We are in agreement with oldtimer at VREAA 8 Apr 2010 9:22 am -
“Sometimes people are willing to ruin their lives on a whim. Case in point, a couple who were determined to buy their “dream house” before they were forty. They purchased the house next door to mine in Arbutus [Vancouver Westside] for $834,000 three and a half years ago [2006]. It was superficially updated but, as I told them, it had been a massive grow-op, plumbing removed, vents put in weird places, wiring screwed with. They checked with the police who verified the grow-op status but bought the place anyways. After spending over $100,000 to remediate (and that didn’t include a new kitchen) they finally went bust and the house was sold last summer for about $950,000. The new owner tried for three months to rent the place out and didn’t succeed until December (rent – $2,500). This is what I consider to be a sign of the insanity of Vancouver’s real estate market.”
that’s why if you buy you gotta be able to hold long run. if they didnt’ have to sell last summer, the place would be worth 200k more right now!