“I was just eating breakfast at a little resto in E. Vancouver and I heard the waitress talking to one of the customers about how she just got herself a Realtor(tm) and has been looking for an apartment to purchase. She looked maybe mid-twenties and talked about how she’s tired of throwing away money for rent, she found a place for 178k (I think that’s what she said), and she has a friend that will rent some space from her. She might be moving to Vernon, though, so she’ll just rent the whole place if she does.
This is who buys real estate in this city? I cannot believe that a bank would give her a mortgage. She’s a server at a cafe. She said she’s pre-approved for 250k, but thinks that’s too much, so she’s being conservative! what can you buy on the east side for that kind of money, anyway? I find this; and the Maint fees are 500 pm. Sheesh.:
#502 – 175 E BROADWAY Vancouver. MLS V905512
437 sqft; condo/strata
Ask price $177,000
Maintenance Fees: $498.40 Monthly”
– Oilman at vancouvercondo.info October 12th, 2011 at 11:43 am
Yes, this is who buys RE in this city. Or, more broadly, individuals at different income levels over-reaching to a degree similar to this.
And, wow, those are pretty remarkable maintenance fees, they come close to the mortgage payments (with 10% down, 3% rate, 30 yr amort., monthly payment is $670).
– vreaa
Vancouver Real Estate Anecdote Archive 
then what is wrong with it? so only doctors and phds are entitled to buy condos? what if being a server at the coffee shop her part time job? what if she has saved enough by doing what she does?
…and the next story being heard in a public toilet is…
At my workplace the lot-boy who washes cust. cars for $10/hr. told me how how to invest in real estate. His 1st condo equity was extracted to buy his 2nd condo and that equity was extraced to buy the 3rd and final one. He says Royal Bank was willing to give him the money since all of them are rented out. We don’t have sub-prime like the USA buy this looks like a dangerous house of cards that I think is not just isolated to this one individual. I read somewhere that a famous stock investor said once a shoe shinner was giving him stock tips he knew that was the time to get out of the stock market. I was getting that feeling when the lot-boy was giving me tips on how to buy real estate since I’m just a lowly renter.
Can’t she be the owner of the place?
The banks seem ready to approve large mortgages for people that used to be considered marginally employed (back in the day when I worked for a bank). The hairdresser I went to the other day was telling me he and his partner have been approved for up to a $1 million in new mortgage financing, assuming they can sell the existing suburban home they bought last year, tarted up and are now attempting to flip for a big profit. I don’t mean to imply that the jobs are marginal, just that incomes in those types of jobs are variable and extremely market sensitive. If the economy does take a hit, servers and others in personal care-type service industries will be hit hard. My daughter, the perennial student, is a part-time server in a trendy downtown watering hole and says tips have plummeted in the last two years. She maintains that people that can’t afford to go out are still going out but not tipping as much or at all. She and her fellow servers also complain about the prevalence of groups of people that go out and expect to sit and watch a sporting event without buying drinks or food – usually one person will buy something to try to maintain a table but everyone else orders little or no menu items. The manager of the bar now routinely politely evicts those “squatters” but it is a problem.
Bah, I’ve got a hundred stories like this one. $50k income? $900k mortgage? No problem! $55k income? $700k mortgage debt? Sure, why not? Nothing surprises me anymore. I just keep wondering when the s**t will HTF.
You should let me know where to get these mortgages, the banks were really hard with me when I got mine just last year. I had a pretty good income which I won’t disclose here and was only approved at 500K mortgage and that was my limit, that was after the bank accounted to additional rental income from the secondary suite. Their reason was simple, CMHC will refuse to insure unless it was within some sort of standards that they have.
I’ve previously asked for name of specific bank or mortgage lender – never had a reply.
If it were that easy to get a mortgage most of these schmucks here would own a home
@diablo, I agree, my gf couldn’t even be added to my income as she was on a contract basis so it was not permanent. So I am somewhat doubtful about these stories of banks giving out subprime mortgages. I went and saw Royal, TD, BMO, and HSBC, so it wasn’t like I was stuck to one tree.
“I just keep wondering when the s**t will HTF.”
When/if the Bank of Canada ever grows a pair and raises interest rates here despite 0% south of the border. But maybe sooner, one can hope, after all things did eventually blow up in the US without higher interest rates there, but it will take longer with continued free money.
Well, part of the reason why the US blew up was because they raised the rates too fast. Then they cut it, but by then it was too late.
Julian, I thought about that after posting but didn’t bother correcting, but yes there was a rise in interest rates, temporarily. However, I don’t think 5.25% was too high or too fast, it didn’t get there until nearly 5 years post-911, which was not fast, quite the contrary.
http://www.moneycafe.com/library/fedfundsrate.htm
The problem was the LOW interest rates for way too long, making debt free. Same problem here in Canada now. When 25-year-old kids “own” million dollar RE, there is no solution other than to raise rates and admit the emperor has no clothes. We don’t need a soft landing that keeps people priced out for their lifetime while inflation slowly catches up. We need a proper popping of this bubble.
We have friends who recently bought a place because “they didn’t want to waste money on rent” Even after we told them the pros and cons of renting. They put 7% down, and a month later bought a car.
Dad has decent paying job, mom is stay at home mom, similar household income as my wife, whom does not work at the moment, and I.
Originally our friends wife told my wife their monthly budget for food was 1200 a month. Which we thought was tight for a family of 3.
Turns out we misunderstood, 1200 a month includes utilities, cell phone bills, internet (no cable), and who knows what else.
This was a shocker to us. Sure you can do it, but to have such a tight budget and the majority of money going to your mortgage is it really worth it?
What if the dad loses his job?
Sure, some can say if you have that mentality you will never own anything. But before even if you lost your job you would probably have a safety net of savings. But with todays prices most new families are maxed when they buy in, and have no ability to save anything. All the eggs in one basket.
we spend less than less than 600.00/month on food for a family of four. I don’t see that you can spend 1200.00 on food unless you’re eating out 1/2 the time.
We love to cook and we love to eat out at expensive and inexpensive restaurants. What can I say, we love food.
Maybe we spoil ourselves, but why should I be sorry for that? Even with our food budget we are able to save and invest every month.
The difference is we can cut back on our food spending, they can not.
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Servers make good money. I make over $60k a year as a waitress in Vancouver. Why some people think a serving job is lower class/poor/uneducated person’s job baffles me. Serving can be a rewarding yet stressful, strenuous job that requires a smart mind body and personality. Its fun and it pays well!
I will buy property soon too, but in the states, not in rain-couver!