website for new apartment/townhouse in GVRD? [Archive]

cheapskate

01-10-2011, 04:37 AM

seriously, i hear is very bad time now

I think that totally depends on where you are buying and the buyer's time horizon.

Buying in the suburbs is one of the worse investments one can make now (way too many current and upcoming factors that will lead to substantial decrease in suburban home prices).

But if the OP is buying in Vancouver then it may not be too bad if he has a long time horizon. He will definitely overpay but sometimes thats the premium for (relatively) less volatility.

midnight_r

01-10-2011, 08:13 AM

ok check this out:

http://www.realtylink.org/

doesnt matter where you looking, this site is v good.

PuYang

01-10-2011, 08:37 AM

buying property isnt that bad of an idea. prices are high right now yes, but in theory, it will only get higher... EVENTUALLY.

My brother recently bought a place on main street, on the edge of china town. it was fairly cheap, and that area is actually really nice, and is being rebuilt in the near future.

he is now renting the place out. the rent alone can pretty much cover all the mortgage and maintainence etc. if he can rent it out for ~20 years. he pretty much just got the place for free, paid from rent. sounds like a pretty good investment there.

Phat_R

01-10-2011, 09:09 AM

http://rennierealty.com/

604nguyen

01-10-2011, 09:37 AM

Why is it such a bad time? I was able to hold down a 3.43% 5 year fixed mortgage just 2 months ago. Right now I have friends saying they cant even find any lower than 4.00%.

Is it really that bad of a time to buy? It doesnt seem like housing is getting any cheaper and the interest rates are on the rise.

CKLCKL

01-10-2011, 10:04 AM

market might dip down a bit, but its going to keep raising. Technically, its never a bad time to buy.

Meowjin

01-10-2011, 11:31 AM

I don't think they are taking into account if interest rates jump up a few percent.

Teh Doucher

01-10-2011, 11:35 AM

Real estate is never a bad investment.
Posted via RS Mobile (http://www.revscene.net/forums/announcement.php?a=228)

ilvtofu

01-10-2011, 11:46 AM

Real estate is never a bad investment.
Posted via RS Mobile (http://www.revscene.net/forums/announcement.php?a=228)

+1 the long term trend is always upwards, it cycles but still a very safe investment.

604nguyen

01-10-2011, 12:22 PM

+1 the long term trend is always upwards, it cycles but still a very safe investment.

exactly, why wait around to see if prices will drop? If your not paying for your place, your paying your landlord anyways, which isnt even an investment. Not everybody has the luxury to live with mom and dad. If you think waiting around for the prices to drop will save you money, you're already paying rent to your landlord every month. I'd rather put that rent money towards a mortgage, than my landlords pocket.

lets say ur rent is 1000 a month, 1 year of waiting thats, 12gs, another year is 24gs down the drain. ...you gotta live somewhere anyways

Anjew

01-10-2011, 12:36 PM

i'm in the process right now of looking for a place to buy(to live in, not renting it out). can the people that think its a bad time right now throw in some more detail? i heard Canada approved tens of thousands more immigrants in the next 5 years. i'm thinking that is gonna drive prices up even more?

AWDTurboLuvr

01-10-2011, 12:41 PM

You'd have to calculate total costs carefully between renting and buying the same place and determine whether or not it's worth it to buy it or to save money while renting.

As for investing in real estate (eg. to rent out to tenants), I would only do it if your earning at the bare minimum 7% after all your monthly expenses.

PuYang

01-10-2011, 01:23 PM

As for investing in real estate (eg. to rent out to tenants), I would only do it if your earning at the bare minimum 7% after all your monthly expenses.

if im reading that correctly. you're saying you'd only do it if you actually GAIN MORE MONEY from the rent than the mortgage/other bills for the place?

thats actually very unlikely. but the rent will make it extremely easy for you to pay off the place. for example, my bro needs to pay ~1600 total for mortgage+maintainences etc for that apartment. hes renting it for ~1500. which means he is only required to pay ~100 bucks a month.

if he can continue this for the entire period of the mortgage, he will end up with the apartment completely paid for by spending only ~100 a month.

as long as you're making enough money for general living expenses, that extra 100 a month is not much. keep it up for a few years, and you own that apartment. from there, so many options open up. keep renting it and make ~1000 a month profit, or move in to save yourself whatever you are currently spending for a place to live. or sell the apartment if prices go up after those years.

of course this will differ for everyone's situation. but even if you arent breaking even with the fees, buying and renting out is still a good choice in alot of cases.

bcedhk

01-10-2011, 01:48 PM

thanks for the link.

