Priced out?
Are you priced out of the Vancouver real estate market? According to the Province, you’re not the only one. The weekend the Province ran a series of articles on the costly local real estate market:
The answer is anyone with one or more of the following: wealthy boomer parents, equity from previous real estate or extremely high double-income earnings.
But even with those prerequisites, many are stretching their limits.
“Everybody maxes,” says Marty Pospischil, a realtor with Dexter Realty specializing in the west side.
The profile of a typical buyer of a $1.3-million, three-bed, two-bath west-side home is a couple between 35 and 45 years old with one or two young children. They are both professionals who have ascended the ranks — think stockbroker, lawyer, doctor.
They will usually have a down payment of $400,000 to $500,000 — derived from a combination of personal equity, inheritance or a substantial gift from a wealthy boomer parent, says Pospischil.
That means they’re still borrowing between $800,000-$900,000.
Expectations clash with reality:
With the income-to-house-price ratio the highest it’s ever been in B.C., the overwhelming perception — particularly in Vancouver — is that the market has changed the definition of “middle class” and displaced the working poor.
It is increasingly common to see children raised in condos, married couples living in their parents’ basements, young professionals taking on second jobs, workers commuting long hours, the growth of the 40-year mortgage (which 65 per cent of first-time buyers are now using, according to a RE/MAX report) and the realization for some that an inheritance is the only way to a single-family home.
Tsur Somerville: its not a bubble:
“If you say bubble, then at some point it’s going to pop. And if you look at our price increases, they’ve been double-digit, but for the most part they’ve been between 11 to 15 per cent for the past few years. That’s high, but in a bubble you start to see 20-per-cent growth, 30-per-cent growth. Just really rapid acceleration, and we haven’t seen that. That’s what happened in 1981 and 1982 . . . That’s what a bubble looks like.”
RSS 2.0 comments feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.John: There’s no point complaining about prices. I think people should focus their energy on how they can find new ideas/businesses/solutions to generate more income. If you spend all your time complaining you won’t have enough time thinking about new businesses that can work and make more money!
May 12th, 2008 at 7:34 am
May 12th, 2008 at 7:57 am
May 12th, 2008 at 8:08 am
May 12th, 2008 at 8:12 am
Great stat to show how much the more affluent areas are leveraged. I wonder if there are enough doctors, lawyers, and stockbrokers to keep prices high.
“and an amatuer that is geting paid 200k plus a year from YOUR provincial taxes….”
Apparently we should add overpaid economists to the above list.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:13 am
May 12th, 2008 at 8:48 am
May 12th, 2008 at 8:53 am
May 12th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Its time to leave, this place is heading for some real pain. Better to get cozy now somewhere else, than to leave when all the other rats start leaving en masse.
Vancouver and BC in general are beautiful places to live, it is a crying shame, they are run by a bunch of greedy, pathetic morons.
Good-bye and good-luck to the more in touch with reality of you. As for the rest of you, you deserve what’s coming, I hope you hurt and suffer a lot, you deserve it.
Signed,
A Bitter Immigrant.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:27 am
However, provincial sales taxes will be impacted hugely by a large downturn, as will other forms of municipal and provicial revenues, so your basic point is on target.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:36 am
.
Tsur’s hunger for attention probably serves some twisted need to show mommy that he’s running with the big boys.
Unfortunately, when it comes to credibility among economists, he could’nt carry Robert Shillers jock strap.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Wrong. You have been reading reports from places like California where tax revenues do depend on assessments.
In BC, local governments decide how much money they want to spend, then set the mill rate based on the current assessment base. Thus your assessment determines only what fraction of the total taxes you pay.
During the 80’s bust in Vancouver:
1. Property taxes kept increasing around the rate of inflation.
2. There were no cutbacks of city services.
3. Vancouver kept its AAA credit rating. Other municipalities borrow through MFA and don’t have credit ratings.
It’s the provincial government that is vulnerable to a RE bust. Never before has RE accounted for such a large % of provincial GDP. A bust will result in losses in property transfer tax, income tax (personal and corporate), and capital gains tax. Not to mention the losses in the forest industry due to the US bust and general losses due to the upcoming US recession.
