^^ this, you just wait till the Asian boomers start dying or pass their money to their kids. A lot of East Van is sitting on easy $1.7m in real estate. Add in kids income before they retire, they can easily borrow another million on top. I was just talking to someone saying that even $2.5 to $3m houses aren't too far off a stretch for these immigrant families. And I'm not talking about the ones that just came rich from China.

Then you also have the smart ones that own detach and maybe a few presale condos. :alone:

Nice throwback from reading some of these posts.

As a kid, dinner for me would often consist of boiled rice with salt & butter. Sometimes if my brother and I were good, it would be ketchup & rice! I felt like an aristocrat for once. Toys & Clothes would consist of donations from others :lol

Now in adulthood, I make decent money but with "Van-flation", I literally make pennies on the dollar that would allow me to live comfortably elsewhere in the country.

No opioids for me just yet:woot2:

I too will echo about my family immigrating here in mid 70's from HK. Growing up everything was bare essentials. Everything I had was hand me downs up till grade 9. Didn't have a tv in the house till I was grade 7 and it was a dinky black and white portable on rabbit ears. I pretty much shoplifted everywhere just to pretend my parents bought me toys so kids at school didn't make fun of me. The fridge was bare most times. White rice and soy sauce, wonder bread with butter(packaged cooked ham and sliced processed cheese if we're lucky). My parents scraped enough savings to open a flower shop/corner store. Worked 365 days a year. If our bungalow didn't have a rotten roof we probably wouldn't have done a major reno but that 2nd mortgage was clearly a burden and literally bankrupt my parents (back then interest rates were like 19%). I know there are families that were much worse off than what my family went through but sometimes hearing people say all Asians are rich blah blah just makes me shake my head

^ not sayin all Asians are rich ... what I am saying is that even immigrant Asian families who came with nothing worked their assess off during 15% interest rate times to be able to help their kids with some down payment ... I don't know how they did it. Not all can ... but many do!

These parents were able to do it because they were willing to self-sacrifice for their families/future generations at all costs. I wonder if this had any bearing on the children of these parents who are now adults and their thought process of "living for today because their parents never got to enjoy anything in life." How often do you hear younger adults talk about not wanting to sacrifice their lifestyle for housing? It's a personal choice but it's such a swing from the previous generation of working stiffs.

They didn't have a choice. They came here to start a new life building from scratch to give their children a better place to grow up and a better life. Something most of us take for granted. How many of us are willing to move somewhere with barely no money not knowing the native language with no one to help and build a life? My parents left behind decent careers but their money went to help family and left nothing for themselves.

Some next gen will always react in a polar opposite way from their family upbringing and be frivolous. Others who are now doctors, engineers, lawyers will still adopt the thrifty and frugal value from parents. No way to predict. But a balance somewhere in between is the best. Go on trips, enjoy life but save some for the future.

Damn, some of you guys were POOR. Good on you for coming out it well adjusted (I hope? LOL).

My parents had a couple unsuccessful businesses along the way and I remember the financial stresses at the time as they fell behind on rent for the 2nd business and eventually lost that business. I learned to help out in the store - I think I was a 10-12 year old ringing in people's purchases. I have a vivid memory of overcharging people for their eggs - I was ringing them in at 1.89 when my dad, for no good reason, had set it to 1.83. If I overcharged one of your parents I'm sorry but it's how my parents have a paid off detached home in East Van.

Anyone have success in disputing assessed value?

My 1br condo went from $530K > $605K for a 15 year old building in Joyce. Units on my floor increased to $470 - 550K this year. So I'm confused why my value increased 10% higher than every unit on my floor with the same floorplan.

I think there has to be an error in this assessment, unless the city included my 2nd parking spot and renovation? But how would they know?

You pull permits for the Reno?

I just looked at comparables in the Collingwood area, you seem to be correct. I looked around July 2021 and the average 1br condo is about $550k.

I would dispute it for sure.

Hondaracer has a point though, did you pull permits for a reno? if so, that could bump your unit up. Even then, I would still contest it as the prices right now aren't even that high.

In response to the immigrant parents coming here, I think their rationale for coming here is much simpler.

For my parents who came here when they were young, they said they were just young and naive. Their parents said to move out of Asia as it was not a good place and both my parents didn't really think twice, they just went, "Oh okay, I guess I should move to Canada since my parents said I should".

That's what their rationale was. They didn't think about their future or their children's future, they simply did it because other people were doing it and their family thought it was a good idea. They didn't analyze which country was better, they didn't research anything, they didn't even really think too hard about coming. Everyone else was moving away, so they assumed it was the right thing to do.

It definitely was, but they didn't put much thought into it.

Poor was a bit of an understatement lol. We pulled out ahead but it took a lot of family planning and using BC Co-op housing after our house was foreclosed. My parents although left behind good careers (mom was a nurse and my dad had engineering degree from China) just didn't have the cards fall in place here but they instilled work ethics and street smarts in us.


Advice is arm yourself with real evidence that your unit is over assessed. Hire an appraiser to re-appraise. If the assessment panel doesn't budge you can re appeal to the assessment board. If that doesn't work you can take it to BC Supreme and all else fails its BC Appeal Court. I believe it's 30 days to send in your appeal. But I'm not sure if it's counted from January 1 or when you recieve the assessment in the mail.

Apparently BC Assessment uses software for appraisals so getting a real value assessment is probably why it's a head scratcher half the time

If you paid over the appraised price, can you still dispute? :lol

Isn't 530 to 605 a 14% increase and 470 to 550 a 17% increase? Unless I'm doing this wrong?

(605-503)/503*100 = 14%
(550-470)/470*100 = 17%

Do you have to for condos? The previous owner did it, no idea if they followed the rule or not. :pokerface:

The units that hit $550 - 470, ranged from $455 - 530K in their 2020 assessment. Closer to 10% increase, while mine was 14%. I guess renovation might be the reason why. Will dispute!

Guess your buying realtor didn't check that for you?? The previous owner probably at least had Strata approval so there would be records on it. Also like previously stated your assessment value is more on land value and not your unit.

Guess your buying realtor didn't check that for you?? The previous owner probably at least had Strata approval so there would be records on it. Also like previously stated your assessment value is more on land value and not your unit.

Wait, what. For some reason I always pictured you as being white.

Wait .. I thought you were white too!

Gerbs. Good luck on your appeal! I know someone that's on the Board and he's a hard ass so I'll assume they're all like that and I believe they're all designated with Appraisal Institute of Canada. So they most likely will try to stand their ground. If you hire an appraiser be sure they have designation


You definitely don't remember. We met back from good ole Sentra Club days! lol

Insert Brown Hypa joke here. LOL

Oh damn, I know a few RS guys here were from the ole Sentra club days.
Damn, now I won't be able to sleep tonight trying to figure out who you are.

Jeez went up 348k since last year

Thinking is a privilege that we take for granted. Having options is something that is taught and sometimes, not everyone feels like they have it. If you see everyone else doing it, you may just assume that's how life is, so follow it. Researching back then must have been a lot less efficient and time consuming without the internet.