I don't understand Vancouver house prices

[ChemGal]

I understand. I still don't think it's worth the price.

It's all just the market. I wouldn't buy a house in Vancouver.
Here 'luxury' starts around 700-750k. Much more reasonable! By the time you're in 2M+ you're really looking at the top end. I looked, everything listed in the city is currently under 5M.

 

[crazyheart]

Jae, Saskatchewan, usually thought of as a prairie province, is actually more than half forests. Most of these - more than 90 per cent - are provincial Crown forests, owned by the people of Saskatchewan. On their behalf, the Ministry of Environment ensures that these forests are sustainably managed. The ministry’s Forest Service Branch promotes the sustainable use of Crown forests striving for a balance of economic, social and ecological values.

 

[Jaebius]

Jae, Saskatchewan, usually thought of as a prairie province, is actually more than half forests. Most of these - more than 90 per cent - are provincial Crown forests, owned by the people of Saskatchewan. On their behalf, the Ministry of Environment ensures that these forests are sustainably managed. The ministry’s Forest Service Branch promotes the sustainable use of Crown forests striving for a balance of economic, social and ecological values.

Wow, I didn't know that crazyheart. Saskatchewan may be worth a visit after all.

 

[Carolla]

I understand. I still don't think it's worth the price.

Like the saying goes - "it's only worth what someone will pay" - and apparently there are folks out there with huge amounts of money to plunk down on real estate - often considered an 'investment'. I'm not one of them!

 

[Pontifex Geronimo 13]

You can buy houses in Detroit for $35,000. Don't see how some large companies haven't seen the possibilities where they could have employees with $200 mortgage payments. This happens in mining towns where houses drop to $30,000 when the mine shuts down and rebounds to 3-400,000 when they reopen. Vancouver is likely stuck with high prices until, if ever Japanese prices decline. Fort Mac prices have always been stupid, but low oil and the NDP should be able to get them down to $30,000.

 

[Mendalla]

You can buy houses in Detroit for $35,000. Don't see how some large companies haven't seen the possibilities where they could have employees with $200 mortgage payments..

QuickLoans and others have. Detroit downtown is undergoing a bit of a business renaissance right now and I think they may actually be past the worst of it. It will still take years to clean up and do something with all the abandoned, crumbling buildings and infrastructure, though. Driving through Motown on I94 en route to the airport is just depressing.

 

[Greywolf336]

I'm with you kimmio, what a boring house!! I like the bones, it looks nice but its boring and clinical. I've never been a fan of what most designers seem to consider nice furniture, it always looks so uncomfortable, too many straight harsh lines.

As for love it or list is Vancouver... I hate it! The original us one is good but I can't stand that one. She has all these "brilliant" ideas buy isn't a contractor so has no idea what is actually required and is always surprised when things can't be done or cost money. Or "surprise" we're renovating a hundred year old house and it has wiring problems "I didn't see that coming, now you won't get your on suite" >.< just drives me nuts. Or how about "we don't have the $5000 to fix the bathroom like you wanted but we do have the money to get a six burner, industrial stove that you didn't ask for and replace all your appliances and furniture." >.<

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

I'm with you kimmio, what a boring house!! I like the bones, it looks nice but its boring and clinical. I've never been a fan of what most designers seem to consider nice furniture, it always looks so uncomfortable, too many straight harsh lines.

As for love it or list is Vancouver... I hate it! The original us one is good but I can't stand that one. She has all these "brilliant" ideas buy isn't a contractor so has no idea what is actually required and is always surprised when things can't be done or cost money. Or "surprise" we're renovating a hundred year old house and it has wiring problems "I didn't see that coming, now you won't get your on suite" >.< just drives me nuts. Or how about "we don't have the $5000 to fix the bathroom like you wanted but we do have the money to get a six burner, industrial stove that you didn't ask for and replace all your appliances and furniture." >.<

I was thinking of the original pair, I think. I guess they're in Toronto?

I just like furniture and accessories that have character - and mixing it up a bit. It doesn't have to be expensive. Or, if sticking to classic, add a bit of colour or some interesting detail so everything doesn't blend into everything. That house feels "cold". Some people like purely functionality but if there's nothing interesting about it - I don't feel good in it. That place looks starchy like a hotel - decorated right from the beige and grey section of The Brick.

 

[Jaebius]

I was thinking of the original pair, I think. I guess they're in Toronto?

I just like furniture and accessories that have character - and mixing it up a bit. It doesn't have to be expensive. Or, if sticking to classic, add a bit of colour or some interesting detail so everything doesn't blend into everything. That house feels "cold". Some people like purely functionality but if there's nothing interesting about it - I don't feel good in it. That place looks starchy like a hotel - decorated right from the beige and grey section of The Brick.

The original pair, David & Hillary, were in Toronto for years (10?). This season, for some reason, they've taken their act on the road - and the houses loved or listed are in America.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

I was going to comment - in Vancouver (aside from current smog) it tends to be cloudy and rainy several months out of the year - so if a home has a drab colour scheme it can be depressing. Like living inside a bowl of mushy oatmeal. I think that's why I like inside to be interesting because outside can be pretty grey. There are a lot of trees and high hedges in that neighbourhood - not a lot of light - so it would be gloomy, I think, to live there even though it is a "luxury" home.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

It does have good bones. The front yard/ driveway is pretty. The best, most cheery and colourful room is the kitchen nook with the kids' art in it. One could do a lot with that house, I suppose.

