Uncategorized

The move-up buyer is screwed.

204
204 Comments

If you recently bought a condo in Vancouver this probably isn’t what you want to hear, but let’s just think about this situation realistically. Let’s pretend we get the ‘perfect’ scenario of constantly rising house prices. A young couple buys a condo to get on the property ladder and plans on starting a family and moving up to a larger home in a few years. When it’s time to sell, it’s a jackpot! Their condo has increased by $100 grand and they magically find a buyer at that price right away..

but wait. That home they wanted to buy is up $200 grand. Better hope their income has been increasing a lot faster than everyone else.

And that’s in the magic ‘balanced’ scenario where homes and condos increase at roughly the same percentage year over year. For a while here in Vancouver, house prices have lept up while condos have been mostly flat. The hypothetical move-up buyer is even more screwed.

Maybe it’s time to get some smaller furniture and turn the ‘den’ into a babies room, since we don’t seem to build many large family size apartments in Vancouver. It’s either houses or ‘junior’ one bedrooms with little in between.

Constantly increasing house prices means you only win if you sell and get out of town or sell and rent. The move-up buyer is screwed.

204 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
disbelief

Historically and realistically a condo has never really been an investment for anything other than a place to hang your hat not having to pay the Man. It's probably the worst place to park your money and will see the greatest decrease and quickest in a declining market. Perhaps marginally better than a mobile on a pad which brings an interesting thought to ponder. The question of whether our local RE market is grossly overinflated can be effectively proven at the lowest level of housing. The mobile on a pad part renting and part ownership but all around the worst place to live and the worst investment. The mobile in metro Van is pricing out at a little over $100k for a 10 year old mobile in central surrey or in Coquitlam (doesn't really matter). Which for a place to… Read more »

0
0
Yalie

@jesse: What is “our morals and ethics”? Do you mean applying the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or are you talking about applying some other standard that’s written down somewhere? I'm talking about values such as the belief that families ought to be kept together if possible, or at least in the same time zone. The quaint idea that teenagers might be better of not receiving a 200 thousand dollar supercar on their 16th birthday. The notion that conspicuous consumption is crass and churlish rather than a sign of honor and status. The belief that money earned though hard work and honest effort is preferable to money made at any and all cost. These things are not in the charter, but I would bet that 90% of Canadians would agree with them. Do we really want to support and encourage… Read more »

0
0
TPFKAA

@TPFKAA:

on the subject of the riots – I have to say it warmed the cockles of my heart to see brown, yellow, white, red, all happily smashing up their city together (I have lived in places where it isn't so undivided, and trust me, they are no fun for anybody).

At least we do something right here, to bring people of such diverse ethnicities together in rambunctious fun. There will be rambunctious fun for all ethnicities when the RCMP finally comes out with all the charges, too! That's why I love this place!

0
0
TPFKAA

@Bailing in BC:

Thanks, Bailing!

0
0
Bailing in BC

@TPFKAA:

I believe that the book you are talking about is Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.

0
0
TPFKAA

@TPFKAA:

hmmm… come to think of it, those riot thugs could probably do with some re-conditioning too. Maybe we can institute mandatory re-training in Canadian values, a bit like having to re-take your driving test every 5 years. 😉

0
0
Makaya

I couldn't make this one up. On the Globe today! "Visa officers don't have the tools to do their job" "The screening of visitors and permanent residents who apply for visas to Canada must be conducted in a more systemic and vigilant manner. Nothing less than the safety and protection of the public is at stake. Canadian visa officers overseas are supposed to deny entry to people who are terrorists, have committed war crimes, have criminal records, are involved in organized crime, or have health conditions which will place excessive demands on the system. And yet there are worrying gaps in the information available to them, and in their ability to make an informed decision. A new report by the Auditor General found “disturbing weaknesses” in the way Canada Border Services Agency and Citizenship and Immigration Canada screen applicants. (…)"… Read more »

0
0
TPFKAA

dis one a bit academic, but it do for now:

http://jcc.sagepub.com/content/39/2/162.abstract

0
0
TPFKAA

@TPFKAA: My point is; there are places in the world where you can get punched in the face just looking at someone for 0.2 seconds too long. I have seen it, lived it. I can bring you there and show you, and I GUARANTEE you would not want those people living around you without undergoing a thorough Canadification first. Surprise surprise – those hateful trolls I speak of are WHITE! How'd you like that, eh? I can be biased against a culture that is NOT Chinese?? Heck, now that i think of it, I know a second place of White people who I would like re-indoctrinated before having them move into our neighbourhood. That's just me, a chauvinistic prick. Maybe I should leave. Except that I like the culture here, i like the people here… and I would like it… Read more »

0
0
TPFKAA

@DEFAULT NAME:

"Unfortunately (for you), it is not up to you alone. Most people do want Canada to be multicultural and are proud of the diverse cultures. That is why we have the polices we do.

You can always leave if you don’t like it."

Haha! brilliant. I will invite some of these guys to be your neighbours and we'll see how tolerant your multicultural Canada is of all cultures, undiluted:

aw man. I can't find the link. It was this interesting study about how Americans from the Southern states who live in the hills are super aggressive and quick to take to violence to respond to a perceived affront to their honor. It was in a good book I read. The origin of the behaviour was sheep farming. A long story, but a good one.

