Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[Sw0op]

Originally Posted by Lomac

Went back through the first few pages of this thread. Having lived through the "future" everyone was trying to predict five years ago, it's interesting to see where we now are in terms of RE.

Definitely some reading through it...

Or just watch and listen to Steve saretsky if you don’t want to read through all those facepalms

[westopher]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

who hasnt since then?

Anyone under 30 because they have no money to invest because they have been saving up for a down payment since then to have any hope of getting in the RE market.

[leilomo]

Originally Posted by d1gbick

so get this, I got caught up in the action and put a deposit down for a 1 bedroom in Pier West - New West waterfront that was mentioned a few posts back. 700k 580sq feet 1 bedroom water view way up high. Thought it was crazy, have the rescission in place until this Sunday. Now my friend is trying to buy a unit and the whole first tower is sold out. Did not believe that would be the case before the public on sale but the sales center guy showed me pics of all the deposit bank drafts

Realtor said to hold on to it and cash in min 50k in a year.

Is it really worth the risk after all the commission fees, assignment fees, GSTs and income tax you have to pay? Not to mention market risk

[Alpine]

Originally Posted by leilomo

Is it really worth the risk after all the commission fees, assignment fees, GSTs and income tax you have to pay? Not to mention market risk

Worth it for their realtor

[yameen]

question. hypothetical question, would you guys rather purchase a 600sqft 1bdrm condo that's 12 years old for $550k or for the same price, get a 500sqft condo that's 1-3 years new. how's the resale value of the 12yo condo as opposed to the newer one? what do you guys think?

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by yameen

question. hypothetical question, would you guys rather purchase a 600sqft 1bdrm condo that's 12 years old for $550k or for the same price, get a 500sqft condo that's 1-3 years new. how's the resale value of the 12yo condo as opposed to the newer one? what do you guys think?

Hard to say you have to look at the minutes to see what warranty work, maintenance, what was fix etc etc. Some apartments have cheap ass owners who always voted no to fix things so down the road you might have to foot a very very expensive repair bill.

[Traum]

To me, the 100 sq ft difference is too small to opt for the 12 yr old condo. If it were something like an older 700+ sq ft condo with 2 rooms vs a new-ish 500 sq ft bachelor suite, then the older unit would have more appeal. (But the newer 500 sq ft place could still be more preferable if the location is right.)

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by westopher

Anyone under 30 because they have no money to invest because they have been saving up for a down payment since then to have any hope of getting in the RE market.

If you just have money going into a "savings" account, regardless of your financial situation, you're doing it wrong.

[68style]

^Its easy to say that now, that would have been a smart option in say 2009 when the market ate everyone for breakfast with little to no warning. Everyone’s an investment genius at times like this.

[subordinate]

Originally Posted by 68style

^Its easy to say that now, that would have been a smart option in say 2009 when the market ate everyone for breakfast with little to no warning. Everyone’s an investment genius at times like this.

No kidding.

When saving for something like a downpayment on a house, the common advice is in a savings account for peace of mind.

If 2008 happened again, you'd lost a decent chunk of your downpayment off the bat. Everything, maybe except an inverse fund..but what's the chances of that.

[Energy]

After looking at a few developments I recently pulled the trigger on a presale investment property at River District in Vancouver. Hope the market stays good!

[westopher]

Even if it doesn’t, if you can afford it, it will always come out on top long term.

[Ducdesmo]

What does everyone think of Hamilton area in Richmond or Queens-borough area?

[welfare]

Originally Posted by originalhypa

I'm almost ready for a Canadian Trump, especially now with the boy wonder Trudeau in power. Our Canadian identity is under attack, and it's become obvious that our only export as a nation, is our nation.

Digging in the crates with this post.
But I found it very fitting to an article I came across today.

https://betterdwelling.com/csis-warn...-20-years-ago/

Remember when the RCMP and CSIS accused the Chinese government of purchasing real estate in Canadian urban centers as a method of threatening Canada? No? That’s because the recommendations from a former classified program called Sidewinder was abandoned. All documents were ordered destroyed, and buried in 1997 by the Liberal government. Turns out we were as anxious to build ties with China then as we are now. Despite our national spy services advising the government that, well…this would happen to real estate.

In a report titled Chinese Intelligence Services and Triads Financial Links in Canada, an RCMP-CSIS joint task force allege that the Chinese government is using legal and legitimate businesses to gain control over the economic levers of Canada. They also warn that the “Canadian economy is concentrated in three or four large urban centres.” Consequently, “[Canada] is more vulnerable [than other countries] because of the many legislative loopholes governing finance and the concentration of financial power in the hands of few”.

And the original RCMP/CSIS draft report.

https://betterdwelling.com/operation...der-csis-rcmp/

[Gerbs]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

who hasnt since then?

in the last two years i've done almost 60% alone.

That's true, the bull market is hot still. Currently holding a stock portfolio in hopes to use it as a downpayment in 5 - 8 years hopefully in late 20's. Not sure if that is too short of a time frame to be holding equity. But even if markets drop like 30-40%, were still going to be up so much from the bull run. Maybe it would be smart to swap to GIC for less volatility when it comes time to buy in?

Originally Posted by subordinate

No kidding.
When saving for something like a downpayment on a house, the common advice is in a savings account for peace of mind.

I'm actually surprised at the amount of people who actually just save in an high-interest e-savings account or through it into savings deposit in a TFSA. But i'd imagine you'd be pretty spooked to see 20 - 30% of your portfolio gone over a couple of weeks. I'd imagine you'd have to live through a crash to fully understand what it's like.

