Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[JDMDreams]

$500 sounds cheap for a detached. I paid $4xx for a townhouse

[Hondaracer]

5k a year with aluminum wiring? I wasn’t paying that with knob and tube..

I get people see value in spending 600/700/1000 on a home inspection as peice of mind, especially if you don’t know anything. But man, I have a hard time believing any inspector is worth $1000 unless they are inspecting a 6000+ sq ft home. It seems like the vast majrority of these inspectors have never even built a home themselves. To pay Somone the equivalent of 150/200 an hour that doesn’t have real expertise seems insane.

[Gerbs]

Is Square one the way to go for condo insurance right now?

[winson604]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

5k a year with aluminum wiring? I wasn’t paying that with knob and tube..

I get people see value in spending 600/700/1000 on a home inspection as peice of mind, especially if you don’t know anything. But man, I have a hard time believing any inspector is worth $1000 unless they are inspecting a 6000+ sq ft home. It seems like the vast majrority of these inspectors have never even built a home themselves. To pay Somone the equivalent of 150/200 an hour that doesn’t have real expertise seems insane.

I for no real reason always watch Tom Munro on Youtube and wondered if he would be considered a great inspector, certainly his videos would make you think so. What do you think Honda?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_o...Mku_G5li4eUjAA

[Hondaracer]

I knew him personally actually for a while, he dated a friend. Personally he seems like he’s an asshole lol..

Professionally, He is very thorough but I think he buys into his own hype to a degree. He seems to know his stuff but again, to my knowledge he was never in construction prior to becoming a home inspector. I’ve shown his stuff to some people who know far more than I do and they seem to lean toward him being that type of inspector that again, hangs his hat on finding so many problems to prove he “did his job” for a customer.

People like him you walk a very fine line I feel. As he gets a lot of referrals from realtors (who frankly some of them I know he works with are slimy af) he also gives you information as to how much somthing may cost to repair through his connections BUT..is he pushing work to his personal connections as opposed to finding you the best deal or the best quality work? Hard to say.

I stopped following him and his videos because I find him a bit obnoxious after knowing him personally. However, I think his multi family inspections seem to be quite good as he is actually looking at major things most inspectors do not such as the power system, envelope, etc. A lot of that information can be deciphered on your own through a deficiency report, but if you don’t know how to read it or know what to look for, there is value in Somone like him

Edit* ironically enough he actually told me I should become an inspector lol..

[BIC_BAWS]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

5k a year with aluminum wiring? I wasn’t paying that with knob and tube..

Yeah shits fked. It appears that if you're looking for a new insurer, ie. if you had just moved into a new place and you didn't have house insurance before (we were renting before), it's decline after decline. Insurers could just be super cautious this year, but who knows.

I tried all the insurers listed in this thread too. SquareOne, Cooperators, Belair Direct, Wawanesa, etc

[Hondaracer]

Yea we had an existing policy with BCAA that transfered over

[stylez2k4]

Originally Posted by BIC_BAWS

Yeah shits fked. It appears that if you're looking for a new insurer, ie. if you had just moved into a new place and you didn't have house insurance before (we were renting before), it's decline after decline. Insurers could just be super cautious this year, but who knows.

I tried all the insurers listed in this thread too. SquareOne, Cooperators, Belair Direct, Wawanesa, etc

Tried Sonnet? They offered me equivalent insurance to BCAA and Square one at 1/3 the price.

[cafe22]

Originally Posted by stylez2k4

Tried Sonnet? They offered me equivalent insurance to BCAA and Square one at 1/3 the price.

Just got a renewal notice from Sonnet. I was paying $29 a month and for 2021's contract they are jacking it up to $95....

[bcrdukes]

Have any of you guys tried getting multiple quotes on a one-stop-shop portal, rates.ca? (Formerly Kanetix) I'm not sure if it works for condo insurance in BC.

Caveat - You need to enter in all your details in order to get a reliable snapshot of what you'll be expected to pay, and an agent may call as a lead to follow up. Only use this is you are genuinely serious about looking for options, assuming it works in BC.

[Hondaracer]

As I said in this thread (or maybe it was a separate thread?) we used the home insurance people. HIP.com or Hip.Ca whatever it is. They were excellent and I would recommend them as an easy source to get multiple quotes

[Gerbs]

Didn't realize it but insurance is a gong show not just for condos at the moment.

