I don't make $150,000 a year

[mpt]

10 hours ago, Crabcakes said:

No you can't.  What's reasonably priced?  $2000 a month? Condo's are too much in Van.  People with regular incomes can't afford to start in a $1,000,000 condo which is pretty average in Van these days.  

 

Fwiw, $1 M condo with 20% down  @ 4% means 4,200 a month.  Not considering strata fees etc, if your income should be 1/3 of your household income, this works out to a family income of 12,600 a month or, 151 a year.  That's $75 and hour combined for you and your wife assuming 40 hrs a week.  Most young people with education are looking at 20-30 and hour these days.  

 

That's if you happen to have $200k in the bank to get yourself started

Except you can get into a condo in Vancouver for under 300K leasehold or 600K for strata.  There are a lot of nice condos that are 2 bedroom and under a million.  Again you can’t expect to get a brand new modern condo for cheap; and you don’t deserve to when others are willing to pay it.  As long as people are willing to spend money to live where they want, you need to adjust your expectations.  Last thing I want is the government to come in and try to wreck property values on purpose to help out voters for their platform.  Screw all home owners for the minority who don’t have anything.

 

What builder is going to build a house when they can’t sell it for anything once their done?  Land for 200K house for 500K and sell it for 300K?  Good luck

[Tortorella's Rant]

you don't need to. you can literally rent a Vancouver broom closet on Craigslist for 750/month. 

[Tortorella's Rant]

I would look at leaving, actually. Why pay for this overpriced dump when you can relocate to the interior of Canada or the United States, save your money, and retire when you're 50 because of all the money you saved. I will consider these things if there is not some serious correction in the next year and a bit.

[BPA]

So how does it work in Toronto?   Don't they have similar property prices?

[Russ]

49 minutes ago, Tortorella's Rant said:

I would look at leaving, actually. Why pay for this overpriced dump when you can relocate to the interior of Canada or the United States, save your money, and retire when you're 50 because of all the money you saved. I will consider these things if there is not some serious correction in the next year and a bit.

I have actually joked with the wife a bit about doing this.  With her company there is the potential to move to other parts of the country.  We do like where we live and do like being near both of our families, but I have told her if a job comes up she likes she should take it.  My job is a lot more easily transferable than hers so I can shift basically anywhere.  

[VanGnome]

I make low six figures and moved my family away from BC last year due to housing costs, fuel, insurance, hydro etc. At the end of every two weeks after all of that as well as groceries, school and activity related costs for our daughter and a small amount of entertainment, we were basically cheque to cheque except for the odd month where I received an extra pay cheque due to the bi-weekly nature where we could squirrel away a couple grand.

We moved to Calgary where the housing is cheaper but ended up hating the city (at least I did) so moved back to Winnipeg just last week (we lived here 5 years ago but moved to BC where I'm originally from due to being laid off and getting a new job). At least we were able to buy a house and have a mortgage at a reasonable rate which will allow us to enjoy more out of life by taking more vacations and partaking in more entertainment.

I work remotely from home now, so I can live wherever is most convenient to do so. We also have more friends and family (on my wife's side) here than anywhere else so thats a positive and makes being in Winnipeg slightly more tolerable.

[Russ]

12 hours ago, Crabcakes said:

No you can't.  What's reasonably priced?  $2000 a month? Condo's are too much in Van.  People with regular incomes can't afford to start in a $1,000,000 condo which is pretty average in Van these days.  

 

Fwiw, $1 M condo with 20% down  @ 4% means 4,200 a month.  Not considering strata fees etc, if your income should be 1/3 of your household income, this works out to a family income of 12,600 a month or, 151 a year.  That's $75 and hour combined for you and your wife assuming 40 hrs a week.  Most young people with education are looking at 20-30 and hour these days.  

 

That's if you happen to have $200k in the bank to get yourself started

I just looked on realtor and it looks like theres TONS of condos are in the 500-650k range or so which isn't horrible to live in the downtown of a major city.  After the 20% down, a mortgage on a place around 650k isn't overly hard for a couple who make half decent money.