If the provincial government gets strapped it may try to offload more school taxation onto local property owners, but that has nothing to do with the municipalities. But people will blame the municipalities because they’re the ones who send out the tax bill.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:54 am
May 12th, 2008 at 10:14 am
It hints at two options. Option 1. Work two full-time jobs, 80 hour weeks. Option 2. Get a 40 year mortgage.
How about Option 3? Sit back, relax a bit and watch as prices fall month after month.
Renting and waiting….
May 12th, 2008 at 10:57 am
May 12th, 2008 at 11:00 am
May 12th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Basic logic suggests that interest rates are heading much higher and likely sooner rather than later. Amazing thing, is that Canadian mortgage rates are based off of US bond market.
I wonder how our stockbroker, lawyer buyer with the 900K mortgage will enjoy mortgage rates at least 50% higher??
Interest rates remain far too low, the bond market will correct, and so with Vancouver RE and it will be very ugly. In all likely, we will return to 25 year ammortizations and min 10% down, tighter lending guidelines.
And there will be parliamentary enquiries investigating this massive real estate finance fraud. CMHC will lose tens of billions, educated guess.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:22 am
May 12th, 2008 at 11:32 am
every month the values slip by $10K,
month after month until everything is in
balance and harmony….. at which time it will be a no-brainer to buy some distressed RE….
May 12th, 2008 at 11:39 am
See, its EXACTLY that kind of smug self-congratulating attitude (without any substance or merit I might add) that fuels my schadenfreude and hopes that you have to eat dirt sandwiches for a decade when things crash.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:40 am
All it takes it some research to show that all cities that have hosted the Olympics had a boom then a bust.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Patience is a virtue. I think if there’s one thing we can agree upson, it’s that prices are out of whack.
At this point, people like Rob A. illustrate an important point: Vancouver real estate comes with some pretty high emotions invested in it. Personally I think when people’s emotions infect investment decisions, bad decisions result.
So… find a nice little spot and rent it. I have a fantastic place, a comfy 1 bdrm in the middle of downtown I’m renting for about 1300 bucks a month. It’s big, bright spacious, well run, completely renovated. I painted the place myself and the colours are fantastic. I feel very much “at home” there. It satisfies my emtional need for a safe, comfortable beautiful home. The building’s a rental run by a guy who wants long term tenants so little worry of being evicted.
Being a practical sort, I also love it because it isn’t draining the life right out of me financially.
This “Priced out” meme is also very useful. The implication (just uder the surface) is that “there are no more buyers at current price offerings.
When you couple these with Paul B’s charts you get:
1) Rapidly growing inventory
2) No more buyers getting into the market.
What is the natural conclusion?
We have passed the peak of the bubble and are now in the beginning stages of collapse.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Check out http://pricedoutforever.com for a nice summary of the ‘priced out’ fallacy.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
would you qualify for a mortgage?
In other words, did you make your bed or did your Mum?
May 12th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
May 12th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
May 12th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
That just about sums up the overall sentiment on this Blog. Assclowns like you don’t realize that the meltdown you are hoping for over will hurt everyone in Vancouver (including you), not just condo owners.
It’s despicable and small-minded.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
All the people who bought 3+ years ago will be fine. The people who bought recently could be in trouble in the future, but that was their choice and it’s too late to change that choice. Maybe we should think about all the people in the future who want to live here, and how they and Vancouver will be changed if they can’t. Isn’t keeping prices artificially high doing more damage than fixing the problem?
You’re advocating that we nurture the tumor because chemotherapy makes one feel like crap. I personally don’t understand that.
I’m hoping that prices come back in line with rent/income/reality. Does that make me despicable too?
May 12th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
This bubble will burst and I can watch it from the sidelines, munching on popcorn. I have enough transferable skills and experience that I should do well enough in a recession. If the local economy goes to hell, I can leave without having to sell (hey, that rhymes).