Business insurance is doubling this year too. 3/6 Insurance provider is rejecting service this year.

[Y2K_o__o]

Originally Posted by carsncars

Yeah - my realtor (who admittedly, may be biased, but overall I find quite honest & trustworthy) did caution that some home inspectors may have a tendency to over-call issues/defects so much so to scare off buyers. That said... I'd prefer to have the information and make the call myself.

not trying to scare, but try to cover their ass in case shit happens in the future.

[twitchyzero]

i believe many have fineprints saying it's only for info/valuation purposes and they can't be liable from underlying problems

damn so sad: 'The hollowing out of Vancouver’s west side'

https://vancouversun.com/opinion/col...st-side-part-1
https://vancouversun.com/opinion/col...box=1607988217

reminds me of a small plaza i went by a few weeks ago on fraser or victoria: only 1 store was left standing

[blkgsr]

Originally Posted by twitchyzero

i believe many have fineprints saying it's only for info/valuation purposes and they can't be liable from underlying problems

damn so sad: 'The hollowing out of Vancouver’s west side'

https://vancouversun.com/opinion/col...st-side-part-1
https://vancouversun.com/opinion/col...box=1607988217

reminds me of a small plaza i went by a few weeks ago on fraser or victoria: only 1 store was left standing

i breezed through the articles but caught a couple things i was thinking already.

the rich foreign investors who are buying up the properties in the area and are driving up the property values for the commercial buildings therefore pushing the smaller shop outs.....just wait long enough, they'll all be gone as the article is stating. then it becomes a ghost town. I'm sure like many other areas where these homes sit empty the yards don't get tended, grass grows long and looks like shit. how long until the homeless etc start moving in and taking the area over.

and back down comes the allure of living in the area. houses are getting run down. the downtrend starts.

[Hondaracer]

Houses in Kerisdale and whatnot have been rundown for years, it’s pretty ducking gross to leave such beautiful places fall into disrepair

I would be livid if I was a Neighbor to one of these foreign owners who just let their house go to shit in these neighborhoods. You can obviously tell people are making a point to mow the lawn right up to the property line, manicure trees on their side of the property but leave the other side etc.

[Great68]

When my last next door neighbours were selling their house, I remember a few people coming by for showings who I would expect would be "foreign buyers".

One of them even parked their mercedes right in the middle of MY driveway for their showing.
Which resulted in me banging on the car's window and yelling at them to get the fuck out. That probably partly scared them to not want to buy

Felt like I dodged a huge bullet when the nice couple who live there now ended up buying and have been working to update the place.

[bcedhk]

Originally Posted by blkgsr

i breezed through the articles but caught a couple things i was thinking already.

the rich foreign investors who are buying up the properties in the area and are driving up the property values for the commercial buildings therefore pushing the smaller shop outs.....just wait long enough, they'll all be gone as the article is stating. then it becomes a ghost town. I'm sure like many other areas where these homes sit empty the yards don't get tended, grass grows long and looks like shit. how long until the homeless etc start moving in and taking the area over.

and back down comes the allure of living in the area. houses are getting run down. the downtrend starts.

Poor public transit access and the quality (or the lack thereof) businesses along PG and Dunbar are also a big factor.

[68style]

Originally Posted by Great68

Which resulted in me banging on the car's window and yelling at them to get the fuck out. That probably partly scared them to not want to buy

You did the same thing to me when I just came to visit you! It was pretty scary

[Great68]

Hahaha

[68style]

What you guys think of this place? Pretty epic or what?

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...XtUBRl0#photo0

[Great68]

Newport is definitely a neat little town.

Edit: Didn't actually look at the inside pictures until now, Holy Shit!

[Ch28]

Originally Posted by 68style

What you guys think of this place? Pretty epic or what?

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...XtUBRl0#photo0

I feel like I'm only worthy of entering if I don my medieval suit of armour

[G0rilla]

Originally Posted by 68style

What you guys think of this place? Pretty epic or what?

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...XtUBRl0#photo0

Oh fuck that, that's some haunting of hill house shit

[twitchyzero]

probably a catacomb underneath it