scrubbedexpat091

I can't get any better of a job anywhere else, doesn't matter where in North America I go, the jobs all pay low wages.

We can't leave BC due to wife's need to be in BC as other province don't provide the same level of medication assistance as BC does, and since she is unable to work full-time, and I don't have the earning power to support a household alone, losing her disability would make living even more difficult.

Small towns are cheaper, but without a job, they are not an option, and if this small town is any indication, unless self employed, your not going to make much in a small town and be able to own.

I just have to figure out how to raise my income into the 50,000 range or higher.....


We are open to pretty much anywhere in southern BC that is commutable to a larger city, doesn't have to be Vancouver, just can't be so far north it would take thousands of dollars to leave as airfares into Northern BC are not low.

You have to still like your city reasonably well...

scrubbedexpat091

Vancouver has loads of shady places. The house I rented a makeshift room in the basement, only had a toaster oven and microwave....But it was all I could afford at the time and was the nicest of what I looked at.


Unless your have a high budget, Vancouver is a nightmare to look for rental housing.

vanity

Nearly 8,000 signatures: https://www.change.org/p/premier-chr...ket/u/10324691

Facebook page for "Affordable Housing Rally": https://www.facebook.com/events/419315721574615/

vanity

Can you comment a bit more on this, ExKiwiLass?

The house prices at the moment are ridiculous - but why not assume forever since it's been like this for 10 years?

On the point of condos, I also don't see them as a good investment - not only is the appreciation low, the depreciation reports often have quite a few nasties embedded. Or am I being too pessimistic?

Thanks,
V

scilly

I'm not sure where prices are going to go in Vancouver.

House prices are certainly not going to drop UNLESS there is a massive economic recession

What IS happening due to City Council decisions to increase the number of "living spaces" in Vancouver to accommodate 50,000 more inhabitants in the next 10-20 years, and up to 1 million in the 10-20 years after that, is that there are major new Community Plans being developed for the areas in Vancouver ......... Google "Vancouver Community Plans" if you are interested in finding out more.

These plans are encouraging higher density along major routes, around transit hubs, etc.

Thus 6 and 8 storey apartment blocks can be built on both sides of Granville Street between about 64th south to 72nd. 3 and 4 storey apartments will be able to be built north from 64th to Park Drive

6 storey apartments can be built along both sides of 70th Avenue from Granville to Oak Street.

6 storey apartments can be built along both sides of Oak Street south from about 57th to the bridge.

Townhouses and duplexes can be built in a lot of the current single family zoned areas between the major roads.

Rezoning will be required, and it will obviously take several years before too much happens.

But this is one reason why you are seeing huge boards showing that several lots in the same block have been sold ............ they haven't really. There are a handful of realtors who are amassing property that they will then sell on to deep pocketed investors willing to wait 2, 3 or 4 years before they can develop them. Meanwhile, the current home owners are, in the main, laughing ......... the realtor has assured them that they will get $1-2 million more for their home over selling it as one house and lot, they can stay in the house until rezoning is done, and they may even be paid a monthly amount by the developer. Some of the home owners are not happy ........ they feel they have been coerced or forced by their neighbours into joining this amassing.

As an example ......... there is one block on Granville Street where the same realtor amassed 7 houses, she then advertised that grouping 2 months ago for sale at $33 million. Each house and lot was therefore being assessed at over $4 million, which was probably about one third more than it was worth as a single sale.

What will this mean???

Well, it all depends on how the rezoning is done and what the city planners insist on ........... they don't seem to be building many rental apartments now, and the number of social housing in new developments is being negotiated down from what the City has said would be enforced.

I did find it very interesting that the area south of 70th and between Granville and Oak is currently almost entirely 3 storey apartment buildings, a mix of rental buildings with amongst the lowest rents in Vancouver and condos. That area was specifically left "as is" in the Marpole Area Plan, with no development to occur except for that along the south side of 70th itself.

Other areas of Vancouver are undergoing the same sort of fast apartment growth ........... along Cambie Street, Grandview Woodland, etc.

And these plans do not include the "spot rezoning" for high density towers that has taken place in several areas around town.

If I remember correctly the Marpole Area Plan was said to be needed to provide 10,000 new units over the next 10 years, ie one-fifth of the total considered necessary for the whole city ........... but spot rezoning that has already been completed or in the process has already added at least 4,000 units, with about another 4,000 in the planning. Thus the total of new units in this one area alone will amount to at least 20,000 in 10 years time

With, I hasten to add .......... no provision for other services such as new schools, larger library, improved transit, increased provision of city services such as water, sewer etc.

They do want to build a new Community Centre ....... demolishing the current one which is at the edge of a park, with playground and sports fields, and close to the local high school, and replacing it with one in a high-density area on Granville Street where it will be combined with a new library, but there will be no outside areas and too far from the high school for the students to go.

And similar will be happening along the Cambie Corridor, Grandview, and all the other areas where Community Plans have either been completed or are in the process.


Will it mean cheaper houses ....... I doubt it, as there will always be people wanting a single family home on its own lot.

There will be more townhouses ......... which will be attractive to many people, but probably not any cheaper than they are now.

Apartments and condos are a conundrum.

