Saving on condo repairs & maintenance
Everybody likes to save money right? When it comes to building maintenance one way to save money is to simply not have any work done. Just ignore the condition of your building and hope for the best. The only problem with this approach is that unless you can unload the unit to an unsuspecting buyer before disaster strikes you’ll be looking at a much larger repair bill.
And leaky condo problems aren’t exactly rare in Vancouver – just look at the recent news of repairs on two concord pacific towers downtown, or any other the other leaky condo repairs throughout the lower mainland.
Househunting.ca has a letter from someone whose strata opted for the ‘ignore it and hope for the best’ strategy:
Now our deferral has come back to haunt us. Each owner is faced with an average $19,000 assessment just to maintain and upgrade the exterior, not including the roof. Our windows have failed, our decks and balconies are in serious failure and the masonry detailing is in need of serious attention.
We have figured out that if each strata lot had paid an extra $30 per month over the past 34 years, our buildings would have been routinely repaired, the interest would have covered inflation costs, and we wouldn’t be doing this at a time when construction costs are at a record high.
Another problem with not getting basic maintenance done is that it will affect warranty coverage. Even if your building is under a New Home Warranty or covered by a rain screen repair warranty, your coverage is affected by your buildings maintenance record. Saving money in the short term can work out to be very expensive in the long term. A year ago you may have been able to unload a leaky condo without much of a loss, but as our market softens and the number of listings for sale grows this is less of an option.
Putting the problem unit on the market and praying for a sucker with good credit isn’t as effective as it once was.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:28 am
mohican,
Thanks for the links. I heard about ICFs, but first I hear of SIPs. Very cool concepts. Definitely something to consider. Good insulation!
Thanks
arit
August 27th, 2008 at 9:18 am
arit – you should look at building a home with Structural Insulating Panels (SIPs) and Insulating Concrete Forms (ICF). Google them both and you'll find both are affordable and proven building technologies suitable for our climate. Perhaps you already know this but thought I'd throw it out there.
I'd like to build a home one day using those technologies.
August 27th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Arrests made in $30M Real Estate Fraud in BC.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=…
I'm speechless. Never thought there could be such corruption and fraud in such a proud and honorable industry.
August 27th, 2008 at 7:48 am
In reality I’ve swayed the numbers your way so much it’s more likely well under 2%.
It doesn't matter how much of the economy drug money is anyway.
The whole argument is bogus. It is based on the premise that there is something "special" about income from drugs that can result in price/rent ratios for RE defying fundamentals indefinitely. As though the RE market was "on drugs" or something.
That's just plain absurd. People were saying the same thing about oil in Alberta, which of course amounts for a huge amount of provincial GDP, and look what is happening to the RE market there.
August 26th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Matt,
Why don't you join the police force or be an olympian and bring us the gold you loser!
buy now before rent hit your ear drums.
August 26th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
I don't think drugs are a really big impact on the market guys.
RCMP estimates total drug traffic at between 11 and 46 billion annually (for Canada). Let's pick the middle ground and say 25 billion. BC is well under half of Canada's total, let's guesstimate 10 billion with 5 of that being outgoing 3 incoming and 2 for made and sold here (I think so far, if anything I'm exaggerating the numbers in a direction that is very conservative for my case). That 2 billion is a write off because there's no money flowing in to BC from that.
So a total high ball number of 8 billion vs 190 billion BC GDP is 4%. Even less than the "rich foreigner" money that we all laugh at. In reality I've swayed the numbers your way so much it's more likely well under 2%.
In other words the whole drug argument for high prices is as much a crock as the Olympics, rich foreigners or retiring boomers.
August 26th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
In B.C. the cops aren't anywhere close to making any progress in halting the drug trade. Also, there is very little public will to stop the drug trade.
August 26th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
FBI saw threat of mortgage crisis
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mortgagefra…
August 26th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
"The only difference is when those drug buggers get caught they go away for a long time"
With higher risk one would expect a higher return, no? Wouldn't there be more $ amongst the US dealers and traffickers, jailed or not? By extension I would think these extra profits would flow into real estate yet prices are dropping nontheless.
August 26th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
You don’t think that drugs are a big chunk of Miami’s economy?
The only difference is when those drug buggers get caught they go away for a long time and get all their stuff confiscated and our drug scumbags get away with a slap on the wrist…
August 26th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
This is different from Vancouver in that B.C. has a 6 billion dollar industry in marijuana.
You don't think that drugs are a big chunk of Miami's economy?
August 26th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
and are supporting high prices by laundering their offshore money by buying the requisite thousands of properties needed to set prices at the margins.
The marginal buyers are the ones who are least able to afford the properties, not the most able.
August 26th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I think it's quite telling that the largest drops in US real estate prices come from cities like Las Vegas, Miami and Phoenix. I'm going to guess it's got something to do with the fact that these cities lack any real economy outside of tourism and construction.
This is different from Vancouver in that B.C. has a 6 billion dollar industry in marijuana.
August 26th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
"Cozy relationship? You mean like in Vegas or Miami?"
The Beeb had a report on Vancouver's enormous drug trade so it must be worse than LV or Miami. We know major Asian drug lords and thieves reside in Vancouver — I think there are a few dozen of them at least — and are supporting high prices by laundering their offshore money by buying the requisite thousands of properties needed to set prices at the margins. Therefore high prices are justified.
Odds are one of the readers here is renting one of these properties purchased with drug and blood money.