[Mike Vanderhoek]

17 hours ago, whytelight said:

Hello from Manitoba:

 

How do you afford to live in the Lower Mainland?  I'm a full time teacher here and 1/4 of my net income goes to put a roof over my head (mortgage, fees, interest, heat/water, insurance).

 

How do people working normal jobs like teachers, nurses, clerks, mechanics, tellers, etc afford to live?  I've read that rents are $2000+ a month and shack in Whalley is $750,000...my math says that a mortgage on that would be $3000 a month.  If a roof over your head takes up 65% of your net income, how do you eat, drive, save for the future, and live?

 

Does everyone in the Lower Mainland make a minimum of $150,000 a year?  What am I missing?

 

Well here on the Sunshine Coast although costs have soared and more so in the past half a dozen years it is much more affordable in terms of rentals. There are a growing number of people who live here and work in Vancouver. Opposed to Vancouver Island the ferry service from Langdale to Horsehoe Bay is much shorter at about 40 minutes sailing time. From there a 20 mins drive to downtown or a little longer by bus. So that is an avenue many people are choosing.

 

We bought in 2016 for $ 300k ( 1800sq ft 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom rancher, full two car garage all on just under a 1/4 acre lot ) and pay less than $ 1,500 mortgage per month, now the house is assessed at $ 528k. So as far as purchasing well we got lucky and in the market right before it exploded. 

 

We have the freedom to enjoy the outdoors here on the Coast with most of our daily essentials readily available here. Regularly go into Vancouver and the Valley for entertainment and family time where most full day trips end back home at a reasonable time in the evening so we find the travel is well worth it, great scenery on the ferry ride as well not to mention the chance to watch whales and all the other sea life.

 

I guess I am classified as lower then " normal job " as my wife and I probably don't hit 100k per year income combined ( Janitorial, Veterinary Assistant, Childcare ) but have found a way to make it work and have wiggle room to enjoy.

[RRypien37]

1 hour ago, Tortorella's Rant said:

I would look at leaving, actually. Why pay for this overpriced dump when you can relocate to the interior of Canada or the United States, save your money, and retire when you're 50 because of all the money you saved. I will consider these things if there is not some serious correction in the next year and a bit.

Correction has already started but don't expect anything massive. Part of the cycle of the market. The crazy prices here artificially inflated though so don't expect natural economic movement. 

[kurtis]

Everyone here has high amounts of debt and don't own most of the toys they have... Most people live paycheck to paycheck if they own a place or even rent! ... 

[Scottish⑦Canuck]

17 hours ago, drummer4now said:

Meh Vancouver is a hell hole anyway.. too much traffic and crappy apartment buildings disguised as high rise buildings.. 

 

Then you have the dangerous night life with fights breaking out in every corner.. 

 

Travel to any world class city like Sydney or New York and Vancouver pales in comparison. 

 

So glad I live on the island. 

You've clearly never been to a real hell hole 

[Mike Vanderhoek]

1 hour ago, kurtis said:

Everyone here has high amounts of debt and don't own most of the toys they have... Most people live paycheck to paycheck if they own a place or even rent! ... 

Definietly a larger number of people then most know or want to admit. 

[NucksPatsFan]

3 hours ago, Tortorella's Rant said:

I would look at leaving, actually. Why pay for this overpriced dump when you can relocate to the interior of Canada or the United States, save your money, and retire when you're 50 because of all the money you saved. I will consider these things if there is not some serious correction in the next year and a bit.

No thank you. I very much like being able to sit in a coffee shop or walk through a grocery store without being on alert if a mass shooter is gonna walk in any second. 

[Tortorella's Rant]

4 minutes ago, NucksPatsFan said:

No thank you. I very much like being able to sit in a coffee shop or walk through a grocery store without being on alert if a mass shooter is gonna walk in any second. 

