You don’t think it’s a bit of a culture thing? My buddy is a Persian real estate agent and almost all his clients are Persian and all his clients have the exact same mentality — they don’t trust governments or banks so they want to lock all their money up in land... they also heavily believe in family legacy and building for future generations whereas western people are more independent from their families and think their kids should kind of figure their own shit out etc...

Also had a lot of friends from India flat out say as soon as their parents got here they bought houses just to hold as investments they could sell to pay for $100k weddings for their kids in the future.

These mindsets are not really a “only way to get ahead cuz my job sucks” thing.

Persia is still a country?

it's partly to do with culture but is buy real estate early a bad thing? I think it's solid financial advice.

RE (particularly land) is also easy to understand as an investment. The average person doesn't understand a lick about the stock market, but RE? It's about as straightforward as it can be since even it ultimately boils down to demand. Population goes up? Good chance land value goes up.

I honestly don't think it comes naturally to most Canadian-born people at all prior to maybe the Gen Z crowd... there's the odd shark or business savvy person in every crowd, but Canadians were kind of simple-minded about their finances up until the last 20 years or so... hence why we have such lax laws about land ownership / permanent residency / loopholes in our tax and benefits systems.

I always grew up with a "take what you need, there's enough for everyone" kind of mindset and I think most everyone I know felt the same way... but the world has become much more competitive and cut-throat.

I can see the positives and negatives of both perspectives.

Yep, my in-laws have had a bunch of cash sitting around and wanted to build a laneway for income and I had shared with them that there were a tonne of other ways to make their money for them that aligned better with their goals (they prefer to preserve the principle so pass down to the kids) but investing in something that's not visible like stocks (or similar) just doesn't work for them. To them land (not even a condo) is what's worth investing in.

Chalk that up to ignorance more than anything it’s not really a “cultural” thing to not understand the stock market or investments lol

I know people who were exactly the same and think the stock market is a “fools game” or some how is manipulated to the point of your average person can’t make money on it

These same people then proceeded to buy a couple condos in Calgary as their “safe” investment in RE and then proceeded to lose 100k+ on each of them because shitty market, not desirable location etc. Lol

If you guys owned a 3000 sq/ft house in burnaby that is your forever home, had two children three and five years old and you were looking for a $600k property, where would you buy and what would you buy?

I'm debating if I should buy a $600k condo in burnaby or go out to langley and buy a townhouse.

Is anyone in a situation where they own a home, but they're looking for a second property? I'm just not sure what I should be looking at.

I was thinking if I could get my hands on two condos, I could give one to each of my children. I'm not really sure what the best course of action is.

I would buy a condo/low rise 1BR + Den around Kits or Mt. Pleasant and rent it out. Units around these area are going for 1.6k+ and they are usually rented within 10 days. The rent should cover for the monthly mortgage + strata and a little bit to set aside for your kids mutual fund.

If you're Asian, tell your kids you will offer them the condo if they get into UBC. If they don't, sell the unit and use the money for your own retirement, and disown your kid.

Are you currently mortgage free? Where is the $600 coming from? $300 in bitcoin, $150 in Ethereum and $50 in doge :accepted: everyone can have a detached when they are 18

@Traum (Why can't we tag ppl yet)

So I promised story time and I will try to deliver since we have an accepted offer now.

Dumbass couple #1:
We have our TV wall mounted above our fireplace, cabling and plugs all done behind the TV so nothing shows.
:derp: How does the TV work, how do you plug it in? Where are the cables?
For fucks sake this has been a thing for like 15 years now? Anything built or renovated within the last decade has hidden cables! :speechless:
:derp: How reliable is the stove, is it gonna break?
Our realtor told them that the renos were done 5 years ago, and the stove was new at reno. Stoves break in 5 years? :fulloffuck:

Dumbass couple #2: (or just dumbass realtor)
It's covid. Everyone is requested to wear masks and sanitize their hands or wear gloves in a showing. We explicitly state offer presentation without buying agent, preferably digital so we don't have to see them.
They insist on presenting in person. They insist on meeting us. Our cutoff time is 7pm, they were outside our gate at something like 6pm. :rukidding:

PS: The accepted offer was neither couple. I don't even know if dumbass couple #1 even submitted an offer.

