[hkRicer]

Many new townhouse sold last month. Couldn't even get an offer in LOL. I think the place is call Karat. Just wondering if i should buy now or wait til few year later. Maybe with the many new upcoming condo/townhouse in rmd the price will fall in the next few years?????? - -

[Jsunu]

Won't the HST next year increase the tax on NEW homes?

[ToyotaPowah]

Got some news for ya. The real estate market is picking up. You'd probably get better deals now rather than later. Then again, I don't know the Richmond market at all, so it could be a slightly different story.

[van_driver]

I'd say its a good time to buy in this dead shit market. Could probably get a good discount.

[ilvtofu]

^have you read the thread?

[StylinRed]

it was good to buy in richmond a decade or 2 ago

theres no point now ;)

[wouwou]

Got some news for ya. The real estate market is picking up. You'd probably get better deals now rather than later. Then again, I don't know the Richmond market at all, so it could be a slightly different story.

remind me again, what's happening after the 2010 games?

the 2 main industries, real estate and tourism, for vancouver is going on a cold streak, what's going to make it change?

The recent pop is coming from first time home buyers taking advantage of the ultra-low interest rate for their mortgages, and historically summers are always good for RE.

Wait till the 4th quarter's number and see if the rebound is lasting.

[twitchyzero]

i think the market was stale for the few years after Expo 86

Even though that's not an event similar to Olympics at all..i think the same thing could very well occur again in 2010-2013

[Edison_Chen]

I just recently moved in to a town house paid about $450,000 in Richmond.
The prices have gone down slightly from last year. The first owner who originally bought the townhouse broke even (from 2007)

[ntan]

Richmond is either the highest or second highest increase (%) in metro vancouver; is it really worth it? My dad just bought a house in Richmond though haha.

[Lomac]

It's never a good time to buy in Richmond... ;)

[hal0g0dv2]

It's never a good time to buy in Richmond... ;)

hehehe

[you!]

lol at everyone trying to buy in richmond

[van_driver]

^have you read the thread?

yes, yes I have:rolleyes:

[Vansterdam]

good time if the HST dosent come soon

[haymura]

I bought a brand new condo in Richmond for $342,000. Right now if i were to sell it the value would be around $420,000. The real estate market is picking up again so its either u buy soon or find elsewhere cuz Richmond is expensive!

[jackmeister]

whats a good rate to buy at?

the place im looking at, its listed at around 560 per sq feet, 2 rooms

is that good price or not good?

[MDMA]

richmond is prime

[impactX]

I'd rather buy in a city with bedrock as foundation.

[Teriyaki]

I'd rather buy in a city with bedrock as foundation.

insurance my friend.

And yea, the market is picking up really fast in Richmond. How long it'll last is another issue altogether, but we all know that the prices in Richmond are not directly correlated with other market measures since its demographics is slightly different from all other municipalities.

[Chairman Kaga]

richmond is prime

yes

richmond is so prime that half the apartments aren't even half sold :thumbsup:

[SpuGen]

insurance my friend.

And yea, the market is picking up really fast in Richmond. How long it'll last is another issue altogether, but we all know that the prices in Richmond are not directly correlated with other market measures since its demographics is slightly different from all other municipalities.

I don't think your home insurance covers acts of Juan de Fuca.

[AsBannedAsItGets]

So what I gather from the information collected in this thread is that you have to be rich to buy housing in richmond. All I know is that if there's every a big ass earthquake then richmond is essentially fucked.

[Hehe]

IMO, consider in plain numbers. Don't listen to any1 when it comes to important financial decisions.

I will share my opinion here for your interest.

I'm a renter myself and have no interest buying anytime soon. Look at GVR prices, it's through the roof!!! (call me bearish or w/e, but I trust in real numbers)

I bought an apartment complex of 38 units with my frd/business partner in Dallas, TX for 1.2M, my share was 200K in down-payment and after all the associated cost/mortgage payment, I'm getting about 2.5K USD cash monthly +/- all the fluctuation in RE market and equity build-up.

Sure there's 140K in that 200K as an interest-free loan from my family but look at this example, 2.5K CDN (let's consider USD:CDN is 1:1) can rent you a nice townhouse/condo pretty much anywhere in Van with change to spare on toys.

What would 200K in cash today get you in GVR??? A 500Sft shoebox???

[asian_XL]

Look at the amount of house supply in Richmond vs people want to live in
richmond. Unless you want to live right beside some scary farm near no.5 or
steveston, it's quite impossible to find a cheap decent place there.

The smartest way to get yourself ready is to aim at something small and
affordable (usually 1/3 of your monthly income). Buying something large for
just yourself or family of 3 is pretty impractical, and you have no spare cash
to invest in something has good potential return.


If you are hoping to own more than one places in your life(one for yourself,
one for rent), so you do not have to worry much about your retirement... here's the formula you should try.

1) 700sq ft -> 30-40% downpay...at least you have a suite to stay, save up for the 2nd downpay.

2) 10 years later...you should be able to pay off the 700sqft, and your salary range should allow you to finance another decent 1200sq ft. 3 bedroom.

3) Now you own 2 suites, one 700sqft, and one 1200sqft. Feel free to live in the larger one and rent the smaller one out to cover the mortgage.

4) And same goes to your 3rd and 4th property.


