Vancouver Condo Info

You’ve seen them all over Vancouver, from green mesh covered buildings in fairview to plastic shrouded condo towers downtown.  But what’s it like to actually live in leaky condo thats being repaired?

A renter in Yaletown has started blogging about life in the green mesh: The Leaky Condo Chronicles is an interesting read about the inconvenience and frustration of living in an active repair zone:

Buzzing, vibrating, grinding noise jolted me awake at 8 AM. It’s really too bad that earplugs can’t block out the vibrations — they’re worse than the noise…

I think today is worse than ever before. They’re grinding down the concrete of the balcony right next door to us.

Mondays tend to be particularly bad anyway, probably because weekends are so nice and quiet, but I do think it’s true — it can’t get any worse than this — can it? Can it?

I need to run away.

You can find more misery at leakycondolife.blogspot.com

With more and more noise in the media about Vancouver real estate being overpriced you may be surprised to find a local real estate investment that appears quite inexpensive by comparison - The Timeshare.  Vlad writes in to share his experience:

I’ve made a costly mistake – I bought a timeshare from Point To Point Destinations (PTP Destinations, West Coast Timeshare) in Vancouver, BC and I regret it ever since.  Check the facts before you buy a timeshare from any company to avoid making the same mistake I did.
I posted my experience and facts on this web site: TimeshareRevealed.com  Please go to the “Investment Calculator” page, it is more than just a calculator. There I share facts about the following:

•    Real cost of timeshare comparing to an investment.
•    Examples from eBay about resell value.
•    How it can be cheaper to buy for cash.
•    Maintenance fees of a timeshare comparing to a condo.
•    Transaction and other fees.
•    Assets value of the company comparing to the cost of the shares.
•    Using points for car rentals, cruises, airline tickets, entertainment and so on.
•    Limitations of  booking timeframe.
•    Unused points taken away while maintenance fees not refunded.
•    Deed and title.
•    Using RCI membership for home resorts.
•    Collections practices.
•    The right of first refusal.
•    How much of your money paid to sales representatives.
•    PROFIT 100 guide compared to audited financial statements.
•    Lack of warranties or guarantees.

I wish someone explained this to me before I bought my timeshare from Point To Point Destinations (PTP Destinations, West Coast Timeshare) in Vancouver, BC. During sales presentation I understood some of it much differently and I do not remember other important things mentioned at all. If I knew all this I would never buy it to begin with. I hope these facts will help you make your own decision.

Vlads website is at www.TimeshareRevealed.com

It’s that time of year again - The Georgia Straight is asking for your votes on the ‘Best of Vancouver’ and our friend CondoHype has a great idea: Why not vote for your favorite real estate blog?

There are 238 questions on this years ballot - the one that interests us is in the section for “Media, Arts and Culture” and the category is “Best Local Blog Page“, although there’s also a spot for “Best Local Realtor” (Hi Paul!).

You have to answer a minimum of 25 questions out of the 238 for your vote to be counted and the the voting page can be found here: http://www.straight.com/bov

You’ve got a lot of good options, so I won’t try to influence your vote other than to say these are a few of my favorites:

http://vancouvercondo.info - you are here and I want your vote
http://condohype.wordpress.com - exposing the ‘con’ in ‘condo’
http://langley-financial-planning.blogspot.com - best charts around
http://vancouverunrealestate.blogspot.com -  blogging the disbelief

Did I miss one? Feel free to argue for your favorite or advocate for votes in any of the other categories in the comment section below!

Once again the voting page is at http://www.straight.com/bov

MP Garth Turner has a new book out called “Greater Fool - the troubled future of real estate“.   He argues that the Canadian real estate market is due for a collapse similar to the one currently happening in the US.

He recently started a blog at greaterfool.ca that looks like yet another source of negative news about real estate markets in North America.

The following is an excerpt from his book blurb:

The timing couldn’t be better for Garth Turner’s newest book on real estate and its impact on personal finances. At a time when the US is clearly heading for recession, stock markets roil, a global credit crunch overwhelms banks and a climate crisis lurks, can the Canadian real estate market withstand the threat? Do we really think we’re immune?

More than 400,000 US families lost their homes last year and more than a million more are threatened. House prices have collapsed as much as 30% in some markets, amid predictions of another 25% slide. New home sales are down over 40%. There are 20,000 new, empty houses for sale in Phoenix, streets of foreclosures in California and desperation in Florida. What happened? Will it hit here?

Paul has given us a gift that keeps on giving with his new web site. If you haven’t seen it yet do yourself a favor and check it out - there’s an incredible treasure trove of information he’s made available including up to date statistics on details like average selling prices and days on market. He’s also sharing inventory charts for all sub-areas of Greater Vancouver going back 3 years. This will be an ideal resource for watching the market in detail. Go check it out and say hello on his new blog.

REsteven has just started a blog to track current market stats for the GVRD and FV - this is similar to Rob Chipmans numbers blog (rireb), but REsteven is breaking the stats down by area. I’m looking forward to seeing how the inventory issue plays out with rising rates.

Heres a link to a link of a story - Calculated Risk has a post about an article in the Wall St. Journal about foreclosures in San Diego.

A surge of foreclosures over the past year or so has left lenders struggling to sell a growing backlog of homes.
…
At the San Diego sale, houses and condos typically sold for about 30% below the previous sale or appraisal prices. In a few cases, the discounts were around 50%.

… A glut of condominiums also is weighing on the market. Peter Dennehy, a senior vice president at Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors, a research firm here, estimates that at the current sales rate there are enough condos on the market to last about 29 months.

I’m posting the link to Calculated Risk instead of the WSJ because there are some reader comments attached to the story about BC and Alberta markets that some of you may find interesting.

BC’s #1 industry is forestry which is in serious trouble. Population growth is the slowest in decades. The economy is being kept growing by real estate investment. “Everyone wants to live here” (note contradiction) and “This time it’s different” (2010 Winter Olympics) are religious creeds in BC. I don’t think I have to explain what that portends for the future.

Spark posted this link in an earlier thread. If you havent seen this yet its worth watching: the US housing market from 1890 to the present rendered as a rollercoaster ride. You really get a visceral feel from the peaks and dips.

This video was created by the fine folks at speculativebubble.com

.. so who wants to make one of these for the GVRD? I bet the 1980-82 section would be particularly exciting.

I just discovered condohype - It looks like the latest addition to the Vancouver/ condo/ real estate blogs with a focus on condo marketing. Very funny writing with a heavily sarcastic bent and a solid focus - their tagline is ‘disown the lifestyle’.

Check it out, they’re off to a great start!

..now where’s my latte?

The guys behind seattlebubble.com and socalbubble.com have put together a new site that addresses housing market issues, particularly the fear-inducing ‘Priced Out Forever!‘ myth.

have you ever thought through what it would really mean if across the country, hundreds of thousands of people just like you really were being priced out forever? Who would buy homes? What would happen to the housing market as a whole? These are questions that are frequently ignored.
…
The absolute worst reason to buy a home is “I’m afraid that if I don’t buy now I’ll be priced out forever! The biggest financial decision in your life should be based on reason, logic, and sound financial planning, not fear.

Check it out at the easy to remember URL: pricedoutforever.com