5833 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

A billionaire's association with a luxury Vancouver Island mansion highlights land title anomalies that mean property transfer and foreign buyers taxes don't apply to purchases of some pricey B.C. homes.

 

CBC revealed last month that Russian-born billionaire Yuri Milner was the man behind the trust that bought the $18 million Mille Fleurs mansion in 2013 — seven years before the oceanfront property would house Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as they reportedly drew up plans to step back from their royal duties.

 

But beyond the intrigue associated with ownership of the mansion, the investigation also underscores an unusual property registration situation that predates strata title legislation passed in the 1960s.

 

 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...holes-1.6435925

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 May 2022 - 08:58 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

https://twitter.com/...MtcxTcfN6MtWATQ

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 19 May 2022 - 01:32 PM.

[spanky123]

The age of "wokeness" is coming to an end. 

[Victoria Watcher]

The age of "wokeness" is coming to an end.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 19 May 2022 - 01:47 PM.

[Nparker]

The age of "wokeness" is coming to an end. 

Gawd I hope so.

[dasmo]

We need a man to get pregnant and then have an abortion to really signal it’s end.

[spanky123]

Gawd I hope so.

 

Once the average bloke starts struggling to fill their gas tank, put food on the table and pay their rent then their tolerance for someone whining that the wrong pronoun was used and thus they should be paid for sitting on their butts for 6 months while they recover will diminish to zero. MLAs and MPs who keep wanting to take more and more money to fund that will become unemployed. 

[Citified.ca]

A new price record has been set for the sale of a house on Vancouver Island, via the MLS.

 

A 1.67-acre Oak Bay/Uplands home has sold for $13.2 million.

 

Sale of Uplands mansion sets new price record on Vancouver Island

https://victoria.cit...ncouver-island/

[Citified.ca]

May’s real-estate activity all vanilla as Victoria housing market hummed along

https://victoria.cit...t-hummed-along/

[Victoria Watcher]

A lot of sob stories in here. Lame people.

https://www.timescol...or-some-5434066

[Victoria Watcher]

A lot of sob stories in here. Lame people.

https://www.timescol...or-some-5434066

“Imagine, you have 15 minutes to look around the property before making an unconditional offer and putting up a $20,000 deposit. The biggest decision you ever make, and you have minutes to make it,” he said, noting the “buyer’s remorse” kicked in the minute the papers were signed.

He said they have been asking themselves if they paid too much, and what happens if the market crashes. “To add to that, interest rates started rising. We have endured two interest-rate increases already, and we have not even made our first mortgage payment yet.”

________

Another would-be buyer, Cathi McGillivray, said she is angry and frustrated at the price jumps over the past two years. “My dream of buying a little house, gone; a townhouse, gone. Even a condo now, gone,” she said. “I could barely breathe as things changed and just kept going up.”

McGillivray said she was being outbid in some cases by tens of thousands of dollars and cash offers. “I don’t know how young people will ever afford to buy in Victoria without help from parents or an inheritance. How do we expect to keep them here?”

______

Stella Garcia is renting but has been trying to buy for more than a year, only to see the price of condos jump from $330,000 to $498,000 in a year. She has been outbid several times. “Never in my life did I think I’d try to purchase a condo for $450,000. I am a widow in my 50s and $450,000 is beyond my budget. But what choice do I have? I have no choice but to spend beyond what I can afford, or leave the province.”





Suck it up, people.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 June 2022 - 02:53 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Then there is this guy:




Retired armed forces veteran Kelly Carter said he left the region after renting for five years and not being able to find a home to buy. Carter had $100,000 set aside for a down payment and monthly income of about $3,000 but could find nothing but mobile homes in his price range. “I did not want to move back to Alberta, as I started to get to love the area. But I must if I want to return to being an owner again, and get out of the renter’s rut.”

Carter ended up buying a condo in Red Deer, Alta. for $240,000; he saw comparable properties for twice that and more in Greater Victoria.





What do you expect with an income of only $36,000. But he appears perfectly mobile, he will just go live in Red Deer. Victoria does not owe him a home.

[lanforod]

An income of 36k. Yeah, that makes no sense. The down payment is fine. That income is not a realistic expectation of owning in pretty much any major population center in Canada.

[lanforod]

'endured two interest rate hikes and haven't made a payment yet'? that's the risk of a variable mortgage bruh. If you want stability, you pay more and lock it in.

[Nparker]

Why would someone choose a variable rate mortgage right now?

[Mike K.]

It’s lower than the five-year by quite a bit. I don’t know if variable rates are going to reach 5.x% any time soon.

[Nparker]

Fortunately, I am about to say adios to my mortgage so it's not something about which I am particularly concerned.

[Mike K.]

I just drove last a mortgage place. Variable as low as 2.2%. 5-year 4.04. Those are b and c lenders but it’s there for you if you want it.

[dasmo]

Shoot, in the 90s I figured out I couldn't buy a house on a $40k/year salary. I asked for a 100% raise. I got it over the course of three years.... 

Edited by dasmo, 02 June 2022 - 08:49 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

This article makes out like it’s a success that only three people have left the program. That’s actually a mass failure, as the planners had expected most people to leave within a year.





The Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness partnered with Aryze Developments on the project. Together, they launched a crowdfunding campaign that raised $550,000 from the public and businesses in three months.

The village, intended to provide transitional housing to break the cycle of homelessness, was assembled on the parking lot of the adjacent Royal Athletic Park, which is owned by the City of Victoria. Two meals a day are delivered to residents, who have access to a common area to reheat food, along with communal showers and toilets. All but three of the original group of residents who moved in have remained in the program, which has attracted attention from other social agencies in Canada and as far away as Germany, hoping to emulate it.