What do you think of this property and how much do you think it's worth?
 

My cousin just had their second child and their townhouse is getting a little cramped. He's thinking of moving out.

His townhouse is currently in Burnaby. He makes over six figures, so does his wife. They do pretty well.

Anyway, he send me a link to this new project. I think it's pretty sweet.

Benchmark Homes: Building Custom & Spec Homes in the Lower Mainland | The Estates at Southwood

He said he emailed them to figure out costs because it's not listed on the site. I'm too impatient to wait for their response, but how much do you think this house is worth?

It looks unreal. I love every aspect of it.

His wife works in Surrey, but he works in Burnaby, so it'll be a little trek for him, but if the price is right he said he's sold.

I think he's being premature obviously, guy doesn't even have a realtor yet, so i'm sure once he gets one, he'll have so many options even closer to where he lives.

Anyway, any idea of how much this place would cost? I'm thinking $1.5 million. Is that way off?

Pictures for the lazy
 

It's going to be a long drive for him every day.. 168th and 23rd is almost next to the border.

wow thats way the fuck out there for him.. but yeah, price should be at about 1 million or so.

Nah, I drive from a less convenient area of S Surrey to hwy 1 and it's 45 mins to Burnaby.

Considering the area and that it is a spec home, I would guess 875k-1M range depending on appliances, square footage/full basement, lot size/location within the subdivision etc.

If he has 1.5 to spend, he could find a much nicer place in a far superior neighbourhood in South Surrey. Unless he gets a nicer/private lot (unlikely in these new neighbourhoods), I assume he'll be in a fishbowl with several houses having a direct view into your favourite spot :)

Edit, just checked realtor and looks like spec homes in the area are 730-930 but dont look as nice at the one you've posted..

I'd say under a mill because they are essentially manufactured homes.

To be honest that area, Morgan crossing on the south side of 32nd ave is turning into kind of a ghetto. Not to the extent of Clayton heights but they are building a tonne of density in that area in both low rise wood frame and wood frame town houses.

We built the project right behind Home Depot, detached single family homes in strata. We began construction in 2008 right before the recession and the highest Somone paid right before that was around $750,000 for a 3500sq foot finished basement house. Some of them ended up going for around 520 in 2010/11

I know people really like to latch onto "new" construction but you're paying a big time premium for average construction where as if you went with an older house you'd probably be able to renovate and get far nicer appliances for the same amount as the new place.

Edit* just speaking to my dad who is a Warantee provider and knows quite a few of the projects he figures they run about $750k. Benchmark also builds pretty good stuff so if that's what he really wants it wouldn't be a bad choice. Although when you look at the "gallery" those houses are like the bare minimum distance apart. Somthing to consider when your neighbor is so close

Pattern home = Under $1 million.

1.5 million will get him a decent house in North Burnaby and the drive to Surrey is much better than going to Burnaby from South Surrey.

why does it matter what we think?

+1.

hell you can shop around and find houses in 1.5-1.7 in east van too but driving out to surrey would kind of suck. when i was shopping around earlier this year we found a couple of new homes in north burnaby at around 1.2 but only around 2500 sq-ft. a few older homes near SFU around the same price but they had 3500-4000 sq-ft iirc

A quick search shows there's lots of decent stock in the 1.2-1.5M range in S.Bby. Although older, the shorter commute and more time to spend with the family would make it worth it for me.

6626 GRIFFITHS AV, Burnaby, British Columbia V5E2X3 - V1083014 | Realtor.ca
7340 BURRIS ST, Burnaby, British Columbia V5E1Y3 - V1068415 | Realtor.ca
7675 16TH AV, Burnaby, British Columbia V3N1P5 - V1088144 | Realtor.ca

hope he can afford lots of lip kits, gonna need them with trees in the driveway

its obvious that they value the wife being closer to her work and possibly the proximity to the border...

Must be fun paying off a mortgage for the rest of your life

the family has a 2x 6 figure income. I think the mortgage is the least of their concern. On average 50k is all that is needed to "live" and the rest is gravy. Their gravy is 150k at min.

You aren't the best at math eh?
They have TWO 6 figure incomes. These are the perfect example of people who CAN afford a home in the GVRD.

My entire home is smaller than the kitchen

:okay:

I didn't even read that, my bad. House prices in GVRD are absolutely atrocious these days. Can't wait for the next crash.

3,600+ sq. ft.

Near Morgan Crossing (for comps).

New Home.

Built by a developer (not a small-sized contractor/builder)

Price probably in the $1.4 to $1.7 range.

Depends on the land size though (probably 3,500 to 4,800 sq. feet... PROBABLY).

Prices in Morgan Crossing grew 20% from 2012 to 2014.

That house would have been $1.2 back in late 2012 to early 2013.

now? $1.4 to $1.7 range.

At that price... there are a lot of options other than the White Rock/South Surrey area, namely West Van and North Van, highway access to Burnaby for work, etc.

Your cousin should definitely look at all the possibilities, and not just be smitten with that specific development.

Good luck and wish you your cousin the best AND have a LITTLE fun finding their next home.

PS: good time finding a home though (season wise... not price wise) because it's the start of Winter and it's more of a buyer's market right now.

NEGOTIATE the price, even if it is with developers (free upgrades, etc. is better than nothing).

The thing is, the only thing that is going to cause a collapse is the BOC increasing lending rates. Real estate prices may go down, but the amount of interest the bank takes goes up. Monthly payments are equally as fucked either way which is what determines affordability for the average buyer (People with 20-30% down payments)
Its a simple solution on paper. You want to buy in Vancouver? Make more money. Its the only way its happening for us "middle class" folks.

keep waiting guy. prices wont ever crash here, they'll go from retarded expensive to expensive.

Rule of thumb is 15x whatever it can rent for annually

For those salivating over 2x 6 figure salaries thinking ur now on the gravy train, trust me, ur not. U just end up paying loads of tax, and your relative monthly investment amount increases (God, I hope these ppl are using their salaries to invest for the future, retirement on a gov pension would be one hell of a come down), once you earn good money and can afford nicer things in life, it makes you want the security to never have to come down from that, hence the need for a monster investment kitty.

I'd pay $500k max for that house. But I also don't think the land is worth much, and don't really value real estate in Canada that highly given the shit cap rates

Housing is cyclical, it will revert to mean. It's not different here, even westopher, perhaps unknowing just proved that prices are driven by low interest rates.

Said increase in rates will spook the fuck out of ppl and will begin the slow, long slog of decreased real pricing.

Let's not also forget, Canada's economy sucks, yes there are some tailwinds from production sales to a growing and strong US economy, but natural resources are in for a mid term slump, which will screw many pooches, and debt loads are just too high to justify in this country.

Now, if OP has a property already, he's in the market so has his entry price, any overzealous pricing increases, justified or not, are built into most properties, so it's just a relative move up, he should take advantage of the low rates and swap one house for another.

On the realtor front, negotiate with them, they make money for nothing and don't deserve More money today just bc interest rates are low making housing prices higher.

the stairs and some parts of the house remind me Paranormal Activity

I did some more digging and it looks like it is around $1million

The Estates at Southwood by Benchmark Homes Ltd.: Surrey | BuzzBuzzHome

Yeah, I think he is just giddy about the development itself. I told him to get a realtor to actually show them options and walk them through the whole process.