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The Renting Option

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Well Global is certainly getting a lot of attention on this blog with their ‘Generation How’ series. This is an interesting one though, all about the renting choice and how much cheaper it is in Vancouver than buying.

Are young families in Vancouver better off renting?

During the height of the US bubble, many of the most expensive cities had prices that outran rental values. That trend has flipped now with the correction and it’s cheaper to buy in many US cities. It’s been cheaper to buy in the past here, will Vancouver ever see that again?

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[…] “I was just eating breakfast at a little resto in E. Vancouver and I heard the waitress talking to one of the customers about how she just got herself a Realtor(tm) and has been looking for an apartment to purchase. She looked maybe mid-twenties and talked about how she’s tired of throwing away money for rent, she found a place for 178k (I think that’s what she said), and she has a friend that will rent some space from her. She might be moving to Vernon, though, so she’ll just rent the whole place if she does. This is who buys real estate in this city? I cannot believe that a bank would give her a mortgage. She’s a server at a cafe. She said she’s pre-approved for 250k, but thinks that’s too much, so she’s being conservative! what… Read more »

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Vulture Fun

@patriotz:

I hear what you're saying about the lack of incentive to fix up a place for renters, but if I were a landlord, I would be embarrassed to offer some of the places we've seen. Doesn't "pride of ownership" apply even if you're renting a place out. I realize landlords can get away with a lot, but how can they stand tall, knowing that they're slum lords. I suppose I'm reluctantly beginning to accept the huge chasm between how it should be, and how it is. Well, this vulture is not going to forget this when it comes times to start making stink bids. I will be grinding these f.ers down. And you should know, all you realtards out there, I won't care about "insulting" the seller.

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Anonymous

@Anonymous:

The other thing is people will also buy these same dumps to live in. Again no incentive to fix the place up.

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Anonymous

"Of course the root cause of this is that almost all landlords of individually titled properties are speculators who are trying to make money"

The fact is people will rent these dumps so what incentive does a landlord have to invest more money to fix it up? If people refused to rent these dumps the situation would change.

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Anonymous

"The real cause is that the provincial government does not want a local government structure in Greater Vancouver which could effectively plan for transit or other developments"

The provincial Liberals have stated they would amalgamate if the individual cities and municipalities wanted this. Unfortunately they and the citizens who live in them don't. Personally I think it would be better to have the lower mainland and fraser valley divided in 2 or 3 cities but most people would not want this and it would be political suicide for the provincial government to push it through.

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patriotz

@A.Guy:

Metro Vancouver and TransLink are not the causes, they are the symptoms. The real cause is that the provincial government does not want a local government structure in Greater Vancouver which could effectively plan for transit or other developments – i.e. an amalgamated megacity or a truly accountable metro government.

Of all major cities in Canada only Vancouver has this mess.

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A.Guy

A big part of the problems in the GVRD are caused by "Metro Vancouver" (the former GVRD entity) and TransLink with their mis-management of revenues causing an increased burden on the citizens of the lower mainland. Other regions don't have to deal with these incompetancies.

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specialfx3000

"BC Hydro to slash 300 jobs this week"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/st…

The fat cat loses a few pounds this week, but still fat nonetheless.

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patriotz

@Vulture Fun: "I’m shocked by the sad state of rental stock" Of course the root cause of this is that almost all landlords of individually titled properties are speculators who are trying to make money not by renting the property out but by selling it to someone else. So there's little perceived return in making the property more attractive to a tenant, and negative cash flow means many don't have the money to do it in the first place. In addition, many expect the property to be torn down by the next owner, so there's not much incentive to keep it up. Today's rental where the landlord lives downstairs is likely to become tomorrow's foreclosure. I've seen that back in the 80's. CDU, the phrasing of your first posting was confusing, which is was I was commenting on. I didn't… Read more »

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CanuckDownUnder

@patriotz:

Why would I not be serious about renting as long as gross rental yields are under 8%? Sure that number looks ridiculous in Vancouver or Sydney at the moment but we both know it's because prices are way out of whack.

When real prices have fallen 50% the yield on our apartment would be 8% instead of 4% and at that point we would seriously consider buying something.