The one I don’t look forward to is finally learning who among my family and friends is dangerously over-leveraged in real estate. I’ll make sure to have tissues on hand.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Would it be appropriate for me to call them assclowns?
If it was me that made the ignorant decision, why lash out?
Does calling a top mean that we’re causing the market to crash? Who’s to blame here? The morons that pumped the market up or the wise men who patiently stood on the sidelines and said enough is enough?
May 12th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
So we should take one for the team and buy at high prices? The horse is out of the barn when it comes to the future direction of Vancouver prices — back to the long term average we go. I agree with you though: a housing crash will hurt everyone in Vancouver in some way. The question is how badly will you and everyone else get hurt.
“Why buy ever though? It’s always cheaper to rent then to own”
This turns out to not always be true, even in Vancouver, as inconceivable as that sounds.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
What’s with constantly calling people “assclowns”? I find this a rather puerile putdown, not least because it makes no sense. An assclown is simply a redundancy. You’re an ass, you’re a clown, you’re an assclown. It’s like calling someone a moroncretin.
I think the term you are looking for is “asshat”. Having an ass for a hat means you have your head part way up someone’s ass. This is an evocative and effective insult.
Anyway, what you are doing is a) bolstering your own position by claiming moral high ground, and b) casting aspersions against your opponents thereby discrediting their position. Both tactics are rhetorical devices, not actual argument.
See:
http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/skep … ments.html
Particularly, “Argument from Adverse Consequences”, “Needling”, and “Straw Man”.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
May 12th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
You said you’ll be fine with your condo no matter what happens with prices, so what are you still doing trolling this blog?
May 12th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
May 12th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Now you’re just shouting. Don’t expect to be taken seriously if you don’t actually respond to things that are said to you.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
The environment was created by condo buyers, the bank and developers never held a gun to anyone’s head did they?
Disclosure, I’m long Kleenex.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
There we’ve elevated the dialogue once again.
Boy, attempting to be reasonable with the shrill is such a waste of time.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
What about attempting to sell real estate as a can’t-lose investment strategy that encourages people to ‘max out’ financially? Is that despicable? What about warning people (including friends and family) about the risk in the vancouver market? Should people that have lived through vancouvers booms and busts and seen families ruined just keep their mouths shut and pray that it’s different this time?
May 12th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
So, let me get this straight, because many of us felt that by 2004 or so, the market was getting overvalued (relative to incomes and rents) and many of us have since opted to watch from the sidelines…while we were pilloried by the RE tycoon geniuses who snapped up, overextended, 40 yr chained themselves, or flipped, and repeat….. and have been sneered at as an underclass because we rent and we did not figuratively nor literally buy into the hype….now that the market appears to be correcting (whatever that may end up meaning) we are a bunch of assclowns because we do not feel appropriately sorry for others who invested in an asset class that they did not understand (beyond the fact of course that RE in Vancouver always goes up)…?
“Despicable and small-minded”…I assume from the fear in that language that NYC is one of those who is overextended in RE and no doubt also leases a vehicle that he can’t afford to buy either….and maybe does not pay off his credit card every month? HELLO THIS IS CALLED FINANCIAL REALITY…..
Really, you will one day look back on all of this as a valuable learning experience, I have no doubt….
May 12th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Don’t miss this one! The Calgary Herald on housing crash. Sure sounds like us a few months from now.
“Those are the people that went out and bought four, five, six, seven condos in a building that wasn’t going to be built for two years. All of those buildings are now being completed. Those people did not want to be landlords. They were going to buy the condo, hold it until the building came due and put it on the market,”
Do anonymous commenters on blogs get credit for source? I don’t think thats needed. Put a name up and I’ll credit you.
May 12th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Rob A: what is your take on this?
May 12th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
okay, so then what happens when prices become so high that no one can afford to own or rent them?
an empty city save for an angry internet consultant?
Is this a good thing?
Do speculators/gamblers who bought ten condos hoping to strike it rich deserve it?
If it only ever goes up then what’s the problem? Any other unsophisticated buyer can go buy right now with 10%. it might not have worked in Calgary or anywhere else in the world but Vancouver is different, it’s different here. No one made the speculators buy so who’s fault is it that the speculators drove the market too high?
