Buying in Vancity... I have a secret.

Working Around the High Cost of Living in Vancouver

Buying a home in Vancouver can be challenging, and many first-time homebuyers are being priced out of the market because they are unable to save the huge down payment or qualify for a mortgage. One solution to these problems is to co-buy a home with more than one suite with friends or family. Some people call these "mixed mortgages". The best way to describe it would be a tenancy in common.

I co-purchased a home with friends and I think it was one of the best moves I have made. Living outside of Vancouver and commuting just wasn't an option for my family and I, so we made it work. When my wife found a sweet house in East Van, she sent out an email to some similar minded friends asking if any of them wanted  to buy the house with us. One of the couples replied yes and the rest is history.

The brains behind this operation.

A legally binding document needs to be drafted that covers all of the different circumstances that may arise. This partnership or joint venture agreement should cover some of these basics: 

• Who pays for the purchase and maintenance of the house, and how ownership is divided.

• Sales agreement in case one side wants to sell their share.

• How the property will be divided if the friends/family decide to separate or if one person dies.

• Enclose a first right of refusal clause into the agreement so whoever wants to stay has the ability to own the entire residence.

• Regardless of who you’re buying with, whether a friend or sibling or parent, you must consult a lawyer and draft legal papers.

• Pay attention to unbalanced arrangements at the outset. For example, if you’re contributing 100% of the down payment but the two parties will be splitting the expenses, you might want to be clear in your agreement that your down payment should be returned to you upon sale before profits are split.

Couldn't have asked for a better situation with these two.

In the end if there is a will, there is a way. Just cover your bases to avoid a confrontation in the future.

This arrangement doesn't work for everyone but it did for me along with a few other friends of mine and our partnership evolved into a solid friendship that gets better every year.

Stats!

Average home prices in the last year based on Vancity and surrounding areas.

All data from the BC Northern Real Estate Board, Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board, Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, and Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver © 2015. All rights reserved. Data deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

House Renovations

I'm always impressed when someone takes a dilapidated home and refreshes it to make it their own. When I purchased our place a few years ago, I was really inspired to do the same to our house.
The house in question was 107 years old, so it needed some tender loving care and I'm really happy the way it turned out.

This was the house when we found it.

We eventually turned it into this with a little help from friends some good people who know what they're doing. Click here to get to know who they are.

The house new and improved.

The home is now ours and feels great.

Bike to Work Week

The first joke I heard when I became a a Real Estate advisor was "Are you going to carry your clients around on your bike"? I am an avid bicycle commuter, and my friends can be very cheeky.

My answer is obviously no. When showing off million dollar plus properties, cruising around with your client in your front basket doesn't necessarily promote professionalism and success, but at the same time, there are exceptions to every rule.

Catering to your clients needs and knowing what they need from you as an agent is very important. A lot of my peers are bike first people and Vancouver is home to a lot of bike folk. In fact, there are now almost 100,000 bike trips a day in Vancouver. That's a 20% year-over-year increase. Read some more about it here.

We're coming into bike to work week and I'm happy to say I have a few showings with clients who would prefer to ride their bicycles on a warm summer evening as opposed to being chauffeured, and this suits me just fine. 

I'm going to register my office as a team for  Bike to Work Week.   I'm optimistic that I will be able to get a few people to participate. I even hope to do a few more showings by bike in the future. 

Fingers crossed

Mortgage Insurance Rebate

This can be really dry stuff and I don't normally put this stuff up on the VNCTYBLG but it is too good to not let people know about this who pay CMHC insurance fees.

My good pal at Capital Home Energy told me about this. If you want to know how to get that 10% discount off of your CMHC fee hit the link: REBATE INFO.

YES YES YES for transit.

More cycling makes for a happier city

A city that celebrates cycling is a happier, friendlier place to live—ask anyone from Copenhagen. If you have not experienced the freedom of the saddle, take it from me. It's awesome. And if you’re not a cyclist, remember that cyclists do you a huge favour by not competing with you for road space and parking. Vote Yes, and 2,700 kilometres of bikeways and 300 kilometres of safe, separated bike routes could be yours.

More transit makes for a more civilized city

A city that has made a decent investment in public transit is a far more civilized and easier place to get around in. Why are most European cities such great places? Because they have invested in better transit and cycling. Imagine a future Metro Vancouver with quiet electric buses that run every 10 or 15 minutes. A yes vote means you’ll enjoy a 25 percent increase in total service, 200 kilometres more of the faster B-Line routes, and more frequent rush-hour services.

Shorter wait-times will bring a less stressed life

You don’t like the waiting and the crush of too many people trying to board? Vote Yes, and you’ll get fewer line-ups, shorter wait-times, and more services throughout the city, making travel easier along the region’s busiest bus corridor.

Yes, we do need to change what going on at TransLink 

I never liked what Translink was doing? Join the gang. The Metro Vancouver mayors themselves have made a strong request to the provincial government to establish an elected TransLink board with regular open meetings. Vote Yes, and join every mayor in seeking the exact same thing that you want.

You love driving

You don't live in city core. You love your car and/or car-sharing, and you’ll love it even more when electric vehicles become affordable? I do too. With a Yes vote, and the roads of the future will be less congested and gridlocked with the million new people who will be arriving over the next 30 years, adding three million trips a day to the congestion. You'll need better transit options to deal with this.

You worry about the climate

You know the climate crisis is real, and you worry that it’s gathering like an enormous storm on the horizon? The chief cause of the climate crisis is our use of fossil fuels, and the air pollution from cars and trucks is also contributing to asthma, lung and heart disease. Vote Yes, and it’ll be easier for people to cycle or take the bus instead of driving, reducing Vancouver’s future carbon emissions as well as its air pollution and this leads to...

You want a better future

You want a better future, which includes better management and oversight of TransLink’s management as well as a better system of transportation in general? There really is no comparison between the experience of living in a city which has invested in well-planned transit, light rail transit, and bike lanes, and living in a city that has failed to do so. The one is so much better than the other. Vote Yes, and you will be voting for a better future.