Dorothy

Sorry, but that's incorrect. Anyone can buy property in Australia, PR or not. They simply need the approval of FIRB.

scrubbedexpat091

When I had a job offer at YVR (didn't take it as pay was too low and we could not find housing, and not worth commuting for 10.75/hr.) we looked at Marpole area as its pretty much the most affordable area close to the airport (Richmond apartments were a bit steep) and most of the places we looked at under 850 per month we complete dumps. Rent cheaper yes, worth what was being charged not really.


We did find one place right on Granville there, and was in our price range, and we did apply, but so did 10 others, so we didn't get it, but of the places in that area we looked at, none were a place I'd volunteer to live in.


Its too bad airline related jobs pay so poorly, I'd be so happy if I could work with planes again....lol


House sales in Squamish are even insane right now, real estate agents can list a house today, have an offer by tomorrow.

They can't get houses onto the market fast enough at the moment.

Nothing for the most part has been built since around 2009/2010, and now the demand outstrips supply, so developers have come back to build (no apartments or condos however and no rentals) and we have people with signs on their property where its zoned already for town houses saying they will sell for a good offer, hoping a developer will buy.

Not in a bidding war situation, but everything sells for listing or just above at the moment.

90% of the buyers at my wife's office work in Vancouver, but can't buy there, so they come here and rest are a mix of locals, new arrivals and Whistler folks with a good amount of the first time buyers getting down payments from the bank of mom and dad....lol

I did about 7 years try to get my dad to invest by buying a house in Chilliwack when I lived there, couldn't get him to go for it though.

My wifes mom has an acre that is subdividable and most have already been done and another house built, my wife has tried for years to get her mom to do the same so wife could have a house, but she won't do it.

beckiwoo

That is why I have increased my budget and said no to downtown - only around east van and around Renfrew/29th ave.

I have to say Hastings Sunrise is getting pricey. Some friends recommended I look round there but its not cheap - cool area though

There are some really nice basement suites on craigslist for around $750-$800 in the area I am looking at. Would rather spend more for transit in then live downtown in an area curtained off the size of a prison cell.

scrubbedexpat091

Yeah Hasting's-Sunrise has gone up a good amount from what I see on CL. It was pretty reasonable still when I lived over there.


I made the mistake once of trying to commute from eastern Maple Ridge, well technically Mission, but literally just across the boundary on transit, while doable, man it was exhausting and long term burned me out.

It was like a 2 hour some odd trip, required 2 buses and a sky train ride.

I went from as far east as the bus went, all the way to VGH area.

ExKiwilass

the spread between houses and townhouses/condos hasn't been as wide in the past as it is now. When we were first house-hunting in 2008, you could get a house (admittedly crappy, but still a house) for only 60,000 more than a townhouse. We've been in the market since 2004 and bought and sold a few times. Sometimes townhomes have been more sought after than houses. That's all I meant.

Houses are crazy higher than condos now, but it hasn't always been this way. Either houses will come down or condos will appreciate.

I think you are being too pessimistic. Again, you do your homework. We bought before depreciation reports existed - now THAT was scarey because you had to go by detective work to find out if there were any issues. Don't forget, houses can have lots of issues too. condos are flat right NOW but there's nothing to say it will continue that way - they certainly haven't been flat in the recent past.

ExKiwilass

and I do think this generation is a bit entitled. We certainly couldn't afford a house until several years after buying our first condo, and then we bought the house with friends. Some of our friends did the same.

ExKiwilass

the other thing is - at least with a condo you're paying down a mortgage, and slowly paying it off. There's that equity too not just price rises.

R I C H

<shrugs> I'm only quoting what a Queensland realtor/lawyer told me this week. If the property is bare land or new build there aren't restrictions, but existing real estate purchases must value $5m unless you have PR. Multiple purchases to add up to the $5m value are permitted.

MrHyperPants

I really don't know why anyone would want to buy a condo (apart form having a second property to rent out). As there always building new ones. Especially in Richmond. So much construction going on at the moment. The boom hasn't taken off yet imo.

I feel you would struggle selling a condo down the line. Why buy an older condo with higher strata fees when you can get a brand new one with lower strata fees for the same price. Makes no sense to me.

Im not sold on it. May be a town house is different. But what gets me is having to pay strata fees on town houses when all they share is a roof. Some of these townhouses don't have any yard and some have there own garage. Yet still have strata fees. Its all a con imo. I can understand it if your sharing a communal area or have a pool for everyone to use and underground parking. I agree with strata fees for condos and apartments.

May be I'm looking at it wrong. Renting always was more expensive then a mortgage in the uk. But you needed to have a deposit for a house first, which most people don't have. Seems the other way around here, renting cheaper then having a mortgage from what I have been researching so far.

MrHyperPants

Heres and example of strata fees on a townhouse. $315 a month on this place for someone to cut the hedge out the front and to cover the roof if it goes.

# 31 2561 RUNNEL DR, Coquitlam, British Columbia V3E2S3 - V1112564 | Realtor.ca

I notice at 00:32 secs on the multimedia video clip tour the strata fees don't cover someone cleaning the moss off the stairs to the house. The small bit of garden at the back looks bad. Would this not be covered by strata fees? I just don't understand what your getting for $315 a month. But from having to pull your pants down and bend over and take it while you hand over your money.