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LemonDrizzle posted:Wouldn't demand for family-sized accommodation in condo buildings + lots of vacancies just lead to people buying two adjacent apartments and then knocking doorways into the walls between them to create 3-4 bed places? Conversions of that sort shouldn't be hugely expensive unless all the internal walls are load-bearing or something. Assuming the strata would let you do it (unlikely) - that's still a vastly inferior solution to actual 3-4 bed apts. Weird to have unnecessary doubles of common stuff like kitchens, hallways etc.
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Aug 17, 2014 14:52
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eXXon posted:When did I say or imply that I was sore at them? Toronto Life is a rag that mainly caters to the upper crust, basically like the absurdly out of place shopping/fashion section of Now Magazine but like that the whole way through. If anything I'm surprised that they wrote about people living fairly reasonable lifestyles instead of yakking on about how they all should have joined bidding wars on single detached homes. Yes it's a lovely bourgie rag, but the article is pretty topical. Once in a while they write something interesting about Toronto life.
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Aug 17, 2014 15:02
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LemonDrizzle posted:Wouldn't demand for family-sized accommodation in condo buildings + lots of vacancies just lead to people buying two adjacent apartments and then knocking doorways into the walls between them to create 3-4 bed places? Conversions of that sort shouldn't be hugely expensive unless all the internal walls are load-bearing or something. I feel I've heard this is commonplace in places like New York, but I've never done or seen it happen in Vancouver. I've always been curious though; I'm assuming Strata/HOA would make you pay two full payments? My other question is; in condo's, is the strata payment $X / number of units = payment? Or is it based on sq/ft where a penthouse would pay more than a 1 bedroom?
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Aug 17, 2014 17:00
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eXXon posted:When did I say or imply that I was sore at them? Toronto Life is a rag that mainly caters to the upper crust, basically like the absurdly out of place shopping/fashion section of Now Magazine but like that the whole way through. If anything I'm surprised that they wrote about people living fairly reasonable lifestyles instead of yakking on about how they all should have joined bidding wars on single detached homes. I was briefly at a magazine that aspired to be the new Toronto Life. I remember they wrote an article on Porter airlines and described how wonderful it was because now anyone could slip down to Manhattan to catch a Broadway Show and be back on the same day. I had to point out that no, actually that's not something "anyone" could now do regardless of whether there was an airport down-town because 99% of the population don't have that kind of money. If I recall correctly their compromise was to put "in theory" as a qualifier in front of that sentence.
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Aug 17, 2014 17:05
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Reggie Died posted:I feel I've heard this is commonplace in places like New York, but I've never done or seen it happen in Vancouver.
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Aug 17, 2014 17:17
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I've done fire safety stuff for condos where I find the as-builts from like the 70's don't at all match the current conditions because all the floors have gone from 6-7 condos per floor to 3-4. I see that a lot in higher end older condo buildings. For the price of buying the other condo and gutting it and transforming it into some ridiculous 5-6 bedroom sized place (they were all already 2-3 bedroom) I don't know why they didn't just buy a house or something. Also all of them were older couples with no kids, no idea why a 1,500 sqft condo was just too small for them and they needed 2,500.
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Aug 17, 2014 17:30
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Lexicon posted:Assuming the strata would let you do it (unlikely) - that's still a vastly inferior solution to actual 3-4 bed apts. Weird to have unnecessary doubles of common stuff like kitchens, hallways etc. The building I have a unit in in Toronto has several people who have done this. They just rip out one of the kitchens and use creative renos to hide the utility verticals that need to stay in place. There's one reasonably wealthy guy that combined two 2-bedroom places and converted it into an enormous bachelor suite with a glass shower in the middle. He told us proudly how the fogged glass became see through when he turned the room lights down.
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Aug 17, 2014 18:01
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Kalenn Istarion posted:The building I have a unit in in Toronto has several people who have done this. They just rip out one of the kitchens and use creative renos to hide the utility verticals that need to stay in place. There's one reasonably wealthy guy that combined two 2-bedroom places and converted it into an enormous bachelor suite with a glass shower in the middle. He told us proudly how the fogged glass became see through when he turned the room lights down. Chinese hotel rooms typically have glass walled bathrooms(i.e. you can lie on the bed and watch someone take a shower), which makes it easy to ensure that your prostitute doesn't rifle through your wallet while you are taking a poo poo. I guess, since that's the only possible reason I can think of why you would want such a thing. Canada - truly a melting pot of east meets west.
