BC, hype, opinion, prices

A very expensive way to do your laundry

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The Vancouver Observer has some good articles from the Real Estate trenches.

This one looks at what it’s like to shop for your first apartment in Vancouver.

What does $350k get you?

Not insuite laundry.

She lined up four apartments, all under $350,000. The cheapest is $250,000. None of them have ensuite laundry. If you think that giving someone a third of a million dollars would get you a washer/dryer, then clearly you’ve never apartment-shopped in Vancouver.

East Vancouver is heating up, because nobody who works for a living can afford to buy in the West End anymore. Rising rents make an investment property in East Van a more viable option than it once was, though proper houses remain out of reach for anyone on a Canadian wage. This keeps the pressure up in the apartment/condo market.

My Realtor says that the sales market is slower than it’s been in a long time: properties will sit for an average of 70 days. Still, there are vacant units that she won’t touch with a ten-foot pole: “I’m afraid to sell in Olympic Village, to be honest. I steer my clients away.” Dead neighborhood, small units, renovations that “probably won’t stand the test of time”.

Read the full article here.

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VMD
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Secondary-suite fees approved in White Rock

Secondary suite owners in White Rock will now have to pay an annual fee of $250 following the city’s approval of a secondary suite bylaw at Monday’s council meeting.

The fee will be applicable to all owners who have a secondary suite in their residence, not the tenants themselves.

Additionally, Kurylo noted that for those whose suites are rented out only part of the year, a pro-rate would be applied.

The fee will be part of homeowners’ payable taxes and will take effect in April, when it will be adopted by council.

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5 years 7 months ago
rp1
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Can anyone confirm?

http://humblestudentofthemarkets.blogspot.ca/2013/04/a-time-bomb-in-canadian-financials.html

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5 years 7 months ago
patriotz
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Rising rents make an investment property in East Van a more viable option than it once was

Does the article present any numbers at all to back this up? Nope.

Although I guess you could say rental yield is higher than it was a year ago. 🙂

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5 years 7 months ago
pricedoutfornow
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Nice article, if not necessarily accurate.

“Well, you could rent, but rental prices are quickly approaching monthly-mortgage-payment levels, particularly for a family-sized dwelling anywhere near a decent public transit line.”

Definitely not true. I live in East Van and we are in the market for a 3 or 4 bed townhouse or house. I continue to see whole houses for rent for anywhere from $1800-2200. The mortgage on these million dollar properties would be at least $4000 a month. So no, renting is still a better deal, you just have to look and not take any upper or lower suites people try to rent for $1900 a month.

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5 years 7 months ago
Anonymous
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The fact that anyone is mentioning yield in a positive light for an investment property in Vancouver shows just how ridiculous their analysis must be. Even if you didn’t think a correction was coming, why would you want all the hassles and risks when for $4.95 you can buy Riocan which is a professionally managed, diversified, multimillion dollar real estate investment trust yielding over 5% at a tax advantage. There’s nothing in Vancouver that can net anywhere near 5% and you’d still be liable for every repair and missed rent check or vacant month.

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5 years 7 months ago
Q
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@real_professional #165 I agree with everything you said yesterday about race and I thank you for the courage to say it. White guilt is absolutely an operative force in Canadian public policy. Yesterday, you said: “If anything, the most overt racism that I have experienced has been at the hands of other Indo-Canadians, definitely not white-Canadians.” Just to prove your point that non-white people are capable of racism too, I just came across this story this morning about how the organizers for the Bollywood Awards in Vancouver are discriminating against brown people for jobs as drivers and security. From CTV News: “A spokesperson for a Bollywood awards ceremony to be held next month in Vancouver is apologizing after organizers were accused of racism, saying they did not want “brown” drivers and security guards working at the three-day event. Organizers for… Read more »
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Anonymous
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This one is good for a laugh.

“Jim Flaherty – Canada’s Anti Robin Hood”

http://moneytalks.net/topics/personal-finance-and-real-estate/8550-stealing-from-the-masses-to-give-to-the-banks.html

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5 years 7 months ago
Q
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One more thing…

They’re coming to Vancouver and they don’t want brown drivers. LOL! Good luck with that!

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5 years 7 months ago
Anonymous
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Please lets try and keep this blog for RE, and keep the other crap off!

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5 years 7 months ago
Anonymous
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Rents are definitely rising on the low end.

This will only push up the rates for decent places. I think over the next 10 years, rents will be up by 50%. Why? Hear me out,

Expect about 500,000 new permanent residents and 250,000 temporary residents in Metro Vancouver in the next 10 years. Rents will go higher as SFD homes are less as proportion of the total housing stock. On the flip side, many people will end up homeless on the streets. Mostly people who continue to chant the mantra that renting is cheaper than buying. I’m buying on the next dip as prices and rents will recover after that.

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5 years 7 months ago
Anonymous
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Why is it that when you say you’re proud to be white they call you a racist?

