“I’m in my 30′s as is my wife. We’re both working lawyers and have a baby on the way. We rent a two bedroom apartment in East Van. We’re essentially the couple in the article except we live in a more affordable neighbourhood.
Recently we gave notice at our place and are packing our bags to leave Vancouver as we feel like we’ve been priced out of the housing market. Neither of us feel entitled to owning a freestanding home in Kits, and you’re missing the point if you think that’s the problem, but we also don’t want to be renting a small to mid-sized apartment in our 40′s which is the reality of housing in metro Vancouver. The fact is all of our friends who are in their 30′s, have kids, and can find work elsewhere have already left for more affordable pastures, either to the Island or to Langley. Those who are tied here due to their work end up commuting two hours a day and dream of finding jobs elsewhere.
I don’t know what the solution is, but there’s definitely a problem here even if you don’t want to admit it.”
- mizike at reddit.com discussion of Going Going Gone article, 13 Oct 2011
Most Recent Comments:
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- Molasses on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- James on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- Nemesis on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- 4SlicesofCheese on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- LadyInWaiting on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- LadyInWaiting on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- bailinginbc on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- Real Estate Tsunami on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- Real Estate Tsunami on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- LadyInWaiting on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- Nemesis on “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
Type of Anecdote
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- 06. Held my Nose and Leapt (96)
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- 13. 2010 Olympics Related (74)
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- 15. Misallocation of Resources (958)
- 16. Missed The Boat? (236)
- 17. The Froogle Scott Chronicles (27)
- 18. Spot The Speculator (171)
- 19. BlastRadiusPostCards (17)
- 20. The Limitless Demand Argument For Ongoing Market Strength (70)
- 21. Vancouver RE-Verse [Found Poems] (8)
- 22. RE References In Popular Culture (41)
- 23. Jumping The Shark (1)
- 24. Policies On Housing (10)
- 25. Epigrams For The Bubble (1)
- 26. Premature Calls Of "Bottom" (3)
- 27. Seller Panic (3)
- 28. Erroneous Causation Theories For Falling Prices (7)
- 29. Bubblespeak (1)
- Uncategorized (176)
Blogroll
- 01 Vancouver Condo Info
- 02 AmericaCanada [retired, no archive]
- 03 Housing Analysis
- 04 RealEstateTalks BC
- 05 Vancouver RE and then some
- 06 Whispers from the Village on the Edge of the Rainforest
- 07 Greater Fool
- 08 Canada Bubble
- 09 Rob Chipman's blog
- 10 YatterMatters
- 11 condohype [retired; archives available]
- 12 vancouver (un)real estate
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- 14 Landlord Rescue
- 15 The Economic Analyst
- 16 Canadian Housing Price Charts
- 17 Hoodsurf [retired Jun 2011]
- 18 World Housing Bubble
- 19 Vancouver Price Drop
- 20 North American Economics
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Latest Anecdotes:
- “My neighbours, in their late 60s, just put their house on the market. They had said they would die in that house, but now they are worried that with the housing market going south they may be losing a lot of equity and they better sell now before it gets worse.”
- Chat Thread
- Taking A Break
- “My best guess: this property is now an ‘investment hold’ and will be built ‘when prices recover’. Good luck on that!”
- Man Loses $745,000 Vancouver Condo Deposit
- Graphic – Degrees of Housing Overvaluation in Canada
- The Rare Individual With A Negative Ownership Premium
- Advice Regarding Renting In Vancouver, Please – “Unfortunately, the Vancouver rental stock is absolutely atrocious. It just seems like every landlord is looking for someone to pay 100% of their mortgage on a crappy place through rental income.”
- “I just visited Manhattan for a week, and happened to snap some real estate ads on both the Upper West and Upper East sides of the island. Compare to Vancouver. It simply doesn’t compute.”
- Ben Rabidoux In Vancouver Next Week
- “The mortgage company told me they were calling in my 40-year, 0-down mortgage. I have paid nearly sixty thousand dollars towards it, but, nearly five years in, I have yet to touch the principal.”
- ‘Vancouver City Hall: Housing Report Card 2012′; Plus Revised Version
- “My folks find themselves at 65 still owing half the value of their home and recreation property to the bank. After almost 30 years of ownership in the BPOE and a number of boom markets, they have very little to show for it.”
- “Rent for $2,200 a month or buy and have a mortgage of $4,310 per month. Why would anyone buy?”
