6079 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

I think it's funny you think a one time luxury tax is the reason why the hourly rate is so high.

Of course it is.

Dude. It’ll take years to pay that off at $175/hour.

[Mike K.]

Yeah, I paid $100 an hour and I don't have a problem with that, it was the dispatch fee of $80 that I thought was out of line. There was nothing to diagnose, he was installing a new kitchen faucet that we had purchased at Lowes.

See. $180 for a one hour job.

[E2V]

A neighbour recently had some plumbing work done. There was a tip option on the invoice.

[spanky123]

for small jobs, I just find Youtube videos on how to fix it and do the plumbing myself

 

big jobs, like a water heater, go with the pros to have the warranty covered

 

It's amazing the Youtube videos you can find to fix things.  

 

Not just the warranty at stake. For simple repairs like a leaky faucet or toilet flush mechanism sure, but you really need to be careful when safety devices such as pressure relief valves, mixing valves, overflow tanks, etc are concerned. 

[Ismo07]

Of course it is.

Dude. It’ll take years to pay that off at $175/hour.

 

Looks like luxury tax is for vehicles over $100k...  Will there be plumbing rebates now?

[Mike K.]

That’s a federal luxury tax. You’re missing the BC luxury tax.

I’m being facetious about the luxury tax being the driver of high costs. It’s just one of many, but it doesn’t help, when BC’s luxury tax applies to basic, run of the mill vehicles like ho-hum work trucks.

[lanforod]

Ismo was the only one here who didn't realize you were being facetious. 

[dasmo]

I need to raise my rates!

[Ismo07]

Ismo was the only one here who didn't realize you were being facetious. 

 

Haha I like to deadpan some of Mike's silliness...

[Mike K.]

I just don't think you're aware of how many costs businesses have to cover, just to keep the lights on. Parking tickets being among them 

[Ismo07]

I just don't think you're aware of how many costs businesses have to cover, just to keep the lights on. Parking tickets being among them 

 

Parking tickets are a write off...  I've never complained about my plumber rates or call outs...  Just funny to say that this tax is THE reason plumbers are $180/hr...  I'll have to ask my plumber but I doubt that will be in the top 5 of reasons.  All those things are write offs, so that basically makes them all free right???

Edited by Ismo07, 21 September 2023 - 08:53 AM.

[Mike K.]

Maybe it’s better to keep the money, than to write it off?

[Ismo07]

Maybe it’s better to keep the money, than to write it off?

 

You mean not buy a van?  Oh you mean tickets..?  Might be better off just paying for the parking or a permit that is available.  How did you swing it to this lol...

[Victoria Watcher]

The minimum annual income required to buy an average-priced Victoria home climbed to $184,800 last month, according to an online mortgage brokerage.

 

In Victoria, the minimum income needed to buy a home priced at the $888,000 average, which includes houses, townhouses and condos, rose $1,420 between July and August to $184,800, according to ­RateHub. The data focused on ­Victoria proper and does not include ­surrounding municipalities.

 

https://www.timescol...dy-says-7589652

[Mike K.]

Coming up on 20 years old now. Here's a gem from the past, from househuntvictoria, posted in June of 2007. Get a load of those prices, that HHV thought were too high and on the precipice of collapse or a slow burn higher: 
 

Does anyone remember the 1990s, when people left in droves because the work situation here was so bad? I talk to my peer group (30 somethings) and many are starting to think about leaving again. Why? Because they can earn the same or more elsewhere, spend half what they do now on housing, have kids who can actually go to a school in a neighbourhood they live in without fear of a school closing, and not live in a town that is building projects that cater to their parents generation exclusively.

 

Look at what FTBs have as their purchasing options these days: $425K fixer-upper/starter homes and $250K 900SF condos. Outside of Victoria, Vancouver, the Okanagan, Edmonton and Calgary, $250K buys you a very nice home in a decent neighbourhood, in a town where there are no shortages of work. Many people are taking advantage of telecommuting these days. The quality of life for younger, higher paid technical and management types is often better had for a cheaper cost elsewhere. Victoria simply is not worth a 100% premium for what it offers us. Most people are well aware of the fact that the housing market has cooled significantly and that their homes will only appreciate modestly from here on in, if at all. Some are happy they made money already, but if anyone was caught on the outside looking in, unless they are getting bad info and advice, they'll be in no rush to jump in these days.

 

Businesses will have a tough time recruiting people with skills they need to comehere from elsewhere with housing prices being what they are. The available talent pool is not deep enough to attract head offices of major corporations.

 

Money Mart is a local company that grew out of Victoria. How many more of these can we expect to spring up? I hope many. But even if they do, they will be minor players in Canadian business because when all is said and done, Victoria is a small player type city and that is what has made it so attractive to the retirees wanting to get away from the rat races.
 

The best thing that the government could do is start moving their ministry offices out into the westshore so many of their younger employees can cut their commutes/costs and be closer to the only part of town that is building family-friendly accommodation. That won't happen anytime soon though.

 

 

Some of the ideas in there are ok, but I wonder what this person thinks of Victoria's present-day prices.

[Mike K.]

Here's a gem from me:

 

Commuting is a part of life for residents who choose to live far from the core and the government shouldn't remove tens of thousands of jobs from downtown simply because some employees dislike the Colwood crawl which they contribute to. That's backwards thinking at a time when we're working to bring people OUT of the suburbs and BACK into the city.

 

 

I sure changed my tune on that one! I am all about choice now, and paying your way. If you want to live in the suburbs and commute, bless you. Just know what you're getting into. Nothing's just peachy, everything has its ups and downs.

[Barrrister]

Government should definitely move thousands of jobs from the downtown core

and into an area better for its employees. 

[Mike K.]

When the title doesn’t know what the content is doing.

[aastra]

We've seen those stories many times during the past twenty years. Prices are still rising but sales aren't increasing at the moment so therefore it's a buyer's market and there are bargains to be had, etc.

 

Here's the odd thing about those real estate bloggers, as a cultural phenomenon: they were always wrong about everything. Always, in every market, everywhere. And yet they would go bananas trying to make their premises seem legit via an overdose of charts, graphs, and "hard data".

Looking back on it all now, I have to wonder what it was really all about. It was such a sweeping thing, the same basic characters saying the same basic things in the same basic way in hundreds of different markets. Sounds a lot like politics, you think?

[Mike K.]

That old thread is a goldmine of housing bubble hysteria, from a few characters convinced the whole thing was collapsing.

There’s good money to be made, or power and prestige to be had (or all three) if you can build a following.