That sounds awful

Meanwhile in Surrey, $1385 gets you 1000sqft 2bd/2bthroom @Infinity. Wtf m8.

I might reconsider moving in Surrey, new buildings only.

Park Place is almost done.
3 Civic Plaza soon..

This is not fun.

$1550 for my 1br in the Edmonds area. Cash flow positive!

Seems like the housing market is levelling off but the rent is climbing drastically. These sound like absolutely horrendous deals. 1500+ for a one bedroom in Burnaby? I guess someone was right about the value of that white spot reno.

Wow makes my friends recently listed basement suite in a Vancouver special approx 1000 sq feet for $1300 sound like a fucking steal.This is just getting silly though.

Rent has been silly for quite a while, even when we considered renting temporarily expecting the market to cool off about 2 years ago. I think that's partly why we have this demand for pre-sale shoebox condos. For what it costs to rent, some can come out ahead buying--while the interest rates remain low. For renters planning to be eventual owners, they know they will be happier owning, despite the current frenzy.

Cue discussion about pride of ownership, interest rates bound to go up, renting is not secure, owning may go up or down 30% in a year, evil foreign money, Vancouver's economy sucks, is this a good building to buy in, Vancouver is not a great city, etc etc.

Unless you're in co-op housing or living at home/with relatives, it's pretty difficult to pursue a rent-and-invest strategy in Metro Vancouver. Market rent truly is crazy now.

I was at Ikea over the weekend and in the lineup was a young, 20-something couple who bought enough furniture and accessories to furnish an apartment. I asked them where they were moving from and they said Ontario. It just boggles my mind why young people continue to move here. They'll live life in the city and then 2 years later realize they'll never be able to buy anything. And then, they'll write a blog about it and tell the world why Vancouver sucks and how they were screwed over.

Then someone who's parents bought them a new fr-s, paid for their ubc education, living expenses through school and gave them 100k down payment for their condo can read it and tell them how entitled they are for thinking they should be able to live in Vancouver.

I think there are a number of people many on this forum who could do the same job and get paid close to the same amount in a city that is not Vancouver where cost of living is a lot less.

^If you are talking outside of the border as well: try getting paid a lot more and cost of living a lot less.

Yea got co workers that came from other provinces, "too much rain, summer isn't hot enough, too many immigrants, too expensive...."

umm yea it's Vancouver..... and your moving here is only adding to the problem

If a recruiter contacts me about a job abroad (equal or more pay), I might consider it.

The rentals here. :fulloffuck:

I can't believe anyone would pay $1350 a month to live in ass fuck New West. You can live in downtown Toronto for about the same or downtown Montreal for even less.

Off to Tdot I go.

http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/...28/949/c66.gif

Go back in this thread like 20 pages and there are a ton of posts by members about rental rates and renters were all spouting off about how rent was so cheap in this city compared to owning. They said everyone who bought anything is ridiculous, as the rent to own ratio was way out of wack, and renting was the only clear choice.

Sample:

Lol. I don't rent because I choose to. I rent because I can't afford to own. Pretty sure that's the same as 90% of renters out there. But all the greedy fucks in the lower mainland are asking as much in rent as the owner pays in mortgage. Fuck off with that

/randomrant

playing devil's advocate here. could the high rates also be taking in to account any offset of risk of having shitty tenants that destroy/bug out on rent? a dispute with a shitty tenant and unpaid rent for even a few months is a huge hit to anyone. damage deposit is half a months rent, that won't pay for shit all if a unit is trashed and needs to be repaired.

Yeah well tell them to move and see what happens. There is a difference between already having cheap rent and finding cheap rent.

thats why i completely understand the airbnb effect..

Do i rent to someone who has 1 sketchy reference, or even a bunch of reference but i dont really like their attitude/demeanor

or do i rent to a guy with 100+ positive reviews on airbnb and make the same rent i would over a month in a week? lol

Heh, so not too long after posting this my landlord approached me about buying her place since she needs the cash (and I'm guessing is spooked by the 15% tax). This would be a private sale without realtor BS, or having to put it to the market and deal with bidding wars.

I'm seriously considering this as if the price is what I think it'll be, the carrying costs (mtg payment + condo fees +taxes) won't be much more than my current rent since I'm also sitting on a pile of cash (liquid investments) and it'll definitely be less than what I would find with a new rental for a comparable place. I'm thinking equity markets are peaking soon as well.

Worst case scenario, I lose some equity in a market correction, but I can rent it out again for $2000/mo probably. But then I'd need somewhere else to live.

What d'yall think?

Damn. Easy there champ, I'm just pointing out how different everyone's experience is.

Also I went onto CL and picked one place at random (Literally clicked on appt/housing, and chose the 4th place on the list):

https://vancouver.craigslist.ca/nvn/apa/5682078376.html

1800 dollars rent.

Quick look on BC assesment:

e-valueBC

1.3mil ish assessed value.

AKA that rent to own ratio is in the neighborhood of ~35. So civicblues, 4444 and Markymark would call anyone who bought this house a sheep, and a pawn in the RE market.

yes 100+ reviews and short term rental (low chance of squatting) sounds great.
is airBnB allowed in vancouver? i recall in the news it was getting shitted on due to the complaints of affordable housing and this adding to the problem.

It is not permitted under Vancouver b/c the bylaw states that only a hotel or Bread and Breakfast can do short term rentals which means rentals under 1 month.

1.3 million is for the house, not the suite you are renting. That does look fairly nice though. I'd be happy living there.

^ How much of your current portfolio would you have to liquidate for your down payment? If it's not too much (< 50%), then I think buying the condo would be fine. If you can maintain your diversity, you'll be fine.

Downtown condos will always have their appeal - whether the rental market, AirBNB, or empty nesters/divorcees. As long as the unit is a good size and the building is well managed, it'll hold its value.

Ultimately, the financial aspect of the purchase makes sense, but it comes down to one of lifestyle. Do you see yourself in Vancouver for the long-term? Do you ever see yourself shacking up with someone and having kids? (Raising kids in a condo sucks, period.)