I have heard right now the market is not the best, but i mean, I want to start off early, then to wait another 5 years and then having to pay even more. Im young and want to secure a investment that I can also take advantage of now and in the future...Like what others said, I rather spend more to mortgage than to rent since I know in the future I will get most of it back(cross fingers)... + i am lucky that my parents will support 40% of my mortgage payments for the next 5 years!

Im just trying to look for a small place that I can live in for maybe the next 5-8 years, and then rent it out if I have the income available to move out into a new apartment.

I just started looking at apartments around the kits area, where else should i look for that will have new apartments in maybe 4-6 months? something with 1 room 1 den, and around the 300k-420k range.

Meowjin

01-10-2011, 01:59 PM

id honestly be wary of taking advice from people here. It's not very good from what I've read in the thread. Buying a primary residance if you can afford it is always a good idea, although ask many people who bought when the markets have crashed.

Carl Johnson

01-10-2011, 02:01 PM

Real estate is never a bad investment.
Posted via RS Mobile (http://www.revscene.net/forums/announcement.php?a=228)

Tell that to all the bag holders in the U.S. who have negative equity on their house. It was only 2 year ago that we had the worst recession caused by housing. Have we learned anything from the recession?

Higher interest rate and Canadian dollar is not good for our export economy and the housing market. Combine that with housing affordability at an all-time low, I don't get how you bulls can be so optimistic. Some of you probably get fed too much bullshit from the bankers telling you: 1) never time the market 2) a house is very good investment because it's a real asset. Well a house to me is just another financial asset like stock. Same shit - it can go up and it can certainly go down as well.

Liquid_o2

01-10-2011, 02:08 PM

My co-worker is a real estate economist. He spends half his day running numbers in Excel. He keeps telling me that the market is going to drop soon and right now would be a really bad time to buy a place (depending on location obviously), but he's been saying that for over a year now and the market still hasn't dropped yet.

Many housing "experts" are saying that Metro Vancouver housing prices will rise this year... so who do you believe.

Just have to take the risk and hope you bought in at the right time.

Greenstoner

01-10-2011, 02:35 PM

730k property last year has gone up to 790k this year

which means... more property fuking tax to pay this year

souce : relative , coquitlam

LiquidTurbo

01-10-2011, 02:39 PM

drunkrussian

01-10-2011, 02:42 PM

saying "now is a bad time" is like saying "this president sucks" - in the short term it's true but in the long term it's not. "Now is a bad time" means compared to a year or so from now, you will buy at a slightly worse price. Overall, prices will rise in the long run and your investment will be a decent one.

Don't get me wrong, that's not to say you shouldn't or should buy now, that's just to say that most people don't know shit about real estate and just know the phrase "now is a bad time to buy", which they have permanently engrained in their heads.

AWDTurboLuvr

01-10-2011, 02:51 PM

if im reading that correctly. you're saying you'd only do it if you actually GAIN MORE MONEY from the rent than the mortgage/other bills for the place?

thats actually very unlikely. but the rent will make it extremely easy for you to pay off the place. for example, my bro needs to pay ~1600 total for mortgage+maintainences etc for that apartment. hes renting it for ~1500. which means he is only required to pay ~100 bucks a month.

if he can continue this for the entire period of the mortgage, he will end up with the apartment completely paid for by spending only ~100 a month.

as long as you're making enough money for general living expenses, that extra 100 a month is not much. keep it up for a few years, and you own that apartment. from there, so many options open up. keep renting it and make ~1000 a month profit, or move in to save yourself whatever you are currently spending for a place to live. or sell the apartment if prices go up after those years.

of course this will differ for everyone's situation. but even if you arent breaking even with the fees, buying and renting out is still a good choice in alot of cases.

Very unlikely given the current housing market but that doesn't mean it never occurred before. I bought my first home 10 years ago when prices were quite a bit lower and the climate at the time was better to buy for rental purposes. It has a clean title now so it's pretty much pure profit here on out, but there are still expenses to maintaining a rental property plus the usual small headaches of dealing with tenants.

I'm not sure the terms or length of his mortgage, but I'm assuming the traditional 25 year mortgage is what he has. For that length, you have to consider the interest on the loan that he has to pay, plus the any rising expenditures (strata fees, etc). You can write off the interest portion of the mortgage, but since your brother already is showing a loss for this rental property, no point.

