinished basement as storage, workshop, study, etc. Back in the 80's when I was over at friends' house, the "unfinished" basement is always put to some sort of use. Most of the time, there is at least a finished guest room / study / workshop, so the actual living space is more than just that single level.

Those car port / garages also offer side-by-side parking, and often include a short driveway that allows for another car or 2 to be parked. Nowadays, if the townhome is lucky enough to offer 2 stall parking, it is almost always tandem parking, and the garage door opens immediately to the apartment complex lanes that is considered to be shared property -- ie. you're not supposed to park there.

My point is, at the end of the day, people are still getting a lot more real estate for their buck back then. Yes, the world has changed, but in terms of affordability, it has taken a turn for the worse.

Oh no doubt. Its one thing to want it, it's another to expect it and complain when you can't afford it.

Those unfinished basements were always put to use. My parents threw some carpet in our basement, some plywood walls, and a couple costs of paint. That was our playroom, and it was awesome.

We definitely had more space back in the day. And it was a lot cheaper to buy too. You didn't need to spend $1m to get into a subdivision house in the valley.

Its true the concrete floors, wires dangling from rooms with no dry wall. Nails sticking out of wood beams. 1,000 sq ft of awesome floor hockey or hide and seek :fullofwin:

Sorry to ask a RENTING question in a thread mostly about PURCHASING but I was wondering about this development (as were some of my friends)

MC2 Marine x Cambie ? Apartments For Rent Vancouver BC

Is it glorified or not a bad alternative to living dat sweet Vancouver lifestyle? I really have no idea. I need to move out of Coshitlam and closer to my work. Canada Line would be ideal which is why this development interested me. Issue is, I'm seeing there ads almost spammed so I wonder if it's actually shit and they're desperate for tenants.

Any help?

If you can afford $2000-$2500 month for 800sqf...

https://vancouver.craigslist.ca/search/hhh?query=mc2

Mind as well go over to Richmond for cheaper rent.

I pre bought a unit there. The north tower received there keys last month and the south tower receives there keys June 1. It'll probably filled with renters because of the Canada line and the t and t / movie theatre across the street makes for a great area to live in. Also all along Cambie will have new developments building up as well so it sorta be like a 'community'. From what I've seen it's quite nice, but that was only during walk through.

So to give you guys how fucked the rental market is I just rented one of my YT studio units this past weekend for $1850 without parking. Not only that but I showed the place to about 10 people who all wanted it but half were couples who told me they can't find anything to rent so they're willing to live in a tiny studio.

Just to put things in prospective my 1 bedroom with parking which is in the same building was rented out last Oct for $1875. Once her lease expires the rent will be hovering around $2200. The increase in the rent isn't just a lack of supply but it's also linked to Airbnb which is raising rental rates at a pretty alarming rate.

Makes my 1 bedroom basement suite for $1070 including all utilities, cable, internet, etc. just outside of downtown seem like a steal of a deal.

I though there some policy/law in place to limit how much you can increase the rent. Also you can't say kick the person you renting out and then increase rent...... I think is 3% max each year?

It's a crazy market right now.

Things aren't much different in Whistler. My 980 sg/ft townhouse is getting me $2500/month with one outdoor parking spot. That's $500 less than I was getting for a full house in Langley 3 years ago. Plus I can rent my other parking spot for an additional $1200/yr.

I'm looking at buying another couple of townhouses in Whistler to do the same. For $700k, I am looking at $36k/yr, each. That's a really good ROI as long as the market doesn't drop out on us. Considering that the money in the bank is getting me about 5% right now, if the property values continue to climb I will be double dipping on my return.

Based on the news reports, and how many visitors are coming back to Whistler, chances are this will last for a while.

Yes but most landlords sign a year agreement so technically once the agreement is done you can rent at whatever. This law is basically in place so landlords don't increase rent on tenants say every 3 months or 6 months but it does happen because a lot people don't know the law and are afraid of been evicted.

Personally I've never increased the rent on any of my tenants, if after a year the person wants to stay another year I usually increase the rent by a small amount but nowhere near what market is asking. I'd rather have a good tenant instead of been greedy and increasing rent and getting a bad tenant.

Policies do exist. But contracts are signed for a year. Past that there is the option of continuing to rent or contract concluding.

The unit is placed back on the market at current market prices.

The annual rate is supposed based on the CPI / inflation, etc., and generally however somewhere between 2% - 3% per year.

Others have already pointed out that it doesn't really apply to rental contracts with a specific termination date. My understanding of the wording is, the RTB policy only applies to month-to-month rentals that do not have a contract signed. IMO, any sensible landlord would have signed a contract with his tenant, and the smarter ones would include a fixed term on each contract, and renew / re-sign a new contract when the current one expires.

If you have a good tenant, I'd strongly advise against increasing the rent every year. Those good tenants are worth far more than the measly annual percentage increase allowances.

agreed.
A tenant who takes care of the property, respects the home, pays on time, etc is worth far more than a few hundred extra dollars a month.

Consider how easy it would be to do $10k worth of damage to a rental house, and suddenly that extra 2-3% is no longer worth it.

Went in to Concord this past weekend for the Brentwood development.

They did not have a price for anything. But they said you are looking at around 350-375K starting for 1 bedrooms, not including parking (around 35 to 40k). Yikes.

If you guy's are interested in what else they have let me know and ill post more...

Holy shxt... so parking spots (even just 1) don't come standard with an apartment now? WTF man...

Got the same invite. Didn't want to go to Surrey though :fuckthatshit:

This could be the result of the City of Burnaby negotiating a deal with Concord that allows the developer to build more units in return for a reduction in the required allotment of parking spots.

Or it's marketing to get the list prices down.

Nothing new really..
If a unit comes with parking, the cost is built into the price

So 350k for the unit and 35k for parking
$385 is market price for a 1 bed in Brentwood
Those 8 year old high rises in the area are selling close to 400k
But they are 650sf instead of the 508sf

Majority of Vancouver condos don't come with parking (can't buy as well) as the city is trying to be "green"
Burnaby might be going that route soon too

Yep, I think Burnaby is trying to be "green".

ALL the parking spots have an EV charger plug, there will be shared electric cars for owners (probably rental). Units that are around 8 floor and lower do not get an option to purchase a parking spot.

@jing: It was a gongshow, I just went in, did my thang, and left. There was also another invite for the second location at the Richmond location, thats how popular this thing is.

I hope I get a good selection though. It actually seems pretty stupid because by doing this type of request method, they are letting us (the buyers) set the price for them and for the current market. If we over budget, that means they pocket more cash.

The more I read this thread, the more indecisive I get...

:okay:

Either I keep renting or buy an older suite. Not for investment but to live in. 2 bed, 2 bath, 1200 sq ft

Fuck 1200sq ft, sell dat shit to me.

just got my coquitlam property taxes...$3000 with my home owners grant...fuck right off