januarymix

Finding Van quite expensive. Not sure if I could ever buy a house. Are the townhouses or condos any good for purchase?

Also is a salary anywhere over 100k considered good for a couple plus kid? What range eg 120 to 150? Reasonable living expectations, safe neighbourhood, comfort but not extravagance etc.

scrubbedexpat091

May have to do what thousands of others do, live elsewhere and commute into the city for work.

I've read a few articles now that mention Vancouver more pricey then NY City now.

CanadaJimmy

In other news, water is wet!

Yes Vancouver itself is very expensive, but the suburbs are more reasonably priced. With a 100k-150k salary I'd estimate you have a 500k-600k budget for a house (if you have the downpayment), so you'd definitely be fine in say Surrey or Langley and able to comfortably afford a house. Nothing absolutely huge but somewhere decent - perhaps even with a nice view. You may even find an alright house in New Westminster which is closer. In Burnaby towards Vancouver your $ won't go as far and you would be looking at Apartments only really or very small/basic houses.

The further out you go, the more reliant on vehicles you will become, which is an arguable reduction in the Quality of Life. Surrey is pretty much where the transit service stops, from Langley onwards you're looking for a car for everyone who needs to go somewhere, depending on the neighbourhood. The crime in most neighbourhoods in Vancouver is very minimal, with Whalley in Surrey, rough areas of Burnaby and the Downtown East Side in Vancouver being the main crime hotspots and mostly limited to those areas.

ExKiwilass

Townhouses or condos are good for purchasing...yeees..but am curious to what your concerns would be? They are very popular here and a very common way for people to get into the market. They also open up areas that would otherwise be unaffordable for a single family home.

Give us an idea of what your reasonable living expectations are and your idea of a safe neighbourhood and we can advise from there.

scrubbedexpat091

Wasn't there a leaky condo issue in BC for awhile that created issues and headaches for owners?

ExKiwilass

You can get issues with SFH too - oil tanks, subsidence, etc etc.

Use an inspector, get the strata minutes...should be fine.

januarymix

Sorry for late response, Ewkiwilass. Have not had net access. Townhouses are ok I guess, would strata be higher though? And i guess it is a mentality/freedom thing of having your own house!

Getting more used to Canada having higher prices now...just hate it when the US is so cheap!

As to places, just want somewhere easy transit to downtown, safe, nice community - probably like everyone. Have asked about areas before so am looking around Gastown, Fairview etc but for home ownership just a bit depressing

Cheers, hope ya'all well!

Floatsy

januarymix

I read that too.

januarymix

CJ
Exactly re quality of life. Anyway will rent first I guess. Spoke to a local Vancouverite who is moving away cos the house ownership is nigh nil for him, and he reckons he is on a high salary. I didn't ask his earnings, but I guess even
earning 100- 120k seems low. Oh vey, onwards and upwards

Cheers

Oink

If you both earn 120k-150k each then you should be okay if you don't mad with eating out, holidays or high vehicle payments. As mentioned above, it'll really help more the larger the downpayment.

januarymix

Oink
Unfortunately it would be combined. Downpay would be fine though.

Thanks for the advice

JonboyE

I would need to buy a boat. A large one. Possibly with crew. It's the only way I could grind through that amount of cash in a year.

caretaker

Aren't houses cheaper in the US because the recession hit them a lot harder and many people had their houses reposessed by the mortgage companies? I was under the impression prices were at rock bottom about 5 years ago but were starting to climb again.

Oink

It depends on the size and length of your mortgage and the amount of other deductions from your pay cheque. Even without kids, its not hard to go through most of that take home each month.

ExKiwilass

It's a myth that all US houses are cheaper. They're not cheap at all in sought-after areas: San Fran, parts of the California coast, NY etc.

re: Van being allegedly more $$ than NY. IT depends who you're asking. One of the think tanks where Van ranks really high, Demographia I think it's called, has a political axe to grind against transit and urban density - it thinks land should be released willy nilly and that sprawl is better.