Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[Ch28]

Originally Posted by quasi

Lol, exactly what I'm thinking. I understand you're going to have to do some work to get the plumbing, sanitation and electrical for that toilet working and yes you're going to have to do some landscaping but holy shit use some common sense there is no way it should be this complex in Vancouver to cost nearly 1/2 a million bucks to install the thing.

CoV doesn't give a shit because they'll just continue to tax the working class to pay for it.

[GLOW]

it'll make a nice microsuite with in-suite plumbing for someone

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by BlackV62K2

But then how else will CoV spend unnecessary money on things. Example is what they've done to the Robson side of the art gallery street. Brb, spending millions to what was already a common space closed off to cars but let's just dig up the street and re-pave and add no additional value......

I don’t know exactly what they were doing there but there was a tonne of envelope/water proofing done there when they had everything ripped up. If there is storage for the gallery under the yard there it was probably a necessary improvement.

However, highly doubt it was done in a timely manner or in budget

[Traum]

A quick check at Tangerine says their 5 year variable rate is currently 1.45% (or 1.47% APR), so it seems to me that your current 2.39% rate, or even the 2.09% rate, is quite high. Is that a fixed rate mortgage that you have?

I have only heard of interests for mortgages on rental property being allowed to get written off as an expense in your tax reporting, but I've never heard of that being applicable on a 2nd home mortgage.

Originally Posted by blkgsr

What are you guys seeing as rates these days?

I'm 1 year into a 5 year renewal on my current house and will be refinancing to pull out money to cover 20% on a new house. current rate is 2.39% and the refi rate is 2.09%

my broker is telling me a "2nd home" pre-approval right now is 2.19%. that sound right?

am i better to just take all the money against my current home and buy in cash? i have enough equity so that's possible.

i'm told the benefit to doing the 2nd home mortgage is i can write off the interest? any accountants or anyone with experience can comment?

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by quasi

Lol, exactly what I'm thinking. I understand you're going to have to do some work to get the plumbing, sanitation and electrical for that toilet working and yes you're going to have to do some landscaping but holy shit use some common sense there is no way it should be this complex in Vancouver to cost nearly 1/2 a million bucks to install the thing.

Gotta pay for all those dozen "Communication Directors" and other miscellaneous bureaucrats to put up signs and make up websites patting themselves on the back for "Moving Vancouver Forward, Greenest City 2020...oops 2021!"

[Alpine]

Don't forget all the research & studies that they have to pay for to tell them what they should do, and how they should do it!

[lilaznviper]

dont forget all those supervisors that have to be on site to monitor the work being done by the one person.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by Ch28

CoV doesn't give a shit because they'll just continue to tax the working class to pay for it.

And people will continue to perform financial gymnastics so they can have a postal code in the City of Vancouver.

There's no shortage of demand for housing in Vancouver as exhibited even in this thread, despite the superfluous expenses.

[Ch28]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

And people will continue to perform financial gymnastics so they can have a postal code in the City of Vancouver.

There's no shortage of demand for housing in Vancouver as exhibited even in this thread, despite the superfluous expenses.

Trust me, I understand the whole 'perform financial gymnastics' to have a postal code in CoV. I had to push hard to convince the wife that it wasn't worth it to pay the premium to live here. All the municipality does is continue to nickel and dime all the citizens to pay for all their bullshit initiatives. It'll be interesting to see what happens once the homeless shelters get closer and closer to Burnaby.

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Ch28

CoV doesn't give a shit because they'll just continue to tax the working class to pay for it.

Let's not let the truth get in the way of your opinion.

https://www.fraserinstitute.org/site...-vancouver.pdf - I'm not a fan of the Fraser Institute but here's some data on how much each spends/taxes per citizen. Vancouver is #3 in the GVRD and not that much higher than the cities directly below it.

https://vancouver.ca/your-government...he-budget.aspx This is where the revenue comes from - 59% comes from property taxes and 21% from utility fees. I don't see the split between business and residential but business rates are 3x residential rates so I imagine businesses are paying a hefty chunk (as they should).

tl;dr - Yeah, they're taxing people but it's not the working class that bears the burden, at least it's not easily provable.

[van_driver]

Central Coquitlam tear down homes are going for around $1.4m on a 7500-8500 sq ft lot. They were $1.1m a year ago. Does this make sense compared to lots in Burnaby/East Van?

[carsncars]

Originally Posted by van_driver

Central Coquitlam tear down homes are going for around $1.4m on a 7500-8500 sq ft lot. They were $1.1m a year ago. Does this make sense compared to lots in Burnaby/East Van?

Having recently bought in E Van I had a moment of regret visiting my parents the other day, and thought about this exactly. For the same price as a standard lot in E Van, you get a nice big lot, space from your neighbours, and a real driveway. Basically your usual suburban appeal. Coquitlam Centre has lots of amenities and redevelopment plans are underway. And having grown up there, good schools and great parks/recreation facilities.

