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Friday Free-for-all! Happy Weekend!

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45 Comments

It’s the end of another work week and that means it’s time for our regular Friday Free-for-all!

This is our usual end of the week news roundup and open topic discussion thread for the weekend.

Here are a few recent links to kick off the chat:

–Balancing Retirement & mortgage
–27% don’t count mortgage as debt
–Vancouver closet for rent
–Longest interest rate pause
–Higher tax for empty houses?
–Millionaire visa for only 50 people?
–Dipping under a million on the coast
–

So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes here and have an excellent weekend!

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Pizzarella

#41 Oh wow, the Jay Banks spam is back. I’m guessing he must hire some offshore spam factory to generate these nonsensical comments with links. I don’t know if thats the best use of your advertising dollar Jay.

Housing market is a very special field of economy and it should be vigilated as much as possible. No more low quality buildings, crazy developer projects, and unbelievably expensive interests.

I’m not sure what that means, but if you translate it into english I might agree.

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China 2.0

“Vancouver, a better China”

http://www.tianyaxiaozhan.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=2783&extra=page%3D1

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Softy

“almost anyone employed can get himself a condo. This is good news.”

Well, its bad news for those that end up owning a condo.

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Whistler or bust?

#41 -Riiigggghhhhhtttt…..

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John B.

According to Straith, doom and gloom prophets were wrong once more. Actually, current trend is showing that houses are quite affordable and almost anyone employed can get himself a condo. This is good news. I believe there should be more regulation coming from the government. Housing market is a very special field of economy and it should be vigilated as much as possible. No more low quality buildings, crazy developer projects, and unbelievably expensive interests.

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Heard Herd selling

Landlord dropped of a bottle of wine and a turkey today. I love renting:-)

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Whistler or bust?

They are also having a vote seeking 75% to raise $30K for a new BBQ and some maintenance of the amenity room.

This is about $300 for the owner should it pass. In the last 3 years there has been approx. $3,000 in special assessments.

This building is not very old either.

The average rent there is around $1,300 a month. It has been stuck at that level since 2005. Anytime it goes to $1350-$1400 the tenants don’t stick around very long.

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@Shut it down

“That extra 5.8% is probably about $20 a year. Who cares?” 5.8% increase per year over 7 years is a 50% increase in strata fees. That could mean going from $400 to $600 per month. Where will interest rates and property taxes be in 7 years? Mortgage rates may be double. The CoV is increasing property taxes faster than inflation and shifting a greater percentage to residential housing from businesses. How many special assessments in 7 years? Special assessments are inevitable in any condo over 10 years old. On the other hand if you rent and your landlord increases your rent 3% per year every year your rent goes up 23% over 7 years. Most landlords don’t increase rent every year and if they don’t they can’t go back and do it in following years so in most cases rent… Read more »

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simple solution

just bring back the head tax.

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patriotz

“and found significant correlations between China’s real GDP growth and growth in housing prices. ”

There is also a signifcant correlation between Canada’s real GDP growth and growth in China’s housing prices, but nobody would claim the former is the cause of the latter.

Maybe the actual cause is simply that a commodity economy like Canada is going to move in close unison with a major commodity consumer like China.

Anyway, the quoted hypothesis will see a signicant test going forward. The oil bust is good for China, but bad for western Canada, which means resouce revenues are decoupling from Chinese growth.

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Marco

This article is from the Economist in regards to the mystery inside an enigma that is HAM:

“Another option is to look at macro-level data. Robin Wiebe of the Conference Board of Canada, a research outfit, has charted the links between China’s economic health and the local housing market in Vancouver, and found significant correlations between China’s real GDP growth and growth in housing prices. ”

There GDP is slowing so are there less HAM buyers?

Cheers.

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Westside Realtor

Shut it down – ever heard of the straw that broke the camel’s back?

This is such an over leveraged market and society that eventually it all caves in.

Westside sales stink
The kinky things moving are exceptionally well priced and lower than they would have gotten twelve months ago.

Down, down, down we go.

WSR

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Shut It Down Already

$20 a month, sorry.

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Shut It Down Already

That extra 5.8% is probably about $20 a year. Who cares?

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Whistler or bust?

My friend lives jn the Spot 933 Seymour. Strata fees are going up 5.8% next year.

Rent has been the same for 3 years.

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UBC in crisis mode

Weekend Van West Open houses: 230
Over $2 million: 53 (considered a HAM only market) (23%), lower than 30% a few months ago. HAM buying is slowing down, but not dead.

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@Lurker

“With rates looking to rise next year it might be best to try and squeeze a good price out now and lock in.” That makes no sense. If you think rates will rise next year then at least wait until next year. That would be a better time to squeeze a better price and you will save more than any increased interest. Either way, if your looking to live in a strata just rent. There is no advantage to owning. Look for a place where the landlord will give you a long term lease if you want to make sure he isn’t going to sell it and make you move. Any landlord who is in it for the long term will give what ever lease term you want. That building is coming up to the 10 year age point and… Read more »

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Boombust

#25,

Get lost.

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valleyrenter

Fresh new listing in one of the T/H complexes I’ve been watching. Asking $243,500, almost feel bad for the one that sits languishing with a $279,000 ask. Once again, all cookie cutter sq’ and the exact same setup. Ouch!

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StupidityCheck

Lurker, if rates are much higher in five years, that place will probably be worth less and your mortgage payments could jump quite a bit.

IMO, that place is worth between $450-$500k.

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tedeastside

vancouver is the theft capital of North America, you’ll never live in a place with more thievery than vancouver,
if you left your bag on a seat at McDonald’s and went to order something,
how long would it take to get stolen , my guess is 10-20 seconds

my cars were broken into almost monthly in Vancouver, 6 years in Los Angeles that never happened, Vancouver is a scourge on the world

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Lurker

I’m torn. Obviously some folks here are all doom and gloom but I’m not seeing things moving overly quickly. With rates looking to rise next year it might be best to try and squeeze a good price out now and lock in. Hard to tell however as the market isn’t softening. What do you figure this place should be worth: http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?PropertyId=14935530

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Eastsidehomeowner

Patriotz and Westcoast Woman are critiquing mainstreammedia based on information provided by Westside Realtor the pseudonym for an internet avatar made up by a disgruntled renter. Okay you guys, good luck with that.

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West Coast Woman

Here’s another article in the SCMP about the new IIP:

http://www.scmp.com/print/news/china/article/1654749/canadas-new-millionaire-migration-scheme-will-only-take-50-applicants

Re the old IIP, the article states:

“The scheme has also been criticised for having had an outsized impact on the city of Vancouver and its sky-high real estate market.”

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West Coast Woman

And here’s an interesting article by Ian Young, SCMP, about Canada’s new program for potential Immigrant Investors:

http://www.scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1655307/slim-pickings-chinas-immigration-industry-canadas-new-investor

It seems we won’t be seeing massive immigration to Vancouver again through the new program like we saw from the former IIP.

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