It's not just China... Your grandparents are keeping house prices elevated too.

I hear people all the time talking about the housing prices being so high due to foreign investment and to give credit where credit is due; they are partly right but Nanna and G-pa are also keeping the "affordability gap" far from reach.

The transfer of wealth is one of the reasons, I believe, that housing prices are not going to diminish anytime soon. There is too much money floating around with the elderly and by rewarding their children and grand children, this in turn is keeping housing prices in the outer stratosphere. That little inheritance makes for a pretty sweet down payment on some of the East Van homes that are for sale these days.

All that being said, it might be time to take grandma out for tea... If you’re not in the market right now, you should take advantage of current low interest rates to buy into the game, as prices are likely to only rise. Hesitation wreaks devastation. Especially if that inheritance is no where to be found...

YEAST VAN Rules

I love East Vancouver. I'm a bit biased for sure as I chose to live here. That being said, when I moved to Commercial Drive it wasn't the utopia it is today. Being a neighbourhood in transition, it had it's share of issues. As the years went on, the amenities improved and it became a lot easier to digest being in East Van. Aside from the great artisan coffee houses, cheap eats and public park renovations, my favourite improvements are the plethora of microbreweries opening up.

I believe this upswing is due to 2 major factors; liqour laws and zoning. The Licensing changes in BC liquor laws now allows for microbreweries to install tasting rooms within the brewing facilities themselves. Secondly, the large areas in East Vancouver zoned industrial, intermingled with residential, keeps the rents lower. This also allows for easier foot and/or bicycle traffic.

Now to the nitty gritty...

This summer there will a total of NINE microbreweries within the Commercial drive area of East Van. 

The OG of all of them, Storm Brewing (310 Commercial Drive)

Coal Harbour Brewing (1967 Triumph Street)

Powell Street Craft Brewery (1357 Powell Street)

Parallel 49 Brewing (1950 Triumph Street)

Doan’s Craft Brewing (1830 Powell Street)

Off the Rail (1351 Adanac Street)

Bomber Brewing  (1488 Adanac Street)

Strange Fellows Brewing Co.  (1345 Clark Drive)

Callister Brewing  (1338 Franklin Street)

There are others breweries in Railtown or Main street and they all have something wonderful to offer but like I said earlier, I'm a bit biased. I guess what I'm trying to say is this once uninviting area is now more inviting than ever. Keep this in mind when seeking out new neighbourhoods to plant some roots.

The beer in my backyard never tasted so good.

As Queen Elsa Says: "Let It Go!"

Property transfer tax was something that was introduced by Bill Vander Zalm in 1987, when the average price of a Vancouver home was about $150,000, in order to tax speculation on high-end properties. Lately every single family home seems to be around a $1,000,000 or more so it's time BC to "Let it go"!

The premier has been hinting lately to put an end to it or at least reduce it it to something more manageable. I'm not one to complain about taxes, but adding a slap in the face tax after stretching yourself thin to live in this great city is something that we don't need. One less barrier to entry to live in Vancity is something that would be welcomed these days. Let's listen to Elsa.

Complete Street on the Drive

What Commercial Drive would look like if looked at in a different light.

Complete Streets treat all people equally, regardless of age, gender or physical ability. Complete Street design focuses on improving the public realm and not on moving vehicular traffic. It serves as an important design tool for making our cities great places to live, work and play.

Slow Streets’ research, The Case For a Complete Street argues that Vancouver’s Commercial Drive would benefit greatly from becoming a Complete Street. In its current form, Commercial Drive’s streetscape fails to acknowledge the Drive’s role as a regional destination for culture, shopping, dining and other activities.  Instead, The Drive is treated primarily as a thoroughfare for automobiles whose size and speed create an uncomfortable walking, cycling and dwelling experience – particularly south of 1st Avenue.

Prioritizing slower modes would strengthen existing activities and allow for new uses which are only imaginable during the annual Car Free Day festival.  Re-envisioning Commercial Drive as a Complete Street would enhance its sense of place and make the street more accessible to a greater number of people. In turn, more value – and a better overall experience – would be generated for all visitors, residents and businesses.

I loved this article so much I had to repost. You can read more of it here: @Spacing.ca

Coffee Lovers Paradise

A lot of people out there have a vice or two. Let's face facts, it's what makes us human. Mine is coffee. I love the history of it, the taste of it along with it's ability to bring people together. Vancouver, BC is no slouch when it comes to it's coffee selection. In fact it is a bean lovers paradise.

Recently a multitude of media has been saying the same thing. 

Matador best cities for coffee. just ranked it third in the world. Some of my favourites haunts include Matchstick, Pallet coffee roasters, JJ Bean, Moja Coffee, Revolver, Elysian and 49th Parallel Coffee houses.

Vancouver is a very bicycle friendly city, as most of you know, so it even has a wonderful little bike powered coffee spot (that is constantly in different locations) that produces a great cappucino. You can usually find him from his twitter posts.

Like I said, Vancouver has no shortage of wonderful coffee roasters/spots to enjoy beautifully crafted coffee. My favorite spot of all is in my backyard, here in Vancouver,  sipping something that looks a lot like this one posted below. Maybe it's yours too.

Vancouver time lapse at it's finest

Technology is allowing for more and more people to showcase Vancouver in some fantastic ways. Here's a time lapse I stumbled upon that blows me away and reminds me of how great this city is.




Blow it up to big size to really enjoy it.