- “They were talking about two couples they knew who had recently bought a lot and planned to each build a house on it and live as neighbours.”
- Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association Annual First-Time Buyer Seminar Attendance Plummets
- Mom and Pop Get It Wrong In All Markets, Time And Again
- The average British Columbian homeowner is not going to pay off their mortgage by the time they retire.
- “He’s sold all his properties except his current one, which is now for sale. He explained that the market’s currently in crash mode, worst that he’s ever seen.”
- “One of my old high school buddies finally got her mother to sell the family home in Kitsilano – sold for over $1M, monies realized after debt paid off $185K.”
- “I know someone who just declared bankruptcy because her condo was assessed at $150k and she bought it presale north of $250k in 2005 or 2006.”
- Sturdy, With Views – “Calling Froogle Scott!… Is Dr. Scott ‘In The House’?” [Not In This One, Certainly]
- “She said the market was dead in Victoria and that it would remain so for a very long time. I asked how she knew. Her answer was fascinating and should scare the pants off the real estate crowd.”
- Kits Notes – “I’m pretty sure that this is the first 3+ bedroom property of any type that I’ve seen in the 5 years I’ve lived here that is priced below $700K.”
- “A beautiful Belfast home, in the equivalent of 1st Shaughnessy, bought at their RE peak in 2007 for £3.5 million, has now sold for £800K, almost 80%-off. The market didn’t suffer any significant economic shocks. Rates & unemployment didn’t skyrocket. They didn’t build more land. Sentiment just changed and the prices fell and fell.”
- “Two family members of hers are trapped, underwater, in condos on the East Side.”
- “Interprovincial migration is not saying good things about BC’s economy.”
- Vancouver RE: Not As Expensive Provided You Don’t Think – “It’s clear that our perception of affordability has been coloured by living on a continent where housing is unusually inexpensive.”
- More Undisclosed RE Industry Insiders Publicized As Clients – “In 1995, Allan and Karin Hoegg were mortgage-free. But no more. Today their Vancouver home is a valuable source of income as they plan for full retirement.”
- Rumor that some OV units will be reduced by 20%.
- Downside Weights On The Vancouver RE Market – “One of the older guys (over 60) mention to the guy beside him that he and his wife were thinking about selling their family home, and renting, in order to get some of the money that was locked up in the house.”
- “My buddy was looking to upgrade to a house in the Coquitlam area. With 200k extra for a home, that’s half of lifetime saving between him and his wife.”
- “I was walking in the Fraser neighborhood yesterday, I noticed that the population, on average, seem to be composed of workers. I belong to the top 5 percent in terms of income. Nevertheless, I cannot afford any of the houses for sale in that neighbourhood.”
- “Vancouver is an urban resort whose value mostly resides in its real estate and not much else.”
- “Rogers Communications is expanding into RE; aiming to relaunch website; providing critical data that can help potential buyers assess the value of a property from the comfort of their home computer.”
- I’m only 50 and I can just about retire if I want to, all because of a single simple decision – “When prices rebounded to their former highs, then rocketed another 30% higher to what I considered to be totally unsustainable levels, I decided that only a fool would pass up a second opportunity to harvest such a massive non-taxable capital gain, and in 2011 I sold my place.”
- The Vacant Lot of Versailles, Richmond.
- “I don’t think that most people think things are going to crash, just that there is going to be a slight correction, but it was amazing to me how sentiment has changed, and the fact Vancouver RE is too high was just understood.”
- “The ‘investor’ who purchased our house put it up for sale two months later, in January 1981, but the bubble had burst.”
- For A City To Have That Kind Of Vacancy, It’s Like Cancer – “Downtown, the vacant unit rate is so high that it’s as though there were 35 towers at 20 storeys apiece – all empty.”
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Uhm…leave for greener pastures instead of driving 2hrs a day and feel sorrying for oneself and maybe not paying attention while driving? Seriously, if you have portable marketable skills and don’t like Vancouver, consider leaving rather than just dream about it. Chances are you will feel better about it. If you stay then you need to change your mental attitude, otherwise say hello to major depression.
“Portable” in this case means transferring qualifications to new jurisdictions. If lawyers, likely most of the jobs will be near the city centre.