But the traffic to get there was horrendous. Highway 1 is one thing, but then that stretch of Lougheed to get from Highway 1 to Coquitlam Centre gets bad too. That commute reminded me why I’d been searching in E Van. It’s probably 45-50 mins at minimum during rush hour. SkyTrain is nice to have but it’s also a long ride if you’re doing it daily. Either way, if you work 5 days a week that’s 8 hours of your life commuting. If you can fit into WCE’s schedule it might be a reasonable option though.

I can see why the property prices have risen the way they have in Coquitlam during the pandemic. Great city if you're WFH and especially have a family - and near enough to Vancouver without crossing a bridge. The unknown is how strong pressure will be to return to work in person or be closer to nightlife, entertainment, etc. as things reopen. I don't know the answer to that and am also interested in your guys' thoughts.

To be honest, my eventual goal is to move from my home in E Van to a home in Coquitlam, but hadn't planned on doing that for another 3-5 years. Probably child dependent.

[JDMDreams]

^ honestly if you're in the market for a $1.5m to $2m detached I don't think you're in it for the night or city life. Given the state that dt is in right now I don't want to go anywhere near it. And cov all permit parking? Tolls to get into Van? No thanks you can keep the crack heads and vi

[van_driver]

Originally Posted by carsncars

Having recently bought in E Van I had a moment of regret visiting my parents the other day, and thought about this exactly. For the same price as a standard lot in E Van, you get a nice big lot, space from your neighbours, and a real driveway. Basically your usual suburban appeal. Coquitlam Centre has lots of amenities and redevelopment plans are underway. And having grown up there, good schools and great parks/recreation facilities.

But the traffic to get there was horrendous. Highway 1 is one thing, but then that stretch of Lougheed to get from Highway 1 to Coquitlam Centre gets bad too. That commute reminded me why I’d been searching in E Van. It’s probably 45-50 mins at minimum during rush hour. SkyTrain is nice to have but it’s also a long ride if you’re doing it daily. Either way, if you work 5 days a week that’s 8 hours of your life commuting. If you can fit into WCE’s schedule it might be a reasonable option though.

I can see why the property prices have risen the way they have in Coquitlam during the pandemic. Great city if you're WFH and especially have a family - and near enough to Vancouver without crossing a bridge. The unknown is how strong pressure will be to return to work in person or be closer to nightlife, entertainment, etc. as things reopen. I don't know the answer to that and am also interested in your guys' thoughts.

To be honest, my eventual goal is to move from my home in E Van to a home in Coquitlam, but hadn't planned on doing that for another 3-5 years. Probably child dependent.

the stretch from Highway 1 to Coquitlam centre is definitely a pain. Central Coquitlam is a bit better, you can get off Brunette and you're home in 5-10 mins. I guess Coquitlam is still decent compared to North Van where tear downs are $1.7m+

[Tapioca]

If nightlife is a priority, you don't move to Coquitlam. Take an Uber and go to the breweries in PoCo or Port Moody for a night out.

You move to Coquitlam if you want more space, a reprieve each day from some of the more pressing social issues such as homelessness and open drug use, and want to send your kids to decent public schools.

The majority of people on RS spend their money on fancy cars, yet commuting is a concern? If you're going to spend $80K+ or $1000/month on a car, you might as well make full use of it.

[westopher]

Commuting is hardly a fun way to use your car though. If anything it makes you hate one of your hobbies because it becomes so tedious.

[Liquid_o2]

Originally Posted by carsncars

Having recently bought in E Van I had a moment of regret visiting my parents the other day, and thought about this exactly. For the same price as a standard lot in E Van, you get a nice big lot, space from your neighbours, and a real driveway. Basically your usual suburban appeal. Coquitlam Centre has lots of amenities and redevelopment plans are underway. And having grown up there, good schools and great parks/recreation facilities.

But the traffic to get there was horrendous. Highway 1 is one thing, but then that stretch of Lougheed to get from Highway 1 to Coquitlam Centre gets bad too. That commute reminded me why I’d been searching in E Van. It’s probably 45-50 mins at minimum during rush hour. SkyTrain is nice to have but it’s also a long ride if you’re doing it daily. Either way, if you work 5 days a week that’s 8 hours of your life commuting. If you can fit into WCE’s schedule it might be a reasonable option though.

I can see why the property prices have risen the way they have in Coquitlam during the pandemic. Great city if you're WFH and especially have a family - and near enough to Vancouver without crossing a bridge. The unknown is how strong pressure will be to return to work in person or be closer to nightlife, entertainment, etc. as things reopen. I don't know the answer to that and am also interested in your guys' thoughts.

To be honest, my eventual goal is to move from my home in E Van to a home in Coquitlam, but hadn't planned on doing that for another 3-5 years. Probably child dependent.

Totally understandable. One of the main reasons my wife and I bought in East Van (condo) 4 years ago was the commute. Her daily commute is 7 minutes each way! She could ride her bike to work if she wanted.. she doesn't though haha. My commute is usually 15 to 20 minutes into Richmond, so not bad either. We almost bought in Port Moody at the time, but we tried the commute one day to see how it was - 45 to 60 minutes each way in traffic. No thanks.

