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Lead out in cuffs posted:What gets me is the tendency to build 600 to 1,000 sq ft two-bedrooms ... with two bathrooms. Like, I get that in a real house you might want an en suite for the main bedroom, but for a tiny condo? I even saw an ad in the UBC alumnus magazine for a three-bedroom with three bathrooms.
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Dec 22, 2014 00:54
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JawKnee posted:high school math teachers suck (at least the ones I and various people I know who went to school here in BC had). You build on a foundation, and if your foundation is crappy you won't do well; I went to SFU for my first degree (a BA) and during it I retook everything from math 100 on up - way way better to have someone competent teaching you. I actually had a pretty great math teacher, he had a huge cut-away enterprise D on the wall and was passionate about getting everyone to pass. He really put in extra time to get me through. It was mostly my "severe" learning disability. I think a big part of it though is learning all this poo poo without context. There's never a "why" to the math. Now that I'm a grown up and doing architecture and now learning programming I'm constantly reaching for math to actually solve real life problems and I find I learn much better when there is an actual practical goal. And yeah I'd say 75% of my job I spend looking at condo floor plans. I see some really good ones and some really bad ones, but it can be pretty subjective. For one person that tiny 2nd bathroom is a waste and they'd rather have had a bigger living room or just one spacious bathroom, for other people it's an absolute essential and they can't imagine living with only one bathroom. 2 bathrooms really helps roommate situations, which happens a lot to pay for lovely over-priced condos. \/ I'm 100% ok having 1 bathroom between me and my wife. If it was a roommate or something I'd probably want my own bathroom. But a significant other? No problem. I mean more bathrooms are nice, but it's a zero sum game, there's only so much floor space you have and bathrooms are more expensive than living rooms per sqft. But everyone has different tastes, I know some couples who absolutely NEED separate bathrooms because the dude is a slob and the lady can spend hours in there. I think it can also depend on how you were raised. I was raised in an old house with like 1 bathroom for 3 bedrooms and a powder room on the main floor. Other people grew up in newer houses where there'd maybe 3 or even 4 bathrooms shared between 4-5 people, sometimes even 1 bathroom per bedroom plus a guest bathroom. Some people love long showers or baths or long groom sessions. Different strokes! Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Dec 22, 2014 |
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Dec 22, 2014 01:16
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Baronjutter posted:And yeah I'd say 75% of my job I spend looking at condo floor plans. I see some really good ones and some really bad ones, but it can be pretty subjective. For one person that tiny 2nd bathroom is a waste and they'd rather have had a bigger living room or just one spacious bathroom, for other people it's an absolute essential and they can't imagine living with only one bathroom. 2 bathrooms really helps roommate situations, which happens a lot to pay for lovely over-priced condos. e: one thing that really bugs me about a lot of modern condo designs is that nobody seems to think about storage space. like in that floorplan posted on the other page, there's a couple of built-in wardrobes in the bedrooms but other than that, nothing. where do you put your vacuum cleaner and tools and stuff? LemonDrizzle fucked around with this message at 01:33 on Dec 22, 2014 |
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Dec 22, 2014 01:29
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LemonDrizzle posted:It's also nice to have multiple bathrooms if you have a guest over or live with a significant other. Practical poo poo doesn't sell. What moves condos are those reptile brain first impressions when you come in the door. Realizing you have no storage space and your main bedroom closet can fit 2 shirts comes after you bought, and by then your brain won't let you 2nd guess your choice to buy.
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Dec 22, 2014 01:39
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Look at you guys thinking that James Cheng designs condos for livability. You really think anyone in Vancouver is building a condo to sell with the purpose of being anything other than an investment vehicle or an inflation hedge? Kevin O'Leary said as much, condos are garbage with little to no value.
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Dec 22, 2014 01:40
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The condo we're renting has a second bathroom, but it faces the kitchen haha, so it's basically super inconveniently placed.
