If any doubt existed regarding Vancouver real estate – ponder this little fixer upper, listed at $2.398,000.
I’m not being fair, the 86 year old beauty pictured above is situated in desirable Point Grey. Close to the University of B.C., outstanding public schools and impeccably maintained parks. A 2,069 square foot home, on 4,026 square foot lot begging for demolition – $2.39 million buys a piece of land. Out of your league? Never fear, compromise a little on public school demographics, marginally elevated crime rates and consider the home below. Just listed at $1,099,000.
Enough with tear downs, you want a house to live in. How about this charmer in south Vancouver. Built in 1960 – 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms on a 7,781 square foot lot. Close to shopping and transit, it will set you back $4,500,000.
Oh man, you don’t want to spend more than a few million? For $2,580,000 the 3 bedroom, 2 bath property below might do the trick.
Purely for shits and giggles – Mailin Chen, a businessman from mainland China purchased the 25,000 square foot property below (in Point Grey,technically the same neighborhood as the tear down pictured first) for $51 million. Story linked below image.
notestoponder 
Real estate is a funny business – I know! When I tell people what I paid fort my property 12 years ago – practically nothing – compared to what it would fetch now they laugh their heads off.
There is another property is an enclosed area where I jog. I went on a valuation around the same time we bought this house and stated it would fetch around between 2.5 and 3 million ( the average sale price then was around 500k and the wife and I even contemplated ( half-halfheartedly) ways to raise the capital to buy it. ( selling the kids came to mind ;))
The house is on the largest parcel of land in the suburb.
It is now worth between 30 and 40 million.
Go figure?
That’s obscene.
It’s surreal. A few weeks ago an Asian real estate agent knocked on my front door. In broken English (as she thrust a business card in my hand) she said “I buy your house”. I say “not for sale”. Agent replies “land assembly, I let you live here 3 years” Holy crap! I shut the door.
I am stunned for lack of a better word. My brother-in-law was doing postdoc work at UBC back in the mid-to-late 80’s, and I visited there for about 3 months. The cost of living was higher there than in the states, but wow, they could at least afford to rent a nice 2B high rise apartment within walking distance to UBC, and on one income. I had no idea property values were that high there now.
Vancouver is in the top 10 best places to live in this world. Surprise surprise, these places all have such silly real estate prices in common. I know, because I live in Geneva, which is also on the list. Well actually, I live just accross the border in France because I can’t afford these silly prices.
This 40 year resident of Vancouver scoffs at that list.It’s a city for the insanely rich and desperately poor – middle class need not apply. Our mayor has ambitions of making it the “greenest” city in the world by 2020. He thinks we should all ride bikes to work, so over the past few years vital traffic lanes are converted to dedicated bike lanes. Never mind we live in a rain forest, a city pummeled by rain-storms from November-March.Dismiss the reality of gargantuan luxury car lots on every corner, and a woefully inadequate transit system that grinds to a halt at 1 am. People buying these homes and driving luxury cars aren’t about to ride bikes to work. It’s asinine because the middle class don’t live in Vancouver, they commute 20,30,50 kilometers from suburbs. Bike 20 Km to work along highways (without bike lanes) in a winter storm? A few months ago Vancouver’s commute was rated worst in North America. The rental housing vacancy rate is .05%. “Vancouverization” is a urban planners term used globally to describe high density residential communities – a worrisome abomination responsible for devastation of distinct area and historical/architectural diversity. The city glistens without a heartbeat or soul. In my neighborhood block after block houses sit empty because the were purchased as investments by foreign buyers. A local paper investigated ownership and concluded 65% of properties purchased in the last 2 years were registered in the names of women claiming no income (house wives)therefore exempt from any tax other than property taxes. Argh! I have to stop myself
There is a crowd that are the sons and daughters of the old jetset that can only live with their peers. People that have no roots and live all over the place. They find each other by moving to Vancouver, New Zealand and Zurich. That is what that list is about. And typically they have plenty of cash. What you describe happens in Geneva too. The locals are an endangered species (10% of people in Geneva are Swiss Genevans). All decisions are made to attract wealthy foreigners and their businesses. The locals loose out and have to pay ridiculous rents and are huddles together in affordable 1970’s housing.
These are both the glossy side and the under side of globalization.
We also have the empty houses. In my street were two houses that have been empty since the day they were built 20 years ago. They were – like so many – bought by wealthy Arabs that need a bolt hole in case their fake society collapses. Our mayor loves it: they pay taxes but don’t need schools. We hate it because these houses fall apart and raise the trash factor. Ok, enough whine.