*I am not BSing, this is what my family is doing...we now renting out 3
apartments, 3 stores, and we are aiming our 4th when the economy goes better.

[WakeMeUp]

insurance my friend.


Does anyone sell insurance covering earthquake related damage in Richmond? I mean, it doesn't seem viable unless the premiums are extraordinarily high. The very loose silt and sediment would result in liquidfaction and a sinking and settling of all foundations. Every structure would be destroyed essentially.

[GLOW]

The very loose silt and sediment would result in liquidfaction and a sinking and settling of all foundations. Every structure would be destroyed essentially.

you mean something like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLZFlnND0hA&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo%2Egoogle%2Eca%2Fvideosearc h%3Fhl%3Den%26q%3Dliquefaction%26um%3D1%26ie%3DUTF %2D8%26sa%3DN%26tab%3Dwv&feature=player_embedded

[WakeMeUp]

Yeah like that.

[E-40six]

stay out of richmond, your back yard will sink and crack your foundation
true story :D

[thumper]

haha all the ditchmond jokes... either you'll sink into the ground or a plane will fall on your head :lol

[taylor192]

Look at this graph. There's 4 peaks to notice, and the number of years after to reach the peak again:

1981 - 7 years
1989 - 3 years
1995 - 8 years
2007 - ??? years

How many years is only a guessing game, yet it'd be safe to say 3-8 years you can buy and house prices will be marginally the same with a few ups/downs.

http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/4/3/6/7/ar121096804076345.jpg

[wouwou]

on a side note, most of RMD areas have a water table of 3 feet.

Dig a hole more than 3 feet and water comes out, true story.

[taylor192]

Here's another graph showing major Canadian cities adjusted for inflation.
http://bp2.blogger.com/_PiR0viQSvUQ/SCdpjtKrQLI/AAAAAAAAACo/nIx9uhwRLTw/s1600-h/canada_prices2.png

There's a few interesting points:
1. After the 1976 Olympics, housing crashed bigtime in Montreal
2. After the oil crash of the early 80s, it took > 20 years for Calgary prices to recover
3. After the 1981 peak of the Vancouver real estate market, it took 14 years to recover. The runup in 1979-81 is comparable to the surge from 2002-07.
4. After the 80s financial collapse, it took 15 years for Toronto prices to recover.

So why hasn't a housing meltdown happened again? 35 yr mortgages and still high commodity prices are keeping the worst at bay. Yet how many more buyers are there to take 35yr mortgages? How long can oil stay this high? when historically it should be about $40.

[Chairman Kaga]

insurance my friend.

Insurance does not cover acts of god.

[CRS]

Insurance does not cover acts of god.

When it comes to fires/flooding/hurricanes it does.

[wouwou]

When it comes to fires/flooding/hurricanes it does.

but, but..

do they cover "I told you so"s?

:haha:

[InvisibleSoul]

You can get earthquake coverage for sure...

[impactX]

Who is going to insure the insurance company when hundreds of buildings get destroyed in Richmond?

The low frequency seismic wave emitted from an earthquake far away will pose a great threat to buildings built on sediment while it won't do much to buildings built on bedrock.

[Blinky]

Who is going to insure the insurance company when hundreds of buildings get destroyed in Richmond?


Short answer: reinsurers.

Longer answer: Reinsurers. Your own earthquake insurance *probably* has a low policy limit--as in much lower than what your house is worth (read your policy for full details), and that protects both the insurance company and its reinsurers.

[asian_XL]

Canada Direct Insurance offeres Earthquake insurance...
you can pretty much insure every fucking things, even your wang.

but the deductible is ridiculously high, pretty much you won't get your money unless the earthquake destroy your house completely.

Good luck.

[Great68]

After spending 26 years of my life living in Richmond, I never want to live in that shithole again.

[Tapioca]

So why hasn't a housing meltdown happened again? 35 yr mortgages and still high commodity prices are keeping the worst at bay. Yet how many more buyers are there to take 35yr mortgages? How long can oil stay this high? when historically it should be about $40.

Two words: wealth transfer. I don't know if it's an ethnic thing, but some couples or 20-somethings get into the market because of help from their parents or relatives.

I'm going off on a tangent, but I don't think we will see oil in the $40/range for a long time. You might not subscribe to peak oil theory, but I think it's fairly believable. It's true we still have oil, but it comes from more expensive sources, like the tar sands. China and India still want cars for their citizens and the demand for oil is only going to increase.

[taylor192]

Two words: wealth transfer. I don't know if it's an ethnic thing, but some couples or 20-somethings get into the market because of help from their parents or relatives.

I'm going off on a tangent, but I don't think we will see oil in the $40/range for a long time. You might not subscribe to peak oil theory, but I think it's fairly believable. It's true we still have oil, but it comes from more expensive sources, like the tar sands. China and India still want cars for their citizens and the demand for oil is only going to increase.
Wealth transfer is great, yet its not going to be a long term solution as our aging population spends what used to be passed on via inheritance.

California still uses more gas than India, I'd be more worried about the US decreasing its oil/gas need than China/India increasing in the short term.

Oil is coming from more expensive sources (tar sands) cause its profitable to do so, otherwise there's lots of oil out there to tap, OPEC has to artificially limit it to keep prices high.

Just my $0.02