Does not matter where or what you buy, its all going up

I feel like my in laws should already disown their son. He is in grade 5 and is extremely unmotivated, lazy, and entitled. Completely spoiled. He’s not doing well in school so I made him a offer to test him. I offered him 10k if he could get straight A’s next year. He didn’t even try to negotiate down to see what I would give him for 1 A or 2 A’s. He simply said no, even after I explained to him what he could buy with it. He went right back to asking his father for his own switch or when he could get his own phone. They are pretty well off but not rich, and their family wealth is about to get fucked in 1 generation lol.

So that makes him your... brother in law?

Why Asians still cherish their boys so much is beyond me.

Yeah, they do, actually. So many of the appliances nowadays are shit. I've been doing research as we are doing a full kitchen reno in our new place before we move in and my head is spinning at trying to balance price, reliability and performance on fridges and stoves.

Honestly, don't overly complicate the decision. I went through the same decision last year, researching virtually every single product @ Trail appliances, only to realize that it was all a waste of time.

If you want to maximize value, go for a North American label (ie. whirlpool, Maytag, Frigidaire, GE, etc) without the bells & whistles. If you want something that looks a bit nicer, go for Kitchenaid.
If you want the vanilla Euro brand, go Bosch.
If you want the "look", go Fisher & Paykel.
If you want high-end, go Miele / wolf / subzero.

After spending days going back and forth on appliances and feature sheets, we just said Fuck it, and went with Fisher & Paykel because they offer the "look" that we wanted, but for the lowest price lol. Integrated F&P fridge + F&P dishwasher, F&P cooktop, F&P wall oven, Panasonic microwave.

F&P = Ballin'

We just bought a new dishwasher, went with a European brand I've never heard of but the sales guy at Coast sold it pretty well, lol. Asko, so far no complaints looks good and it's quiet.

https://www.askona.com/

Right now my Dryer is doing it's death roll so now I can decide if I want to just replace the dryer or replace both even though washing machine is working fine.

One bedroom units at amazing Brentwood are going for $2000 a month rent. I haven't looked at kits, but assumed $600k wouldn't go far there.

Let's be real. Because we're asian, at the end of the day they're going to get everything regardless. I just hope they're a productive human being and not an asshole. I will try my best. So far, they're pretty good (I realize I could also be biased).

Also, there is NO property in GVR that can cash flow right now unless you put a 50% down payment. If you're down payment is 25% or less, it's impossible to cash flow in GVRD, I already looked. I know that even when we rent the unit out, we will still be in the hole for at least $500 a month, I'm estimating. (After mortgage, strata, property tax, utilities, misc. expenses, etc).

The mortgage right now after our rental suites is about $3k a month on the burnaby place.

I don't have the full $600k cash. I'm going to have to get another mortgage for the balance. I could probably do at least $150k down payment.

Interestingly, I am going to cash in the majority of my crypto portfolio to fund this venture. The tax implications are going to suck, but I also thought about not declaring it, but figured it would get too messy so I might as well pay my fair share in tax.

https://www.zealty.ca/mls-R2568796/1...-Vancouver-BC/

Under 500k with nice size patio. These are really desirable for young couples or students. My parents own two units around Kits and they've been rented out without a hassle for the past decade.

Oh cool, didn't know stuff like that existed. Not sure if I like the studio concept of it though. I was like, where's the bed?

I guess that was a poor example, but I guess the trade off to having a patio space = sleep on the sofa! lol

Along west 4th there are a lot of 10+ year old condos that go for sale for under 500k. Their strata fees usually are <300 bucks.

I think if they asked about the washer and dryer, or even the dishwasher, sure.

It's a god damn gas stove. It's got no moving parts inside and no computer and electronics to run. There's a valve and a spark.


We did the same thing when we did our renos 5 years ago. *knock on wood* nothing has broken, but the delivery. Holy shit the delivery.
The first time they delivered the washer dryer, the washer had a huge scratch on it and they said they'll take it back and deliver a new one.
The second time they delivered they dropped the washer and destroyed it so they had to take it back.
Now they are back ordered across the country and had to wait 3 weeks for a washer to be delivered.
Finally they delivered and everything was setup. The dryer broke on the second use. The motor was defective.
Then the moisture sensor borked and it needed a new control panel.

It's been good since no problems, probably the BEST dryer we've ever used. But damn the washer dryer ordeal was a massive pain.

In my parents old place the start button on the control panel fried when it was about 5 years old. A couple years later the glass in the door of the replacement stove exploded randomly one day.

That house was cursed when it came to appliances though. The only thing that didn't break in some way was the washing machine.