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Vancouver Investors and seekers, Vancouver, BC (2026)

08/14/2022

With more and more houses selling in market, it becomes imperative to know the condition of the house prior buying to it. There are multiple ways in which you can determine the condition of the property you are interested in without having to pay someone for inspection (which usually costs around $400-800 on average).
Note- This post is only applicable to condos, townhouses, apartments and any property that has a 'strata'.
Firstly, it is always a good idea to have someone is inspect your property for the 'real condition'. But it may become very expensive to have all your 'potential options' inspected individually. So it becomes important to understand other ways to determine the condition of the property without having to pay.
You should look at the strata payments and the age of construction which is always posted online on the listing website (REW, Realtor.ca, point2homes etc.). If the building is around 30-40 years old and the strata payments are $150-200 a month for 1-2 bedroom house, it directly tells that there is something wrong with the strata overall. The reason is that over time, strata is supposed to spend money for regular maintenance of the building/townhouse/condo/apartment, and, this maintenance costs a lot of money. As the building keeps on getting upgraded, the monthly strata payments also increase for every resident (which is usually based on the sq.ft. owned, so, higher the sq.ft. you own, higher will be your payments).
So, a lower monthly payment of a 30-40 year old building means the building has failed to maintain itself and all the 'due maintenance' will have to be done now. This also implies that if you buy it now, and eventually the building will have to be maintained, the strata wont have enough money to bare the costs. In this event, you will be spending a huge amount as your contribution towards the strata (could be around $15000-40000 on average), and this payment has to be paid lump-sum.
Therefore, even though it may hurt to look at higher monthly strata payments, they are the 'best condition' properties to buy as they generally have up-to-date maintenance and you will have peace of mind.

08/13/2022

The slowdown of market has many people worried about loosing their value of house. It is causing a sense of panic among home flippers and this is totally unnecessary.
The market slowdown is attributed to 2 main key factors- rising interest rates and recession. This has nothing to do with 'real estate' directly. These 2 factors have a direct affect on retail industry (as many people choose online retail over brick and mortar now-a-days) and food industry (restaurants and bars).
Now to also tell you the truth, the real estate market has definitely been affected 'indirectly'. As more and more people loose their buying power due to rising interest rates, the market is seeing comparatively less buyers in the market. This is causing the prices of houses to come back to their 'original current value' which is still greater than their price in previous years. Another reason this is happening is because the 'price bidding' has gone lower and people are offering close to posted prices of houses (which in most cases is still higher than the asking price by seller). People are attributing their 'perceived loss' as 'downfall of real estate' which is untrue. The house prices are still going up regardless. They are just not going up by the 'crazy amounts' like 2021. A very important thing to remember here is that this recession is 'not for real estate'. So there is 'absolutely zero' probably of prices of houses coming down. This means that even if you like to sell your house today, you will still have a 'positive and fair ROI' on your property. It may not be a crazy ROI as it would have been in 2021, but it will still give you a lot of return.
So stop being greedy and relax. Real estate ownership is 'the best investment' in any part of the world and has been so throughout history. Relax, enjoy, sell and re-invest !!

08/06/2022

Buying a car is often a decision focused on budget for most people. But make sure you know this before you make any decision.
In British Columbia, you have to get an insurance from ICBC for your vehicle. Make sure to call them and check the monthly payments of your car before purchasing it. Different cars have different monthly payments for same coverage. It is not based only on the brand of the car (like most people tend to think that luxury car brand will have more insurance than common car brand). This monthly cost is based on a number of factors like year of manufacturing, make, model, safety features, electronic components etc.
So you may be surprised to know that the monthly insurance payments of some luxury cars with advanced safety features might actually be cheaper than common car brands. Therefore, your net monthly expense (car payments+ insurance) may be almost the same !!