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Dec 22, 2014 01:46
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LemonDrizzle posted:It's also nice to have multiple bathrooms if you have a guest over or live with a significant other. As if you don't hire a cleaning service once a week and call out for someone to hang your pictures! These condos aren't for people poor enough to dirty themselves scrubbing their own toilets!
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Dec 22, 2014 03:40
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LemonDrizzle posted:It's also nice to have multiple bathrooms if you have a guest over or live with a significant other. Yeah, that place was terrible overall. I now live in a unit with far better planning and build quality. Storage is the two spaces on either side of the washer/dryer at the bottom. Right for vacuum and recycling etc, left for boxes or other larger crap. You also get a caged unit in the parking garage to store less important crap. 
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Dec 22, 2014 09:10
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bartlebyshop posted:As if you don't hire a cleaning service once a week and call out for someone to hang your pictures! These condos aren't for people poor enough to dirty themselves scrubbing their own toilets! Only poors wear clothes anyway
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Dec 22, 2014 14:14
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etalian posted:Yeah basically the US real estate bubble is starting again since nothing was learned from the 2009 crash. It started again 4 years ago. In Chicago, the "safe" (rich and white) neighborhoods have had values above the peak bubble prices of 07 for a year or two now.
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Dec 22, 2014 14:50
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mastershakeman posted:It started again 4 years ago. In Chicago, the "safe" (rich and white) neighborhoods have had values above the peak bubble prices of 07 for a year or two now. I guess we didn't actually fix capitalism with the bailout, who would have thought  Oh hey is that a can on the road? I do hate litter I'll just kick it further down the road, that will get rid of it forever!
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Dec 22, 2014 15:32
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That's what they call secular stagnation. In other news, Manitoba's housing market and job market are getting destroyed. quote:Job losses in #Winnipeg r mounting, MLS inventory is surging, units under construction & unsold developer inventory=all time highs. Not good Check out @BenRabidoux's Tweet: https://twitter.com/BenRabidoux/status/547040572272160769?s=09
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Dec 22, 2014 15:57
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http://www.rew.ca/top-homes/cheapest/ This is a cool site, I found a $150k 1 bedroom just above the GNW campus, 5 minute walk to VCC clark. This listing in particular is very interesting. I was under the impression that it was not legal to sell laneway houses or subdivide them out of the primary lot. Has this changed? Rime fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Dec 22, 2014 |
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Dec 22, 2014 18:06
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Professor Shark posted:Only poors wear clothes anyway I knew a guy in university who'd never learned to do his own laundry and was too proud to let anyone teach him, so he'd just go to Walmart every other week and buy a 14 pack of new underwear.
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Dec 22, 2014 18:50
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bartlebyshop posted:I knew a guy in university who'd never learned to do his own laundry and was too proud to let anyone teach him, so he'd just go to Walmart every other week and buy a 14 pack of new underwear. How do you not know how to do laundry? Even if he's just hand washing in his sink or something with hand-soap. The machines have clear instructions. How... Then again I've heard of people renting condos with in-suite dish washers and just never doing dishes, only using disposable plates because their over-paid tech nerds with no life skills.
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Dec 22, 2014 18:53
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mastershakeman posted:It started again 4 years ago. In Chicago, the "safe" (rich and white) neighborhoods have had values above the peak bubble prices of 07 for a year or two now. The data I'm seeing indicates this is false, unless you're only looking at most extreme values.
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Dec 22, 2014 18:55
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computer parts posted:The data I'm seeing indicates this is false, unless you're only looking at most extreme values. I'm not sure if 06 or 07 was higher, but that article's also 18 months old and referencing 2012 data. And even in that, Lakeview is down 4% from 06-13, Lincoln Park down 13.8%, North Center up a little, and Near North up 2.7%. Money has fled to safety. The surprising one is actually LP (although condos are up there). I'm surprised the north suburbs like Winnetka/Wilmette/Kenilworth aren't up though, it feels like they should be.
