Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[heleu]

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

Is a central system. That's the weird part! A/C works but heat doesn't..... I check with other people's unit and their heat works just fine....... I email the building manager and the warranty service. The heat and A/C is cover in the strata but since the building is so nice I am pretty sure the strata is going to try to put the blame and pass the bucket to warranty and warranty is going to point fingers at the strata.......

HVAC engineer here.
I'm guessing you have a 4 pipe Fan Coil Unit system. It's possible the control valves on the heating side aren't working properly, which means you wouldn't get any heat while still getting air.

Only way to know is to have a HVAC service company come check it out. You'll have to talk to your property manager.

[Tapioca]

Link to REGBV stats for the month of October: http://www.rebgv.org/sites/default/f...tober-2017.pdf

Tl;dr - apartments are still on fire, townhouses less so, detached market is balanced with a less than 20% sales to listings ratio. Good time to upgrade to a detached if you have a coveted condo, like 1000+ square foot 2 bedroom on the west side of Vancouver, as the spreads haven't been closer in quite some time.

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by westopher

I’m not an expert but I’d say maybe stop “giving it a try” until you have someone check it out. Don’t you have carbon monoxide detectors in your place?

Never did I say I was giving it a try, but I just mentally made that link that it wasn't exhausting properly.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

Never did I say I was giving it a try, but I just mentally made that link that it wasn't exhausting properly.

Get a carbon monoxide detector and see whether your body is reacting to actual carbon monoxide. Or call a gas fitter ASAP if you know it's excess CO.

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by heleu

HVAC engineer here.
I'm guessing you have a 4 pipe Fan Coil Unit system. It's possible the control valves on the heating side aren't working properly, which means you wouldn't get any heat while still getting air.

Only way to know is to have a HVAC service company come check it out. You'll have to talk to your property manager.

Call spoke to someone at the warranty dept. You are right is using the Fan Coil system. I kinda of mention it could be the control valves not working. The person on the phone agrees but it could also be something else. They are trying to get someone in ASAP. Honestly is the morning that's cold otherwise wearing a sweater seems ok in the evening. I just hate the feeling of getting up cold.

[Great68]

Oh man, this isn't directed at you specifically Traum & Happysilp, but as someone who works in the industry it boggles my mind how many people don't have a fricking clue how their HVAC systems work for their own home.

It's not rocket science, learn a bit.

I worked on a condo development 10 years ago, we still get the odd service call to the building for problems.

Half the time it's "The air isn't blowing out very strong", well no shit that FILTER should be changed more than once every 10 years.

The other half, in the summer we get "It's 25 degrees in my suite, I put the thermostat to 15 but it's not coming down" Well no shit, your system is HEATING ONLY, you have NO COOLING.

[heleu]

Lol. I've done warranty walkthroughs before.
Half the owners didn't even know they had a separate lint filter in their dryer duct after 1 year. Or the location of their fan coil units filters. Or the water shut-offs.

To be fair, the developer is usually to blame - there are very few that explain anything about the HVAC or plumbing to the owners.

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by Great68

Oh man, this isn't directed at you specifically Traum & Happysilp, but as someone who works in the industry it boggles my mind how many people don't have a fricking clue how their HVAC systems work for their own home.

It's not rocket science, learn a bit.

I worked on a condo development 10 years ago, we still get the odd service call to the building for problems.

Half the time it's "The air isn't blowing out very strong", well no shit that FILTER should be changed more than once every 10 years.

The other half, in the summer we get "It's 25 degrees in my suite, I put the thermostat to 15 but it's not coming down" Well no shit, your system is HEATING ONLY, you have NO COOLING.

To be fair the walk through person didn't even tell me where the heating coil is located(kind of have to figure it myself) and they didn't tell me I have the change the filter every 10 years..... which I still have to figure out where the filter is...... There is not manual for it.

Originally Posted by heleu

Lol. I've done warranty walkthroughs before.
Half the owners didn't even know they had a separate lint filter in their dryer duct after 1 year. Or the location of their fan coil units filters. Or the water shut-offs.

To be fair, the developer is usually to blame - there are very few that explain anything about the HVAC or plumbing to the owners.

