Realestate, Mortgage and Home owners discussion

[tiger]

[supersuk]

Vancouver density is alot lower than those said cities.
A few generations ago, someone earning an average income could afford to buy a modest detached property. Now, someone earning an average income will be pushing their budget just to buy a small townhouse. I guess I'll just have to wait for inheritance or rent, since only people who are able to buy are rich foreigners and the short list of well endowed and prosperous locals.

I guess I can't complain, else I'd be a communist.

EDIT: I guess getting married works too... LF wife so I can buy a place.

[tiger]

yes...find yourself a sugar momma. Highly recommended. Not just any old wife.

[Wetundies]

[nature boy]

[Keiho]

Why don't you and Duncan look into combining efforts to get a place? All you really need is a room and your own "space" right? If you guys look at a townhouse, you can look for a floorplan that has one room at the bottom floor, they can have the top floor and the kitchen/living can be shared somewhat.

Unless of course you two brothers hate each other or something.

[nature boy]

i wouldn't recommend sharing a mortgage with a sibling (or anyone other than spouse). too many variables and money involved for it to end well.

[Duncan]

also, i'm pretty sure keian would agree.. him and i know we don't share things very well haha...

plus, like nathan said, sharing something like a mortgage can be an icky thing... besides, i'd sooner build up my own equity...

[Keiho]

Ya, but you're still building up your equity, and having any form of mortgage will make it easier down the road to obtain another (larger) one. Besides, if you treat it like a business, I don't see why it wouldn't work out. In any case, it's just a suggestion and thinking outside the box.

I think that for my and the newer (you) generation, it really is down to coming to terms with the fact that our traditional childhood and ideals of owning a detached house with yard and garage will likely be quite different. Likely we'll forever be staying in condos or at best townhouses.

[tiger]

something to consider. Most of the east indian/traditional chinese people combine their resources and live together. They know that pooling their money together helps them reach their ends quicker. The western culture is more individualistic and that's why we're so bad at sharing, and have our own dreams. In the end, new immigrant families will get into a new house quicker than us. And then they each take turns taking advantage of the tax free capital gains when they sell the house.

[Wetundies]

yup, east indies own their houses faster than everyone else.

you can always buy ur house with someone, if it doesn't work, just cut the house in half, like someone did in malaysia.

[Duncan]

wow, this thread is over 2 years old now!

anyways, i wanted to get the opinions of some of you who own or may look to own a property.

I'm looking at real estate prices in the lower mainland (i know, that's my first mistake right there) right now, and each time i look, it seems like prices keep going up. I know there have been some people who say that the bubble's just about to burst, but it seems like they've been saying that for years now. Just like how people say vancouver's due for a huge earthquake soon. My dilemma is that i have a decent chunk of cash saved up and i'm looking to buy a place, but i don't have 20% just yet, well, unless i want to stick my family into a small/old 1 or 2 bedroom 800 sqft condo. Anyways, it seems like the more i save, the more time i waste getting my foot in the real estate market. So what if i eventually save 20% for a place? the fact of the matter is, if i aim to save 20% for a place that's selling for 400k now, by the time i save up that 80k, places like that will be selling for $450k, so i have to save up another 10k to match that 20% there, and then by then it'll be worth $500k... not sure if i'm making sense, but it feels like i'm chasing a 20% carrot.

I mean, i know eventually i'll hit that 20% mark, but is it really worth the time i wasted saving it up? i mean, by the time i hit that mark, it'll be 20% of 500k and i'll still have a 400k mortgage, compared to if i put 10% down on a 400k place now and incur the wrath of cmhc. in the end, putting 10% down now means i have a $360k mortgage, compared to a 400k mortgage later w/o cmhc. Really, it means that i'd have less to pay back, all the while gaining equity during the time i would have spent trying to hit that 20% mark.

I'm saying this because when i got married almost 4 years ago, i was aiming to save up 20% for a 300k home which meant i'd have to save up 60k. but 4 years later, i'm looking at a 20% mark that's 80k now because similar homes that cost 300k 4 years ago, cost close to 400k now! to me, it seems like what's the point in trying to save up more? It feels like i should just bite the cmhc bullet and try to get my foot in the door before prices rise even more.

What do you guys think? i know renting forever is an option, but i just can't justify rental costs in the lower mainland either compared to mortgage costs. And i'm not talking about renting at a discount at home right now.

[geForce]

If you bought that $300k home 4 years ago with a 5% downpayment, you would've gained $50-$100K by now due to rise in prices. CMHC isn't a huge cost considering you'll gain on the housing price to offset it.

Of course, that is a risk though. If housing prices do finally "burst", then you (me too) will be SOL and we'll be upside down on our mortgages. I guess it's just as much of a risk even if you DID put down 25% downpayment.

It seems this is the only way of doing it in this type of market... unless you're rich or got into the housing market 7+ years ago.

[Duncan]

yea, it's not even about gaining value from the rising market, if i had put 5% down on a $300k place, i'd have a $285k mortgage to pay off... now, even if i put down 20% on the place and it's worth $350k now, my mortgage would be $280k... that's not a huge diff, and i would've owned the place 4 years ago! plus it might even be worth upwards of $375-400k now and that'd be even crazier. If it was $400k now, then even with a 20% downpayment now, i'd have a $320k mortgage! that means i saved up to not incur a ball park 10k cmhc premium but i'd owe $35k more in my mortgage.... it doesn't make sense. All the while, 4 years ago, prime was even lower!

man, the picture is so bleak. Unless i have a super high paying job, or i'm one of the lucky kids who have wealthy parents who can spot me a mortgage, lower mainland real estate is so depressing

[nature boy]

i've come to the conclusion that i may not own anything until my parents die. i'm fine with it though, thanks for asking.

i'm not going to read over this whole thread again, so i don't know if this has been said before, but i read once that the day you get into real estate is the day after you can afford it. so what i'm saying is that if you can afford to put less than 20% and still be able to pay the bills (mortgage, hydro, gas, insurance, furniture, food, cable, internet, etc) then do it. no better time than the present.

my problem is that although with my current salary i could probably afford a mortgage (once the cars are paid off), it's everything else that kills me. so living where i am works for us because we share much of the living costs (also the place is huge lol). even if winnie were to get a job i think we'd stay here for a while.