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jesse

Frances Bula: Olympic Village Update Dear Mayor and Council – a number of you have asked for an update on the SEFC Project. We have just received our updated metrics from the Receiver (Ernst & Young) and COHO (property manager for the Affordable Housing). Here is a brief update on the project: Market (For Sale) Condominiums in the Village on False Creek Development: Total sales: 427 sold out of 737 market units ( ~60% sold) Sales since February 2011 launch: 164 (164 units over 156 days – just over one per day) to mid September 2011 Next Sales Launch: Parcel 6 Tower (building to the west of the Community Plaza) units are coming on stream now. Total rented: 26 market units have been rented Total market units occupied: 453 out of 737 units (62% occupied) Market Rental Units in the… Read more »

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Vulture Fun

I'm still looking for a house or townhouse to rent, and I'm shocked by the sad state of rental stock. Here are the usual reasons we've passed on everything so far: 1. Hasn't been updated since 1972. Horrid rug, wood panelling, badly out-of-date kitchens and bathrooms. Hey landlords: putting a slab of granite over POS cupboards isn't going to do it. 2. Mini-apartment building. Hey, I thought the point of living in a house was having the place to yourself. There's a surprising number of landlords living in their own basements. 3. Nice house, but it's on a very busy street. 4. Nice house, but it's badly located, which would mean 1.5 hours commute to downtown. And I'd like to let all those Craiglist landlord wannabes know that they really should post at least one picture of the place. When… Read more »

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Anonymous

@Best place on meth:
That's by far the least seaworthy looking vessel I've ever seen!

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Patiently Waiting

What Canadians said:

the youths were “driving like complete jerks.”

“I felt these cars need to be stopped before they caused a serious accident,”

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Street+racing+yo…

What Chinese said:

"Disgusting parasites!"

"Canadian police should jail them for a hundred years for jeopardizing public safety and help this society by castrating all of them so future generations won’t have idiots."

http://www.chinasmack.com/2011/stories/rich-chine…

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Best place on meth

Q: How do you sink a Chinese ship?

http://www.chinasmack.com/2011/stories/17-million…

A: Put it in water.

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McLovin

Rippedtoshit:

According to Paul B 17,194 as of Sept 30

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The Leak

Mclovin'. My Halloween costume will be a big sign on my chest that says, "Foreclosed"…if they ask what it means, I'll gladly bring 'em up to speed 🙂

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Li Kai Shing

Which Bacon-ator Brother is that in the photo ?

My odds are one -in- three ……right?

What?

Oh sorry….one in two.

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RippedtoShit

McLovin, do you you know what paulb's high was for last month?

thx

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RippedtoShit

Meth,

the MSM may tout the rise in sales YoY, eh….hmmm…do you/Paul B know what his listings topped out at again (thanks)?

Will be interesting to see if we climb to a new listings high….wow, could be a record October for total listings….

bond market is (currently at least, with the equity market rally) selling off on the back o better economic numbers, we could see a new round of mortgage rate hikes soon.

Interesting times.

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McLovin

Net 200. If I use Bull math and extrapolate directly into the future forever we will have over 19,000 listings by the end of the month. Bha aha ha ah hahah a

I’m sticking with my 18,500.

Still haven’t decided what I’m going to Halloween as but I am thinking about a For Sale sign maker. Or maybe an employee of Lease Busters specializing in “lightly used” BMW 3 Series?

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Best place on meth

Not looking like last October so far after 7 business days.

Avg listings last Oct – 210

Avg listings this Oct – 276 +31%

Avg sales last Oct – 105

Avg sales this Oct – 121 +15%

At the current pace Oct listings are on track to be the highest in at least 10 years, if not in history.

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Grow-opp looking to

Any leads?

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paulb.

Lots of listings!

New Listings 302

Price Changes 127

Sold Listings 101

TI:16894

http://www.laurenandpaul.ca

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bubba

@fixie guy:

Amen:

The media is so f*cking lazy.

In local papers….people on various issues are often asked by the Media to send in the detailsof said issue…aka literally write the story for them.

TV?….what the hell can you cram into a 3 minute report?

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