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Dec 22, 2014 19:07
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Baronjutter posted:How do you not know how to do laundry? Even if he's just hand washing in his sink or something with hand-soap. The machines have clear instructions. How... not everyone has competent parents or guardians who teach you things. I didn't learn most life skills until I moved out on my own.
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Dec 22, 2014 19:46
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Having lived with roommates of varying ages since I moved out, the number of adults (pushing or over 30) who can barely function and are happy to live in filth is quite horrific. Like, goddamn, who raised these people? One of my currents is considering moving back in with his parents at 31, because he's over $25k in credit card debt and thinks the pittance in rent that I charge is the problem, and not that he eats out for every meal, every day, every week. Still doesn't know how to operate a dishwasher no matter how many times I tell him not to put bowls or jugs on the bottom level. 
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Dec 22, 2014 19:53
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Yeah I've read some pretty hair-raising stuff in the bachelor and roommate threads. There should be some sort of national service requirement that involves everyone living in some sort of barracks or work-camp where they are forced to do laundry, dishes, and clean along with some sort of community service or project.
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Dec 22, 2014 19:58
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Baronjutter posted:Yeah I've read some pretty hair-raising stuff in the bachelor and roommate threads. There should be some sort of national service requirement that involves everyone living in some sort of barracks or work-camp where they are forced to do laundry, dishes, and clean along with some sort of community service or project. Are the threads in PYF or...?
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Dec 22, 2014 20:03
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Baronjutter posted:Yeah I've read some pretty hair-raising stuff in the bachelor and roommate threads. There should be some sort of national service requirement that involves everyone living in some sort of barracks or work-camp where they are forced to do laundry, dishes, and clean along with some sort of community service or project. Similarly, if people knew how to cook they could save $1400/year just on not eating out each meal.
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Dec 22, 2014 20:34
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When I was at University I would just buy paper plates and plastic utensils because I was too lazy to do the dishes. It's my secret shame.
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Dec 22, 2014 20:44
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Bunch of new mini-towers coming down the pipes in Victoria, all rentals. The new condos that went up by my apartment just switched to apartments too. Construction is still booming like it's a bubble, it's just all switching from condos to rentals. Also the prices for most of these new rentals are insane.    And this old hotel just got turned into rentals  As did this very old (was oldest in the city) hotel. They uh.. painted it black too. 
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Dec 22, 2014 21:24
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Holy poo poo... Don't even get me started on roomates living like slobs, especially pertaining doing dishes. If you want to save money by cooking all your own food and stuff, great, but clean up after yourself right after your done. But for 500 bucks a month, all utilities except internet included, I can live with it. 
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Dec 22, 2014 22:09
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Baronjutter posted:Bunch of new mini-towers coming down the pipes in Victoria, all rentals. The new condos that went up by my apartment just switched to apartments too. Construction is still booming like it's a bubble, it's just all switching from condos to rentals. Since they're rentals, are they of any better build quality or is it still shoddy as hell? Presumably a management company would want to make sure that they incur as few maintenance issues down the road as they can. But who knows given this bubble.
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Dec 23, 2014 00:02
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Baronjutter posted:How do you not know how to do laundry? Even if he's just hand washing in his sink or something with hand-soap. The machines have clear instructions. How... When I went to university I had to gather more than half of the male students on my floor and teach them the difference between "Permanent Press" and "Delicates" and that you should separate your whites and darks. A lot of boys are never expected to do any chores (that's how it was in my house growing up) and they have no idea what to do.
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Dec 23, 2014 00:15
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This summer I had a friend of mine stay with us and I was like "oh we're doing a load of laundry do you want anything thrown in?" and she's like "sure, what kind of laundry?" and I was like "... clothes?" I always just set my machine to "wash" and it does everything fine. Never had any colour leaks or anything. Granted neither my husband nor I really ever wear white though.
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Dec 23, 2014 01:46
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I sold appliances for two whole years before I ever even touched a washer/dryer to actually wash my own clothes!
