Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[roastpuff]

Hey guys, I am thinking of selling my 2BR/2BA apartment and finding a larger townhome-type of dwelling, as my wife and I are thinking of starting a family within the next year or two. What do you think would be better - to hold and sell next year, or try to sell this year?

We would like to sell the apartment to use my equity in it as the downpayment for the next place, which we hope will be between 800k-1m. Currently the other apartments in the area (Marine Gateway) are around 800k, give or take 50k either way, and I expect to have about half of that as equity out of my apartment after fees and taxes and everything else is subtracted.

[Traum]

You're already in a legally binding contract. There is absolutely zero benefit to you for signing the consent form. Why are you even considering it?

If the buyer backs out for whatever reason, he backs out of the transaction. At least you'd get to keep his deposit to mitigate your lost opportunity.

I'd just stay the course and wait it out until the deal closes.

Originally Posted by chinook79

I have a RE deal that's closing in just over a month and half. all subjects have been removed, and it's undeveloped land. Buyer is requesting us to sign consent form for city so that he can start working on getting permits to develop the land. The property was sold heavily discounted at more than 30% below assessed value. I have no legal obligation to sign the form other than good-will to help buyer get started working on the property.
The risk I can think of by signing consent form is that since buyer hasn't paid full price, there could be issue rising if he finds anything that may impact value of the land. There is no reason to believe that there is any issue with land, but since it has never been developed, it's not an impossible scenario.
Buyer already demanded lowering price once after offer has been accepted on the ground of extra work required than expected prior to removing their subject, and the deal almost broke off.
Would you be signing consent form in my case?

[Traum]

Originally Posted by roastpuff

Hey guys, I am thinking of selling my 2BR/2BA apartment and finding a larger townhome-type of dwelling, as my wife and I are thinking of starting a family within the next year or two. What do you think would be better - to hold and sell next year, or try to sell this year?

We would like to sell the apartment to use my equity in it as the downpayment for the next place, which we hope will be between 800k-1m. Currently the other apartments in the area (Marine Gateway) are around 800k, give or take 50k either way, and I expect to have about half of that as equity out of my apartment after fees and taxes and everything else is subtracted.

From the practicality point of view alone, I'd just get the selling and buying over with right now instead of waiting until next year. Once le wifey becomes preggers, everything can run the risk of becoming a lot more complicated and troublesome, and I am not even talking about the uncommon stuff.

Life isn't always 100% about money, and I'd say in your case, this would be one of those times to just get the housing stuff done and over with before moving on to the baby making stage.

[JDMDreams]

^^ I agree too, get your shit straight, I know of people who had kids that went from one bed to two bed, then now they have to sell their two bed to get detached or semi detached. You lose so much just on realtor fees. Do it one time and do it right. Plus the stress of buying and selling, this is all within the last 3 years too, they just sold their 2 bed and took a loss. Just so they can close on their new place

[Gerbs]

I like how people can casually hop from a 1 br into a 2br. Decide that isn't going to work and get a detached haha.

Everyone is so wealthy here.

[donk.]

Its all an illusion gerbs

Like instagramnz

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by Gerbs

I like how people can casually hop from a 1 br into a 2br. Decide that isn't going to work and get a detached haha.

Everyone is so wealthy here.

One can just take on more debt, debt is cheap(not that I recommend that). Let's say you have a two bed in Vancouver, you can probably go to a detached in Langley for a just bit more debt if you haven't maxed out.

[Alpine]

The Killarney TH has sold for 882k.

[Hondaracer]

The one I went to?

[Alpine]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

The one I went to?

Yup!

[Hondaracer]

[roastpuff]

Originally Posted by Traum

From the practicality point of view alone, I'd just get the selling and buying over with right now instead of waiting until next year. Once le wifey becomes preggers, everything can run the risk of becoming a lot more complicated and troublesome, and I am not even talking about the uncommon stuff.

Life isn't always 100% about money, and I'd say in your case, this would be one of those times to just get the housing stuff done and over with before moving on to the baby making stage.

Thanks! For sure, I'd like to avoid moving again when the bun goes in the oven. We will move and settle in first! Luckily I can stay with my parents for now so it will be easier to stage and sell the apartment, I just hate moving.

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

^^ I agree too, get your shit straight, I know of people who had kids that went from one bed to two bed, then now they have to sell their two bed to get detached or semi detached. You lose so much just on realtor fees. Do it one time and do it right. Plus the stress of buying and selling, this is all within the last 3 years too, they just sold their 2 bed and took a loss. Just so they can close on their new place

Thank goodness I'm already in the 2BR side of things - now looking to go 3+den or 4 bed. I'm lucky enough that I have a place to stay while selling and looking so no pressure to sell to close on another place.