I'll take chance over overpaying. People are willing to work until they die, have two jobs, live in a rental forever just to be here. Sad.

[luckylager]

A little off topic - 

I'm on Kauai right now with the wife and kids. A couple days ago I was looking at some listings in the window of a Realtor here.

If we were to sell our house in Victoria for assessed value, we could buy a 1200sq ft, 3bd 2ba home on a 10,000sq ft property, with mountain and beach views, 10min drive to the beach and still have some cash left over. Exchange taken into account.

 

There's something very wrong with real estate prices in BC.

[Gurn]

9 minutes ago, NucksPatsFan said:

No thank you. I very much like being able to sit in a coffee shop or walk through a grocery store without being on alert if a mass shooter is gonna walk in any second. 

In Vancouver all you have to worry about is random roadside shootings and a few gang wars. Ohh and used needles left in parks.

[bishopshodan]

27 minutes ago, gurn said:

In Vancouver all you have to worry about is random roadside shootings and a few gang wars. Ohh and used needles left in parks.

There was that poor kid shot while driving by an incident on Broadway a year or so ago. But I don't think that shootings are really an issue for innocent bystanders in Vancouver more than anywhere else. However, in general, gang/gun problems seem to keep increasing for sure. Some of the surrounding Greater Vancouver Areas and the Valley are seeing some ugly stuff. How about Chilliwack lately?

 

The needles are getting worse in some areas for sure, disgusting, I hear you on that point. 

[Down by the River]

1 hour ago, Tortorella's Rant said:

I'll take chance over overpaying. People are willing to work until they die, have two jobs, live in a rental forever just to be here. Sad.

Maybe some people are simply able to find work that they find meaningful. 

 

If you want to have your own opinion, that's fine. But by God do you over-generalize a lot. If I had to retire at 50 I'd  be disappointed. There are literally hundreds of thousands of people that don't think Vancouver is a "dump"... maybe you should try and think about why people feel so differently from yourself instead of just assuming that you have the right answer. 

[Tortorella's Rant]

1 hour ago, Down by the River said:

Maybe some people are simply able to find work that they find meaningful. 

 

If you want to have your own opinion, that's fine. But by God do you over-generalize a lot. If I had to retire at 50 I'd  be disappointed. There are literally hundreds of thousands of people that don't think Vancouver is a "dump"... maybe you should try and think about why people feel so differently from yourself instead of just assuming that you have the right answer. 

Then get a more exciting social life lmao. Having the option of an earlier retirement is nice. Duh. Life is too short but if you want to slave away longer than necessary be my guest. It's not an over generalization when the cost of housing is as high and availability as scarce as it has ever been. More people having to work more hours, more days, more years, to see their money work less and less for them every passing year in this country is not an over generalization. That is a simple fact, chief. And the government doesn't care and won't do anything to make that any easier on you.

[Down by the River]

1 minute ago, Tortorella's Rant said:

Then get a more exciting social life lmao. Having the option of an earlier retirement is nice. Duh. Life is too short but if you want to slave away longer than necessary be my guest. It's not an over generalization when the cost of housing is as high and availability as scarce as it has ever been. More people having to work more hours, more days, more years, to see their money work less and less for them every passing year in this country is not an over generalization. That is a simple fact, chief. And the government doesn't care and won't do anything to make that any easier on you.

I'm perfectly happy working the amount that I do. I also fully understand some people don't want to do that. I'm not going to judge them because happiness comes in different forms for different people. You don't some to appreciate that. 

 

LMAO at the guy with 17k posts giving lessons on social life. I wouldn't normally act like a dick, but you decided to $&!# on people that want to work, so here goes. Maybe you don't see it as an over-generalization because your world is too small and doesn't include people who found their passion in what they do for work. You don't feel like a slave when you get paid to do something that represents your true interests. 

 

Don't know what the government has to do with enjoying your job. I'm not looking for the government to make my life easier, but maybe that is your MO.