real_professional at vancouvercondo.info 19 Jul 2011 1:16pm -
“A real estate appraiser in Abbotsford told me that the banks have been strong arming them to “inflate appraisal values” in order to “make the numbers work”. He mentioned that RBC is the worst of the bunch.
He was saying that other than West Van, the Westside and other HAM areas the market is cold. He also went on to say that in Abbotsford if you bought a condo post 2007 you have pretty much lost money now.
He pointed to the following example: A condo which went for $220k a year ago was foreclosed by the bank, that same condo was then sold by the bank for $120k. It was put back on the market a “little while” ago at $175k and is now has the ask dropped to $150k…. The problem, no bids.
He also mentioned that he has gone to appraise some properties and will see, as an example, a 1.5MM+ property (remember this is abbotsford) with a hummer parked outside. But the owners are trying to secure a $40k loan.”
And this related info from gordholio at vancouvercondo.info 19 Jul 2011 5:00pm -
“I’m still on the realtor hot sheets for Abbotsford because we were toying with the idea of low-balling an offer out there before we got smarter and opted to rent again. And I can tell you this: Maybe 25% of the homes we’ve looked at in the past YEAR have sold. Nice places on the east side, up the mountain, that are *still* listed after being on the market for months – many, many months. More than that though are the price reductions. They’re everywhere. I get a fresh new batch every day.
It’s dying out there, just like it died in Chilliwack before that, the Okanagan before that, etc.
And to that I say: GOOD! DIE, DIE, DIE! Bring your death a little closer to greater Vancouver. It’s tentacles are already in Langley and Surrey. I can sense it. Now BRING IT ON!”
['gordholio' is Gord Goble, Vancouver writer, and author of 'In Vancouver, renting is a better option than buying', Vancouver Sun, 26 April 2011.]
Can some Vancouverite fill me in on what Abbotsford is all about? Close enough to Vancouver to commute? (Can anyone make a Toronto or Montreal analogy for me?)
It’s around 45km away by #1 I would guess (depending on where you are).
If you’d compare it to Toronto I guess Oshawa would probably be a good analogy, only that you’d be stuck in traffic here on #1 not on the 401.
ah you would be incorrect, good sir
http://tinyurl.com/3gaymne
Oh well. A buddy lives in PItt Meadows, that was ~45km on my bike, I figured Abby wasn’t that much further east.
As you can tell, I don’t go that way very often, I prefer to fly over that hole.
i have fond memories of running through farmers’ fields trying to sneak into Summer Love 10 years ago in Agassiz, and green lasers bouncing off the mountain sides, and while climbing through a fence, a cow suddenly licked my ass. it was … different.
yes, the kind that go moo moo.
it wouldn’t be so bad out there if .. well.. i have no answer for you. it’s all turning into an enclave of it’s own – pretty sad with the violent gang crime that’s moved into the region.
I you had to commute daily from Abbotsford to DT Vancouver, your life would suck terribly.
it’s such great farmland out there – it pisses me off seeing the developers encroaching on the ALR. they ought to be strung up.
I knew a couple who bought into the Koolaid of “must buy property”. They were in their mid20s, couple of kids, no savings. The only thing they could afford was a 2 bedroom condo in Abbotsford, despite the fact that they wife worked in downtown Vancouver. It was a horrible commute, She’d leave the house every day at about 5:45am in order to drop the kids off at Grandma’s (free daycare), then be on the skytrain by 7am. Then home again by 6:30pm. What a life.
Bottom life-they couldn’t make the mortgage payments anyway and the place got foreclosed. They’re now renting close to a skytrain station.
I think keeper of the derp just laid out the Bacon brothers route to work. (Gang members going to the ‘sales office’)
Tee hee! Good one!
Abbotsford is not close enough to commute to Vancouver, you’d be spending a solid 1hr30 in flowing, good traffic, which is a rare thing in the lower mainland to get to Vancouver.
A friend who lives in Abbotsford needs to visit the Apple store in Pacific Centre (downtown Vancouver) to have an iPhone serviced. It was already 7:20pm and the store closed at 9pm… they decided not to go as they wouldn’t make it in time. That should give you an idea of the distance.
Appraisers being strong-armed by lenders? Does the sun rise in the east?
But let’s drill into what’s really going on here. How do appraisers set their assessments? For residential it will be heavily dependent upon comparable sales. So, reading between the lines, what we’re hearing in this anecdote is that appraisers are finding comparables selling below what people are attempting to refinance at. Perhaps there’s a wee bit of optimism among homeowners.
I could not/would not do the Abbotsford – vancouver commute. It is a similar distance from Calgary to Canmore, except that there is no traffic between Calgary – Canmore. I hear too many murders/gang land stuff in Abbotsford..no thanks.
hahah oh man, canmore. yes that is an apt comparison.
my father was living in chilliwack post retirement and ‘working’ as a property manager for 3 medium sized apartment buildings. i’d call them slums, to be honest.
he was very active in evicting the meth labs, as there were elderly and families living in the building – his favorite pejorative term for the druggie tenants was one he read in the local paper – “urban menials.”
one day cinder blocks were thrown through all the lobby doors/windows/mirrors by said urban menials.
he ‘retired’ once more shortly after
“It’s dying out there, just like it died in Chilliwack before that, the Okanagan before that, etc.
And to that I say: GOOD! DIE, DIE, DIE! Bring your death a little closer to greater Vancouver. It’s tentacles are already in Langley and Surrey. I can sense it. Now BRING IT ON!”….
Allow me to vouchsafe an ‘interesting’ tidbit from the Toniest of WestSidePropertySales ‘trenches’…. Now, take this for what it’s worth – albeit ‘Nem’s’ source is impeccable/unimpeachable- but it has, apparently… gone quite…. D E A D.
This is not ‘hearsay’ – it’s a reliable primary source currently in the process of liquidating an ultra-prime vintage ‘shack’ in the immediate vicinity of YVR’s preferred independent RichGirliesInPlaid School [and this particular shack's HAM appeal/FengShui is 'to die for'].
Go figure. West side turning point?
As this is an anecdote archive I can add that I have, on more than one occasion in the last month, heard the words: “it’s over”. In each case from individuals that were until now Vancouver “pumpers”.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMc263klrMQ&w=425&h=349%5D
WOOHOO!
YO IMMA JUST GONNA PUT DIS HERE
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/michael-burry-toxic-twins-fiat-currency-and-activist-fed-set-route-long-term-ruin