Apartment Hunting

[rawb]

i dunno if i am lucky or just checked things out at a good time, but i've never had a problem finding a good place to rent within 5 days of looking. i havent looked for a rental in a long time, but to me it would seem the market would be a lot better with so many new buildings opening up in the last few years.

what has caused this sellers market?

[ppcock]

that's cause you bring knee pads to every viewing.

[rawb]

yeah tell your mom that her basement suite sucked but she can keep the security deposit that i left in her vagina

[Grapes]

Originally Posted by cubed

FUCK, THERE GOES MY 2 BLOCK BUFFER ZONE!!!

HOW THE FUCK DO YOU THINK I FELT 6 MONTHS AGO?!?! o

[ppcock]

hahahahahaha

you went to surrey.

[SEAN!]

yo, honest question coming from a 25 year old loser who still lives with his mom and dad, how much should i expect to pay for an almost decent appartment in the west end.


*****hs might think my upper middle class lifestyle means im looking at a coal harbour joint, the reality is i want something around 3-4 hundred square feet so i can walk to work. and i put alot of emphasis on the westend/dt core.

[rawb]

Originally Posted by SEAN!

yo, honest question coming from a 25 year old loser who still lives with his mom and dad, how much should i expect to pay for an almost decent appartment in the west end.


*****hs might think my upper middle class lifestyle means im looking at a coal harbour joint, the reality is i want something around 3-4 hundred square feet so i can walk to work.

depending on shittiness, 1bdrm budget 800-1200.

[ppcock]

bachelor from 700-900

[SEAN!]

Originally Posted by rawb

depending on shittiness, 1bdrm budget 800-1200.

im looking at the higher level of shittyness.


but hey i might kiss some roaches and deal with the 800 a month place if no one finds out where i actually live...especially my family they actually thought i was going to go places.... ;)

[ppcock]

I can find where you live pretty easily :)

[rawb]

it doesn't get that bad, 4 years ago i lived in a pretty big/nice 1 bdrm for $780 a month.

[SEAN!]

Originally Posted by rawb

depending on shittiness, 1bdrm budget 800-1200.

yo also rawbtastic, would you know how i can expect to pay for a studio?



ill do sideline work hooking up marty's playstation/wii/whatevertechnological shit he popped a weekly hard on for. and jimbo's scrabble board so i think im garanteed to make 18 dollars a week, and maybe a bottle of that soho liquor.

[SEAN!]

Originally Posted by ppcock

I can find where you live pretty easily :)

do you wanna make out?

[SEAN!]

Originally Posted by rawb

it doesn't get that bad, 4 years ago i lived in a pretty big/nice 1 bdrm for $780 a month.

id be happy if i could secure something like that now, i really just want to be near the beach and be able to walk to and hang out with my harwood *****z..

and i wouldn't have to perform all those degrading sideline bidnezess with marty and jim.

[impure]

no boundaries?
excellent.

[impure]

Originally Posted by SEAN!

id be happy if i could secure something like that now, i really just want to be near the beach and be able to walk to and hang out with my harwood *****z..

and i wouldn't have to perform all those degrading sideline bidnezess with marty and jim.

i'm a recent transplant to the west end and it's really as nice as you think.
wandering the street with my best friend at night, or staring out at stanley park from my window. the view from the 28th floor is really amazing.

[ebbomega]

Originally Posted by rawb

i dunno if i am lucky or just checked things out at a good time, but i've never had a problem finding a good place to rent within 5 days of looking. i havent looked for a rental in a long time, but to me it would seem the market would be a lot better with so many new buildings opening up in the last few years.

what has caused this sellers market?

affordable housing crisis. it works from the bottom up.

All the new places that are popping up are problematic for renters for two reasons:
1) They're mostly condos (useless for someone looking to rent)
2) They're mostly overpriced

Vancouver's getting an influx of rich people. Whether this is due to Olympics or just basic urban sprawl at work, who knows.

It's totally not a seller's market right now. That's the weirdest part. Property values have been dropping over the last 6 months. But we're still recovering from this massive upshoot of land value that started around two years ago and just didn't stop until, oh, about December of last year.

[rawb]

Originally Posted by ebbomega

Property values have been dropping over the last 6 months. But we're still recovering from this massive upshoot of land value that started around two years ago and just didn't stop until, oh, about December of last year.