*Caveat Emptor* especially when making a large purchase.
How much research did you do before buying your last computer or tv?
May 12th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
http://www.rgemonitor.com/financemarkets-monitor
I think you need to (free) register to get more than a teaser.
Nothing of interest there if every penny you don’t have is tied up in a Vancouver condo, and you just KNOW that external factors will NEVER impact “The Best Place on Earth”! Others may wish to check it out.
I’m posting at a few other spots as well. I think this is very, very good bookmark site.
May 12th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
May 12th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Rob A: what is your take on this?”
A sign of what?
My take on it is that
1.) In tweleve months stocks have gone up maybe 5%. That sucks.
2.) It’s a sucker’s rally.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
do i detect some bearish sentiment here?
May 12th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
People in the know realize that downtown is the place to be!
May 12th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Prices: they go down.
Rents: don’t become unaffordable because they are paid from current income. Real rents in Vancouver have been declining, and in fact are more affordable than decades ago.
Rents do not, repeat do not, follow prices. It is rents which determine prices. Not necessarily in the short run, but always in the long run.
May 12th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
May 12th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
What people here hope for is irrelevant. Most people here saw the data, came to conclusions, and had the courage to stick to their guns.
Many of us have tried to warn family an friends, only to be looked at with a mixture of pity and scorn. I have two friends who are considering buying another place. One of them works for VANOC ans has been self-waterboarding with the RE koolaid. He’ll quote occupancy rates for 2010 like… well like they’re relevant actually. After a couple of conversations I told myself i’d done my job and I don’t bring the subject up any more.
Most of us have seen this coming quite some time and we’re prepared. We’re not living beyond our means. We didn’t take risky gambles on RE. We’re fairly comfortable in our homes and have the luxury of knowing in a RE downturn our money is safely stored elsewhere.
See, winter’s coming. We’re quickly about to see who was a grasshopper, and who was an ant.
Someone pass me that pitcher of mai-tais. I may not be able to affect the future but I can damn sure enjoy the show.
May 12th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Any thots on what will happen to condo fees in the impending bust?
May 12th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
And yes, downtown is the place to be. Of course at current rates, you can rent and spend your extra money eating out at cafes every night.
I still don’t get why people think you need to *own* in Vancouver to enjoy downtown….
May 12th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
that is the fact. Bankruptcy, Divorce lots of good stuff before the divorce (horrible fights, excessive drinking…)
May 12th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
these blogs are to look into the matter if vancouver r.e. carry bubble in it or not.
issue for this post”PRICED OUT” is to decide how to reserve a piece for your self in Vancouver?
Type of attempts that could be helpful for people to stay in the city,some facts as following……..
1.How to increase your income?.
2.Where you can find a place according to your income?
3.Weather you can buy a house here or condo?
Rob A. makes a good point that is the issue from this post.
NYC is getting angry on you guys because you are not in your sense.
NYC is still being nice to you he has limit himself by calling you assclowns but i think most of bears need to be called “DOMESTIC IDIOTS” all those sold out owners who begging for recesion while economy here is better than the national growth 2.5% compare to 1.5% and countinue to grow at higher rate later.
Here is stratamans i.q’s “sold 2005″ are you serious to tell people their i.q’s?????
Sonika are you sure those snow shoveling cities are better than Vancouver?sure you did not read the link where Vancouver,B.C.is talk! talk!! talk!!!.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
1. In the long run, it really has been cheaper to own. I expect that to continue once this bubble has burst.
2. The intangibles of ownership (pride, stability, blah blah)
Assclowns like you don’t realize that the meltdown you are hoping for over will hurt everyone in Vancouver (including you), not just condo owners
What stupid kind of comment is that? People wish for this misallocation to end sooner rather than later so that there will be fewer people negatively affected. This has nothing much to do with “hoping” for a crash, but rather a return to normalcy, which includes prices that are fundamentally justifiable.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
LOL!
good description… Rennie Marketing Redux!
also congrats on your new digs…..i can see SATV scouring the core seeking your humble abode
May 12th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
your nerves are getting to you, sell your place so you can start sleeping again. this is a bear site, the only bulls that post here are the ones that like stirring the pot or ones that want the validation that they made a mistake buying near the top. your condo is probably not going to drop that much but the ride is going to be too much for you. take your 20-30 thousand haircut now, you know you want to.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
classic case! pain now or more pain later..?