08/02/2022

LMIA or Labour Market Impact Assessment is a document that an employer in Canada may need to receive prior to hiring a foreign worker. Under this category as a worker, you can obtain a closed work permit and have to work for the same employer for a duration (usually 1-2 years). Many international students are being misguided to apply for this program (LMIA) by few consultants who are looking to make money. Unfortunately this is not a suitable option for all.
If you are an international student who has come to Canada after their high school (and has no educational degree prior), you should NEVER opt for LMIA.
LMIA does not automatically grant you permanent residency. It just gives you an additional 50 points towards your overall CEC score. You should use the government website for calculating your CEC score and see if you are eligible. Hereby is a link to that government website-
https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/crs-tool.asp

Immigrants with no educational degree will not be able to score enough points even with LMIA to be eligible for PR. If you calculate your true score with LMIA included, the most you will obtain will be around 350 points considering you get 9 bands in IELTS too.
Now this score is extremely low and the usual cut off is around 420 points. Many consultants will try to convince you by telling you to stay in LMIA for 2 years, but before you put your money and trust in them, please use the calculator above and calculate your 'average score' to get an idea of how many points you will get even with 2 years LMIA work experience. Stay alert and protect your hard earned money !!

08/01/2022

Most millennials are always afraid if they buy a house under $500k, would that be a good investment or not. Does this house fulfil their definition of 'ideal home' ?
The short answer is- YES !!
Most people want at least 2-3 bedroom setting with just enough space to accommodate themselves and their children and/or family. Unfortunately , at this budget, the 'best deal' they can get is a good studio or one bedroom apartment / condo or townhouse (depending on location). So how is this a good investment ?
Well, for now you should be thankful that you are able to at least afford this house. You should immediately go and start looking for a house and just buy it. If your family is not big enough to fit comfortably inside, then, you rent a bigger house elsewhere and give this house on rent to someone. The idea is to have your equity build over next 3-4 years from this house. Also, this house will appreciate in value giving you even more equity. During this period, you save more money for your 'dream house'. After 3-4 years, you would be in a very good standing with the bank with way more borrowing capacity (due to your savings in past 3-4 years and your equity build-up). Now you can definitely get that beautiful 3-4 bedroom spacious 'dream home' 😀 !!
At this stage you would have 2 options-
1) You can buy a lower value house as you already have mortgage on the previous home going on (but you can definitely buy another)
or,
2) You can sell your old house and get a new mortgage on a more expensive house (as now you cleared your old mortgage by selling your house)

Do what pleases you the most and welcome to the Millionaire's Club !!💁🏻😎

07/30/2022

With the gas prices rising, people are swiftly shifting to electric cars 🚙 in the hopes of saving money. But are they really 'saving' ?
The cheapest electric car to buy in Canada is Nissan Leaf. It is currently priced from $38,015 for an entry level model. Also keep in mind that these electric cars need battery replacement after a few years, and, in case of Nissan Leaf, between 3-5 years. It will cost you around another $5500 in current market. The annual maintenance cost is around $241. Over a period of 3 years, total maintenance= $723 (average) plus, the cost of battery, brings total ownership cost to= $44,238. The price of charging at superchargers is still not accounted for, which will increase it a bit more.
Whereas, the cheapest gas car to buy with around same space available to owner, is Mitsubishi Mirage, which is currently priced from $14,645 for an entry level model. There is a difference of over $23000 between the two.
Even if your driving is above average, and even with increasing gas prices, you would be spending around $400 (on a higher side). For most people, this number will be around $200-250. Yearly maintenance would cost you around $457.
Over a period of 3 years, your fuel expense= $14,400 (average), maintenance is= $1371 (average). The total cost of ownership= $30,416. The difference is insane enough to be able to afford a brand new Mitsubishi Mirage !!
Also, not to misguide you, if you are already in market looking for an expensive vehicle, then electric cars could very well be better alternative to gas vehicle from price and cost of ownership perspective. This post is intended for average people with average spending capacity.