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Aug 17, 2014 18:09
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Throatwarbler posted:Chinese hotel rooms typically have glass walled bathrooms(i.e. you can lie on the bed and watch someone take a shower), which makes it easy to ensure that your prostitute doesn't rifle through your wallet while you are taking a poo poo. I guess, since that's the only possible reason I can think of why you would want such a thing. Maybe but this guy definitely wasn't of Chinese ancestry.
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Aug 18, 2014 00:30
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I spent most of the weekend doing my semi-annual run through of raw rural land listings, and the market is heavily saturated right now with rock bottom prices. I'm talking 150+acre lots of prime growing land and mature woods for under $100k. More than double the volume than was on the market this time last year, with stuff that had been sitting there since last year dropping prices significantly. I've long maintained that this is where you'll see the bottom start to fall out of the market, since it is this real estate which is suffering the worst inflation over real value. The pace is slow, though, so I expect we won't see it trickle down to rural-residential for at least another two years. 
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Aug 18, 2014 18:04
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Saltin posted:Yes it's a lovely bourgie rag Wait, people actually use this term un-ironically?
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Aug 19, 2014 02:17
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Pixelboy posted:Wait, people actually use this term un-ironically?
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Aug 19, 2014 02:48
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Kafka Esq. posted:Stop being a petit bourgie.  Sorry.
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Aug 19, 2014 03:36
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Any bears faltering? I am a bit. I've been bearish on Canadian real estate for quite a few years, and never would've believed we'd have gotten past mid-2014 with nary a correction. I still have zero interest in purchasing anytime in the far foreseeable future, and especially so at these P:R ratios, but I'm starting to believe that Canada, like Australia arguably, might simply be a place that has organized its political and economic structures in favour of perpetually expensive real estate. We managed that in dairy, after all (yes, it's an imperfect analogy).
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Aug 20, 2014 04:48
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Housing costs can stably go up perpetually for so long as credit approval remains permissive and loan amounts continue to increase in step with property assessments. If assessed values go down or credit tightens then buyers won't be able to secure the capital to purchase the houses.
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Aug 20, 2014 05:02
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Lexicon posted:Any bears faltering? I am a bit. No, because I generally think the Canadian economy has pretty bad short-mid term prospects and I see that catching up to the housing market eventually.
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Aug 20, 2014 05:21
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Every time I catch myself reaching for mls to find a house I stop myself, load up mint.com, and ask myself what I would do if 30% of my net worth evaporated.
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Aug 20, 2014 05:37
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I would probably buy a place in the next couple years if I had the money for it.
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Aug 20, 2014 06:10
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Lexicon posted:Any bears faltering? I am a bit. I've been bearish on Canadian real estate for quite a few years, and never would've believed we'd have gotten past mid-2014 with nary a correction. I still have zero interest in purchasing anytime in the far foreseeable future, and especially so at these P:R ratios, but I'm starting to believe that Canada, like Australia arguably, might simply be a place that has organized its political and economic structures in favour of perpetually expensive real estate. Yes and No. I think real estate will eventually tumble and even if I didn't, I don't want a house bad enough to get that large of a mortgage for one. However, I suspect that the market will continue to remain irrational longer than I personally will be in the market for a house. If the market stumbles on for a few more years I'll be looking ahead to 50 and frankly the prospect of mowing a lawn, for the first time in 30 years, is not going to be particularly appealing.
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Aug 20, 2014 15:55
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The first time I see a hundred acres in a decent location dip below $70k, I'm buying that poo poo on an installment plan. (Both Dignam and Landquest take deposit + monthly payments instead of a mortgage  ).We're almost there. If the Kluskus Meadows property wasn't so far outside of Vanderhoof that I'd be restricted to satellite internet only, I'd already have bought it.