It’s tough out there…
I do agree with you space889. But looking past those with portable skills who are simply unable to leave (e.g. due to obligations towards family), I’d only point out that if you love this place and have lived here your whole life, you might be inclined to fight against the fact that a whole generation of young locals is being squeezed out. And I think that’s worth saying whether high prices are justified or not. AND I’d say that if people do leave, they should be very vocal about their reasons for doing so. The notion of a lost generation IS seeping into the public consciousness and each family that spells out why it is moving away will help bring this issue to the fore.
Sure seeing a lot of these comments these days. People are fed up! Me too….can’t leave due to family reasons though but maybe one day….too bad, I do enjoy living in Vancouver and am impressed with things it has to offer (I’ve had good health care, I love the recreation opportunities, all the libraries etc). It’s definitely better than living in a suburbia nightmare like Kelowna. But it’s getting exhausting to live in a 2 bed apartment with a rapidly expanding family (and $100k in the bank). Oh, Vancouver, what have you done to yourself? It’s sad, really.
My impression is that people decided to “wait out” prices but have capitulated and made the choice to move. The data back up that there are more people leaving the province than in previous years.
the data says there are 10s of thousands more coming than going
nothing like displacing multi-generational british columbians, eh?
but then again, they were just white people – stupid, lazy, good for nothing white people.
I agree, if you aren’t happy, leave. It’s really that simple. Vancouver / BC are *not* the best place on earth. The hard fact is these days they aren’t even the best places in Canada. Sorry if that bruises egos but it’s true. Given the difficulties in getting any kind of career traction, I would say ANYWHERE ELSE IN THIS COUNTRY IS BETTER.
Nova Scotia has coastline, better (in some aspects) food, and with a 25 billion dollar contract, FAR better opportunities in both trades and high tech. Also, far fewer pretentious wankers claiming it’s the best place in the universe.
Montreal has the French, a fabulous historic city crammed with festivals and cultural events, great food and loads of good shopping.
Toronto is the center of the country geographically and culturally. I wriite this sitting in a lovely executive suite at King and Simcoe, across from Roy Thompson Hall. This city’s come a long way since I left.
Ottawa has excellent employment opportunities and is a good place to raise a family. Personally I hate Ottawa but… you know… it’s not for everyone.
I haven’t spent much time between Toronto and Vancouver but I imagine someone else could list the benefits of living there.
Every other city in this country is more affordable then Van and has something to offer. There’s no reason to sit around waiting for house prices to fall. There’s no reason to put your life on hold while you wait… and wait… and wait. There’s no reason to put with the the unbearable snobbiness of Vancouver’s home owners because you aren’t willing to sell your soul for a stupid house.
If you’re unhappy, leave. There’s loads of happiness to be found elsewhere. Take it from me.
i actually only stay so i can see (more) miserable vancouverites when the SHTF – sure is taking a long time, but these LulZ will be epic..
schadenfreude isn’t good eats. you can find something better to satisfy the hunger.
So don’t rent a small apartment. Rent a whole house!!
There are PLENTY of alternatives to the apartment route, and you’d better believe most landlords would much rather rent to a professional couple than to a load of UBC students.
I have a wonderful home here in Vancouver that I rent for less than half what the payments would be. It has a fantastic view, it is in a great neighbourhood and it has been well taken care of.
The best way to stop encouraging rampant price speculation is for people to stop paying stupid amounts of money for tiny condos – real men rent!
The problem with renting a whole house is that you will live in (very justifiable) fear that your landlord will flip it out from under you. Why would they keep renting it to you at $3k/month if they could get $2 million in a sale?
I speak from experience: this has happened to me twice already. And now that I have a child, renting a house seems even more problematic as being flipped out would likely mean having to move our child to a new school or daycare if you can’t find a suitable rental in the same neighbourhood.
We are in this exact situation and, between deciding to raise our son in a 900 sq. ft. condo, moving out to the burbs and spending 2-3 hours a day (time that could be spent with our son), or just throwing in the towel and deciding to leave Vancouver entirely.
If you of another stable, well-maintained, reasonably priced rental house in Vancouver with a view, please let me know! We don’t want to leave our friends and family but feel we are being squeezed to the point that leaving is the best option in the long term.
And, if I may say so, I hate all this “if you don’t like it, just leave / rent” baloney. We live here, we’re from here, and it is families like us that make Vancouver what it is. When we are gone it will be too late for you to complain.
Sorry, I wish you could edit comments here. I tinkered around with the above before posting and now some passages don’t make sense. Oh well, you get my drift.
Michelle, I know whereof you speak, and I hope you won’t mind if I say to
Bryn that we would also be interested in hearing about his house for rent.