# Vancouver condo



## Lights (Mar 3, 2014)

So, after much consideration and just pure facts that it’s in my best interest to sell my condo… It sounds like if I have quite a bit of equity in the home and can sell it, that I would be in a much better place then trying to sell it 1 or 2 years from now when the condo market may really start to slide. 

I just wanted to get general opinions on the Vancouver condo market. Of course realtors, mortgage brokers, and the media will tell you what they want to tell you. 

I’m seeing 550-650sq ft condo’s selling in my area for about $310-$330k. They are all 1 bedrooms with shared laundry. Some are renovated, but they are still older, shared laundry buildings. My condo is about 625 sq ft with a 250 sq ft wrap around garden patio. I am the corner unit. I also have insuite laundry, parking, and all the general stuff that most people want. My place is pretty renovated, but not over the top. I haven’t kept an eye on listings since about late November. But it looks like they’re being listed slightly higher now... I was thinking of listing around $320k but compared to what’s available in the market, it looks like I should maybe start a bit higher. In my case, if I do sell it for around $320 then I would have made a decent investment and would not be under. If I were to make a small profit off the same of my primary residence, would I need to claim capital gains or losses? 

Thanks for helping this newbie.


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## OurBigFatWallet (Jan 20, 2014)

Capital gains on a primary residence are tax free. Capital losses are not deductible


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## 604firsttimebuyer (Mar 5, 2014)

Ive been researching condos in anticipation of my first home, been talking to a few frds who are agents and here are my two cents:

- owners are having a real hard time selling single bedroom suites. Many listings last 6+ months with few serious offers, plenty of lowballers. Unless its a really convenient or new building, you might have a bit of a harder time getting $320k

- my agent frds strongly urge me to go for a two bedroom even as a first time buyer because the extra 30-40k will be worth it in the event of kids or resale value. A decent two bedroom condo aroumd Edmonds built in 09 goes for $340-$370k after haggling, according to them

- never buy old, maintenance fees for some buildings skyrocket after a leak or broken elevator

- lastly, they tell me to ALWAYS lowball...claiming that the market is more desperate to sell than housing prices would suggest

They tell me the market on the whole is just so so lately. Despite selling one unit a month, after fees and commission split, their wages are no more than thr average Joe.


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## Lights (Mar 3, 2014)

604firsttimebuyer said:


> Ive been researching condos in anticipation of my first home, been talking to a few frds who are agents and here are my two cents:
> 
> - owners are having a real hard time selling single bedroom suites. Many listings last 6+ months with few serious offers, plenty of lowballers. Unless its a really convenient or new building, you might have a bit of a harder time getting $320k
> 
> ...



Hey, 

Thanks for your feedback. I'm in Vancouver but not in Downtown. I am close to the Canada Line, Hospital, and restaurants and shops. However, even though I'm close to a lot of shops and restaurants, I am on a quiet street and my building isn't brand new, but well maintained with a very proactive strata. There is a 2 bedroom listed in my building for $450,000 and a studio selling for $290,000. The last unit was only on the market for 2-3 months and it was sold. I haven't checked to see if it sold close to asking, but I know it was sold.

I'm not sure what your realtor friends would say if they were the ones with the listings. I'm sure they wouldn't want lowball offers, since that means smaller commissions on the listing. But it is interesting to hear… I'm not familiar with the Edmonds/Burnaby area so I'm not sure if your pricing can be compared to ours. But I'm seeing a lot of older 1 bedroom + den units for around $320k in Vancouver. And 2 Bedrooms started at $430k-ish. I don't have a 2 bedroom, but I wonder if listing $100,000 less than the 2 bedroom in my building is normal. 

I'll have to call my realtor when I'm back from work travels to sort it all out.


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## Arshes76 (Jul 5, 2013)

You need to ask your real ter about what other condos have been selling for, listing prices aren't what's important it's the selling prices u really need to take a close look at. And a 1 bedroom is a different market than a 2 bedroom. 

And Realtors don't want low ball offers on their listing but they don't want to list to high as their property will get overlooked for better priced listing. And sit a long time on the market, and the longer it sits then the more work they need to do for something that's going to have be re priced anyways. I think most Realtors try to get their listing sold in 30 days? I think anything longer than its "been on the market for a while" and then u see more low ball offers because of that.


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## newtothegame (Jan 2, 2014)

This is just my opinion...

Don't try to time real estate if you are not an investor. If you are ready to move, sell and buy somewhere else.

Unless you are moving into an old folks home, it doesn't matter what it is valued at, since you will have to purchase a replacement that will most likely be in line with the same ups and downs also...