Problem is that we are thinking of upgrading in the next couple years and that is going to be an issue. No way we can likely stay in East Van and get more space with the costs unless we just get a bigger condo. TH or SFR is out of the question unless we win the lottery. Sad thing is that Burnaby is similar prices, so you don't save a ton leaving East Van.

With Skytrain and the redevelopment around Coquitlam Center, those places will continue to be desirable based on the facts you stated. I think the price gap between East Van and the suburbs is shrinking depending on the product and location you are looking at.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by westopher

Commuting is hardly a fun way to use your car though. If anything it makes you hate one of your hobbies because it becomes so tedious.

Depends how good your commute is, but it's generally pretty bad. I crawl in a straight line for 10 minutes and then drive down a crowded bit of highway for 10 minutes. If I'm lucky I get to take 1 corner with enthusiasm.

I once heard of a guy who moved to Italy and his commute was between two small Italian towns, about 30 minutes each way down a windy mountain road. That'd be the dream but there's nothing like that here.

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by underscore

I once heard of a guy who moved to Italy and his commute was between two small Italian towns, about 30 minutes each way down a windy mountain road. That'd be the dream but there's nothing like that here.

Yeah it's like living in Pemberton and commuting everyday to Whistler.

It's only fun until you get stuck behind a slow vehicle with no passing zones!

Or you're in a massive snowstorm.

[Alpine]

The key to avoiding much of the traffic in Coquitlam is to live in “southwest” Coquitlam. That way you don’t have to drive through the traffic nightmare of coquitlam centre. If you can skip that strip of lougheed, or the intersection of lougheed & barnet, then it's not too bad.

[Alpine]

Originally Posted by van_driver

Central Coquitlam tear down homes are going for around $1.4m on a 7500-8500 sq ft lot. They were $1.1m a year ago. Does this make sense compared to lots in Burnaby/East Van?

If it's around burquitlam / north road / maillardville, then there's redevelopment potential for added density. Lots are getting assembled for multifamily or divided to build smaller detached houses (~3000-3500 sqft with or without laneway) that are selling for ~1.8-2.0M.

If it's a random SFH lot in central Coquitlam away from these areas, then here's the math. New 5500sqft homes cost ~1.1M to build. Newly completed homes (~2018-2020) are selling between 2.5-2.8M. Some builders are trying to presell homes for 3.0-3.5M now.

[donk.]

Having lived in port moody most of my life, and driving to vancouver for work, for 4 years, was enough. Its just depressing sitting in traffic.

Moving to vancouver was the best choice ive made. 10 minute to/from avarage now

2hrs each day x 260 days, 520hrs saved per year, on a 2000 hour work year, thats an additional 25% thats burned. And im not even including / paying for the company car

[carsncars]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

If nightlife is a priority, you don't move to Coquitlam. Take an Uber and go to the breweries in PoCo or Port Moody for a night out.

I mean we're at the age where we like being in bed by 10 pm, but do still enjoy having lots of restaurants in the vicinity. Coquitlam, while miles better than it was when I was in high school, is not going to match East Van in that respect. And just being closer to friends makes it much easier - in non-COVID times - to grab dinner without incurring a 30-minute drive.

Once kids are part of the equation, yeah, we are likely to give that up for a larger yard, quieter streets, and better schools.

Agree on Southwest Coquitlam being a sweet spot. My parents used to live around Mundy Park and that was great - close to the highway, near an awesome park. The trade-off was transit... having to bus to Lougheed was limiting. I'm sure this is changing rapidly with all the Lougheed/Burquitlam development and really is reflected in the property prices we're seeing.

[EvoFire]

We've stuck to looking in Burnaby and Vancouver for the exact same commute problems. Even though I'm in tech I don't foresee WFH forever, especially if I continue to try and climb the ladder. I would at best be WFH three days a week and many companies want people back in the office. Even having to drive to work twice a week I don't want to do it from Coquitlam.

My parents live on Cambie right now and are considering moving to Richmond in the future. We enjoy eating out as entertainment and our pick for Chinese food. The drive is also tough from South Cambie or Richmond with a little kid in tow and you are trying to make it home for bedtime. Ditto trying to get to Granville or DT for a nice dinner after work. (Haven't had that in awhile... fuck covid)

I commuted from Burnaby to Richmond for a year, I had my car, and I hated every minute of it. The gas, the traffic, the idiots.

[carsncars]

Originally Posted by donk.

Having lived in port moody most of my life, and driving to vancouver for work, for 4 years, was enough. Its just depressing sitting in traffic.

Moving to vancouver was the best choice ive made. 10 minute to/from avarage now

2hrs each day x 260 days, 520hrs saved per year, on a 2000 hour work year, thats an additional 25% thats burned. And im not even including / paying for the company car

100% agreed.

I grew up used to the Coquitlam-Vancouver commute. My parents did it (though traffic was way better when they moved here in the 80's - my dad said 30 minutes tops), and I did it through university and the first years of my career.

Then I moved to Toronto for a couple years for work and lived a 10 minute walk from work. The amount of time gained back is something I'm not sure I could ever give back, especially as we get older and realize how valuable time is. Our goal is to never have a regular commute >30 minutes one way.