I understand all of your post except this, which is wrong, (at least where I bought DT). If anything the last 3-4 months have seen the greatest increase in property value since i got it a year ago (LOL IM FUCKED EVENTUAL CRASH NO MORE MONEY).

[bebu*funfun]

haha its funny cuz now here i am stuck with here in the west end with a 2 bdrm, with cheap rent and i want to move out on my own to prob a 700 studio. hahaha... hmm g'luck to me. i have til the end of the month to decide if i want to get a roommate or cut my lease. so who wants to buy me a place so i can pay you rent?

pssttt...so everyone look out for a 700/month shoebox! :)

[Mr Ektion]

Originally Posted by NinjaBoy

Killing someone and moving into their house does not count as her letting you take over the lease.

just because you get it, doesn't mean you need to heat me out... maybe i should've left out the lamps...

[diva]

I don't know where you guys are looking, but it's a renter's market out there. A large percentage of the condos out there right now are rental properties.

I check craigslist every day and have been doing so for the last two months. There are some places that get posted every day, until the owner finally drops the prices. I've noticed about ten listings (nice yaletown/coal harbour places) do this in the last month. Owners are trying to pay mortgages, but a lot of them can't rent the places out for more than their mortgages payments are.

And if you do the math, it's actually a lot cheaper to rent downtown right now than it is to own when you compare the price to rent vs. own similar units in the same building. For example, a two bedroom in the Elan building (brand new condo downtown) on craigslist goes for between 2000 and 2200/month. According to the Royal Bank Mortgage Calculator that I just used, monthly mortgage payments (assuming that the unit was $550,000 and you put 10% down) for a mortgage of $500,000 amortized at 25 years is $3800/month (when you factor in strata fees of at least $300/month and property tax, the cost of owning that places is probably at least $4200/month). The interest (i used 8%) on that mortgage is $140,000. So the owner has paid $690,000 for the unit after 25 years.

I used a random investment calculator to figure out how much money the renter would make if they invested the difference they're saving by renting the same unit instead of buying it. $1600 (I subtracted the rent from the mortgage only, and didn't factor in strata fees or property tax) a month invested at a fairly conservative interest rate of 6% over 25 years is $1,108,790.34.

Because our lenders aren't totally corrupt and our economy is relatively strong, I doubt we're going to experience the same sort of crash that's going on in the states right now, where some places in Florida, Arizona, and California have dropped by as much as 40% in value (from the height of the housing bubble), but these prices can't go up at the same rate forever. Especially because average income for Vancouverites is not increasing accordingly. People should only spend about 25-35% of their income (depending on what their debt load is) on living, but in Vancouver (according to a Money Magazine issue from a few months back) people are spending 70% of their income on living expenses. This is not sustainable.

I have friends who have just sold their condo at a $100,000 profit. They're going to rent and save their money, and will not buy another place, until all this craziness dies down. They probably have a combined income of $140,000 a year, btw and could definitely afford to keep owning.

Also, anyone who agrees to getting a no money down mortgage is an idiot.

But yeah, it's totally a renter's market.

I used numbers for a two bedroom places because roommate and i are looking at those types of places and we've talked about buying a place together in the next two or three years. also, i've read that two bedroom condos have better resale value, but i'm not sure if that applies to the vancouver market...

[Grapes]

You're thinking of buying a place with your roommate???

[rawb]

strata fees of at least $300/month

wat

The interest (i used 8%) on that mortgage

wat

[impure]

MLS® Listings and properties for sale in Conference Plaza - 438 Seymour, Vancouver

Les Twarog&Sonja Pedersen

i just moved in to a place on the 28th floor here and really love it.
the facilities are even nicer than they look, the pool is open until midnight and the security excellent.
just don't leave the building, because once you get out the front door, the quality of life goes down significantly.

[rawb]

Originally Posted by impure

MLS® Listings and properties for sale in Conference Plaza - 438 Seymour, Vancouver

Les Twarog&Sonja Pedersen

i just moved in to a place on the 28th floor here and really love it.
the facilities are even nicer than they look, the pool is open until midnight and the security excellent.
just don't leave the building, because once you get out the front door, the quality of life goes down significantly.

that place is a shithole because it is such a high percentage rental/esl building and nobody cares for it. the lack of airflow in the suites makes the summers unbearably hot. the garage is constantly being cased by thieves because the security sucks.

the neighborhood isn't bad, just dont go east.