[JDMDreams]

^^ I looked into 3 or more bed apartments, basically it's not worth it as you're looking to buy the most expensive units. Strata is the highest as you have the largest unit, property tax is high, and you still only get one parking space and storage. More if you're real lucky. If you're looking for more than two beds just look into townhouses. Strata is half the cost, more space and property tax is similar and you get more private space

[JDMDreams]

O and you don't have to deal with bs condo insurance rates, the townhouse insurance is like half the cost of a one bed condo

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by Gerbs

I like how people can casually hop from a 1 br into a 2br. Decide that isn't going to work and get a detached haha.

Everyone is so wealthy here.

And with a baby on the way and presumably (one income earner losing a chunk of income), daycare expenses. I mean WTF, does everyone get an automatic raise when they announce they're pregnant?

[JDMDreams]

^^ once you get your mortgage granted no one cares how you pay it. Given that mortgages are only granted up to about 40% of your combined income, even if half drops to zero. You should still be able to pay your mortgage. Once you have a kid you get more free money from the government plus mat leave pay. Unless you work at like mcdonald's, but then you wouldn't even be buying a one bed apartment if you worked min wage.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

^^ once you get your mortgage granted no one cares how you pay it. Given that mortgages are only granted up to about 40% of your combined income, even if half drops to zero. You should still be able to pay your mortgage. Once you have a kid you get more free money from the government plus mat leave pay. Unless you work at like mcdonald's, but then you wouldn't even be buying a one bed apartment if you worked min wage.

The Child Care Benefit sorta helps and a small portion of daycare fees can be tax deductible. However, the child care benefit is scaled to income, so most households buying $1M+ homes aren't really going to benefit from it much because the payments are small once income earners hit the 80K income level.

At the end of the day, one of the big reasons to pay daycare fees is to maintain/ increase your household income so that you can move up the property ladder.

[Hondaracer]

Lol..that is a pretty tight wire to be walking..

I’m sure many people are in those situations but to me that would be stressful af

[JDMDreams]

I've actually seen a few female co workers do this, have a kid, go on mat leave, their position and pay is protected. Come back work for few months, have another kid, mat leave pay again. So it's not like they are going broke. And most Asians have free home childcare by grandparents.

[quasi]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

I've actually seen a few female co workers do this, have a kid, go on mat leave, their position and pay is protected. Come back work for few months, have another kid, mat leave pay again. So it's not like they are going broke. And most Asians have free home childcare by grandparents.

That's a big one, I wish I had that when my son was that age I probably would have had a second kid for sure. Getting my parents to babysit on a weekend night so my and I could go on a date kid free twice a year was like pulling teeth. At least he's old enough where we could leave him now.

[winson604]

Originally Posted by Gerbs

I like how people can casually hop from a 1 br into a 2br. Decide that isn't going to work and get a detached haha.

Everyone is so wealthy here.

We almost fell into the trap of going the let's buy a starter place then upgrade later. At the time we had 1 kid and had plans on having a 2nd down the road but not soon. Looked at 2 bedroom condos as a starter place but after months and months of looking decided to stretch the budget and go all in on a 3 bed townhome. Thank god we did, we have 2 now and everyone has their own room and we have enough space in theory to last us for some years to come.

[Gerbs]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

One can just take on more debt, debt is cheap(not that I recommend that). Let's say you have a two bed in Vancouver, you can probably go to a detached in Langley for a just bit more debt if you haven't maxed out.

My friends that just bought had to max out + put 20 - 35% downpayment, their mortgages are around $400-500k. They felt like there's nothing they can do about it if they wanted to buy at the moment within Van and Burnaby. They're also buying 2010+ condos, nor looking for the best value.


Means I gotta keep finding ways to increase income and make more money

[Gerbs]

I withdrew most of my money from ETFs at the end of 2019 because I planned to buy a 1br condo sometime in the next 3 years.

Recently, I don't know if that's the best idea. Two bedrooms have a better $/sqft value. Maybe I should just keep saving away for a 2br? I plan to live in a condo for another 8 years at least. Since I don't plan to have kids till I'm like 32+

[B!tch]

3 years! Nothing should surprise me anymore but is it sitting in a .5% savings account waiting? Could you not left it 'invested' until you purchase?

[bcrdukes]

I think his S2000 is doing better than his ETFs