These are all factors you must consider before you decide to enter yourself into a negative cash-flow situation while banking on the fact that your property values will rise. However, everyone's risk adversity is different and some will decide that it is worth it.

BrRsn

01-10-2011, 03:04 PM

You might as well contact a real estate or find one that you like. You don't pay them, the seller does. They'll work for you for free essentially, and if they're good they'll try their best to find you exactly what you want.

All those websites are nice but nothing beats access to MLS.

Try to find a good up and coming realtor, all the big name realtor's are douches and you'll deal with their inexperienced sidekicks (assistants).

PuYang

01-10-2011, 03:06 PM

Carl Johnson

01-10-2011, 03:08 PM

It's okay if your long-term outlook is positive. But do not disregard the fact that the price you pay today is also very important. The sense I get from reading some of responses are that if you buy a house today and it might go down 5 - 10% the next few years. But in the long run, housing will still rebound and you will end up with a very nice return. This is a very dangerous assumption, you always have to keep in mind the risk vs reward factor.

To quote John Maynard Keynes: "The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead."

Sky_2000

01-10-2011, 03:18 PM

drunkrussian

01-10-2011, 03:39 PM

Wow! I'm amazed at the amount of misinformation there is in this thread?!?!

Have you people even worked out what the cost of a home after paying off your mortgage is? Do you even know what the average price of a Single Family Home is at the moment? Do you know what the average price of a Town House is? Do you know what the average price of the Condo is? How is the market comparable to other markets in CANADA?

Do you know the added cost of owning a property? Insurance? Maintenance? etc?

http://www.yattermatters.com/wp/wp-content/images/2010/11/Average-Price-11-01-2010.jpg

lol that's why i'm not buying shit til i live in a dual-income family :hotbaby:

Phat_R

01-10-2011, 03:43 PM

Wow! I'm amazed at the amount of misinformation there is in this thread?!?!

Have you people even worked out what the cost of a home after paying off your mortgage is? Do you even know what the average price of a Single Family Home is at the moment? Do you know what the average price of a Town House is? Do you know what the average price of the Condo is? How is the market comparable to other markets in CANADA?

Do you know the added cost of owning a property? Insurance? Maintenance? etc?

http://www.yattermatters.com/wp/wp-content/images/2010/11/Average-Price-11-01-2010.jpg

I bought a townhouse in Yaletown with a 2 car private garage in 2005 for $500K.

Five years later it is worth around $900K -- simply by inflation.

All the while - variable mortgage rates have been the lowest they've ever been.

Time to buy is now

Meowjin

01-10-2011, 04:02 PM

So sell it?

Anjew

01-10-2011, 05:26 PM

interest rates is indeed low and i was only able to lock at 3.49 percent... should i go variable?

Blinky

01-10-2011, 05:42 PM

@AWDTurboLuvr:
i BELIEVE (not 100% sure), that all interest etc has been factored in to that situation. so, my bro only does have to spend ~1600 a month for pretty much most of the future. and is rentinng for ~1500 (for one year at the moment). ASSUMING he does get more tenants, or this one decides to stay longer, than his plan will workout the way i stated above. a 100$ loss a month is not that much.

This is sloppy math. I'm not saying that your brother's situation is or is not viable but if we're talking about an investment, you have to run numbers more carefully. Don't forget to add:

- property taxes
- special assessments (I am assuming the place is strata-titled, and am assuming that the above $1500 figure includes monthly strata)
- realtor's fees when the place is disposed of
- vacancies. Believe it or not, the place will not always be occupied.
- if we're talking about investments, don't forget the following:
- the opportunity cost of investing the down payment
- the opportunity cost of investing the $100/mo
- the time cost of being a landlord

I bought a townhouse in Yaletown with a 2 car private garage in 2005 for $500K.

Five years later it is worth around $900K -- simply by inflation.

All the while - variable mortgage rates have been the lowest they've ever been.

Time to buy is now

I'm glad that you've done well (and I'm not being sarcastic). But how and when are you going to realize your gain?

Sky's post is worth reading.

Something to keep in mind about that graph that Sky_2000 posted - it sure looks awesome - it even looks like something bought in '81, also at a peak, is worth bazillions of dollars today. However, due to inflation, anybody who bought in '81 at the peak didn't technically break even (in real dollars) until about 20 years later... and this is discounting property taxes and maintenance paid in the interim.

http://www.canadabubble.com/charts/695-canadian-housing-price-chart.html

Have a look at the "Vancouver nominal and real" price chart.