Talk to a realtor, or even just go online and search asking prices of similar units in the area.

I was born in Van, and have lived in the GVRD for all my life. I can also add that the recent announcement of limiting "Asian buy-ins" will affect prices. In my opinion this is a good thing, but I'll leave it at that. This may affect value in certain communities, such as Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby, and even parts of the Tri-Cities...


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## Canuck (Mar 13, 2012)

Are you in Fairview slopes area?

And has your building done the mandatory depreciation report? and if so how does it look?

I have a feeling that depreciation reports are going to start playing a role in what you can ask for a condo.


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

newtothegame said:


> Unless you are moving into an old folks home, it doesn't matter what it is valued at, since you will have to purchase a replacement that will most likely be in line with the same ups and downs also...


best advice there is... reminds me of a friend of mine a year ago how he "made" 100,000$ from selling his house after 4 years and buying a new house... and I tell him that he didn't make anything since the new house that he bought (when he sold older one) is 100,000$ more compare to 4 years ago... but people just love to think that they "made" money


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## Canuck (Mar 13, 2012)

blin10 said:


> best advice there is... reminds me of a friend of mine a year ago how he "made" 100,000$ from selling his house after 4 years and buying a new house... and I tell him that he didn't make anything since the new house that he bought (when he sold older one) is 100,000$ more compare to 4 years ago... but people just love to think that they "made" money


not if you're selling with the intention of just renting after that, which is what I did. It's cheaper to rent in Vancouver than it is to buy.

" I would be in a much better place then trying to sell it 1 or 2 years from now when the condo market may really start to slide."

by the sounds of this sentence, the o.p is thinking the market is going to be lower in 2 years, so I don't think their intention is to immediately purchase some thing else


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

Canuck said:


> not if you're selling with the intention of just renting after that, which is what I did. It's cheaper to rent in Vancouver than it is to buy.


renting is not free as well....
-let's assume you have 350k condo (no mortgage), you sell it, after RE fees you got around 330k...
-you start to rent, no sure how much is rent, but let's take even $1000/month
-now you wait for a condo drop, and the question is when will it come
-let's say 10% correction comes in 3 years, so you paid 12k$x3=$36k in rent, and that same $350k condo 3 years ago is now $315k but you have 330k-36k=294k left, so you don't even break even with all this hassle
-and you don't know will correction even come, and how big will it be, everything is unknown

before I get people like none commenting, YES, I REALIZE you pay condo fees and all that, yes you can invest 330k and make some money but you can also invest and loose money if housing correction happens, YES this is not accurate and a ton of different angles are missing, THIS IS JUST A ROUGH IDEA that renting is not free....


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## Lights (Mar 3, 2014)

Canuck said:


> not if you're selling with the intention of just renting after that, which is what I did. It's cheaper to rent in Vancouver than it is to buy.
> 
> " I would be in a much better place then trying to sell it 1 or 2 years from now when the condo market may really start to slide."
> 
> by the sounds of this sentence, the o.p is thinking the market is going to be lower in 2 years, so I don't think their intention is to immediately purchase some thing else


I was thinking of renting out my unit, but after looking at the taxes that I'll have to pay, it makes no sense to do that. So selling is my only option. I'm moving out of the country so I'm not going to be buying at all afterwards. I just don't want to see what's reasonable asking. I am obviously bias because I don't think my condo is worth the $290,000 that the studio is asking for but I also don't think it's worth $350,000 even. 

I'm just border line fairview. 15th-16th Avenue and my assessment this year wasn't bad. A lady of mine in my building got an appraisal last year, same unit floor plan but on a different floor at $335,000-$340,000 range. But that was last year.


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## Canuck (Mar 13, 2012)

blin10 said:


> renting is not free as well....
> -let's assume you have 350k condo (no mortgage), you sell it, after RE fees you got around 330k...
> -you start to rent, no sure how much is rent, but let's take even $1000/month
> -now you wait for a condo drop, and the question is when will it come
> ...



of course renting is not free, but even having that $330,000 in a 2% Gic is going to yield you close to $7000. And as you pointed out, you've got property taxes and maintenance fees to consider, which would more than likely be about $4000 a year, so using that math, you've covered $11,000 of your $12,000 in rental costs.
If they were to invest in a handful of ETF's or big dividend paying companies with an average yield of say 4%, that would cover all rental costs plus they'd have money in their pocket, PLUS they'd save that $4000 in property taxes and maintenance fees.
Property values can go down just as easily as stocks can go down, and seeing as Vancouver feels very overvalued right now, my thoughts are that I'd rather be invested in say an Enbridge than a Vancouver condo
JMHO