0
0
realist

Mainland Chinese have transformed parts of Pt Grey in the last five years. Houses increasingly are unoccupied, occasionally occupied by family or hired retainers, or rented, when they are not being flipped. It doesn't matter what one's views are of race, racism, tax or immigration policy, such are the facts, as observed from my own windows.

0
0
jesse

@Yalie: "We can choose to encourage immigrants who accept our morals and ethics and who want to adopt them for their own, or we can turn a blind eye to those who don’t share them, as if their moral character does not matter."

What is "our morals and ethics"? Do you mean applying the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or are you talking about applying some other standard that's written down somewhere?

0
0
jesse

@Makaya: "They escaped China for a reason and are not very happy (to say the least) to see the very people that caused them misery over there immigrate over here."

If that's the case, the Chinese community has been rather silent on the subject, neither did it seem to ring as a resonant issue in Vancouver's civic elections last weekend in areas with a large percentage of naturalized ethnic Chinese Canadians.

0
0
jesse

@Yalie: "Again, it doesn’t matter if it’s a single individual or a million – we should not be allowing it, period." First, it's unlikely you or even the government will be able to prevent it. One thing I do see, after driving around the Lower Mainland, is that the effect of this foreign investment and land accumulation is relatively limited. Foreign capital inflows are a symptom of the problem. If you want a solution to the root cause, the only ones that will have a chance of working will be unpopular with voters because they include the word "tax" and they will, with a few exceptions, apply across the board. I know we want to single out "them" — those with foreign capital and the ability to avoid taxation and wealth declaration — as the problem, never mind how rich… Read more »

0
0
Anonymous

@TPFKAA:

"While I hate myself for it sometimes, I can’t bring myself to allow Canada to be “multicultural”"

Unfortunately (for you), it is not up to you alone. Most people do want Canada to be multicultural and are proud of the diverse cultures. That is why we have the polices we do.

You can always leave if you don't like it.

0
0
TPFKAA

@DEFAULT NAME:

"Why is it only Chinese negative behavior being discussed? There is a hand full of things repeated over and over again that have nothing to do with real estate. There is an agenda"

it's probably just because Chinese migrants are high profile (maseratis and ferraris racing -come on, you don't get much more high profile than that! It's glamorous) and are the topic du jour. Next decade it may well be the Brasilians.

0
0
Anonymous

@domus:

"Some of the arguments that have been made are not based on race or ethnicity, but simply on behavior."

Why is it only Chinese negative behavior being discussed? There is a hand full of things repeated over and over again that have nothing to do with real estate. There is an agenda.

0
0
domus

DEFAULT NAME, maybe you should stop calling everyone who does not agree with you a racist. Some of the arguments that have been made are not based on race or ethnicity, but simply on behavior.

A crook is a crook, whether Finnish, Chinese or Lebanese.

0
0
Makaya

@DEFAULT NAME: "Your wife’s family never accepted you." Come over for dinner and you'll see by yourself. It turns out that they are much more extreme about HAM than I am, because they hate being even remotely associated with them. The only thing they have in common is the skin colour and shape of eyes. Apart from that, nothing. They're just decent, middle class hard working people. They escaped China for a reason and are not very happy (to say the least) to see the very people that caused them misery over there immigrate over here.

Maybe it's too hard for you to understand that one can make the difference between these two categories of people, so I'll just give up. 再见!

0
0
TPFKAA

@DEFAULT NAME: Yes, there are many white criminals, sleazebags, crooks and trash. No one white will ever try to deny that. There is brown trash, and black trash, and yellow trash too… No one here is saying "all Chinese are bad". You must understand that most of the people you are arguing with here have many ethnically Chinese friends, spouses, co-workers, children, that they like, love, admire, and respect. You should also realise that those people who are in China are frightening and alien to people here – we simply do not share the same cultural values. I hate to bring up the contrast, but look at the plane crash in richmond versus Yue yue's story. I'm not saying that in an absolute, objective sense one can say that either culture is better than the other. An alien could maybe… Read more »

0
0
Anonymous

@Makaya:

"My wife, who happens to be chinese"

I get it. Your wife's family never accepted you. Rather than posting incoherent rants about Chinese, why not try to make yourself a better person and maybe your wife's family will allow you over for Christmas dinner this year. They may even let you sit at the adult table.

0
0
PennyStock

Makaya & Yalie, you're on fire!

0
0
Anonymous

Well if all of today's retarded postings are not an indication of a slow sales day, I don't know what is. I guess that with the market melting down and new Realtuds being coronated continuously, the slice of the pie is getting smaller every day. Come on gang, get out there and pound the pavement and strike up some sales!

0
0
Anonymous

@Makaya:

"Negative stories which involve Chinese are cherry picked for this blog by the racists."

If the shoe fits…

0
0
Makaya

@DEFAULT NAME: You don't like the car story? fine. How about these ones:

"how to transfer large sums of several hundreds grands back to his accounts in China without being detected." http://tinyurl.com/73wb9w2

"time to ask mom & dad to send tens of thousands over but worry CRA gonna tax him." http://tinyurl.com/7fzosem

That's from a comment I posted earlier today. My wife, who happens to be chinese (surprising, eh?), confirmed the meaning of these messages.

As Yalie wonderfully put it: "Unlike you, I can differentiate between a person’s character and the roundness of their eyeballs."

Do you think criminals would behave differently in Canada than they are in China just because we, in Canada, are nice people? You're naive…

0
0