Anyways, buy a place if you want it/need it/afford it or whatever. I wouldn't count on it being a guaranteed path to riches.

Sky_2000

01-10-2011, 05:51 PM

Currently the Vancouver Real Estate Market:

Stock: ALL TIME HIGH
Prices: ALL TIME HIGH
Sales: ALL TIME LOW
Interest Rates: ALL TIME LOW

Carl Johnson

01-10-2011, 06:03 PM

I bought a townhouse in Yaletown with a 2 car private garage in 2005 for $500K.

Five years later it is worth around $900K -- simply by inflation.

All the while - variable mortgage rates have been the lowest they've ever been.

Time to buy is now

Inflation between 2005 and 2010 is 9.1% according to CPI statistics. Going by your thesis, your $500,000 house would only give you a $45,500 capital gain, not $400,000. The better terms are speculation and immigration. Good time to be a seller not buyer.

flagella

01-10-2011, 06:08 PM

You don't really wanna use CPI as a reference for inflation in real estate.

Carl Johnson

01-10-2011, 06:11 PM

That's the point I was making. He stated his house went up 400k "simply by inflation". Unless stated otherwise, I think most people would assume if you are talking about inflation, you are talking about the CPI.

quasi

01-10-2011, 06:50 PM

seriously, i hear is very bad time now

That's what everyone told me 8 and a half years ago when the market was flat and I bought my first place. I'm sure glad I didn't listen then.

bcedhk

01-10-2011, 08:51 PM

lol is always going to be a debate about when is a good time to buy or not.

IMO, vancouver's housing market is always going to be "average" unless we get a huge disaster or for some odd reason immigration stops and investment stops.

Im considering going through ING,, what are other mortgage options should I be looking for?

johny

01-10-2011, 09:04 PM

exactly, why wait around to see if prices will drop? If your not paying for your place, your paying your landlord anyways, which isnt even an investment. Not everybody has the luxury to live with mom and dad. If you think waiting around for the prices to drop will save you money, you're already paying rent to your landlord every month. I'd rather put that rent money towards a mortgage, than my landlords pocket.

lets say ur rent is 1000 a month, 1 year of waiting thats, 12gs, another year is 24gs down the drain. ...you gotta live somewhere anyways

strata fees + taxes + mortage interest is probbaly over 1000 / month... so really its wasted either way, and you're not building equity for the first $1000 /m renting or buying.

604nguyen

01-10-2011, 09:47 PM

strata fees + taxes + mortage interest is probbaly over 1000 / month... so really its wasted either way, and you're not building equity for the first $1000 /m renting or buying.

but in the long term, you will be.

i mean, who likes to rent,
Ive been renting for the past 3 years, living in a basement, cant turn up my tv too loud, cant have any ppl over because of noise, fight for parking out front everyday, landlord is a bitch, listen to kids running around upstairs on Saturday mornings, have to walk down to the street just to have my mornign coffee and smoke, damn, cant even bone ur gf without telling her to be quiet .....heeelll nahhhhh, absolutely sick of it

if you already have to pay every month for your place to live, why not make it your own place. Like i said, i don't have the luxury to live with mom and wait for "a good time to buy", either i pay rent to my landlord or pay the mortgage, at the end of the day i still need a place to live. at least with property, its still some sort of investment.

with owning, i get freedom, no awkward run-ins with the landlord, comfort, my own garage and driveway to work on the car, play music and watch movies as loud as i want, no screaming kids upstairs waking me up 6am on saturday mornings....even if it cost me more to own (which isn't even that much more really), its worth every penny for me, quality of life is just so much better. As long as you can afford it, location is good and the price is right for you.

Might be a different scenario for investors who's planning to buy and flip it, or rent it out, start a grow op...etc.....
but everyone's situation is different. I need a place to live

Bonka

01-10-2011, 10:16 PM

^ ^ ^

That's a prime example why people still buy. There are many reasons why people get into real estate yet every thread about it always seems to get derailed by comparisons of the monetary cost of buying vs. renting. There is no one right answer.

There are plenty of people out there who buy for the emotion and mental security and freedom of owning a home and for many of those folks, you can't put a pricetag on that.

eddy89,
Are you looking at unfinished presale buildings, finished presale buildings or 1, 2, 3yrd old buildings?

