"He readily admits they will be just scraping by in order to make the mortgage payments, with a mortgage-helper suite in the basement. The suite is currently unfinished, and they exhausted all of their savings on the down payment."

oneangryslav2 at vancouvercondo.info 16 Apr 2010 1:49 pm -

“I can afford to buy very much, thank you. I have chosen not to because renting provides much better value for my money. And it’s not even close.

I have two colleagues–let’s call them Mr. Bull and Mr. Bear.

Mr. Bear has about $200,000 that he could put toward a down payment on a house in Vancouver. He has chosen not to because he also understands economic fundamentals.

Mr. Bull, on the other hand, about two months ago was able to come up with a 5% down payment on an admittedly nice place in east Vancouver. He readily admits that he and his wife will be just scraping by in order to make the mortgage payments, with a mortgage-helper suite in the basement. The suite is currently unfinished, and they exhausted all of their savings on the down payment. They are recent arrivals from the United States–Washington, DC area–and had hoped to fund the completion\renovation of the basement suite via the differential in the exchange rate between the US and Canadian dollar as the funds. Big mistake; the loonie and the greenback are now at par. So, they’re now scrambling to get a second mortgage. They take possession on May 1st.

But I guess they’re now home owners, and Mr. Bear and I–who are lowly renters–are just losers. I can afford to wait until prices make sense. If they don’t, then I’ll never purchase real estate in Vancouver. Big deal.”