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5 years 7 months ago
Many Franks
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Lots of news reports on Canadian consumer debt today, e.g. Canadian consumer debt grows in February: RBC: The Royal Bank says February marked the slowest year-to-year growth in Canadian household debt in more than a decade. Sounds good, right? Not so fast: Total Canadian mortgage debt stood at $1.16 trillion in February, up 5.4 per cent compared with the same month last year — the smallest since November 2001. 5.4% growth YoY is still much faster than inflation and wage growth. Just because we’ve binged for the last decade doesn’t mean today’s numbers are sustainable. Mortgage debt is also the largest debt category (more than double non-mortgage debt) — maybe that’s no surprise — but it’s also growing at nearly double the rate of non-mortgage debt. It’s true that growth is moderating, but until a) it’s growing at inflation or… Read more »
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5 years 7 months ago
asalvari1
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As much as I am displeased with the frequent deviation from the topic of real estate on this forum recently, I am super excited when I realize that the RE obsession is diminishing.
FINALLY, people are losing interest, and to my shocking discovery we can have streaks of dozen hours that this forum will not receive any message.

This is it! RE in Vancouver jumped the shark!

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5 years 7 months ago
Absinthe
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Anonymous at #10 – Rents actually HAVE been rising in the low end, I agree. And what’s been the market response? Net interprovincial migration negative. Units sitting vacant for longer periods. Higher vacancy rates.

Rents are tied to incomes. People may pay a higher percentage of budget to housing, or commute longer, to be somewhere desirable – but there is a hard ceiling on rents, because it cannot take all of the monthly budget.

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Anonymous
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#13,
silly bears finally realized they have been silly and stupid. by this time next year, they will be driving around with a realtor hunting their condo in the best place on earth.

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5 years 7 months ago
Absinthe
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(#14 – I should say, actually, rents *were* rising on the low end. But I think they’ve stopped, and the ‘burbs are getting cheaper.)

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5 years 7 months ago
suomynonA
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asalvari1: I agree, it seems like we’re reaching an exhaustion point on the topic of real estate, but I think this is the eye of the storm.

Right now prices have been falling for about a year, but there isn’t any dramatic news about it and everyone remembers a recent time when prices dropped faster and then came back up.

I think many people hold out hope that trick will be repeated.

I suspect if prices continue to fall and we start seeing sob stories in the general news about underwater mortgages and foreclosures the topic will heat up again.

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5 years 7 months ago
suomynonA
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anon15: You know the ‘Best place on earth’ is deprecated right? It’s no longer in use and never referred to the city of Vancouver in the first place, but instead to the province as a whole.

There are many places in the province where the environment is more beautiful and house prices have been dropping for many years.

You just need to not be tied to a Vancouver office job to take advantage of that situation.

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5 years 7 months ago
real_professional
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Must watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bNmcf4Y3lGM

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5 years 7 months ago
Amanda Li
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@ real_professional Says: #19

Must watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bNmcf4Y3lGM

This video was already posted on 1st April.

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5 years 7 months ago
chilled
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VMD Says:
April 3rd, 2013 at 2:08 am 1

Secondary-suite fees approved in White Rock

Secondary suite owners in White Rock will now have to pay an annual fee of $250 following the city’s approval of a secondary suite bylaw at Monday’s council meeting.

The fee will be applicable to all owners who have a secondary suite in their residence, not the tenants themselves.

…..snippage

++++++++++++++++++++

BAHAWHAWHAHAHAWHAW!!!!!!!!!

Nice taxable income synopsis prepared and packaged by the city, undoubtedly to be requested by Revenue Canada auditors!!!!

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5 years 7 months ago
Democrass
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March stats are out:

http://www.rebgv.org/sites/default/files/REBGV%20Stats%20Package%2C%20March%202013.pdf

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5 years 7 months ago
Democrass
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From the press release: The MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver is currently $593,100. This represents a decline of 3.9 per cent compared to this time last year and an increase of 0.9 per cent compared to January 2013. Sales of detached properties reached 933 in March 2013, a decrease of 21.1 per cent from the 1,183 detached sales recorded in March 2012, and a 48 per cent decrease from the 1,795 units sold in March 2011. The benchmark price for detached properties decreased 5 per cent from March 2012 to $906,900. Sales of apartment properties reached 982 in March 2013, a decline of 17.5 per cent compared to the 1,191 sales in March 2012, and a decrease of 39.5 per cent compared to the 1,622 sales in March 2011. The benchmark… Read more »
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5 years 7 months ago
Democrass
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Better format: The MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties inGreater Vancouver is currently $593,100. This represents a decline of 3.9 per cent compared to this time last year and an increase of 0.9 per cent compared to January 2013. Sales of detached properties reached 933 in March 2013, a decrease of 21.1 per cent from the 1,183 detached sales recorded in March 2012, and a 48 per cent decrease from the 1,795 units sold in March 2011. The benchmark price for detached properties decreased 5 per cent from March 2012 to $906,900. Sales of apartment properties reached 982 in March 2013, a decline of 17.5 per cent compared to the 1,191 sales in March 2012, and a decrease of 39.5 per cent compared to the 1,622 sales in March 2011. The benchmark price of an… Read more »
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5 years 7 months ago
Skook
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This is off topic, but I just came across info on ‘The Tyee’ that I thought I would pass on.

On April 6th, there is a ‘Master Class’ on ‘Learn How to Turn Data into ‘Maps’ that Tell Stories.’

You can find more info here…
http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/04/01/Hugh-Stimson-Master-Class/

and here…
http://thetyee.ca/MasterClass/Spring2013/Hugh-Stimson/

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