From what I've seen on television, this is the way housing in Vancouver works...
First, you buy a house you can afford but that's a "fixer-upper," which is to say - it needs work.
Second, a decorator and a real estate agent visit you. The decorator fixes up your house while the agent shows you a few others that are currently for sale.
Third, you visit your house and see what the decorator has done to it.
Fourth, you make a decision between keeping your current house or else putting it up for sale.
Apparently this kind of thing goes on in Toronto as well.