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HST Will Hit BC Condo Owners

keith — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:14:46 +0000

Well I know it is the popular topic these days, and has probably been beaten to death, but I thought it was worth pointing out to our users in British Columbia that it seems quite likely that Strata fees will increase as a direct result of this tax. I am sure this will go over well with condo owners. Read more here.

Leaky Condo Owners Let Down Again

keith — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:38:53 +0000

Well, it is amazing to me that with recent admissions that there are likely a large number of leaky building still out there and not dealt with, and with a large number of people experiencing financial difficulties in these times, the Provincial Government has decided that it is not longer necessary to provide assistance to leaky condo owners through the Home Owner Protection Office. Also nice that they have lead people to believe that they were considering injecting more funding to help things out and then they announce on a Friday afternoon that the program is dead and the deadline for any remaining applications is that very afternoon. That is fair, lead people to believe that all will be OK and then cut them off at the knees with a couple hours notice. I am usually one to understand the position of both sides in most situations, but here I have to say I find this disgusting on the part of the government.

City of Vancouver to allow secondary suites in new condo developments

keith — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:52:52 +0000

The city is taking an interesting position accommodation in the city, now allowing condo owners to have secondary suites. This should allow more people to be able to afford condo ownership, as well as provide more much needed housing.

Olympic Village Could End Up Infested With Mould

keith — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:21:39 +0000

When will bad news about this project stop. The headline is probably a bit strong but interesting none the less. Looks like cutting corners on insulating pipes could cause problems down the road. The developer Millennium is saying that the problem has been fixed . Read more here

The Ritz Is No More In Vancouver!

keith — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:26:30 +0000

Well I guess this comes as no surprise, but another prominent development has been cancelled in Vancouver. Actually it seems like there has been a lull in these cancellations but I guess there are some loose ends to tie up.

In fairness, I think this project is a little different than most as the market for it is not the average person in Vancouver, in fact not the average person at all so I am not sure this makes much of a statement about the real estate market at all, probably more a statement about the global economic situation.

Anyway, just thought it was interesting. I guess there will be another eyesore in DT Vancouver for a while.

Shangri-La Vanocuver Now Complete

keith — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:04:16 +0000

Just in case you had not hear, Sharngri-La in now complete and open. Anyone looking for a $18M Penthouse??

Millennium Speaks re Vancouver 2010 Olympic Village!

keith — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:09:54 +0000

OK, I was supposed to stop talking about this topic, but I think it is only fair to give Millennium side of the story. As with most things, there are two sides to every story and there is usually some truth to both of them.

I will say that this article makes Millennium look better than the wrap they have been getting, and it also makes the city look better, at least in some ways. It would appear that the city put everything in its best interest and may have even had a hand in creating the difficulty that Millennium and the city now seem to be in.

Anyway, I think this sheds some more light on the situation, and as I have been saying, I don’t think it as bad as it is being made out to be.

Read the full article at the globeandmail.com

Wood Frame Condos Could Grow Higher in BC!

keith — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:58:19 +0000

I found an interesting article today about the fact the the BC Government is looking at changing the Building code to allow wood frame building to be built 6 stories high rather than the current 4 stories.

This would certainly make it possible to build certain buildings that would not have been viable before with concrete construction. Also, will possibly make for some more affordable options for buyers out there.

I guess my only question is how high should we be building with wood. Obviously we want to make sure all our buildings are structurally sound, will last a long time etc. We all want to assume that if it part of the building code it must be OK, but don’t forget what happened with leaky condos and the building code at the time. if we use that logic there should not have been any leaky condos.

Would love to hear form any builders, engineers etc. on this.

Vancouver 2010 Olympic Village, Enough!

keith — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:36:58 +0000

OK, I have to admit I am contributing to this ongoing story which even I am getting sick of quite quickly.

It seems that there are no shortage of stories about this, click here to see the one that got me going again.

Bottom line is that the decisions that were made around this project were made already, so we need to spend more time moving forward and less time talking about who did what, what a bad deal this is for the city etc. The politicians and the media seem to like to sensationalize everything, the fact is the project must be completed, the city is not going to be out a Billion dollars as they will own the project, so let stop throwing around numbers to scare people and cause an uproar, lets move forward. Yes the real estate market is taking a hit right now, but it was going to happen at some point as it always does, and it will turn around at some point as it ALWAYS does. It is just a matter of time but it will happen. The city will have to look at this as a long term investment, but that has aalways been the way to look at real estate and real estate has always been a solid investment. The fact is that timing the market would be great, but it is not easy and most real estate investors are in for the long run for this reason, things will be no different here. The fact is had the timing been different and had the market not come down yet people would be saying what a good deal the city had made (well maybe the current mayor would not be saying that at is seems to go against the norm the actually be happy with what a past administration did).

Yes there are problems with the ways things were done perhaps, but it is opportunistic to make such a production of it, just get on with it, in the long run it will not be the end of the world and all that is happening now is the current politicians want to make sure to place the blame for the current situation on past councils and set themselves up to be the savior for the future when things turn around. Fact is they have nothing to do with the market forces which are really the problem in the present moment.

The sky is not falling, the sun will shine again.

Sorry for contributing to keeping this story going, I will try and keep away form it (for now anyway).

Condo Developments Relying on Future Transit May Be Impacted…

keith — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:55:34 +0000

There may be many that have been counting on future Transit developments such as the Evergreen line to add value to their condos, or may have purchased because of the coming transit.

Well it looks like there could be more hold ups for such transit projects as noted in the Vancouver Sun article “Evergreen Line delay feared” This simply points out that when making any investment or purchasing choice, you can never fully count on future plans to happen, you need to focus on the present as well to make a informed choice. That’s what risk is all about, there is always the hope and chance that future events will increase the value of what you have purchased, but there is always the other side, the lack of such event s may have the opposite effect.

Good news is, for projects like these it is just a matter of time, just like the economy, so we may have to sit tight a little longer.