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Aug 20, 2014 17:16
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Rime posted:The first time I see a hundred acres in a decent location dip below $70k, I'm buying that poo poo on an installment plan. (Both Dignam and Landquest take deposit + monthly payments instead of a mortgage Are you an experienced farmer/forester or do you just really dislike having other people around?
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Aug 20, 2014 17:40
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I thought the worst case scenario with owning a 100 acre farm and not knowing what to do with it is to hire someone who did. I don't know, if there was a 100+ acre farm for less than 70K, I'd probably give it actual consideration.
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Aug 20, 2014 17:51
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Rime posted:The first time I see a hundred acres in a decent location dip below $70k, I'm buying that poo poo on an installment plan. (Both Dignam and Landquest take deposit + monthly payments instead of a mortgage Man, if you haven't lived up north before, having Vanderhoof being your closest town (yet still far enough away you need satellite internet), is going to be rough.
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Aug 20, 2014 18:13
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I don't care how cheap the land is, I'm not sure I could totally give up civilization and live like a cave man plus really any sort of income other than selling bark or what ever you'd do with that land. Log it?
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Aug 20, 2014 18:19
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I lived in Revelstoke for over a decade, and north of Fort St. John for several years. I enjoy the idea of having a private estate which I can make largely food self-sufficient, far enough away from people that I can experiment with Blacksmithing uninterrupted, and large enough that friends and family can use it as a summer retreat. A substantial mature woodlot is an essential, and being able to own a few horses and some Llamas would be a nice bonus. I loathe light pollution from towns, and I want it to be in the middle of nowhere so that I can build a nice hippy house and not have to deal with some bureaucrat telling me that my strawbale wizards tower isn't up to code.  While I'd love to get all this on the north island or up by Bella Coola, where there are much milder climates more amenable to fruit trees, I don't see prices ever dropping low enough simply because of the timber license stranglehold in both locations.
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Aug 20, 2014 18:25
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Baronjutter posted:I don't care how cheap the land is, I'm not sure I could totally give up civilization and live like a cave man plus really any sort of income other than selling bark or what ever you'd do with that land. Log it? I've been planning to bugger off to 2 or 3 acres up north for several years now and live there in a micro home made out of trailerable sections with a few solar panels and LED lights and so on, so I don't think it necessarily means you have to live like a caveman. Hell, now that there's a whole industry of stuff aimed at those nutty doomsday preppers it's easier than ever to take civilization with you. If you can't really can't figure out what to grow on an isolated acreage up north in Canada though then I don't know what to tell you.
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Aug 20, 2014 18:32
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Baronjutter posted:I don't care how cheap the land is, I'm not sure I could totally give up civilization and live like a cave man plus really any sort of income other than selling bark or what ever you'd do with that land. Log it? Even if you can't grow anything, agriculturally poor land often still ends up being excellent ranching land, and there's pretty solid demand for conscientiously-raised free range meat. I'll probably end up doing the same thing Rime is planning on when it's time for me to retire; I'd rather spend the last years of my life out in the country than rotting in some forgotten room in a giant city or a hospital room hooked up to a dozen machines. If you think rural living is "living like a caveman" it might be educational (and fun!) if you spent a summer volunteering at a farm or something. Frankly more people should do that, if only to understand where their food comes from and how the rest of the world lives outside the concrete hells.
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Aug 20, 2014 18:33
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Maybe I'm super ignorant of how like... sub-rural living works, but how would you earn a living out there? Maintaining such a huge plot of land, building a house, paying taxes and utilities and upkeep, where would the money come from? I can see trying to be self sufficient but that seems like backbreaking work to try to be self-sufficient on land like that. Like trying to grow things the land isn't best suited for where it's so much more work to be self sufficient than trade and specialize. Or do you just have to give up on modern technology and live like you're camping ? What about dentist, doctor, all the services people need? Like i'm just honestly ignorant how it works logistically. I depend on and interact with multiple people almost every day I can't imagine going "off the grid" in terms of just the social net I depend on.
Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 18:38 on Aug 20, 2014 |
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Aug 20, 2014 18:36
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That particular lot I mentioned is 16km outside of Vanderhoof, that's less distance than Brentwood Skytrain to the Art Gallery. Access to services is not a problem. My current plan is to use my healthy bank account to subsidize getting into a high paying trade next year, work up north for a few years till I've got another couple hundred k in the bank, go back to school and get a teaching degree, and then become a history teacher in a rural school with my hobbies (like blacksmithing) paying out on the side. If I wanted to run a money farm, Llamas are surprisingly suitable for northern BC and are the perfect shepard animal for a small flock of merino sheep which can be quite profitable. The taxes on that 160 acre lot were $353 last year. Frankly, with proper planning, your largest ongoing "utility" expense in this setting is getting decently fast internet hooked up. Starting a homestead is not a walk in the park, especially in central BC where the winters can be quite harsh, but after the first few years (if you don't gently caress up too badly and too often) it becomes compoundingly easier. Again, were it at all possible, I'd do this on Vancouver Island, the North Coast, or the Kootenays. Valemount is another region I keep my eye on. Apatite's thread in DIY/Hobbies is a great source of motivation for me to not spend my entire life renting a shithole in Vancouver and pretending I'm happy. The way I see it, if you want true freedom and independence these days you either buy a fuckton of land in the middle of nowhere, buy a sailboat and leave shore, or get rid of everything and become a professional vagabond.  Edit: I should also mention that the land from Vanderhoof to the Yukon border is the most fertile and actively farmed land in the Province, now that we've paved over the bulk of the Lower Mainland and flooded the Columbia River Valley. Even very temperature-sensitive crops such as peppers can be grown with a proper greenhouse setup. This is why the new LNG fracking exceptions to the ALR are pretty loving horrific for our food security. Rime fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Aug 20, 2014 |
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Aug 20, 2014 18:45
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The last two days, a Vancouver realtor that maintains a blog has listed the average prices (not the phoney baloney index) for two neighborhoods in Vancouver. This is Kits, which is an upscale trendy neighborhood.  This is Point Grey, which is one of the moneyed areas of Vancouver.  I could not but help noticing that over the last three years, the average prices in both areas have been pretty flat. That certainly isn't the narrative that Global breathlessly telling me about. Where is the 10% Y/Y growth here? Also note, these two neighborhoods are where the hoards of rich Chinese invading our shores are buying everything and driving up prices.
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Aug 20, 2014 19:47
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Have you got a chart for East Van or the burbs? I think your answer might be there.
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Aug 20, 2014 19:52
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From Garth Turner's blog this morning for GTA:
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Aug 20, 2014 19:55
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Cultural Imperial posted:Have you got a chart for East Van or the burbs? I think your answer might be there. Yeah, I would assume that East Van rising would account for the city wide average increasing as it has. Even still, I find that no growth across the two "premier" neighborhoods in the city does not really strengthen the argument that housing is fine. How many of those are speculators? (Obviously dumb speculators.)
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Aug 20, 2014 19:58
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peter banana posted:From Garth Turner's blog this morning for GTA: Wow that's quite dramatic and completely contrary to marketing narrative.
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Aug 20, 2014 19:59
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ocrumsprug posted:Yeah, I would assume that East Van rising would account for the city wide average increasing as it has. You know what's hilarious? See if you can find a chart for condo prices in Vancouver for the past 7 years. It's flat.
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Aug 20, 2014 20:01
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If prices in prime areas have been flat for almost a decade (and thus dropping by a few % per year in real terms), doesn't that indicate that either there's no bubble or the "fabled" soft landing has in fact already been achieved?
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Aug 20, 2014 20:03
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LemonDrizzle posted:If prices in prime areas have been flat for almost a decade (and thus dropping by a few % per year in real terms), doesn't that indicate that either there's no bubble or the "fabled" soft landing has in fact already been achieved? Well what ocrumsprug and I are saying is that there's something funny going on with the way prices are reported. Fair point on achieving soft landing though.
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Aug 20, 2014 20:07
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The fact that MLS and by extension major Canadian newspapers are straight up lying about it isn't a good sign either.
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Aug 20, 2014 20:18
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Data is of poor quality in Canada. It's kind of a well known joke.
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Aug 20, 2014 20:46
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From ben rabidoux's Twitter https://twitter.com/BenRabidoux/status/502196172355026944
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