Real Estate prices in the U.S. and Canada - your thoughts on the trend ?

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Recipes Make Magic

Senior Cook
Joined
Aug 17, 2019
Messages
431
Location
Vancouver, B.C.
One of my huge pet peeves, and I'd like to vent about it:

You folks may not know this, but the prices of housing here in Vancouver are the highest in Canada - higher even on average than in our major city of Toronto, Ont., and on a par with R/E costs in most areas of, would you believe, like L.A., San Fran., and even NYC. They've more than doubled over just the past 5-6 years !

The average price of a single family detached home anywhere near the greater downtown Vancouver area is over $1.2 million, and in my area of suburban Surrey, B.C. (Pop. at least 500,000 persons), there is little choice in the detached home bracket much under 1 $million.
Even townhomes and condos are in the half million $ bracket or more.
General affordability for first time buyers is almost nil.

My wife and I had a custom-built 1,630 sq. ft .rancher constructed here in Surrey in 2010, which was recently value assessed @ over $1 million when it cost a little more than half that amount when built. Our annual property taxes have risen by more than 100% since then.

We don't know when this price rise bubble is going to burst.

My main point in writing this is to say that I have actually dreamed of being able to secure the services of Chip & Jo Gaines of Waco, Texas, ( you know, of the TV show, "Fixer Upper") and have them totally redo an older property there to produce their usual 2,500/3,000 sq. ft. palatial home on 2 acres of land somewhere there for well under $300,000. USD cost.
Now, that would really be something to experience !

What is a huge question mark for me is the seemingly extremely low price of land there, as well as the low cost of labour & materials that it takes to do that so reasonably priced. What's the secret ?

Up here, housing costs are $400. per sq. ft.at best, rising to over $1,000. in downtown Vancouver !

I'd sure like to hear any of your comments regarding real estate costs in your areas of North America.
 
What is that real estate mantra, Paul? Location, Location, Location! Apparently, Vancouver is a highly desirable location, what with relatively temperate winters and all.

Around here, towns located roughly 25 miles from Boston have per-square-foot prices going for $150 for older homes, north of $250 for new construction. Meanwhile, in a comparably located city outside of Cleveland, OH, older homes are in the $75-per-sq-ft range, new construction $100-150. We have experience building in both OH and MA. I have to say that the homes we build in OH were much better in materials and construction, and definitely more affordable. In fact, our current MA house is about 60 miles from Boston - and that is plenty close enough to the madness, thank you! :LOL: We took a bath on selling our home in OH when we had to move here (Himself's job was relocated and we ended up having to move during a poor sellers' market), but I'm hoping we can correct that and get a very good return on our investment here and end up with money in the bank after buying a home in OH.
 
Yep, it’s all about location.
My next door neighbor sold her 1940’s, 2-bedroom, 1-bath, 1,200 sq/ft home to this lovely couple with a one-year old for 1.2M about18 months ago. I don’t know how they do it. Many buying in this area are young first time buyers. They also buy, tear down completely, and rebuild from scratch. We live in an old neighborhood just a few minutes from downtown LA. We’ve been here 30 years and seen the housing trends. Our area was also one of the lucky ones that were not affected by the housing crisis back in ‘07-‘08.
 
My wife and I had a custom-built 1,630 sq. ft .rancher constructed here in Surrey in 2010, which was recently value assessed @ over $1 million when it cost a little more than half that amount when built. Our annual property taxes have risen by more than 100% since then.

We don't know when this price rise bubble is going to burst.

Have you thought about cashing in and selling the property? That's what I would do if I were in your shoes.
 
Not home purchase (You don't even want to know) but, why Jeannie and I moved from our home town to Missouri..

$3,900 per month. Available 12/14
2 beds 1 bath 1,168 sqft
306 3rd Street Pacific Grove, CA 93950
Cable not included in rent
Cats Allowed
Dryer
Flooring: Hardwood
Garage
Internet not included in rent
Laundry: In Unit
Patio Balcony

Yeah, Its a couple of blocks from beautiful Monterey Bay but, for $3,200 less, we are happy in Missouri..

Ross
 
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