Now that he has the security of a five-year, $23-million with a no-trade clause, Bieksa said he felt confident enough to buy a house here last month.
“We finally bought in the Vancouver market and hope it keeps going up,” said Kevin Bieksa [Vancouver Canucks defenceman].
– The Province, 7 Sept 2011 [hat-tip Vansanity at vancouvercondo.info]
“I’m not a money guy. I know about money, I understand its value, but it’s not my main priority. I think everybody takes less to play here. It’s such a great organization that you want to be here. So if you want to be here, you have to take less, that’s just the culture.”
– Kevin Bieksa [The Province, 28 Jun 2011] (when agreeing to his new contract).
Vancouver Real Estate Anecdote Archive 
Well, it is all relative, I guess. I’m sure Bieksa could have afforded a house before (with his previous $3.5 million yearly salary), but getting the security of a long-term contract that pays more per year enabled him to feel secure enough to buy a home. And I suspect the home he bought was not a typical home, even by Vancouver standards, but probably a property worth multiple millions of dollars. I wonder at all if the RE market is a factor when players decide which teams to sign with. I know they do consider taxes (of course), as some US States have no income tax whereas some Canadian teams are avoided due to the high income tax players will have to pay. Even if I made $4 million a year, I might consider what type of home my money can buy me in a US city versus Vancouver. Assuming Bieksa spent $3 million (or more) on his house, I bet he could have gotten a much nicer home, for possibly less money, in some US cities.
“I bet he could have gotten a much nicer home, for possibly less money, in some US cities.”
agreed with one exception: “he could have gotten a much nicer home, for less money, in ANY US city except for NYC.”
We’d bet he spent more than $3M on his home. Heck, he needs space for those big hockey kit-bags.
He’s one of the very small percentage of buyers who can truly afford buying a home in Vancouver, in that the total price of the house will still end up being only a relatively small percentage of his net-worth (likely less than 33%). Thus, he could tolerate a significant pullback in the market without it severely effecting his financial future. (Provided, of course, that he doesn’t at the same time sink a whole lot of other equity, with leverage, into ‘investment’ condos, or outlying golf-course developments, as these sports guys are prone to do.)
Good points, vreaa and Yank. What I find most interesting about these comments is that even someone making $3.5 million a year (Bieksa’s previous salary) had legit concerns about jumping into the RE market in Vancouver. Again, it is all relative, but if someone with his salary has reservations, what are the rest of us with typical incomes supposed to do?
I remember watching an episode of Cribs a couple years ago, Canadian Version.
One of the guests was a CFL player. His place, a 1 bedroom unit in Spectrum.
It was kinda sad watching that.
That’s what you get for playing CFL rules.
The reason pro athletes hold off buying a home anywhere is more likely because they don’t know where they’ll be year-to-year, not because they don’t have the financial means. That is why his contract included a no trade clause.
And 4SlicesofCheese, do you know what a CFL player makes on average? Probably less than you and me. Most need a second job in the offseason.
Although what you are saying is partly true, Bieksa has been playing with the Canucks for 6 years and chose not to buy a house until now. The fact he chose to rent instead of buy may be partly due to the fact he didn’t have a no-trade clause prior to this year, but may have also have been because of high-prices of the Vancouver RE market and the possible bubble that many people worry about. That is a bit of speculation on my part, of course, but many athletes without no-trade clauses buy homes in their city anyway. Most NHLers don’t have no-trade clauses, but I bet most of them do have homes they own. Bieksa certainly has (and had) the financial means to buy a house, but maybe he was worried about buying a house and later trying to sell it if he did sign somewhere else (or was traded). If he bought at the high-end and then the bubble burst, he might have trouble selling for what he previously paid.
Why can’t we be happy for Bieska? Sometimes you gotta pay the big money for that bottled water at the top of the mountain!
My bet is that he’ll soon be warming up to his life after hockey, getting in on some real estate investment scheme with other ex-Canucks. But I don’t want to jinx the lad. Win me a cup and all will be well.
Here here jesse!
Do we really need to discuss a guy finally deciding to buy a home after taking the “discount” of $23 million? Boo hoo, my home might drop 50% … how will I feed my family now?
jesse
“Win me a cup and all will be well.” <<< are you jumping the shark here??
Isn’t this just another story of how people have to sacrifice better wages to live in the fabled land?
Next up: how will the quake affect prices?
Remember a few weeks back on TSN, a free agent Jeff Carter from Phily said he and his wife liked Columbus because they could get more house for the money. Here’s a guy who just signed a multimillion dollar deal and looked for a city with good value.
That’s interesting, so I guess it does factor into some decisions (though it is worth mentioning that Carter was traded to Columbus from Philadelphia after signing the long-term contract with Philadelpia).
We don’t think Vancouver’s high RE prices can be blamed for the Canucks failing to gain the Cup. 😉
Actually, we think that loose money from housing (ATM, RE industry, etc) may have been a great boost to Canuck coffers through the last few years. Remember the ‘NUX TIX OR MORTGAGE PAYMENT?’ fan sign during the playoffs?