I believe for the lint filter in the dryer duct some professional have to come clean it every year? At least for my sister apartment they do that. Someone would come in suite to professional clean it (part of the strata bylaw) and to check the fire alarm as well. The walk through guy basically didn't tell me a thing I have to kinda of figure everything myself (where to the shut off the gas for the gas stove, main water shut offs, where breakers is etc etc....) none of that was explain or shown. Also there are no manuals at all to show you where those items were. Worse of all? We have to use high efficiency detergents for the washer and they hardly go through that....... I have to ask since my sister lives in an apartment and have to use high efficiency detergents. I would image some people doesn't know this and is using regular detergents and soon flooding is going to happen to some units lol.

[JDMStyo]

Out of town for a week - back in the thick of it with fall under way.

PRESALES update:

King George Hub - 433 units at King George Surrey central. 1 rescission came back for 1BR - $299-359K 440 sq ft units. One week, wow. Wait for tower 2.

BASALT - Cambie Corridor - $899K one bedroom ($1400/sq ft) all sold out. Only $1.8M+ units remaining. 52 unit boutique building.

Windsor (Kingsway/Knight) hot new area - concrete/AC building. 120 units 12 stories - previewing this week, $1000/ft sq ft. Expected sell out.

Avalon Park 3. Barely got allocations - $550K 620sq ft one bedrooms. Not bad for Vancouver Postal code save for lack of Skytrain nearby. Community is growing and boomin.g

Peninsula New West - hot new area at Salter Street. Not sure if Marina will be available but 2BR now asking $750/sq ft in NW and relative bargain considering Surrey is same price.

Brentwood - Juneau is coming. Amacon is a quick and med-end builder - should be an exciting one for clients of Dawson and made great money there.

Brentwood - Concord Brentwood 3 - I'd take this over Lumina all day, any day. Will market in Asia/HK so you know this will sell fast. 25% down and 5 year completion is a bit insane though...

MOSAIC Townhomes - I'm liking these and got 2 clients Surrey 1000sq ft TH for $450K with garage. Great deal and rental investment.

Langley TH/Lowrises on fire lately. What was $400/sq ft last year now people are asking $600/sq ft.

____
TLDR:
Despite new mortgage rules looming - seems like condo in the affordability range isn't going anywhere.

Presales are still hot - though it seems like assignments have gotten a bit tougher with actual end users/owners having to consider mortgage issues.

Detached harder to sell than beef in India ATM - making realtors that price homes lower and getting it sold look like miracle workers.
"97.5% of asking price!!" *after several reductions of 5% and re-listings to freshen up the days of market of course...
Big land assemblies are still going to developers who will cut them up into affordable portions, but at $$$ premium of course.

[heleu]

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

To be fair the walk through person didn't even tell me where the heating coil is located(kind of have to figure it myself) and they didn't tell me I have the change the filter every 10 years..... which I still have to figure out where the filter is...... There is not manual for it.



I believe for the lint filter in the dryer duct some professional have to come clean it every year? At least for my sister apartment they do that. Someone would come in suite to professional clean it (part of the strata bylaw) and to check the fire alarm as well. The walk through guy basically didn't tell me a thing I have to kinda of figure everything myself (where to the shut off the gas for the gas stove, main water shut offs, where breakers is etc etc....) none of that was explain or shown. Also there are no manuals at all to show you where those items were. Worse of all? We have to use high efficiency detergents for the washer and they hardly go through that....... I have to ask since my sister lives in an apartment and have to use high efficiency detergents. I would image some people doesn't know this and is using regular detergents and soon flooding is going to happen to some units lol.

I'm talking about a seperate lint filter that is on the dryer ductwork of most newer condos. There will be access door that you can pull off to get at the lint.

The vacuuming you are talking about is standard and should be done annually; it's because most condos are using inslab ductwork (12"x2" duct) that is very easy to clog.

The high efficiency detergents are necessary so that the suds from your washer don't go to other units. Usually, the location of the washers are all stacked in a high rise apartment and if everyone washes at the same time, the suds will be so great that it will start backing up at the lower units.

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by heleu

I'm talking about a seperate lint filter that is on the dryer ductwork of most newer condos. There will be access door that you can pull off to get at the lint.

The vacuuming you are talking about is standard and should be done annually; it's because most condos are using inslab ductwork (12"x2" duct) that is very easy to clog.

The high efficiency detergents are necessary so that the suds from your washer don't go to other units. Usually, the location of the washers are all stacked in a high rise apartment and if everyone washes at the same time, the suds will be so great that it will start backing up at the lower units.

See that wasn't explain to me. Now I have to go look for it..... shouldn't be hard to find.