Meowjin

01-10-2011, 10:36 PM

but in the long term, you will be.

i mean, who likes to rent,
Ive been renting for the past 3 years, living in a basement, cant turn up my tv too loud, cant have any ppl over because of noise, fight for parking out front everyday, landlord is a bitch, listen to kids running around upstairs on Saturday mornings, have to walk down to the street just to have my mornign coffee and smoke, damn, cant even bone ur gf without telling her to be quiet .....heeelll nahhhhh, absolutely sick of it

if you already have to pay every month for your place to live, why not make it your own place. Like i said, i don't have the luxury to live with mom and wait for "a good time to buy", either i pay rent to my landlord or pay the mortgage, at the end of the day i still need a place to live. at least with property, its still some sort of investment.

with owning, i get freedom, no awkward run-ins with the landlord, comfort, my own garage and driveway to work on the car, play music and watch movies as loud as i want, no screaming kids upstairs waking me up 6am on saturday mornings....even if it cost me more to own (which isn't even that much more really), its worth every penny for me, quality of life is just so much better. As long as you can afford it, location is good and the price is right for you.

Might be a different scenario for investors who's planning to buy and flip it, or rent it out, start a grow op...etc.....
but everyone's situation is different. I need a place to live

Noone ever said don't buy if you can afford for YOURSELF.

dspot

01-10-2011, 10:43 PM

If you're buying a place to live in then go ahead, buy what you can afford... just make sure to take into account all other ownership expenses and the possibility of the interest rate spiking. Also, don't be surprised if the value of your home drops by 10%+ over the next little while.

If you're buying purely as an investment that you may need to liquidate in the near term, then I would stay away. Vancouver is one of the most unaffordable housing markets in the world currently. Year over year sales volumes are down, which is historically followed by price declines. Interest rates are at record lows but that won't last forever -- and if they jump substantially, there are going to be a lot of people in a lot of trouble. People are in record debt and RE prices have risen much faster than average salaries. There is a lot of offshore money coming in, but I'm not sure how long this will last. Maybe the insane prices continue to balloon, but IMO there is a high chance of a correction.

Blinky

01-10-2011, 10:48 PM

^ ^ ^

That's a prime example why people still buy. There are many reasons why people get into real estate yet every thread about it always seems to get derailed by comparisons of the monetary cost of buying vs. renting. There is no one right answer.

Sure, there are always the intangibles of ownership, and they're undeniable. But, to play devils' advocate in the above case of having a car and garage etc etc etc - this implies buying a detached house, which is pretty big money.

...and you can rent entire houses too :)

All this said, there's a reason why this thread is not being derailed about the discussions of "monetary costs of buying vs. renting".

im considering investing on investing on a new apartment, instead of newspapers , are there any good websites that show newly built apartments on the market in the GVRD?

Emphasis added. The OP implies that the purchase would be an investment, which should bring up discussion about the potential for monetary growth.

bcedhk

01-10-2011, 10:59 PM

Bonka, I am trying to look for an apartment < 5 years old. Of course the newer the better for me as i wish to live in it first for around 3-5 years before renting it out or selling it (if the market is "good")

Bonka

01-10-2011, 11:41 PM

The OP implies that the purchase would be an investment, which should bring up discussion about the potential for monetary growth.

I won't argue with that just hate to see a thread with good info eventually go south this is RS afterall and real estate talk tends to bring a lot of hate :)

Mr.HappySilp

01-11-2011, 02:13 AM

There is never a good or bad time to buy. Is when you want to buy that's a good time. If you aren't flipping it or anything just buy when you have the money to do so.

No one can tell you what to do. But if you do want options I wouldn't suggest asking on RS. Some people here do give good advice but most of the time the advice is bad lol. Go get some professional advice (from a few different sauce), see what they say, studying the market a bit and base your descion on it. Remember it is your money, your house, your stress all the people giving you advice it doesn't matter to them if buy your house now and paid 700k or if you wait a year and buy it for 800k or 500k. After all the gain or debt is on you and not others.

But honestly a 700k house in Vancouver can people who actually work in Vancouver afford it now? My parents house in Burnaby just got the estimate from the Gov is it is around 700k (500k land and 200k house value). I mean even if there say a family of two people both getting high paid jobs asy combie income is 180k (90k each) Assuming after income tax take home pay is around 130 to 140k. Then there is the mortage, property tax, insurance, uility, food, cable, internet....... even with such a high income it still seems pretty hard on the family. I still haven't factor in say the couple have a kid and have to pay for daycare.........

I think for our generations unless we have some sort of support from family, it will be pretty hard to own a house in vancouver unless we move out to someplace far or live in an apartment or townhouse or duplex.

