97 replies to this topic

[Szeven]

Yeah you're arguing from a bit of a weak position here. "I was perfectly happy in a condo driving a Lada I don't know why everyone wants so much stuff". - drives a tesla and lives in a ludicrously large custom built house.

I agree with you, if you don't own, don't buy a dog and other useless crap. Our house is good but it's 4 of us in the upstairs which is just over 1000sqft. It could just as well be a condo we almost never use the backyard. Haven't been out there since the summer. Only reason we have one is so the mother in law can live in the suite and the arrangement is cheaper and better than most anything else.

 

Marko drives a 70D though if im not mistaken. Most people with his income would just walk in and say "give me the best one" without caring about what they needed.

[LeoVictoria]

Marko drives a 70D though if im not mistaken. Most people with his income would just walk in and say "give me the best one" without caring about what they needed.

 

Marko tells me the goto trick for realtors that own Teslas is to take the letters off the back   

[MarkoJ]

I am sure that me driving a poor person Tesla will make everyone that can't afford to get into the marketplace feel a lot better

[Matt R.]

I'll chime in here and sing some more praises of Parkside Place in Saanich.

About eight years ago, we were very happy renting a house in vic west, loved it actually, but then the hammer fell and we got evicted because the duplex had been illegally turned into a fourplex. City demanded action, landlord had just passed away, the widow wanted nothing to do with any of it so pulled the plug and sold it.

We were a family of four by this point, so felt we needed a three bedroom but we're in the extreme low end of the market, sub 300k. Tough to find anything!

We looked at some apartment/condo conversions in esquimalt and a couple townhouse units at Parkside Place. We ended up getting into a three bedroom 2 bathroom 1200 sq foot townhouse, in good shape, for about 260.

Cheaper than rent. Of course you gotta come up with a down payment.

These units still come up for sale, and have not appreciated much as far as I can tell. A bit of an unknown treasure in our local housing market. I recognize the market has changed a lot since 2008 but this place just seems so off the radar and buying it has really changed our lives.

We have had a fantastic experience here with excellent property management, grounds are always nice, repairs are well taken care of, nice little pool and a really great community feel with many long term owners. Rentals are capped so there are not a lot of transients, pets are allowed. Close to town, close to west shore, right on the goose, etc.

To the original poster, take a look down here, see if there are any listings. Maybe an estate sale? You Mish get lucky. We did!

Matt.

[VicHockeyFan]

No current listings at Parkside.   

[jonny]

What’s disappointing to me regarding Greater Victoria real estate is that there is little middle ground between condos and SFHs. I think we are really missing the mark in terms of townhomes, rowhouses and brownstones.

 

Neighbourhoods like James Bay and North Park should be chock full of rowhouses, IMO.

 

Edited by jonny, 09 February 2017 - 11:28 AM.

[Matt R.]

^^ I doubt we will ever sell.

Matt.

[Nparker]

...Neighbourhoods like James Bay and North Park should be chock full of rowhouses, IMO.

Oh sure, force your gentrification on North Park. 

[johnk]

Oh sure, force your gentrification on North Park. 

And put farmland in danger! ;-)

[rjag]

What’s disappointing to me regarding Greater Victoria real estate is that there is little middle ground between condos and SFHs. I think we are really missing the mark in terms of townhomes, rowhouses and brownstones.

 

Neighbourhoods like James Bay and North Park should be chock full of rowhouses, IMO.

 

 

Agreed, I mentioned on another thread about the lack of cranes in Esquimalt, that area is absolutely ripe for density changes and rowhouses and townhomes would be perfect for many pockets as well as a few blocks of some higher buildings. It could and should be a serious threat to Langford under the right leadership.

[LeoVictoria]

Oh sure, force your gentrification on North Park. 

 

I don't think that project has a social license, mmkay...

[jonny]

Oh sure, force your gentrification on North Park. 

 

Sorry bud, but if there's a residential neighbourhood in the CoV that desperately needs gentrification, it's North Park!

[Nparker]

Sorry bud, but if there's a residential neighbourhood in the CoV that desperately needs gentrification, it's North Park!

I guess I should have used the sarcasm font in my earlier post.

[Mike K.]

Well, when your population is increasing by 6.7% and your housing stock is increasing by 3.19%, it's not hard to see why we're in the situation we're in.

 

Meanwhile single-resident homes are on the rise, and the average number of people residing in a residence is decreasing.

[jonny]

I have been preaching supply and demand on this here forum for what feels like an eternity...if it weren't for restrictive land use laws, would our population be increasing at double or triple the current rate?

[Mike K.]

I'd wager that the folks who plan to move here are more than likely relatively well off financially, or at least have a sense of what they're getting themselves into. Those folks will keep coming regardless of how badly municipalities mismanage the housing market.

 

But it's the folks who've grown up here or who've been here for many years, and are now finding that they can't make ends meet or can't get into the real-estate market or even into a suitable rental apartment, who are most likely to leave for other centres.

 

I guess what I'm saying here is in-migration will continue unabated, but outmigration will increase if we keep restricting the supply of housing.

[LeoVictoria]

Well, when your population is increasing by 6.7% and your housing stock is increasing by 3.19%, it's not hard to see why we're in the situation we're in.

Meanwhile single-resident homes are on the rise, and the average number of people residing in a residence is decreasing.

If population is rising faster than residences then the persons/residence must be increasing. Unless all those new residents are homeless

[jonny]

Well, we know that there are unregistered/illegal residences such as basement suites, do we not? Would those be counted by StatsCan?

[VicHockeyFan]

Well, we know that there are unregistered/illegal residences such as basement suites, do we not? Would those be counted by StatsCan?

 

I'd guess that many (most?) people would not report it on their census form, for sure.  I know people that have lived in basement suites that never got a form.  I lived in an illegal apartment one census year, I never filled out a form.

[Nparker]

...I lived in an illegal apartment one census year, I never filled out a form.

StatsCan and the CRA have been notified.