 

[Carolla]

I'm with you kimmio, what a boring house!! I like the bones, it looks nice but its boring and clinical. I've never been a fan of what most designers seem to consider nice furniture, it always looks so uncomfortable, too many straight harsh lines.

As for love it or list is Vancouver... I hate it! The original us one is good but I can't stand that one. She has all these "brilliant" ideas buy isn't a contractor so has no idea what is actually required and is always surprised when things can't be done or cost money. Or "surprise" we're renovating a hundred year old house and it has wiring problems "I didn't see that coming, now you won't get your on suite" >.< just drives me nuts. Or how about "we don't have the $5000 to fix the bathroom like you wanted but we do have the money to get a six burner, industrial stove that you didn't ask for and replace all your appliances and furniture." >.<

Neighbours of ours were on Love it or List it - what a ridiculous dramatized totally made up experience that was!! I can't stand the show.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

Neighbours of ours were on Love it or List it - what a ridiculous dramatized totally made up experience that was!! I can't stand the show.

I guess for those who get to see first hand (or second hand) how staged it is, it would be annoying. For me, I enjoyed the entertainment, and the ideas - getting to see how others live - but I did wonder what that experience was really like for the home owners.


Other shows I used to enjoy were the one where a woman finds and fixes up modest rental spaces for people, in their budgets - does amazing things with little hole in the wall apartments - and the British show with two older women that have amazing ideas about how to clean up without buying extra products and fix up messy old places. They come back a few months after the fact to see if the residents are maintaining the effort. It is an interesting cultural experience to watch, and see these old eclectic spaces, and they are quite funny.

 

[Jaebius]

...and the British show with two older women that have amazing ideas about how to clean up without buying extra products and fix up messy old places. They come back a few months after the fact to see if the residents are maintaining the effort. It is an interesting cultural experience to watch, and see these old eclectic spaces, and is quite funny.

There was an American show along the same lines called, "Clean Sweep." It came on as kind of a spin-off of "Trading Spaces."

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

There was an American show along the same lines called, "Clean Sweep." It came on as kind of a spin-off of "Trading Spaces."

So you like those shows too? My husband was as bored with those as I was with hockey, and eventually we stopped our cable and stopped watching either (not because of that). The home shows were the only reality shows I liked. Trading spaces is okay....it's not the show I'm thinking of. It's two older women that clean up messy places - not hoarders, just messy - they don't trade spaces with anyone. Can't remember the name. It's definitely British.

 

[Jaebius]

So you like those shows too? My husband was as bored with those as I was with hockey, and eventually we stopped our cable and stopped watching either. The home shows were the only reality shows I liked. Trading spaces is okay....it's not the show I'm thinking of. It's two older women that clean up messy places, they don't trade spaces with anyone. Can't remember the name. It's definitely British.

Yes Cousin, my yobo and I love to watch home shows. We currently watch Love It or List It, Love It or List It Vancouver, and Property Brothers. The American cleaning and organizing show wasn't Trading Spaces, but rather Clean Sweep. You might be thinking of How Clean is Your House?

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

That's it.

 

[Waterfall]

Like the saying goes - "it's only worth what someone will pay" - and apparently there are folks out there with huge amounts of money to plunk down on real estate - often considered an 'investment'. I'm not one of them!

Did you ever read about Tulipomania? Some say that our current real estate market is no different and that eventually, people will suddenly slow down and reconsider, refusing to pay the price.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania

 

[Delightful Life]

Did you ever read about Tulipomania? Some say that our current real estate market is no different and that eventually, people will suddenly slow down and reconsider, refusing to pay the price.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania

maybe more of us rich westerners will rethink the 'leave your family home as quickly as possible & buy your own home' culture & get into a more 'live in a family compound'? one of my bro's friends has done that -- they bought an old fishery plot on VI and have spent years turning it into a multi-dwelling place for their entire family...just like senior citizens can save money by not living alone but by sharing rent & cost among a group of people...

and yes, Tulip Mania is what is being talked aboot here -- namely, when the bubble is going to burst, turning all of the Lower Mainland into Mad Max, with @Kimmio as Aunty Entity

one of the problems i hear among pundits here is absent landlords -- rich foreigners (said with a thick southern accent) buying lots of property and then not using it or living in it...the Vanc gov't is brainstorming how to deal with that, without breaking laws (like how do you find out without tresspassing? etc)

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

maybe more of us rich westerners will rethink the 'leave your family home as quickly as possible & buy your own home' culture & get into a more 'live in a family compound'? one of my bro's friends has done that -- they bought an old fishery plot on VI and have spent years turning it into a multi-dwelling place for their entire family...just like senior citizens can save money by not living alone but by sharing rent & cost among a group of people...

and yes, Tulip Mania is what is being talked aboot here -- namely, when the bubble is going to burst, turning all of the Lower Mainland into Mad Max, with @Kimmio as Aunty Entity

one of the problems i hear among pundits here is absent landlords -- rich foreigners (said with a thick southern accent) buying lots of property and then not using it or living in it...the Vanc gov't is brainstorming how to deal with that, without breaking laws (like how do you find out without tresspassing? etc)

Now, tulips are usually some of the cheapest flowers to buy...will that happen in Vancouver, to home prices? In, say, about 400 years?