Death2Theft

01-11-2011, 05:57 AM

Stock indexes have dropped more than 50% during the crisis, ever seen vancouer prices drop the same?
Tell that to all the bag holders in the U.S. who have negative equity on their house. It was only 2 year ago that we had the worst recession caused by housing. Have we learned anything from the recession?

Higher interest rate and Canadian dollar is not good for our export economy and the housing market. Combine that with housing affordability at an all-time low, I don't get how you bulls can be so optimistic. Some of you probably get fed too much bullshit from the bankers telling you: 1) never time the market 2) a house is very good investment because it's a real asset. Well a house to me is just another financial asset like stock. Same shit - it can go up and it can certainly go down as well.

Death2Theft

01-11-2011, 06:01 AM

Gambling with the fact that you'll never have to paint/replace appliances/spend money for a bailiff because tenant wont leave in 25 years. Good luck.
@AWDTurboLuvr:
i BELIEVE (not 100% sure), that all interest etc has been factored in to that situation. so, my bro only does have to spend ~1600 a month for pretty much most of the future. and is rentinng for ~1500 (for one year at the moment). ASSUMING he does get more tenants, or this one decides to stay longer, than his plan will workout the way i stated above. a 100$ loss a month is not that much. if he simply drives less for example, than he can easily save 100 from gas money.

my bro and mom are super careful with money. and what i posted was their conclusion through months of calculating. so im assuming everything is going according to plan ;p

of course, i agree with you that there are so many factors into this. and every situation is different.

i do believe investing in property is still a good place to put your money. this of course, is assuming the person is making enough money for living, saving some for any emergencies, and still having extra money. rather invest that extra money into something...

PuYang

01-11-2011, 08:22 AM

^i did caps "ASSUMING".

i'll say it again, what i posted was merely the plan. no plans run perfectly smooth throughout, especially if its a 20+ year plan. there will be ups and downs. but for the next year, he only be paying 100 a month. yes, he has factored in all interests, taxes, maintainences etc.

im not telling anyone to go buy a place and rent it out. im simply sharing a method/route that CAN POTENTIALLY be worth while, regarding investing into property. Too many people keep holding off because of the high costs. im just here trying to remind people that depending on what you do with that property, the costs MAY not be as bad as you think.

on a side note: another reason my brother chose to quickly invest in this is because of his job. he works in the movie industry and gets taxed a butt load. by putting money into a mortgage can help you save some from taxes. (he had a bunch of money piling up and getting owned by the taxes).

hope my stories dont influence people the wrong way. my intentions were for people's benefit, and hopefully spark some new ideas with investing ;]

drunkrussian

01-11-2011, 09:13 AM

Go get some professional advice (from a few different sauce)

:alone:

Meowjin

01-11-2011, 05:44 PM

there are much better markets in canada and the usa to make money from if you want to go the real estate route. The gains you will get in vancouver are very very poor unless you have alot of $$ to play with and are building condo's.

ToneCapone

01-11-2011, 07:32 PM

holy crap this thread got long. I take back what I said about it being a bad time to buy... That was just word of mouth from other people that I know. There werent any real facts behind it. There are many variables involved in house pricing which I dont know.

One thing to REALLY watch out for is the age of the place. If you go for an apartment make sure you talk to the management and see if there are any lingering issues that need to be fixed. Also take in account future renovations because they are super costly.

Example: My girlfriends 10 year old apartment complex decided to do some renovations... each suite had to pay 20 gs towards that. BE CAREFUL!

RayBot

01-11-2011, 10:24 PM

^^ That doesn't sound like renovations. Sounds like mandatory repairs!! Regardless, that sucks.

Secondly, age of a place is irrelevant. But yes, knowing the background through strata, management or even word of mouth is important. Just because a building is 30 years old doesn't mean its in bad shape.

Lastly, if you're looking to buy real estate as an investment...heres what i tell all my clients:
1. Investsments are never meant to be short term. If you make money short term....great! Consider it a bonus. But an investment is time and money.
2. No where in the definitition of an investment does it say that its guaranteed a monetary return.

So, if you're looking to buy a property with hopes for a gain in 2 years time....you're gambling. Really the condo market can only go so far.

So, if you're looking to get a condo as a primary residence as an alternative to paying rent, paying it off gradually and using the equity to upsize......OR.....having a condo as a secondary property to rent out for 10+ years, sure its reasonable.

Otherwise.....NO i don't think its a good time to buy.