Whine away 🙂 Much of my dismay stems from simmering racial prejudice (very disturbing to this open minded left wing liberal) It began when middle son was a toddler. We were playing at a local park, out of thin air an asian boy of 5 or 6 charged and flattened my son to the ground. My son has the wind knocked out of him and is crying. What I assume was Asian boy’s sibling approaches and says something to the boy in Mandarin.This kid steels his jaw, crosses arms against his chest, looks me in the eye and snarls “this boy is only a whitey”(made considerably more mind blowing because my husband is black) Obviously Asian boy’s actions stemmed from his parent’s mindset.
I struggle with increasingly ill mannered thoughts, bouts of internal hostility that leave me feeling unkind and ashamed of myself. I can’t blame globalization, or foreigners for making Vancouver what it’s become. That said, I bristle over foreigners thinking my country belongs to them because of their wealth.My city would be a lot more “livable” if people responsible for our cost of living made gestures to embrace our language and culture.Practically every day flyers are stuffed in my mail written entirely in Mandarin or Cantonese, businesses display signage without a lick of English. Trees are illegally chopped down because it’s bad luck for shadows to fall on the front door of homes. Mandarin has replaced French class in many schools – French, an official language in Canada, matters less than foreign investment. Double argh.
I sympathize. What starts as hospitality quickly turns to appropriation. Fully understandable but very upsetting. In Switzerland they used to teach 3 out of their 4 languages (German, French, Italian and Romanish). A few years back they added in English at the expense of one of their native languages. Globalized mindsets replace national unity.
And you were trying to entice me north of the border because your Loonie has tanked? Oh, you wicked woman you!
I protest! There isn’t a wicked bone in my body 🙂 The U.S. $ goes a long way north of the border, be thankful you don’t have to pay these prices or live in my bat shit economy – 30% more for your buck goes a long way when your home travels with you 🙂
LOL — Just pulling your limb my friend.
But I was serious about the Joe Cocker bit…
Maybe if you spent the better part of an hour talking cosmos with Joe in his underpants……
It wasn’t his panties, some people simply exude an undeniable presence and grace. Go figure.
Oh dear. You have no idea of my alcoholic limits. I know 80 lb little girls who can drink me under the table. Don’t think I’ve ever had a cosmopolitan in my life (I realize it’s basically a martini — but still….) Peggy had ONE martini at a really posh resto in MKE one time and when we got home from the rest she fell off her high heel — literally. I think that might have been the last time (maybe 25 years ago) that she ever wore high heels out to a restaurant — just in case
Too funny – I should have written “the cosmos” instead of “cosmos” – Cocker and myself talked about astronomy and the universe 🙂
The image of Peg falling out of her heals after a Cosmopolitan is delightful – you go girl! LOL and big hug.
Well then…. If you can talk about the Cosmos, or Kosmos, or even Karma I’d be right wit ya. 🙂
I realize it’s your business… but to be honest… hobnobbing with celebrity does nothing for me. Somehow it rubs me the wrong way when someone expects to be treated differently than anyone else. — sorry, but that’s just me.
I approach them just as I would anyone else, cult of celebrity nonsense makes me hurl. The celebrity thing is heady stuff, some take it well others turn into monsters.I could usually tell which camp they lived in when reviewing their contract demands – for instance Metallica demanded a bowl of raw chicken feet with nails painted red in their dressing room. I muttered “buffoons” under my breath over seeing the application of nail polish. Do my job, end of story. Sometimes I’d mess with them – Billy Joel’s contract stipulated pork and beans in the dressing room. I called bullshit and handed him a tin of beans and camp can opener. He cracked up. Every other arena had slaved over beans from scratch, delivering them in an elaborate chafing dish – he didn’t want beans, he was bored and playing with people. It boils down to my interest in talking to people, cut through the crap and it’s pretty interesting.
LOL — You clearly like people more than I. 🙂
It’s true, I actually do. I can’t help myself, it’s genuine and bottomless.:)
By now you know that it’s not that I don’t like people, I just need to take them in very LIMITED quantities. When I was working I hated customers! I loved my work but hated having to deal with the people part — and Peg’s the same. I’ll do anything — even quite extraordinary things for someone I really like — but I’m extremely careful about whom I open up to.
FYI – Carlos Santana and Harry Connick Jr. made the same impression and both were fully clothed. Elton John on the other-hand was a nasty little princess.
Well, the first two I love their music and I’m OK with that. Elton on the other hand — blah. When it comes to opinions I have no shortage. 🙂
It’s a stunning mansion!
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