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## Canuck (Mar 13, 2012)

Lights said:


> I was thinking of renting out my unit, but after looking at the taxes that I'll have to pay, it makes no sense to do that. So selling is my only option. I'm moving out of the country so I'm not going to be buying at all afterwards. I just don't want to see what's reasonable asking. I am obviously bias because I don't think my condo is worth the $290,000 that the studio is asking for but I also don't think it's worth $350,000 even.
> 
> I'm just border line fairview. 15th-16th Avenue and my assessment this year wasn't bad. A lady of mine in my building got an appraisal last year, same unit floor plan but on a different floor at $335,000-$340,000 range. But that was last year.


what are your maintenance fees, and did you have a depreciation report done? The building that I'm renting in right now (the same building that I owned in and am renting back from the investor that purchased it from me), just had a depreciation report done which states that in the next 5 years almost $500,000 has to be done in maintenance (which is actually a bit ludicrous and the strata is debating a bunch of issues). But nonetheless that depreciation report, if not altered, will definitely play a part in what these condos will now sell for.


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## Lights (Mar 3, 2014)

Canuck said:


> what are your maintenance fees, and did you have a depreciation report done? The building that I'm renting in right now (the same building that I owned in and am renting back from the investor that purchased it from me), just had a depreciation report done which states that in the next 5 years almost $500,000 has to be done in maintenance (which is actually a bit ludicrous and the strata is debating a bunch of issues). But nonetheless that depreciation report, if not altered, will definitely play a part in what these condos will now sell for.



Fee's are $230/month and no depreciation report done. We have a good contingency fund and paid for our roof this year without much of an assessment to owners. Not sure how much a new roof can help in the sale, but it's wear and tear and has to be done.


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## Canuck (Mar 13, 2012)

Lights said:


> Fee's are $230/month and no depreciation report done. We have a good contingency fund and paid for our roof this year without much of an assessment to owners. Not sure how much a new roof can help in the sale, but it's wear and tear and has to be done.


sure a new roof will help, that's one of the biggest expenses, and having a good contingency will help.


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

Canuck said:


> of course renting is not free, but even having that $330,000 in a 2% Gic is going to yield you close to $7000. And as you pointed out, you've got property taxes and maintenance fees to consider, which would more than likely be about $4000 a year, so using that math, you've covered $11,000 of your $12,000 in rental costs.
> If they were to invest in a handful of ETF's or big dividend paying companies with an average yield of say 4%, that would cover all rental costs plus they'd have money in their pocket, PLUS they'd save that $4000 in property taxes and maintenance fees.
> Property values can go down just as easily as stocks can go down, and seeing as Vancouver feels very overvalued right now, my thoughts are that I'd rather be invested in say an Enbridge than a Vancouver condo
> JMHO


"but even having that $330,000 in a 2% Gic is going to yield you close to $7000" - and for how many years you need to lock up that money? 3years+ , not everybody can lock up that money for that long... not to mention average Joe doesn't even know what GIC is...

"If they were to invest in a handful of ETF's or big dividend paying companies with an average yield of say 4%, that would cover all rental costs plus they'd have money in their pocket, PLUS they'd save that $4000 in property taxes and maintenance fees." - right, but if housing market tanks, stock market will be the first one to tank... even though you'll be getting 4% divi your portfolio will be in big minus, and what if bear market lasts for years and you need access your cash then you'll be forced to sell at a loss 

"I'd rather be invested in say an Enbridge than a Vancouver condo" - overall I'd agree if you picked up ENB at much lower price, but as of today ENB had a huge run, and if markets and housing go down, ENB will go down a lot more imo

again, like I said before, it was a rough math, I'm not going to sit and waist my time for hours thinking about every possible scenario...


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## Arshes76 (Jul 5, 2013)

Lights said:


> I was thinking of renting out my unit, but after looking at the taxes that I'll have to pay, it makes no sense to do that. So selling is my only option. I'm moving out of the country so I'm not going to be buying at all afterwards. I just don't want to see what's reasonable asking. I am obviously bias because I don't think my condo is worth the $290,000 that the studio is asking for but I also don't think it's worth $350,000 even.
> 
> I'm just border line fairview. 15th-16th Avenue and my assessment this year wasn't bad. A lady of mine in my building got an appraisal last year, same unit floor plan but on a different floor at $335,000-$340,000 range. But that was last year.


Remember its SELLING prices are whats important you need to have an honest discussion about that with your realtor. Listing prices, assessments dont say how much people are willing to pay for a unit. Thats key to listing your place at the proper price.


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