May 12th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
you are not included in the domestic IT’s I know you and drachen and miss anthtropic crumdgeon are very honest bears.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
May 12th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
May 12th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
I just can’t see there being reprieve with the ‘in construction’ pipline so full.
The listings are huge, but the sales are next to nothing, I can only guess they focused on getting the listings out as RE board mentioned it’s promised to do so within 48 hours. If not, well, sales are slipping bigtime.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Gazzilions gigabites energy is being store by bc hydro.
2.5 millions gallons of milk are being available in store to buy from vriety of selection,
So 16426 homes are available to buy the difference is energy,fuel,and milk gallons are fresh or refurbished but 16426 listings are resale homes,good to chose the best.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
May 12th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
That would mean (if it were true, which it’s not) that landlords would always lose money.
Now just why would they want to do that?
The reason why people go into business renting anything - be it houses, cars, skis, etc, is that owning is cheaper than renting. That’s how they make a profit.
“Investors” (really speculators) are buying houses and condos today in the illusion that perpetually rising prices will offset operating losses. When rising prices go away, so will the illusion.
Yet another example of RE ideology - statements which are contrary to evidence, never mind unsupportable by theory, being served up as fact.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Give it another week to ensure it’s not a data entry or backlog problem. If it holds up make sure you get a good seat. It will be terrific.
I’m with nyc though. I know a few people that are going to get hurt and I will take no pleasure watching it.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
kind of ruins the point of making all that money when all you do with it is pay interest to a bank.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
May 12th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
May 12th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Dude, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
(But don’t blink or you will miss all the excitement during the Olympics).
May 13th, 2008 at 12:47 am
Owner-occupiers who have bought at absurd prices have already hurt themselves by committing themselves to interest on debt greatly exceeding the benefit (rent equivalance) of their properties. That’s going to continue whether prices go down or not.
The value of a house (as opposed to its price) is the present discounted value of its future net rental income, and if you buy a house for more than that, either you or a greater fool are going to take a loss on it. No way out of it, no matter which way prices go. And if you are counting on a greater fool to make you whole, you are a speculator by definition.
And in any case nominal prices will eventually recover. After 1981 it took 8 years, probably more this time, but they will recover.
May 13th, 2008 at 4:56 am
May 13th, 2008 at 6:36 am
Dude - that’s FOUR YEARS AGO. How long do you have to be wrong before realizing maybe some of your assumptions are not in line with reality?
May 13th, 2008 at 6:55 am
Are you newcomer in vancouver?
“Dude, you ain’t seen nothing yet”.
Exactly:The olympics are in 2010.
May 13th, 2008 at 7:17 am
We weren’t wrong four years ago, any more than the bears in the US were wrong four years ago. Events have since proved that they were right all along. Here there is no proof one way or another - yet.
The jury is still out on Vancouver. I have a pretty good idea what the sentence will be, but we’re going to have to wait a bit.
May 13th, 2008 at 7:56 am
May 13th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Yes you does otherwise you should be home owner,you should have paid 35% off of your mortgage and you should have earned 123% appreciation.
If you do not include in the above then it’s preety much clear that you guys are the one to fit in DI category,people who always look for crash.
You should either have complained four year ago or you do it now but both case 4 and zero are not acceptable.
Bears who were lurking since that long need to get into the market as defeated bears and new comers need to learn a lesson from the veterans bears.
May 13th, 2008 at 8:21 am
…or BUY SOMETHING! please……
bears are winners
bulls are dinners
May 13th, 2008 at 8:28 am
May 13th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Depends on who you ask.