07/29/2022

With rising interest rates and increasing inflation, people are wondering if this is a good time to invest in real estate ?
Well let's look at some key factors !!
Canada has been very aggressive in getting more and more immigrants from all across the world. In 2021, Canada welcomed around 300,000 new immigrants (https://www.statista.com/topics/2917/immigration-in-canada/).
Out of these, around 100,797 got settled in British Columbia (https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2022PREM0019-000505).
This directly implies that sooner or later, most of these people will be out looking for a house of their own. Now, government of BC has also been proactive and invested $7 billion in 2021 to build 114,000 houses over the next 10 years (https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2022AG0002-000048).
Even though this is a very good initiative, but, it has practically very low affect on the demand of real estate in present and also in the future.
The price of real estate is driven by 2 key factors- 'demand' and 'supply'. With more and more immigrants settling in, the demand will continue to rise sharply, and therefore the price of real estate. Increasing interest rates will only flatten the price momentarily , but there is no possibility of prices coming down. There are 'very high' chances of prices of real estate rising again by the beginning of next year.
So if you can afford, now is the best time to buy !!

07/29/2022

As the inflation hits Canada, the interest rates for mortgage have risen sharply. It is very important to understand how it affects your monthly payments.
To help you understand, we shall be comparing the monthly payments on a property of $500,000 as an example. We shall also consider the amortization period to be 25 years. We shall also consider that you are putting 5% down payment i.e., $25000.
Now, if you wanted to buy this property in the beginning of this year when the average interest rate was around 1.8%, you would be paying a monthly payment of $2044.
If you would like to purchase the same property today with the average interest being around 5.24%, your monthly payments would be $2941. That is a lot of difference !! So what are your thoughts about this initiative by government to help inflation ??

04/30/2022

The average interest rate for buying a new car is 3.99%. The average interest rate for a used one is around 5%. A new car will depreciate 20% in its value as soon as you drive it off the dealership whereas a used one will be purchased at a depreciated value.
A new car comes with a standard 3-5 year warranty based on different companies. This warranty can be purchased for any used car as well. There are multiple companies that would do this such as Global Warranties etc.

If you are looking to buy electric cars-
With present fuel prices going up and government rebates for electric cars, the used market for such cars has gone tremendously high. Their selling price is very close to the brand new ones. Therefore, it is advisable to buy such cars brand new, if you are okay to wait (the current waiting period for any electric or hybrid car is over a year).

04/29/2022

Living in Canada can be expensive, especially with current inflation. A small source of earning can make it a little easy.
Newly landed immigrants may find it challenging to find work within their first few weeks of landing. Here are some options for them-

1) You can do delivery jobs. Start by creating accounts on Uber, DoorDash, Skip etc. This will only work for those who are able to afford a car, as these jobs will require your own vehicle.

2) For people who do not have a car, they can contact recruitment agencies near them. You can find them by a normal google search. These agencies can help you get work in multiple fields like restaurants, warehouses, administrative etc. They can get you a job even if you have very little to no experience. This is a good way to start building up your resume.

04/28/2022

This one is interesting 🧐
Let's presume the cost of your house is $500,000 and you take a 5 year fixed interest rate (at present market it is around 3.15%). Presuming you put a 10% downpayment (i.e. $50,000), your total monthly payments will be $2236 to the bank. Out of this amount, only $1055 goes towards the principal of your house. The money that is taken as your 'interest' is $1181. That means over 52% of your monthly payment is going towards the loan interest.

04/27/2022

A car loan is different from a home loan !!
In case of a car loan, you can pay off your loan anytime and the interest will be charged only up to the date you paid the principal in full.
In case of a home loan, you can not pay off your loan completely and must complete the mortgage period. Depending on your bank, you will be allowed to make a small lump-sum payment once every year towards your principal.
These 2 types of loans are called- open and closed loan. The car is an open loan and mortgage is a closed loan.

Vancouver Investors and seekers

08/14/2022

08/13/2022

08/06/2022

08/02/2022

08/01/2022

07/30/2022

07/29/2022

07/29/2022

04/30/2022

04/29/2022

04/28/2022

04/27/2022

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