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Dec 23, 2014 02:17
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Brannock posted:Since they're rentals, are they of any better build quality or is it still shoddy as hell? Presumably a management company would want to make sure that they incur as few maintenance issues down the road as they can. But who knows given this bubble. Apartments though are built to be more durable, easier to maintain, and generally more energy efficient too. They only have the amenities the owner can sell for the long term at a profit. Gym equipment needs upkeep and replacing, pools need very expensive upkeep, rooftop gardens need a service. For some people they'd say the condo is a "higher quality" because it has a huge list of stupid amenities and floor to ceiling windows. They're two very different products, one is to look shiny and high quality when built, the other to generate profit over the long term (and minimizing upkeep is a key part of that). Also yeah there is just "laundry". I've never sorted anything, generally always wash on a more delicate cycle. Unless something is hand-wash or dry-clean only it gets tossed in the machine along with $2. I've never in my life seen colour transfer from something onto something white. Man if I had to sort poo poo I'd end up paying twice as much for laundry. Ain't nobody got time for that! Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 02:31 on Dec 23, 2014 |
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Dec 23, 2014 02:28
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I'd far rather live in a proper apartment building than a condo tower (for exactly those reasons you outlined) but I'm skeptical that they're suddenly letting go of all the shoddy build practices now that they're deciding to build apartment towers.
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Dec 23, 2014 02:29
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More Australian stupidity for your reading pleasure:quote:
Nice work if you can get it. http://news.domain.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/homebush-auctions-turn-violent-20141223-12c8qu.html
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Dec 23, 2014 02:30
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So my parents had to reject an offer on their house in Alberta earlier this year because my dad got cancer and they didn't want to move while he was doing the whole chemo/transplant thing - fair enough. It forced them both to retire - she's in the medical field and was at least eligible for a pension, but all he has is OAS and a couple hundred K in an RESP. Between that alone it would be enough for a simple but comfortable retirement. Not too shabby for immigrants who came to Canada with next to nothing! But then they decided to get an interest a only loan to "invest" in a preconstruction condo project in anticipation of it being ready when he's well enough to move and they can sell. And then an $8000 roof problem developed. And now oil is crashing which will inevitably turn the place into a buyer's market right when they're looking to sell. They built their house 9 years ago for cheap since they had a lot of contractor buddies, so at worst they'd break even on it in the face of a GFC-esque meltdown, but damned if that prefab condo doesn't turn out to be a nightmare in the coming year on top of everything else. Guest2553 fucked around with this message at 19:28 on Dec 23, 2014 |
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Dec 23, 2014 07:00
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I've been driving for Uber in 12 hour shifts during my winter vacation from work. I often discuss the housing bubble with some of my fares since most of them own condos in the south central part of Toronto in that stretch at Spadina-Fort York- Bremner.- Lakeshore. It's really amusing to listen to them acknowledge that yes we are probably in a housing bubble but Toronto is completely immune. Listening to these people almost convinces me there isn't a bubble at all and that real-estate will rise forever. There's a guy who bought a condo on the east end on Sherbourne somewhere. $200/sqft was what he got it for. It's worth 500/sqft now. The numbers in this thread a certainly convincing but I have a feeling we aren't dealing with rational actors here. People want to live in Toronto. They especially want to live in those nice houses between St.Clair and Lawrence. One look out there makes me think this thread's warnings of a housing bubble are simply wishful thinking because we've all been marginalized from owning property due to our low incomes. There seems to be plenty of people who can easily afford the kind of crazy real estate prices that are flying around here. As long as people can afford it the prices will go up. That being said I drove a development company employee who told me that even the "premium" builders are charging way above what you're actually getting. In spite of this people still eat that poo poo up and pay for it. Kraftwerk fucked around with this message at 08:02 on Dec 23, 2014 |
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Dec 23, 2014 07:59
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Baronjutter posted:Apartments though are built to be more durable, easier to maintain, and generally more energy efficient too. They only have the amenities the owner can sell for the long term at a profit. Gym equipment needs upkeep and replacing, pools need very expensive upkeep, rooftop gardens need a service. For some people they'd say the condo is a "higher quality" because it has a huge list of stupid amenities and floor to ceiling windows. They're two very different products, one is to look shiny and high quality when built, the other to generate profit over the long term (and minimizing upkeep is a key part of that). It really depends on whether you're using that amenity. I'm glad that my building doesn't have a pool, because I'd never use it. I'm unhappy that my building has a hot tub, because it's an expensive pain in the rear end that I rarely use. On the other hand, I'm extremely happy that my building has an exercise room with some cardio machines, because I'd either have to pay for that myself and find some place to wedge it into my apartment, or go to a gym (thus taking longer, not being able to use my own shower afterward, etc.). Amenities are only a waste of money if you don't use them, or wouldn't use them if they weren't available; otherwise, you're being very effectively subsidized by the people who don't use them.
