Realestate, Mortgage and Home owners discussion

[Duncan]

thanks for the article joel. I heard about this prediction on the radio this morning too...

it's almost bitter sweet to read about because this means if i get in, i may not have to worry about the bubble bursting in the near near future, but at the same time, it's almost as if it's saying "get in now or else you'll regret it even more". Honestly, i wish we had a nicer basement suite with more room and a less annoying MOL. If that were the case, i'd live in cheap rent for the next 5+ years saving up for a cheaper market and more comfortable living space for my family.

We actually went to the open house for the Panacasa townhouse/condo project (canada way and smith) yesterday afternoon and looking at the prices, it makes me depressed. for a 2 bedroom + tiny den, was $425k. Sqft was like 997 for the 1 story and for the 2 story at about 1060sqft with the same 2bd+den was $469k.

The more i look at these prices, the more i'm thinking i'll have to move to coq

[joel]

haha. there's always delta!

i have toyed with the idea of moving back there several times. my work situation downtown is a real killer though. perhaps once my work situation changes... when joyce and i were looking at the sunstone developments around 3 years ago, it was about 320k for 1300sqft townhomes excluding garage/storage, with common community ammenities

i think they still opening up more developments too: http://www.polyhomes.com/community/eclipse

but i can understand if you don't want to live in delta tho...

[Wetundies]

There's always newfoundland. Heard prices there are reasonable.

[Duncan]

lol, no thx, delta is too far. Even for the price, i'd still prefer coq because i don't want to deal with bridge traffic. Plus alicia has high regards for coquitlam's school district

are you and joyce planning on looking at the market after you figure out your job situation?

[joel]

joyce and i aren't really in a rush to make any decisions soon. we would probably wait for some clarity on both of our job situations. i guess we have the luxury to wait for a more favorable market if it does arise. but it doesn't hurt us to keep looking at what's out there either. i would like to keep our options as open as possible.

if market prices continue to rise at the point we need to move out, then we can always sell our current place to help us for a down payment of a future home. if prices do burst at some point, then we just rent out our place now, and hopefully have enough to put a down payment elsewhere. right now we are just mostly saving and i am trying to find relatively liquid investments to grow our "future downpayment". since interest rates continue to remain low for the time being I have only been putting the minimum towards the principal of our loan, and hoping that I can find other investments that payout more than what i lose in interest.

[joel]

another article that says the bubble is due to burst... http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/what-h ... pops-.html
everyone has their guesses...

[joel]

and another: http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/home-s ... 07540.html

[Duncan]

even if the bubble were to burst, most of these articles say that the bubble will never burst to the level of the states had it. Meaning a correction in our market could just be a plateau or a small decrease in value. I don't think we'll see low prices anywhere near some places in the states. Especially with the droves of foreign investors here.

still depressing haha... maybe i should move to mission

[Wetundies]

don't hear much about bidding wars anymore, but a lot of foreigners are paying in cash. As long as they keep buying, prices will stay pretty much the same.

[se7entse7en]

I haven't read any of the articles posted, but on the news yesterday they were saying how Vancouver is now the most expensive North American city to live in topping even NYC.

*grumble*

[nature boy]

yeah, i heard that too. i was pretty shocked, from what i hear about ny prices at least. i wonder how they measure it, if it's just real estate or other things factor in.

[se7entse7en]

Not just real estate, but everything: Food, housing, insurance, transit, etc.

[Wetundies]

they measured NY as a whole, not just Manhatten, which lowered their overall price. If you're just comparing Manhatten to Vancouver, then yes, NY is still more.

[supersuk]

[joel]

pricing i think starts at 250k but my guess is that is for their bachelor suite floor plan (410sqft) which actual doesn't have a bedroom.