Real Estate Talks

First: No way you can build in metro Vancouver right now for close to $100 / sf. That was barely possible 15 years ago by experienced builders, building their own homes. And the required finishes for a new, $2millon home at $100 / sf? Second: Small time (single family home people) developers have al...

ETB, You've done very well with your purchase, no doubt. Nothing but congratulations to you. I was simply doubting your evaluation of your property in in this current market. Your home is mostly land value and I don't think it would command $1.8millon in the present market conditions. Maybe $1.5mill...

You might also be looking at the value of your own home a bit optimistically too: You had a $560k mortgage that has probably been reduced to about $370k now. Not so sure your home would sell for $1.8million in this current market.

If you own your home then lose your job, your income is 0% of your mortage. Tdma is giving good advice here Not sure how sound that advice is for this example. Mortgage job loss insurance typically has maximum coverage amounts and is also typically limited to a specific duration. You can't just los...

Vanlord,   Most of your assumptions are dead on: We are renting from a long time holder – 30+ years who used to live in the house and moved about 5 blocks away about 10 years ago into a bigger house with their elderly parents. They have no intention of cashing in for the foreseeable future. Last ti...

Can't run full numbers right now, but using your neighbors house as an example as an investment property. Having people live in my basement isn't desirable for my family, but I would be interested as an investment: same mortgage rate, 5 year fixed at 2.94%, mortgage payment of $4,584 with 25% down o...

WCF: I think I am getting a great deal. But there are lots of single family homes for rent on the west side between $3000 and $4000. The 40' to 50' lots on quiet streets have land value of about $3.5 million... or they did a year ago. Appears to be lack of demand for the tear downs right now.

A coherent response from TDMA would be too much to expect. I have ran some figures that I can share. Assuming the same interest rates, $1 million downpayment, $4 million home and over a 5 year period:   Mortgage payments of $15K / month. After 5 years, approximately $480k would have gone toward the...

I think very few people would argue that one shouldn't buy their PR. The waters muddy when looking for an investment property- especially today in Vancouver. Depends on your situation and viewpoint; Are you going to live in that PR for a long term or short term period? Do you expect the home to app...

I continue to rent a house in Vancouver. But I have money to either buy or invest, either in Vancouver or elsewhere. I rent because it just makes sense: The house I live in would probably sell for $4m + (mostly land value), yet I pay around $3k / month. Rent has not been raised since we moved in 4 y...

  It’s been fun reading your comments and I agree with both sides.... But its my opinion that this is not going to go "to the moon". Sorry bud. Few reasons Since 1981 the market has grown by 6.63% compounded annually. The average home price was $181,000 (1981) vs 1,700,000 (Today). Assuming the sam...

So long as there is strong rental demand there will be housing sales. I heard a professional estimate that for investment in a detached home, at 20% down, the return for rental each year is 8-9%. It only gets better with lower prices. With this in mind I cant see the downturn lasting come spring I'...

Every year or so, I find it interesting to compare the buy versus rent scenarios for different areas in Greater Vancouver. I looked up mortgage rates at TD and found a 2.94% fixed rate for a 5-year term. Sounds like a pretty solid deal, so I used their calculator for $1m, $2m, $3m, and $4m homes pu...

There are lots of countries in the world that don't allow any foreign ownership of land / property. There are also lots of countries that tax the hell out of foreigners for buying property in their country. Same thing with citizenship: North America is pretty unique in that it allows newborns automa...

Can't do it starting at condo either. The gap between property classes gets larger every year. You got lucky and I got lucky...but both instances are many years ago. I wonder how smart you'd look today trying to buy a 1.5 million $ home with 160k...that's a 1.34M mortgage. We both got lucky, so eno...