[Hehe]

Originally Posted by Ducdesmo

What does everyone think of Hamilton area in Richmond or Queens-borough area?

Lived in Queensborough for 2 years, I think I posted before, but I'd basically repeat.

Hamilton (the half toward Richmond side) is a bit of a dump (IMO). Nothing really that appealing, and lacks any sense of community.

Queensborough is the other way around. You have so many houses/apartment complexes in a small area by the water. The main park is filled with kids and parent when the day is nice (and every day in the summer). They even have this little tiny beach by the water where you can bring your dog/kids to play.

Not sure how it is now with the new high density condo there. But when I was there, the area was nice. Very secure because the limited access to the area.

HOWEVER... that is also the problem.

Its traffic has gotten horrific the last year I was there, I'd imagine it's only worse now with the new high-rise. During rush hour, if anything happens, the whole area becomes a parking lot because both traffic from Boyd and Ewen are trying to merge onto the bridge which is a SINGLE LANE!. It was so bad that I once spent almost an hour trying to go from my place (Port Royal park) to my kid's daycare (in Hamilton by the now Translink bus depot).

And it's sandwiched between the 2 bridges and E/W connector. Hence, you really have no way of getting out of there without taking major routes. Forget public transportation as it's service by only 2 bus routes and they are stuck too when traffic is bad as the way in and out of the area is so limited.

The only way I can imagine the area to work well is if your work where rush hour traffic doesn't concern you. If that works for you, the area is great.

[subordinate]

Originally Posted by Gerbs

I'm actually surprised at the amount of people who actually just save in an high-interest e-savings account or through it into savings deposit in a TFSA. But i'd imagine you'd be pretty spooked to see 20 - 30% of your portfolio gone over a couple of weeks. I'd imagine you'd have to live through a crash to fully understand what it's like.

Depends, if they have a goal of saving for a downpayment on a house, then the stock market would be a no. No one has a crystal ball.

But if it's investing for retirement, then yes. I also notice quite a few of my peers just keep a large chunk in a savings account.

[Gerbs]

Originally Posted by subordinate

Depends, if they have a goal of saving for a downpayment on a house, then the stock market would be a no. No one has a crystal ball.

But if it's investing for retirement, then yes. I also notice quite a few of my peers just keep a large chunk in a savings account.

Yeah, I find that if your saving for retirement. It's dangerous to just leave it in a savings account and not take advantage of compound returns. Especially if the savings account is < inflation. But I understand that different people have different risk appetites.

[yameen]

so i've been looking for a condo for 3 months now and i'm super picky in terms of location, direction it's facing, age, etc. and over the past 3 months i've talked about it with so many diff ppl: friends, coworkers, realtors, and family and they all have different opinions. What's even more funny is that each person is dead set in their views and suddenly everyone is a realtor and can predict the market. yes it's true, i think condo market is still going strong but i think we're nearing a plateau. i could be wrong but who knows. just a food for thought lol

[Hondaracer]

Condo is pretty simple imo. It’s all about value and placing value on the things you want the most.

Once you’ve decided on that you break it down into what you’re willing to pay and what you’re willing to sacrifice. Then you’re pretty much into areas and which floor you want to be on etc.

I’m only saying this by past experience and I haven’t really been looking in depth into this recently but there are pockets of areas like north of Lougheed between SFU and willingdon that have big time value in both townhomes and condos. There are tones of little pockets to find value in but you obviously have to make sacrifices.

I’d almost always take the value of an older unit.

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by yameen

so i've been looking for a condo for 3 months now and i'm super picky in terms of location, direction it's facing, age, etc. and over the past 3 months i've talked about it with so many diff ppl: friends, coworkers, realtors, and family and they all have different opinions. What's even more funny is that each person is dead set in their views and suddenly everyone is a realtor and can predict the market. yes it's true, i think condo market is still going strong but i think we're nearing a plateau. i could be wrong but who knows. just a food for thought lol

I would place location of a condo most important. Say one day you decided to rent it out having a good location will get you higher rent. Second would be the builder/layout of the unit. I look at amenities last as they are just there to cost more money. I have a pool, hot tub, gym, pitch and put, Blowling alley, karaoke but I have not set foot in any of them.

[welfare]

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

I have a pool, hot tub, gym, pitch and put, Blowling alley, karaoke..

[Traum]

Strata -- never overlook nor underestimate the importance of having a good strata council. I'm super fortunate that my apartment has an incredible strata council -- they are good, responsible people with a level head, and an eye for future planning. I've had different friends where their strata council is utter crap, and the amount of bullshxt and questionable proceedings is beyond belief.

(And of course, we all know some strata council will elect to hold (strata concil) meetings in a non-English language even when English-speaking only residents attend the meeting. )

The problem is, I don't really know how anyone can find out about the quality of a strata council unless he already knows someone living there, so it is kind of difficult to include that as a purchasing consideration.

[J____]

can't believe the prices of some of these new 1bdrm condos recently, add 500k and you can get a pretty decent small sized mid 90's house and not deal with strata crap. I'm hating my maintenance fee, from 500/month when I bought 6 years ago to 800/month now. Can't wait to get rid of the condo and move back into a freehold and be able to put whatever I want on my front porch

[heleu]

Originally Posted by J____

can't believe the prices of some of these new 1bdrm condos recently, add 500k and you can get a pretty decent small sized mid 90's house and not deal with strata crap. I'm hating my maintenance fee, from 500/month when I bought 6 years ago to 800/month now. Can't wait to get rid of the condo and move back into a freehold and be able to put whatever I want on my front porch

But that extra $500K in your mortgage - that really hurts.