Trust me most people who I talk to in the building doesn't even know what high efficiency detergents are most likely isn't using them. Hopefully my unit is high enough it won't be flooded coz people are too dumb to use high efficiency detergents coz regular detergents coz 50 cents cheaper. I always wonder though if a unit is flood due to others not using high efficiency detergents (seems like that's the most common case for flooding) who pays for the damage? I mean you can't really find out which unit is not using high efficiency detergents and you can't really put the blame on the unt's the flooded. I guess strata pays for it? Because is shitty if the owner of the unit that's flooded have to pay for it or claim in his/her insurance when they did nothing wrong.

[Wormiez]

With the recent presales, many have changed their policy on re-selling assignments. For example Avalon 3 doesn't allow presale flipping and also requires buyer to be pre-approved.

Originally Posted by JDMStyo

Out of town for a week - back in the thick of it with fall under way.

PRESALES update:

King George Hub - 433 units at King George Surrey central. 1 rescission came back for 1BR - $299-359K 440 sq ft units. One week, wow. Wait for tower 2.

BASALT - Cambie Corridor - $899K one bedroom ($1400/sq ft) all sold out. Only $1.8M+ units remaining. 52 unit boutique building.

Windsor (Kingsway/Knight) hot new area - concrete/AC building. 120 units 12 stories - previewing this week, $1000/ft sq ft. Expected sell out.

Avalon Park 3. Barely got allocations - $550K 620sq ft one bedrooms. Not bad for Vancouver Postal code save for lack of Skytrain nearby. Community is growing and boomin.g

Peninsula New West - hot new area at Salter Street. Not sure if Marina will be available but 2BR now asking $750/sq ft in NW and relative bargain considering Surrey is same price.

Brentwood - Juneau is coming. Amacon is a quick and med-end builder - should be an exciting one for clients of Dawson and made great money there.

Brentwood - Concord Brentwood 3 - I'd take this over Lumina all day, any day. Will market in Asia/HK so you know this will sell fast. 25% down and 5 year completion is a bit insane though...

MOSAIC Townhomes - I'm liking these and got 2 clients Surrey 1000sq ft TH for $450K with garage. Great deal and rental investment.

Langley TH/Lowrises on fire lately. What was $400/sq ft last year now people are asking $600/sq ft.

____
TLDR:
Despite new mortgage rules looming - seems like condo in the affordability range isn't going anywhere.

Presales are still hot - though it seems like assignments have gotten a bit tougher with actual end users/owners having to consider mortgage issues.

Detached harder to sell than beef in India ATM - making realtors that price homes lower and getting it sold look like miracle workers.
"97.5% of asking price!!" *after several reductions of 5% and re-listings to freshen up the days of market of course...
Big land assemblies are still going to developers who will cut them up into affordable portions, but at $$$ premium of course.

[XplatinumX]

I don't know about you guys but I'm tired of seeing the guy asking about his hvac already. Just call someone to look at the damn thing or start another thread and keep this on topic for RE. Please and thank you

[Liquid_o2]

Based on presales in JDMStyo's post, I can't believe I was able to purchase a newish condo in Vancouver for under $800 a square foot.

[Dragon-88]

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

See that wasn't explain to me. Now I have to go look for it..... shouldn't be hard to find.

Trust me most people who I talk to in the building doesn't even know what high efficiency detergents are most likely isn't using them. Hopefully my unit is high enough it won't be flooded coz people are too dumb to use high efficiency detergents coz regular detergents coz 50 cents cheaper. I always wonder though if a unit is flood due to others not using high efficiency detergents (seems like that's the most common case for flooding) who pays for the damage? I mean you can't really find out which unit is not using high efficiency detergents and you can't really put the blame on the unt's the flooded. I guess strata pays for it? Because is shitty if the owner of the unit that's flooded have to pay for it or claim in his/her insurance when they did nothing wrong.

That scenario would be covered under insurance, the only way a strata would pay for damages is if the cause was from their property, like the main water lines in the walls and such. If an appliance were to cause damage to another suite, then its up to that suite to have insurance to cover any damages.

[JDMStyo]

Originally Posted by Liquid_o2

Based on presales in JDMStyo's post, I can't believe I was able to purchase a newish condo in Vancouver for under $800 a square foot.

You did good my friend.

Avalon 3 this week trying to get 2 units low rise 4/5FL for clients.