May 13th, 2008 at 9:38 am
May 13th, 2008 at 9:42 am
2008-05-13 08:28:09
things are dead for her and everyone in her office, which is not what she expected mid-May.
*********************
She wasn’t expecting it? Really? Is she illiterate or simply stupid?
May 13th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Sales trends are low and further low 2% in 2009 compare to 2008 but prices will countinue to climb.
Listing means just listing to sell to make good money people who own those resale homes are already paying their monthly payments and lots of them are paid off so it doesn’t matter if the listing grow further, if your sister is not getting bussiness- has nothing to do with market trends.OTHO she can find another part time job as well,if she is really a realtor otherwise who knows your motive.
Do you have a link to her website?
May 13th, 2008 at 10:38 am
May 13th, 2008 at 10:47 am
‘Dramatically lower’ commodity prices ahead: TD
TARA PERKINS
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Toronto-Dominion Bank’s chief executive officer says bankers making loans in Western Canada should do so under the assumption that commodity prices are too high.
TD’s lending standards out West assume “dramatically lower” commodity prices than those that exist at the moment, Ed Clark told a financial services conference in New York on Tuesday.
“A banker should assume that the world financial system is over-inflating commodity prices,” he said.
TD is carefully watching oil service and gas service businesses today, he added.
“What’s interesting is, despite the fact that the West is booming, it’s the only place in Canada starting to show housing price softness, because in fact it is the one place in Canada where housing prices went up too fast,” he said.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:49 am
If anything I’m randomly hearing about this activity more than I was a couple of years ago. Is there any time to even guesstimate how much of this “fix and flip” activity is still going on and how much of our economy (and employment) is still based on these small-time projects.
Even us bears might be shocked at how many people out there who are going to lose their livelihood and be forced back into the conventional job market once this boom busts.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:38 am
What conventional job market are you referring to? Canada’s (and BC’s) export economy is in deep trouble (including oil) due to the high dollar, so that leaves domestic consumption to keep the engine going. If there’s drastically reduced job numbers in the construction and related industries what’s everyone going to do?
May 13th, 2008 at 11:44 am
May 13th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Yes this is good. Increased supply will finally help bring the prices down to reality. Most people don’t acknowledge it because they’re used to the high prices, but this is another bubble market looking for a correction.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
May 13th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
If krissh is as good as he thinks he is he might qualify for shift supervisor and make $10.40/hr!
May 13th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I don’t know if gains from personal residence flips are included in GDP. Suffice it to say even if prices are flat you will not make much money on renos unless you do FSBO. I’m sure there’s a lot of buy and hold for a few years as many have other jobs outside the renovation sidebar so the work takes that much longer to complete. Good question though.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
May 13th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
It is my undrestanding that all units assess strata fees. If the developer can’t sell it they maintain ownership and are liable for the fees. If the bank forecloses they own it & are liable. If a specuvestor owns they are liable. So technically a suite can’t be ownerless and the Strata will have grounds to pursue non-payers of strata fees in court. I don’t disagree that dealing with non-payers of strata fees could be an issue but in dealing with an asset like an apartment the Strata always has someone to go after for the fees. Worse case scenario they put a lien against the property and get the outstanding fees plus costs & interest once the suite sells.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
It’s amazing how many people believe zoning most of Vancouver for single-family houses and limiting building height everywhere couldn’t have any effect on housing prices.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
May 13th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Yes, I see that there would always be someone to go after. I guess delinquent accounts would appear as account receivables on the strata’s account books. But the strata would still have to go after them. The delay between the debtor (be it an owner, developer or bank) declaring insolvency, and retrieving the monies owned from a lien could be a pain. Ugh. Probably gonna be a lotta work for the collections industrial-complex… Could get yucky. Oh well there is the lien. As long as there aren’t too many creditors ahead of the strata in the line up to get their money back.
May 13th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
stupid blogging software. grrr….
May 13th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Who are you calling nobody? That topic has been discussed many times on this blog and many others related to Vancouver RE.
Regardless, what’s your point? What effect do you think it will have, is it going to “save” us from falling prices or make them crash harder?
May 13th, 2008 at 5:11 pm