I can't even imagine thinking about having a kid while still renting.

I'm 35, and my gf is 32, and we're currently renting. I'm not fully on the side of having a child, but I've told her my priority right now is purchasing a place, I wouldn't even consider having a child without at the minimum owning somewhere. Full stop.

^^^ this, and even ppl who own a place that I know of, more than 60% don't have kids

This. I suspect there are many kicking the bucket in the greying Vancouver West area so their children are in line for a yuge inheritance. But mostly, it is generational wealth passed on. Nice to be born with a silver spoon ... it's called winning the genetic lottery.

Yeah, I was having a conversation with my boss the other day his dad passed away last month his mom is still around but she isn't exactly young. He's like my parents always owned 2 or 3 houses when I was growing up, obviously a little more difficult now a days. He has a pretty nice house been in the market a long time but what I took from the conversation he's basically just waiting on his mom to kick it so he can retire.

Garage is 27 ft deep. Both Civic and CRX is parked in the back with the 600RR in the middle.
Leaf and Rav4 parked in the front.

Back in the day a mechanic and a receptionist could potentially afford a couple houses. You see this a lot in east Van/north Burnaby etc in European families. People were smart and made some moves

Now a days you get two doctors and they can’t afford to live in Port Moody

^^ doctor's will eventually be able to once they hit like 50 and pay off that $600k in medical school debt

Problem is many of them don’t live within their means and carry insane debt. Speaking on a purely anecdotal basis a buddy of mine is pretty high up at RBC DS, he said the amount of liquidity some of these ultra high earners have is next to zero after factoring in huge mortgages, dual BMW leases, country club membership, etc.

Not to say they can’t buy the house, but it’s just a fairly tenuous situation in a lot of cases

and how much $$ do they have at RBC DS?

they're probably churning lots of cash but they likely have a large nest egg in their "corporation" there

i know of a surgeon dr who came out of schooling in debt with ~$500k and driving a beat down Civic who then cleared it out and had millions on the side in about 5-10 years..they're not even in the 40s yet

Now I'm curious how much do your friends make and if they just want to stay home and not move out.

Our new next door neighbours have two kids, they just moved in last week. They were renting before this.

Maybe I'm of a similar mindset as you, but having kids while renting seems a little insane.

A lot of my friends are in this boat. They have a place but don't have kids.

You know, I used to think the whole argument that you shouldn't have kids because the world was going to shit was a tad hyperbolic.

Then 2020 happened and housing still went up.

I think what stresses me out the most is that people around my age think that housing will be affordable once they finally make $70,000 - 100,000 a year. They have no savings plan on how they'll save their $100k-150k downpayment. They also think they'll be moving into a 600 - 700sqft brand new 1br condo in Downtown Vancouver, Burnaby, or Richmond with that type of income.

Not sure if it's the general population that is delusional and uneducated on the affordability or just people I've talked to when it comes to how much house they can actually afford. The nail in the coffin is when they realize they can't afford it and the bank of mom and dad just drops the $300k down payment so they can qualify.

^ dat Type R or Model 3 is important, how else will they find a wife

I prefer leasing a BMW 320i for $600/month to flex on a budget :ilied:

any recommendations on realtors? DM me

Also, anyone have experiences using friends as realtors? I've been advised against using friends as sometimes it complicates the relationship (depending on how good friends you guys are)

then again I'm thinking, if I'm going to pay someone why not support a friend, just weighing the pros and cons

I've gone through my friend on 3 occasions, and all 3 times I made it clear of expectations regarding commission negotiations on my end as a buyer and seller. He's happy my business always goes to him, and I'm happy because I save a few thousand each transaction.

I've brought up my concerns during times I needed to, and don't shy away from tough conversations with him. However, I wouldn't hire a friend if I knew I couldn't be direct with them.

tons of people have kids renting

Yes but would you like to live knowing you can be kicked out with a few months notice or have your rent increased every year?

I used my friends (both of them) for my most recent purchase. My other friend didn't use her friend for fear of negotiating power and souring the friendship. However, that was not the case for me. My friends/re ealtors knew exactly what I wanted and they were willing to play the petty game (because I'm pretty petty) when it comes to deficiencies.

Edit: to add on to this, it was much easier with transparency and disclosure of information. Plus we used a mutual friend as the mortgage broker who helped us significantly. I'd go as far to say, that if I used anyone else, I doubt I would have gotten the mortgage.

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That's life?

That's how most kids grew up in East Van. Lived in basements with rental increases + kicked out at any notice.

In BC, there is a limit on how much the landlord can raise the rent. IIRC it is 2% annually. The BC gov just announced a freeze on rent hikes for this year.

Also, it's not that easy to kick a person out now if they are a good tenant. Basically, if caught, the LL has to pay the tenant 12 months worth of rent.

Things have changed a lot since we were kids.

That 2% rent increase was great when I was renting. Started renting my place in 2003 for $350/month, was paying $504/month when I left last year. New tenant is paying $1200/month :lawl:

Really easy to save a lot of money for a house when your rent is that low.

The LL was lucky to have you as a tenant.
Others would have kept the place and sublet for $1200. :devil:

Having kids while renting makes more sense than having pets while renting. Finding a new place is much easier with the former than the latter.

You doing it wrong if you are paying 600/m for a 320i LOL

There are people who are 30 who think like that. 70k a year as a single dude really isn't much if you need to pay for all living costs on your own and you want a fancy car.

It only works if BoMD has that much money to give you. Most parents I know don't have 300k just kick around like that unless they sold their house.

Pretty much what others have said, it needs to be someone you can lay out the ground rules on and can't fudge things through.

A friend of mine went through a mutual friend as a realtor. This mutual realtor friend wasn't clear on things and at the end of the day, I think it hurt their friendship as both sides felt like they got shortchanged.