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Dec 23, 2014 08:07
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Where's that plot of detached vs semi-detached vs condo prices in Toronto? I haven't been able to find it since it was last posted. The closest thing I've found is this, which just seems to show semi-detached tracking detached prices minus the ~25% premium for detached houses. I wouldn't be surprised to see sub-600 sq ft condos tracking inflation over the last 2 years or so. I vaguely recall that's basically what the plot showed, and there are still tens of thousands of new units set to hit the market in the next couple of years.
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Dec 23, 2014 08:15
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Kraftwerk posted:I've been driving for Uber in 12 hour shifts during my winter vacation from work. I often discuss the housing bubble with some of my fares since most of them own condos in the south central part of Toronto in that stretch at Spadina-Fort York- Bremner.- Lakeshore. It's really amusing to listen to them acknowledge that yes we are probably in a housing bubble but Toronto is completely immune. Listening to these people almost convinces me there isn't a bubble at all and that real-estate will rise forever. I don't think that you've read the whole thread or you're copying and pasting this from somewhere.
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Dec 23, 2014 08:24
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Cultural Imperial posted:I love Victoria. It's amazing how much nicer people are there compared to Vancouver. One summer I worked at the front desk at the Oswego. It ties into the real estate discussion because one thing about that hotel is that all the suites are individually owned. About 50-70% of the owners were from Calgary. Some would come in once a year, most never did. The profits were shared out to the owners, I think on a room type and square footage basis but don't quote me since I never saw the financial reports of it. A few suites were bought and sold while I worked there, and dealing with the realtors was a pain. They didn't quite seem to ever understand how hotels worked, or much of anything really. It pulled in pretty good revenue I think, based on our occupancy levels and rates compared to similar hotels in Victoria. It seemed like a potentially risky business model to me, since they were not really livable condos just up-sized hotel rooms, so no living in the suite if tourism in Victoria took a hit, but it worked there. I guess the same one didn't work for the new Oak Bay Hotel. I don't know of any other major hotels in Victoria with the same business structure.
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Dec 23, 2014 09:19
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Kraftwerk posted:I've been driving for Uber in 12 hour shifts during my winter vacation from work. I often discuss the housing bubble with some of my fares since most of them own condos in the south central part of Toronto in that stretch at Spadina-Fort York- Bremner.- Lakeshore. It's really amusing to listen to them acknowledge that yes we are probably in a housing bubble but Toronto is completely immune. Listening to these people almost convinces me there isn't a bubble at all and that real-estate will rise forever. According to this, the average price of a house in Toronto slid from $273k in 1989 to $198k in 1996 http://www.torontorealestateboard.com/market_news/market_watch/historic_stats/pdf/treb_historic_statistics.pdf
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Dec 23, 2014 15:40
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On a side note the CMHC and royal bank do a pretty good job at releasing quarterly housing reports. It's my main source of information for tracking the housing bubble.
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