To be fair. He bought the house at 425 and had a 255k mortgage left and probably had a nice interest too. He also lived in his own basement and rented out the rest. It took him 3yrs to pay it off but lets say he buys now.. will he be ok doing this for 7+ years?? when the home is worth 900 to 1 mil now with higher rates.. I mean it's good if you can do it but some would rather work and play as well as long as they are ok with the new location.

Yes, people who don't have $170K for a downpayment are just "lazy"

"Working harder" is a dumb ass "solution". Read this:

"The average people/couple can't afford a house in the Vancouver area."

It is average. Meaning unless Canadian all of the sudden working "harder" collectively, it is statistically impossible for the average to improve. I think it's fair to say reasonable standard of living involve not spending more than 2-3 hours both way commuting to work and not working 7 days a week.

If the solution involves working 7 days a week then future Canadian generations are collectively fucked.

Yup if you want to work 7 days a week, opposite shift from your spouse so you never see each other, never go out on a date, never know what another country looks like, and never spend a dime on anything other than the bare essentials you too can live in an overpriced piece of shit only a 40 minute drive from Vancouver.

To anyone who actually lives like that to afford their mortgage I seriously feel sorry for you. I'm not impressed by your ability to make it work, I just pity you.

I'll move far far away before that ever became my life.

There is still work in Alberta paying 100k a year for mindless labor..

Its one thing when two people without actual "careers" cant afford, but when professionals who are making good money cant, its a slipery slope

I laughed when a friend of mine bought a duplex for $500k back in the 2012 (was assessed in 2017 for $1.3M). Pretty sure a lot of people would consider that a 'steal' after being warped by today's real estate values.

In 2016, a friend of mine put money towards a pre-sale condo at River District for I think was $625k. He moved in last summer and sent me photos and my reaction was 'that's it?' Sure it's a nice place to look at (of course it's brand new) but I can't fathom living in an oversize walk-in closet for that kind of money. If they paid half of what they did, my reaction would be different.

Then you have these cities artificially raising land values, paving the way for these developer cartels, which leads to demovictions. Oh but it must be the fault of those people being demovicted. They just weren't successful in their life choices!

working 7 days and graveyard, shit you're probably gonna drop dead before mtg is all paid off...and that's precisely what happens in a 3rd world country

annual vacation and weekly dine-outs is a necessity to stay sane

your youth is worth more than a house in langley

In less than a Generation we've gone from "Hey Man, welcome to the laid back left coast a.k.a lotusland" to:

"go work a 3rd job so you can afford a mortgage on your 4 room shack in Langley"

For shame BC, for shame.

Hope everyone had a great new years and holidays. Back to the grind! (have been for 2 weeks LOL)

Despite market slowing down new project pricing has not adjusted down. Some incentives and closing bonuses are being granted I suppose.

Assignments - I'm starting to see Sussex, Polygon projects, and even some even-priced assignment transfers. This means buyers simply want their money OUT. Good deals for buyers - essentially buying at 2 year's ago prices! Vittorio, Trafalgar, Sussex (metrotown) - some of these were impossible to get back in 2017!

Burnaby
Metrotown Maywood on Park - Intracorp's parkside (Maywood) building. 30% sold since Nov - well priced but still $1050+/ft. Personally I like Intracorp's style and their buildings have done well. they tend to be more budget but still give consumers a lot for their money.

Coquitlam
SOCO
Anthem's next big community 4+ towers - imagine another Metrotown station square in Coquitlam - that's their plan. Near Hensley (another presale) area.

Meridian
Townline's new project on Cottonwood / along Evergreen line. Coming March 2019. $900/ft in line with area. Not a fan it's neither in Burquitlam nor Lougheed Mall. Given Townline's image should still do ok.

Surrey
Lots of action coming here be prepared!
University District BOSA 2
I like this one - well priced, big developer's smaller boutique group (Bluesky Properties) - near existing BOSA Alumni center, you'll get a lot of brand recognition and consistent quality. At $800/ft this is a value versus One Central and other lower price tag units but actually more expensive!

Park George
Tower 1 was a great deal late 2018 - this Tower 2 will not be too different. Despite slower market - Concord projects command a premium and Asian buyers local and internationally will gobble it up!

GeorgeTOWN
Can this get more confusing? Anthem's big 8+ tower project masterplan is coming. GEORGE Town. Price TBA - just confusing given Park George by Concord is on their Tower2.

Brentwood
Gilmore Place 2
3% bonus + other negotiations possible. Good deals to be had - ONNI and 300k ft of amenities space + retail downstairs. IMO still better buy than SOLO.
Tower 1/3 is 80%+ sold which is 400+ units. Tower 2 slower but nicest so far, around 40%. $1000/ft to start.

SOLO District 3
SOLD OUT! waiting for SOLO 4. Have to hand it to Appia BOSA - they sell out fast!

AKIMBO
10% discount on price and quality small time developer IMANI got it off to an ok start. Funny position for showroom near Purolater along Brentwood Lougheed though. 30% sold?

Any questions on presales/assignments let me know!

Jan 2019 government will be monitoring assignment profits more carefully. Remember to report your gains!

i fail to understand the value in the Vancouver duplex's, even when new.

1.3 for a half duplex where full detached homes on full lots are going for 1.3-1.5

I know we had this convo before regarding townhomes, but imo this is different. There is WAYYYY more value in an older Vancouver special, or even really a kinda dumpier older house than there is in a half duplex where your "yard" is the 3 feet between your door and your sidewalk.

Has the government done any active auditing to make sure people are reporting capital gains? I feel like a large community of speculating investors aren't going to report it.

They just need to live in it or rent it out for a year. Then no capital gains tax. But you're right...lots of speculators will cheat the system.

Some people have their parent claim they live there when in fact they live within their home etc. keep a place empty for a year and flip with it being empty the whole time. Kinda hard to track

Don't forget all the presales assignments where speculators are getting the "lift" aka profits

Well, let's assume this isn't you principle residence. Your current principle residence is your $1.6MM home. Then swap that over to your $700k condo at Brentwood to sell the condo to avoid the capital gain on Brentwood. Then swap it back to the $1.6MM home after your adjusted cost basis is negated.

I don't know anyone who keeps their home empty. Waste of like $20,xxx revenue a year.

Why do people, here and in other corners of the internet, assume that people are only commuting into the city?

Traffic patterns and transit usage in the Lower Mainland have revealed for years that people in the Lower Mainland are travelling from suburb to suburb, or from the inner city to suburb.

It can make sense for people to live in Langley if they work elsewhere besides downtown Vancouver.

dat commuting against traffic feeling :awwyeah:

Somebody buy my piece of shit house in Richmond. It's 6000sq land and a tiny ass 1200sq bungalow. 1.3 mill (assessment price) and it's yours!!!

^
Do you accept... how shall we say... "alternative" forms of payment? :D

https://media.giphy.com/media/Jj8vFfZNBcCsg/giphy.gif

Thats a lot of those!

Subject to include Maserati :lawl:

He's in Burnaby but yeah, same thing. Even after buying it, he still had to invest about $80K in renovations and another $20K in landscaping (he did full paving, gravel, masonry, hedges etc. He went full Sims on his property.

At the end of the day, it's still a odd shaped half-house sitting on a weirdly shaped plot of land.

That's immigrant life for you.

Only no capital gains if it's your primary residence for a year. If you rent it out it's considered an investment property and have to pay capital gains on it.

if they buy the fucking house, ill throw in the car for free damnit!!!!! i want my stinking acre lot in high point langley. :awwyeah::awwyeah::awwyeah: