Lately BF and I have been dreaming about buying our first place together. It’s not going to happen for at least another 2 years, and even then it will depend on the housing market.
We’ve identified our preferred neighbourhoods, and whenever we’re out walking or bicycling or driving, more often than not we’ll do a little tour of different areas we might consider living.
We used to be so far apart in terms of what our must-haves were; he was the dreamer who wanted a big house and acreage (where exactly would that exist in Vancouver anyway?). Whereas I was much more realistic and was just hoping for a condo to start out in. Especially around here, where $500k won’t get you very far, and certainly won’t get you a detached house at all. There is literally not one single house available for under half a million dollars in the city.
I think when it comes down to buying a place, we’ll be looking around the $400-450k range (our combined annual income once BF starts working in his career will be around $100-120k). And that will get us a townhome about 45 min. drive from the city centre. We’re not even considering properties in Vancouver itself. It’s just way too expensive, and we rarely ever go into the city anyway.
Anyway just for fun, this is what we’ll ideally be looking for:
- $400-450k range
- At least 1,200 sq. ft.
- Townhome or possibly a garden-level condo
- Move-in-ready, or only cosmetic renovations needed
- Walking distance to restaurants, shops, recreation centre, etc.
- Small-town feel (not that I’d necessarily live in these areas, but for those that are local, think Port Moody or parts of North Van, or Steveston)
- 3 bedrooms (master, spare/baby room, computer)
- 1.5 bathrooms
- Parking for 2 cars
Our price range might seem sky high for a lot of people. When I watch those home buying shows on TV, and people can buy detached houses for under $500k, I get extremely jealous. Especially those places where you can get a big lot AND a huge house with high end finishes for that price. And what’s up with some areas being able to buy a house for under $200k? That to me is crazy. But we’re not willing to move from Vancouver, so that is the price we’ll have to pay.
We will be looking at a down payment of around $50-100k. I have $25k saved in my RRSPs for the First Time Home Buyer’s Plan, and BF and I are hoping to save $25k ourselves by then, so that’s $50k already.
Anyway, it’s good to think that far ahead. And it helps make our extremely cramped living quarters a bit easier to handle, knowing there’s an end in sight.
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My house costs less than $200k. My pay is super low though. It is all relative.
My house costs less than $200k. My pay is super low though. It is all relative.
Yeah, pay is lower here too but you can still find a good house for around $200K, a decent house for $150K, and then a great house in an amazing neighborhood for $300K. My bf and I are looking at condos and townhomes right now and they go for around $120K. We're thinking about doing that as our first starter place so we can still save money on our dream home but not throw away money on rent.
My recent post One More Day
Yeah, pay is lower here too but you can still find a good house for around $200K, a decent house for $150K, and then a great house in an amazing neighborhood for $300K. My bf and I are looking at condos and townhomes right now and they go for around $120K. We're thinking about doing that as our first starter place so we can still save money on our dream home but not throw away money on rent.
My recent post One More Day
I keep hearing how nobody wants to buy real estate, but I know that's not true and I love reading things like this to show that I'm right, and that there's hope for the real estate and housing market. It takes good, committed people like you and I'm happy to read this! Good luck, can't wait to read more about how it all goes.
My recent post Dont Be Wasteful When Shopping In Bulk
I keep hearing how nobody wants to buy real estate, but I know that's not true and I love reading things like this to show that I'm right, and that there's hope for the real estate and housing market. It takes good, committed people like you and I'm happy to read this! Good luck, can't wait to read more about how it all goes.
My recent post Dont Be Wasteful When Shopping In Bulk
I watched a House Hunters in Vancouver last night and it made me think of you! The couple was SUPER active & got a condo in Burnaby near hiking/biking trails, 2 bed/1bed for $266K. I think it might’ve been from a few years tho at that price? Your plan sounds great, though! Places in SoCal are really expensive, too.
I love House Hunters! My friend is looking for a condo in the Burnaby area for around that same price point. But she only needs a 1 or 2 bedroom place so she'll be able to go in under $300k. When we buy, we want to make sure there is enough room to grow our family. Plus we have so much hiking and outdoorsy gear that we literally need a separate room to store it all in. :)
I watched a House Hunters in Vancouver last night and it made me think of you! The couple was SUPER active & got a condo in Burnaby near hiking/biking trails, 2 bed/1bed for $266K. I think it might’ve been from a few years tho at that price? Your plan sounds great, though! Places in SoCal are really expensive, too.
I love House Hunters! My friend is looking for a condo in the Burnaby area for around that same price point. But she only needs a 1 or 2 bedroom place so she'll be able to go in under $300k. When we buy, we want to make sure there is enough room to grow our family. Plus we have so much hiking and outdoorsy gear that we literally need a separate room to store it all in. :)
I can't imagine the cost of housing being so high! We bought our house this spring for $277K and it's pretty big–too big for the two of us but will be great if/when there's a baby in the picture. I'm surprised that there's such a difference in housing costs between the east coast and west coast yet salaries are pretty similar (we are both in the same field, marketing, and in the same salary range from what I've read here). I guess if you get outside Vancouver things probably change pretty drastically–same with here–you can buy a country house for under $200K easily!
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Well right now we live about 45 min. drive from downtown Vancouver (with no traffic), and technically don't even live in the City of Vancouver at all. Homes out east of Vancouver are more affordable, but you're still looking at over $400k for a house, minimum. And the commute would be so brutal that it probably wouldn't be worth it. My commute is already 3 hours round trip to work!
You're right, the price difference between the east and west coast are so drastic. I was looking at housing prices in the Maritimes a few weeks ago and got that jealous feeling. I can't imagine how awesome it would be to have the same kind of earning power, but a home that costs less than half of what it would cost here in Vancouver.
I can't imagine the cost of housing being so high! We bought our house this spring for $277K and it's pretty big–too big for the two of us but will be great if/when there's a baby in the picture. I'm surprised that there's such a difference in housing costs between the east coast and west coast yet salaries are pretty similar (we are both in the same field, marketing, and in the same salary range from what I've read here). I guess if you get outside Vancouver things probably change pretty drastically–same with here–you can buy a country house for under $200K easily!
My recent post Incraption
Well right now we live about 45 min. drive from downtown Vancouver (with no traffic), and technically don't even live in the City of Vancouver at all. Homes out east of Vancouver are more affordable, but you're still looking at over $400k for a house, minimum. And the commute would be so brutal that it probably wouldn't be worth it. My commute is already 3 hours round trip to work!
You're right, the price difference between the east and west coast are so drastic. I was looking at housing prices in the Maritimes a few weeks ago and got that jealous feeling. I can't imagine how awesome it would be to have the same kind of earning power, but a home that costs less than half of what it would cost here in Vancouver.
Squamish!!!! You could by a brand new waterfront town home, 3 bedrooms for WELL under $400k (Lot's of bank close outs right now). Only 60 minutes to downtown, close to climbing, and to Whistler….what are you waiting for? Totally small town feel with great family/community Vibe. I have been here 4 years, and I LOVE it, it keeps getting better.
We briefly entertained the idea of Squamish, but I work quite a ways away from downtown, so living in Squamish would double my commute and it's long as it already is! And also we've been stuck on the Sea-to-Sky when there's been an accident – not cool. Plus we both have meetings and clubs we belong to around where we live now – and they don't exist in Squamish. So it's kind of out of the question for now.
Squamish!!!! You could by a brand new waterfront town home, 3 bedrooms for WELL under $400k (Lot's of bank close outs right now). Only 60 minutes to downtown, close to climbing, and to Whistler….what are you waiting for? Totally small town feel with great family/community Vibe. I have been here 4 years, and I LOVE it, it keeps getting better.
We briefly entertained the idea of Squamish, but I work quite a ways away from downtown, so living in Squamish would double my commute and it's long as it already is! And also we've been stuck on the Sea-to-Sky when there's been an accident – not cool. Plus we both have meetings and clubs we belong to around where we live now – and they don't exist in Squamish. So it's kind of out of the question for now.
According to your Quick Pension Calculator, I would have to save in Aussie dollars around $15,000 a month in order to retire on the wage that I earn now. So all of the houses are out of our range. But you are young enough to give it a go, get your foot in the door as soon as you can. Even if it means buying into an area you would,nt normaly choose to live in, you can always move again when the market is right.
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According to your Quick Pension Calculator, I would have to save in Aussie dollars around $15,000 a month in order to retire on the wage that I earn now. So all of the houses are out of our range. But you are young enough to give it a go, get your foot in the door as soon as you can. Even if it means buying into an area you would,nt normaly choose to live in, you can always move again when the market is right.
My recent post The loves of my Life – Scotty
I'm not sure how high the cost of living is in Vancouver, so maybe the house prices are appropriate relative to salaries. I make roughly what you make with 2.5 years of experience in accounting and a masters degree, so I suspect my salary in Vancouver would be higher. Having said that, I can't imagine paying that much for property regardless of my income! Would you have a 30 year or 40 year mortgage? My husband and I watch Property Virgins and we see a lot of people in Canada get 40 year mortgages, which I've never seen here in the states. We live in Texas (a.k.a. hell on earth) and we have lots of land and cheap real estate with a reasonable cost of living. We purchased our house for 135K. It's a 1955 home, in the downtown area of our suburb and 1200 square feet. The homes in our particular neighborhood range anywhere form 130K – 300K, depending on size, but our home would be closer to 200K if we moved 10 miles south into east Dallas.
The most I would do is a 30 year mortgage for the first 5 years and then refinance to a 25 year mortgage. But every time I calculate how much we can afford with an online mortgage calculator, I always run the numbers with 25 years. 40 year mortgages don't exist in Canada anymore – at least not where I live. They got rid of them a couple of years ago I think.
A lot of people in Vancouver are just priced out of the housing market completely. I read somewhere a few years ago that the median income in Vancouver is $59k. So once BF starts his career, both of us will be around that mark. So we've got just average salaries in comparison to others here, but a $100-120k combined income is still pretty good … yet it's depressing to know that you 1) definitely need a dual income to buy property in Vancouver, and 2) $100k salary is still not enough to buy a house. I was seriously not kidding when I said there is no detached home here selling for under $500k. And even if there is, it's a complete crack shack.
But if we moved a couple of hours out of the surrounding area of Vancouver, I'm sure we could get a great house for much less. That being said … I wouldn't commute any farther than I'm already commuting, and I don't want to live out in the sticks! :)
I'm not sure how high the cost of living is in Vancouver, so maybe the house prices are appropriate relative to salaries. I make roughly what you make with 2.5 years of experience in accounting and a masters degree, so I suspect my salary in Vancouver would be higher. Having said that, I can't imagine paying that much for property regardless of my income! Would you have a 30 year or 40 year mortgage? My husband and I watch Property Virgins and we see a lot of people in Canada get 40 year mortgages, which I've never seen here in the states. We live in Texas (a.k.a. hell on earth) and we have lots of land and cheap real estate with a reasonable cost of living. We purchased our house for 135K. It's a 1955 home, in the downtown area of our suburb and 1200 square feet. The homes in our particular neighborhood range anywhere form 130K – 300K, depending on size, but our home would be closer to 200K if we moved 10 miles south into east Dallas.
The most I would do is a 30 year mortgage for the first 5 years and then refinance to a 25 year mortgage. But every time I calculate how much we can afford with an online mortgage calculator, I always run the numbers with 25 years. 40 year mortgages don't exist in Canada anymore – at least not where I live. They got rid of them a couple of years ago I think.
A lot of people in Vancouver are just priced out of the housing market completely. I read somewhere a few years ago that the median income in Vancouver is $59k. So once BF starts his career, both of us will be around that mark. So we've got just average salaries in comparison to others here, but a $100-120k combined income is still pretty good … yet it's depressing to know that you 1) definitely need a dual income to buy property in Vancouver, and 2) $100k salary is still not enough to buy a house. I was seriously not kidding when I said there is no detached home here selling for under $500k. And even if there is, it's a complete crack shack.
But if we moved a couple of hours out of the surrounding area of Vancouver, I'm sure we could get a great house for much less. That being said … I wouldn't commute any farther than I'm already commuting, and I don't want to live out in the sticks! :)
I don't know why, but I still very rarely dream of owning a home. Financially, I plan for it, in a vague sort of way. But I never think about it and have very little desire to own – i just figure it will make sense at some point.
L.A. is super expensive too, plus we live in an area we never could afford to buy in… but now I never want to move!
I don't know why, but I still very rarely dream of owning a home. Financially, I plan for it, in a vague sort of way. But I never think about it and have very little desire to own – i just figure it will make sense at some point.
L.A. is super expensive too, plus we live in an area we never could afford to buy in… but now I never want to move!
I just can't believe how expensive BC is.. I've been planning to move there since, pretty much forever lol.. I just want to get out of MB and go on to bigger and better things when I'm done my massage therapy course and I think the BF and I decided after we've saved up enough, we could possibly do this. We knew how expensive it was to live in BC, but I just never anticipated that much! We just got a house here, for 84k, and it was 1000 sq. ft! mind you, there are not a lot of renos to be done either. just cosmetic things.
I just can't imagine paying 400k! It's big enough for us, afterall we're just 20 some yrs old..we have a roommate living with us in the basement to help us out while i'm in school/paying out of my wazoo.. and I work pretty much just weekends.. so 15-20 hrs/week. I just couldn't imagine being in debt, and living there.. definitely would have to get rid of all forms of credit before heading there!!
Yup most people are priced out of the market here in Vancouver. You can still buy a good condo in Burnaby or somewhere a bit farther out from Vancouver for under $300k. But a detached house? Not unless you can afford a $600k mortgage!
I just can't believe how expensive BC is.. I've been planning to move there since, pretty much forever lol.. I just want to get out of MB and go on to bigger and better things when I'm done my massage therapy course and I think the BF and I decided after we've saved up enough, we could possibly do this. We knew how expensive it was to live in BC, but I just never anticipated that much! We just got a house here, for 84k, and it was 1000 sq. ft! mind you, there are not a lot of renos to be done either. just cosmetic things.
I just can't imagine paying 400k! It's big enough for us, afterall we're just 20 some yrs old..we have a roommate living with us in the basement to help us out while i'm in school/paying out of my wazoo.. and I work pretty much just weekends.. so 15-20 hrs/week. I just couldn't imagine being in debt, and living there.. definitely would have to get rid of all forms of credit before heading there!!
Yup most people are priced out of the market here in Vancouver. You can still buy a good condo in Burnaby or somewhere a bit farther out from Vancouver for under $300k. But a detached house? Not unless you can afford a $600k mortgage!
My recommendation would be to buy an income place at first. With the prices at a high level, you limit your risk by having a suite in it. When we bought our first place in Langley for 270K$ 8 years ago we already had 2 kids and I did not want to deal with tenants. The stint in Langley lasted a year as I couldn't stand the traffic to cross the bridges… My brother bought a place and finished the basement with a suite and the suite covers most of his mortgage in the Toronto area.
As you said in your comments, it's expensive and many people have suite in their places to offset the cost of the mortgages. Even out in the suburbs there are many suites. I tend to keep the printouts of listing dating back to a good number of years ago to get an idea of the changes in the market. It may be good to start keeping track of prices on your own to understand the local trends. Don't rely on the realtor for that.
Note that you mentioned baby room :) I would look at schools as well. Friends of us bought a place near their work only to realize the schools and the neighborhood wasn't where they wanted to raise kids. (But it was 10 minutes form work)
Good Luck!
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We will definitely consider a house with a rental suite. But even with the extra income the rental suite brings in, we'd have to have a bigger mortgage, more property tax, $$ to upkeep an entire house and rental suite, and find the time to mow the lawn, and do home repairs that we really just don't have the time for. BF might not be around much over the next few years as he gets established in his career, and with my FT job, PT job and design work, I won't have time to do it on my own either.
There is amazing software available that trends the housing market in different areas all the way back for decades. It really is a thorough analysis and I will be using that software extensively when it comes to actually starting our housing search.
And yes, we will definitely be looking at neighborhoods with schools. That's why we are specifically looking for the small-town feel, where everything is close together and within walking distance. I do want to move closer to work, but not if we have to sacrifice a good neighborhood.
My recommendation would be to buy an income place at first. With the prices at a high level, you limit your risk by having a suite in it. When we bought our first place in Langley for 270K$ 8 years ago we already had 2 kids and I did not want to deal with tenants. The stint in Langley lasted a year as I couldn't stand the traffic to cross the bridges… My brother bought a place and finished the basement with a suite and the suite covers most of his mortgage in the Toronto area.
As you said in your comments, it's expensive and many people have suite in their places to offset the cost of the mortgages. Even out in the suburbs there are many suites. I tend to keep the printouts of listing dating back to a good number of years ago to get an idea of the changes in the market. It may be good to start keeping track of prices on your own to understand the local trends. Don't rely on the realtor for that.
Note that you mentioned baby room :) I would look at schools as well. Friends of us bought a place near their work only to realize the schools and the neighborhood wasn't where they wanted to raise kids. (But it was 10 minutes form work)
Good Luck!
My recent post Do you know what to expect from the usual bank ritual
We will definitely consider a house with a rental suite. But even with the extra income the rental suite brings in, we'd have to have a bigger mortgage, more property tax, $$ to upkeep an entire house and rental suite, and find the time to mow the lawn, and do home repairs that we really just don't have the time for. BF might not be around much over the next few years as he gets established in his career, and with my FT job, PT job and design work, I won't have time to do it on my own either.
There is amazing software available that trends the housing market in different areas all the way back for decades. It really is a thorough analysis and I will be using that software extensively when it comes to actually starting our housing search.
And yes, we will definitely be looking at neighborhoods with schools. That's why we are specifically looking for the small-town feel, where everything is close together and within walking distance. I do want to move closer to work, but not if we have to sacrifice a good neighborhood.
Sounds like you have a good set of requirements! And you'll probably have about 25% down payment which is really good =) I'm glad your mom is so generous to chip in- my mom's like "nope! you're on your own". I was just looking on MLS myself and got depressed again. Still on the hunt, looking in vancouver, but nothing good.
There is not one house in Vancouver for less than 600K… and you're right, it would be a crack shack- or you'd be living beside a shooting gallery!
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Yeah, my goal was to definitely hit that 25% down payment! :) I was VERY surprised that my mom offered to chip in, since she's the type of mom who has never really helped me out financially. I paid for every penny of school, and most of my competitive sports too. I think it has something to do with her receiving a small inheritance from when my grandparents passed away. She was able to pay off the rest of her mortgage with that money, and she said she'd rather see me benefit from my future inheritance now when I'll probably need it more, rather than in a few decades.
Sounds like you have a good set of requirements! And you'll probably have about 25% down payment which is really good =) I'm glad your mom is so generous to chip in- my mom's like “nope! you're on your own”. I was just looking on MLS myself and got depressed again. Still on the hunt, looking in vancouver, but nothing good.
There is not one house in Vancouver for less than 600K… and you're right, it would be a crack shack- or you'd be living beside a shooting gallery!
My recent post Weekend Ramblings and PF Blog Love- WOO HOO!!!! Edition
Yeah, my goal was to definitely hit that 25% down payment! :) I was VERY surprised that my mom offered to chip in, since she's the type of mom who has never really helped me out financially. I paid for every penny of school, and most of my competitive sports too. I think it has something to do with her receiving a small inheritance from when my grandparents passed away. She was able to pay off the rest of her mortgage with that money, and she said she'd rather see me benefit from my future inheritance now when I'll probably need it more, rather than in a few decades.