Looking for a house in BC (Fraser Valley) - Half a million for what???

[andsoitgoes]

Originally Posted by woodcarver

Hey Gigy, I dont know how old you and if you have ever experienced the vagaries of the market ??
I am an oldie and have owned houses for most of my adult life and own my present home outright but I have been through times especially here on the island when a house was anything BUT an investment ,through most of the eighties . I bought a house for $125,000 and sold it two years later for $95,000 after spending abot $ 25,000 on it , plus two years mortgage ,plus real estate fee's , plus lawyers fee's . This was also true of the Ontario market where people got carried away with the real estate boom and lost their shirts when it slowed down.
Presently rental costs have no where near reached their true value related to the dizzy new heights reached in the housing market .
These figures are academic if you can afford your payments and intend to stay in your new home for a long time .
The difficulties arise ,if you need to move ,the interest rates rise and the market makes a downward correction at the wrong time .
The U.S . housing market is looking very shaky.
History particularly recent history is no guarantee of the future .

Just a few thoughts ,


..............................Dave

that's what happened to us and our condo.

We sold, BARELY, at just over 80. Right now, a condo 5 doors down is selling for 180.

But that's a condo market. We weren't there for good, and with a house - we WILL be there to see our kids grow up and go to school. It's not a fly by night sort of thing and I refuse to go somewhere to hang around for a few years then leave. My aprents did that, and I don't want that for my girls.

[Aquattro]

Just a thought...everyone here is paying a mortgage. Just some people are paying someone else's mortgage. If you can do the down payment, always try to buy. With the income from a suite, you shouldn't be much worse off than renting. And sure, the market may very well dip down, but it always comes back stronger. So buy a house as a long term investment and you'll be sure to see a return on it. Eventually.

[woodcarver]

Brad, You make a very relevant comment about factoring in the revenue from a suite . I have always thought this is an excellent way for a young couple to enter the market into a bigger property with the potential for subsequent larger increases in value than the small starter home , paid for with the rental income . Of course this is not for everyone with the hassle of finding suitable renters etc. and have some one living in your home .
The market does seem superheated but to some extent is only playing catch up when looking at housing prices globally.

Nick , I have four children ( all now with their own families ) and concur with you over the importance of the stability afforded your young ladies when attending school,making friends and so forth.
I wish you well in your search and , as a previous poster illustrated be a little wary of long mortgages . It is very educational to look at amortization tables and see how little the difference in payments is between say a 30 yr and 35yr term when you will be paying a whole five years more at the full ,mortage!! The witchcraft of compound interest and amortization formulae

After all ,it's only money

........................Dave

[danny zubot]

Our concern here is that it's not going to crash for at least another 10 years, look at what happened after expo 86, and with the 2010 olympics, it's going to drive more people here - well, at least that's what investors see.

I think the investors are correct here. The 2010 Olympics will bring to the lower main land what Oil brought to Calgary. $$$$. Get in now at any expense and you will only make money by then. Corrections in the market happen anually here in Calgary but the market always increases, only the rate of increase changes. The same rules apply out there. Good Luck!

Danny

[Midknight]

My moto has always been Buy High, Sell low.

[woodcarver]

Good one Midnight
Just for interest and to add to the discussion, when I sold my house in England in 1982 and put the proceeds in the Bank in Canada I was getting 15/12 % interest on the deposit . In the next 18 mths mortgages reached as high as 20%. By the score people were walking away from their homes , unable to afford the increased payments.
Inflation was finally brought under control but house prices on the island did not recover substantially for over 10 years !! Wages also fell way behind , with for a long time zero increases and even reduced salaries.
Our memories tend to be short but it is only comparatively recently that we are experiencing more jobs than workers ( thank goodness ) and houses are rocketing up in price .
Hopefully our economists will continue to fine tune the economy to keep things stable and we will not return to the boom and bust scenario of a couple of decades ago.
I suppopse the best advise is not to reach too high !

Again good luck in making your choice , may the gods be with you ..........

...........................Dave.

[Johnny Reefer]

Speaking of more jobs/workers ratio......just wondering what people's thoughts are on the aging population and how this will affect housing prices. Will empty nesters want to sell the house for a condo? Will condo prices rise because of the demand? Will house prices fall because of supply?

Thanx much,