$550's for 640 soft one and dens. Not bad at under $860/ft.
9 ft ceiling highrise + AC. Nice new area and Wesgroup owns most of the land here. Better buy than Metrotown or even some Surrey projects lately.

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by JDMStyo

You did good my friend.

Avalon 3 this week trying to get 2 units low rise 4/5FL for clients.

$550's for 640 soft one and dens. Not bad at under $860/ft.
9 ft ceiling highrise + AC. Nice new area and Wesgroup owns most of the land here. Better buy than Metrotown or even some Surrey projects lately.

AC is pretty important these days especially apartments. Some apartments I visited is like an oven in the summer even though they aren't facing east or west. Once you experience A/C you just can't go without one.

[canucksfan]

Any realtors here? I reached out to a realtor directly to set up a viewing, but now want my realtor to close the deal. The realtor on the seller side is telling me that he's legally not obligated to pay my realtor any commission because I reached out to him first. Is this true?

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by canucksfan

Any realtors here? I reached out to a realtor directly to set up a viewing, but now want my realtor to close the deal. The realtor on the seller side is telling me that he's legally not obligated to pay my realtor any commission because I reached out to him first. Is this true?

Don't think so. He just wants all the commission himself. If that's what he said I would a realtor for sure. Seems very fishy what he is trying to pull here. There are some real estate agent here I also know a really good real estate agent as well. PM me for details.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by canucksfan

Any realtors here? I reached out to a realtor directly to set up a viewing, but now want my realtor to close the deal. The realtor on the seller side is telling me that he's legally not obligated to pay my realtor any commission because I reached out to him first. Is this true?

Sounds like essentially what the govt is trying to ban right now in the double ending of deals.

[6793026]

Originally Posted by canucksfan

Any realtors here? I reached out to a realtor directly to set up a viewing, but now want my realtor to close the deal. The realtor on the seller side is telling me that he's legally not obligated to pay my realtor any commission because I reached out to him first. Is this true?

legally you can tell him to fuck off. What bullshit feedback is that.
just go to your realtor and get him to get the deal done.

[lowside67]

Originally Posted by canucksfan

Any realtors here? I reached out to a realtor directly to set up a viewing, but now want my realtor to close the deal. The realtor on the seller side is telling me that he's legally not obligated to pay my realtor any commission because I reached out to him first. Is this true?

Your realtor should be able to deal with that. And if he can't, then your realtor sucks and you need a new one.

-Mark

[quasi]

Originally Posted by canucksfan

Any realtors here? I reached out to a realtor directly to set up a viewing, but now want my realtor to close the deal. The realtor on the seller side is telling me that he's legally not obligated to pay my realtor any commission because I reached out to him first. Is this true?

I had a realtor try and do that to me years ago when I was looking, I said fuck you and went and bought a different house.

On the other end of it if I have a realtor I'm not buying a house from or selling a house to anyone else he/she is representing. It's pretty tough to come out well when the primary concern of the agent is double dipping a deal and not protecting his/her client. They aren't going to care if you get top dollar or don't pay to much, closing the deal at any cost is priority number one.

I'm selling and buying this spring, I'm going to make it very clear to whoever I use that it's not happening so don't bother.

[hud 91gt]

At any point in time you can switch realtors. Get your realtor to write the contract. Slimey SOB. You should write a letter to his mother. Haha

[Tapioca]

http://m.metronews.ca/#/article/news...le-horgan.html

Horgan and Selina Robinson addressed the UDI yesterday. It looks like there will be a couple of measures introduced in February - a property tax surcharge for owners with no Canadian incomes and an extension of the foreign buyers tax to all of the province. However, considering that completions are years away, I don't think these measures will do much to tame demand in the condo market.

On a side note, I was on the island this weekend. We rented a house in Fernwood in Victoria. I decided to check out what our modest rental bungalow would be worth on the market today using BC Assessment: 700k. Not cheap, but I can definitely see the appeal if you're upsizing from a Vancouver condo and you're sick of the traffic, politics, etc. My wife and I aren't employed in the tech scene here, so our salaries would probably be equivalent in Victoria. It definitely gave us pause...

On the way to the ferry, we stopped in Sidney to take the kids to the aquarium. What's the deal with Sidney? Lots of young families which was something I was not expecting. Moneysense says that Sidney is the top neighbourhood/suburb in Greater Victoria for real estate investment. Must be something about being by the sea...