Vancouver General Discussion Thread

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

I go to Bellingham once or twice a month and stock up Trader Joes and get some stuff at Target. Bellis Fair Mall is really dead, it still has stores but feels so empty and the stores that are still there other than the anchors have stores here in Canada, like Journeys, Bath & Body Works, Hot Topic, etc. so no real appeal to go to inside the mall.

This article is about the loss of Chinese and Korean Canadian busses that would go down bringing hundreds of shoppers to places like Bellis Fair Mall.

Does anyone here go down regularly again? The lineups are much shorter now than pre-covid, if its longer than 20 minutes its because the US only has two lanes open.


U.S. border towns still wait on buyers from B.C., as Vancouver shopping buses vanish
Cross-border shopping buses filled with Chinese and Korean Canadian consumers were once ubiquitous outside Washington state malls, but they have all-but disappeared from the commercial landscape, dealing a heavy blow to border-town businesses.
Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press

https://www.newwestrecord.ca/nationa...vanish-7128163

Brookfield defaulted on their $77 million loan last year as well.

https://www.bellinghamherald.com/new...#storylink=cpy

This Florida company bought it at auction for $44 million

https://4d-properties.com/909-2/

[Owlford]

If you have $250K for downpayment, which existing or upcoming pre-sales in Vancouver (or Burnaby) would you invest for a condo or townhouse of up to $1M, considered best bang for the money?

I've been renting in Vancouver and looking for my first home ownership which I plan to live 2-5 years before selling and upgrading to something better.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Owlford

If you have $250K for downpayment, which existing or upcoming pre-sales in Vancouver (or Burnaby) would you invest for a condo or townhouse of up to $1M, considered best bang for the money?

I've been renting in Vancouver and looking for my first home ownership which I plan to live 2-5 years before selling and upgrading to something better.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Totally depends on what your living situation is. What kind of unit are you looking for? What matters to you?

[mcj]

Originally Posted by Owlford

If you have $250K for downpayment, which existing or upcoming pre-sales in Vancouver (or Burnaby) would you invest for a condo or townhouse of up to $1M, considered best bang for the money?

I've been renting in Vancouver and looking for my first home ownership which I plan to live 2-5 years before selling and upgrading to something better.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Presale townhouses will be above $1M in Vancouver proper and most of Burnaby, so if that's a hard limit you're likely looking at a condo. Why presale if you're planning on living in it? You could get an already constructed place and have 2-5 years of growth in property value and spending your rent money on your own mortgage.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by mcj

Presale townhouses will be above $1M in Vancouver proper and most of Burnaby, so if that's a hard limit you're likely looking at a condo. Why presale if you're planning on living in it? You could get an already constructed place and have 2-5 years of growth in property value and spending your rent money on your own mortgage.

You can still get townhouses in Vancouver/Burnaby on a $1M budget.

A 2 bed 2 bath 931sqft townhouse, mind you, but still a townhouse!

[SpongeG]

Isn't landscaping in LA a big deal too?

Selling Sunset stars "shocked" by expensive real estate in Vancouver (VIDEOS)
Amanda Wawryk | Jun 16 2023

Daily Hive caught up with Bonnet, who says she couldn’t believe the outrageous prices in Vancouver — and says she also loved the landscaping in Vancouver, calling it “next level.”

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/sell...tate-vancouver

[mcj]

Originally Posted by chowhou

You can still get townhouses in Vancouver/Burnaby on a $1M budget.

A 2 bed 2 bath 931sqft townhouse, mind you, but still a townhouse!

Yeah already built ones out there might be below $1M, not presale though. Well, maybe there's a 1 bed 1 bath "townhouse" on a presale in the River District too

[svlt]

Presales might be a good way to weather out the current interest rate storm while picking up a (hopefully) appreciating asset. I'm of the belief 3 years from now mortgage rates will be lower than they are today.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by svlt

Presales might be a good way to weather out the current interest rate storm while picking up a (hopefully) appreciating asset. I'm of the belief 3 years from now mortgage rates will be lower than they are today.

Tell that to people that previously bought presales with completion dates this or next year.

[madog222]

Originally Posted by chowhou

Tell that to people that bought previously bought presales with completion dates this or next year.

Or for those projects that have been canceled over the past few years.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by madog222

Or for those projects that have been canceled over the past few years.

Well I kind of wish I mean a friend of mine kind of wishes his project was cancelled considering the rate hikes.

[whatnext]

Anyone know what's up at 1995 Beach (Huntington West)? This has long been one of my favourite West End buildings with a very well-executed Brutalist style in an unbeatable location. There are a slew of units suddenly for sale on what look to be the two lower floors. I don't believe they allow rentals so it can't be an investor unloading them:

https://www.rew.ca/buildings/8351/hu...t-vancouver-bc

[SpongeG]

maybe some costly work coming to the strata?

[giallo]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

maybe some costly work coming to the strata?

That'd be my guess.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

maybe some costly work coming to the strata?

That’s what I was guessing but it’s weird that all the units that went up for sale were on the first two floors.

[jollyburger]

But they aren't underpriced either and I doubt they would be able to not disclose some imminent special levy during a sale (?).

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

But they aren't underpriced either and I doubt they would be able to not disclose some imminent special levy during a sale (?).

I guess the other explanation might be a failed attempt at a sale of the whole strata.. Get the votes by buying up the cheap units. It is definitely a prime location.

[whatnext]

There wasn't really a thread in Heritage Issues that fit this so I'll leave it here. Kind of cool this little cottage made it this long:

The humble history of Vancouver's last waterfront cottage
The century old structure cost $1,000 to build in 1925 and sold in 2021 for $4 million
Author of the article: John Mackie
Published Jul 23, 2023

In the fall of 1925, Arthur Beakes built a small house near the foot of Alma Street at Point Grey Road.

The lot was sold for $4 million in 2021, and the new owners want to build a new home there. The 650-square-foot cottage will have to be moved, or will be torn down.

The structure is across the street from a park that is home to Vancouver’s oldest building, the Hastings Mill store. That 1865 building was barged to 1575 Alma on July 29, 1930 and reopened as the Hastings Mill Museum on Jan. 16, 1932.

The grandson of Arthur Beakes hopes the cottage can be moved next to the museum.

“It could be kind of a precinct of some of Vancouver’s modest architectural history,” said Ian Wallace, an internationally acclaimed artist....

....There were many cottages along the English Bay shoreline in Kits, Point Grey and the West End — the legendary lifeguard Joe Fortes lived in a cottage on the water side of Beach Avenue. But they have vanished over the years — the last waterfront cottages in the West End were knocked down in 2001....

https://vancouversun.com/business/re...rfront-cottage

[Owlford]

Has anyone experienced a lien put on their home from a contractor whom the builder hired, 1 year after a signed statutory declaration is received from the builder (+signed by a notary public) that all of their accounts for labour have been paid in full and all builder's lien claims have been resolved?

In other words, we hired a builder to build our home many years ago where they were responsible to hire all contractors and we paid a lump sum conract fee to the builder. We don't deal directly with any of their trades, contractors or sub-contractors.

We recently found out, through a lien search from the bank when they converted our mortgage from variable to fixed since we had hit the trigger rate from negative equity that a lien was put on some 1.5 years after the build was completed and signed declaration received.

Is there a way to challenge/remove this lien from the title as the validity period would've been expired since it has been 5 years since the lien was put on wihout our knowledge?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

[SpongeG]

this is pretty crazy, you hear some news but to see it is like wow. I went to almost all those stores that have shut down. Is there any way it can ever come back?

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