Real estate in Calgary - another bubble?

[Calgary14]

Originally Posted by Jordan!

Does Canada have Zillow.com? OR something similar?

Bode.ca has sold data for Calgary

[blankall]

Originally Posted by jwslam

Nor are they willing to pay $500/month in fees for someone else to manage their savings for repairs, and regular outdoor maintenance.

So we have these:

Most people buying higher end townhouses are A-okay with paying monthly strata fees. The vast majority of cases of lawn neglect are likely to occur in detached homes with negligent owners. From my own experience that's 100% true. I've lived in many strata complexes, that have all just hired people. The owners have to pay the fees, or the strata goes after them. Virtually every rental property I've lived, that has not been a strata, has had issues with lawn maintenance. In a rental property, the owner is typically responsible for lawn maintenance, but simply can't be bothered to maintain a rental's lawn.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by blankall

3/10 is still a lot of people. And those 3/10 are likely to want to concentrate around city centres, as, previously stated, the point of higher density is to gain benefits elsewhere, most notably commuting time.

With more and more people choosing not to have any children, the 3/10 number is only going to increase.

On top of that there's a massive labour, money, and time burden associated with a detached home. The kind of people who are choosing not to have children are largely not going to want to spend their weekends maintaining their lawn.

Those burdens are all hidden to a large degree when the purchasing decision is made. You should be saving around 1% of the value of your home per year for required maintenance (not renovations). So the 450k Condo having a $500 per month Condo fee might be low considering it also includes insurance, landsacaping, garbage collection etc.

But when buying a Condo the Condo fee is front and Center in the purchase price whereas the time and money for maintenance in a home is not.

So humans inability to make rational decisions and the CMHC insurance criteria for how monthly expenses are calculated vs mortgage limits both incentise SFHs over the middle.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by GGG

Those burdens are all hidden to a large degree when the purchasing decision is made. You should be saving around 1% of the value of your home per year for required maintenance (not renovations). So the 450k Condo having a $500 per month Condo fee might be low considering it also includes insurance, landsacaping, garbage collection etc.

But when buying a Condo the Condo fee is front and Center in the purchase price whereas the time and money for maintenance in a home is not.

So humans inability to make rational decisions and the CMHC insurance criteria for how monthly expenses are calculated vs mortgage limits both incentise SFHs over the middle.

It hasn't been as big of an issue so far for Calgary, as a lot of people historically were just able to build new homes. Going forward, we are going to see a lot of young families now burdened with the neglect of previous generations as they move into older homes.

As you say, you need to have constant saving for upkeep of a detached home. There are many older people who simply have not done any or adequate upkeep. Now desperate families are going to be swamped with paying the bill for all that neglect.

[jwslam]

Originally Posted by blankall

Most people buying higher end townhouses are A-okay with paying monthly strata fees. The vast majority of cases of lawn neglect are likely to occur in detached homes with negligent owners. From my own experience that's 100% true. I've lived in many strata complexes, that have all just hired people. The owners have to pay the fees, or the strata goes after them. Virtually every rental property I've lived, that has not been a strata, has had issues with lawn maintenance. In a rental property, the owner is typically responsible for lawn maintenance, but simply can't be bothered to maintain a rental's lawn.

Yes.... and that's the cycle. "I don't want to pay fees" but also "I'm not going to do it myself" are mentalities combined in the same persons.

"I can afford $2000/month". If that means a $1600 mortgage on a 1600sqft townhouse + $400 fees, vs a $2000 mortgage on a 2200sqft detached where I can make my own rules, guess what these people are gonna buy?

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by GGG

Those burdens are all hidden to a large degree when the purchasing decision is made. You should be saving around 1% of the value of your home per year for required maintenance (not renovations). So the 450k Condo having a $500 per month Condo fee might be low considering it also includes insurance, landsacaping, garbage collection etc.

But when buying a Condo the Condo fee is front and Center in the purchase price whereas the time and money for maintenance in a home is not.

So humans inability to make rational decisions and the CMHC insurance criteria for how monthly expenses are calculated vs mortgage limits both incentise SFHs over the middle.

You underestimate how much people value being able to handle those expenses independently. In my home I get to decide how to prioritize installing new windows, upgrading the furnace, painting the exterior, replacing a fence, etc. I can do them in the order I want, allocate the money to suit my preferences, choose exactly the options I want. And I can put sweat equity into the work.

With condos these decisions are all made collectively by people who may have different values. For a homeowner, something as basic as a new fence is much more stressful than regular home expenses because you have to wrangle with another household over the type of fence, the cost, even whether it needs to be done in the first place. With a condo, you have to wrangle like this over everything.

[timun]

Originally Posted by Jordan!

Does Canada have Zillow.com? OR something similar?

Yes, we have Zillow. Realtor.ca is probably the most popular of the real estate listing websites.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

You underestimate how much people value being able to handle those expenses independently. In my home I get to decide how to prioritize installing new windows, upgrading the furnace, painting the exterior, replacing a fence, etc. I can do them in the order I want, allocate the money to suit my preferences, choose exactly the options I want. And I can put sweat equity into the work.

With condos these decisions are all made collectively by people who may have different values. For a homeowner, something as basic as a new fence is much more stressful than regular home expenses because you have to wrangle with another household over the type of fence, the cost, even whether it needs to be done in the first place. With a condo, you have to wrangle like this over everything.

I'm pretty sure that's not how the majority thinks. I know people who barely know how to change a light bulb... and no, that's not an exaggeration. They literally call their parents to go to their place to help fix "broken things" in the home. People barely want to tackle IKEA furniture let alone swap things like light switches. People will throw good money at a premium for that luxury of not dealing with it, and I'm not complaining about the fees that repairmen and plumbers charge. Plenty of people would rather spend tens of thousands of dollars to more rather than pay a few grand to fix a freshen the place up. "Look how crappy the front door looks and I don't like the paint color any more! Gotta move!"

The vast majority of people think that a crappy place needs regular repairs and a good place should rarely have repairs. You see it in how people perceive cars, and it's amplified for homes.

Condo fees are considered kind of under the rug for many. "I'll pay for someone to deal with the laborious crap of home ownership so I don't have to deal with it." It's not completely collective, it's purely done by a small group who makes decisions on behalf of the collective.

Your opinion is not wrong and I think a lot of others on CP hold similar opinions. However, I am quite certain we are all the minority. The vast majority of people inexplicably do not expect things to go wrong and thus often have really poorly funded rainy day funds. A condo is supposed to force you to do this via reserve fund, but many times due to owner/operators making decisions or influencing the decision on condo fees, they refuse to put in more than the minimum.

I agree many do not want to deal with others for repairs etc. where you have to deal with neighbors, but I feel like reality wise, there's significantly more people in general who just don't want to deal with it at all until they absolutely have to. I feel like this is pretty apparent when you go and see many of the homes that have not been refreshed. There's evidence of neglectful repairs and corner cutting everywhere. The proper addressing of repairs (when they ultimately occur) in a home seem to occur mostly with minority home owners who take pride in their home or when someone goes in and does a full on reno.

I potentially have roof, windows, HVAC and grey pipe to address in the next 5-7 years which ain't cheap and might float close to $100K due to circumstances. But they'd basically be non-issues for 20+ years after done. That's not including a few ideas for improving the place via reno. The average response is more like, "Eww, what a concept. Why didn't you buy new?" vs "Hmm... that's quite a project, but it'll be great once it's done.".

To do everything I want in the place to improve/upgrade it and get rid of annoyances in the proper way probably would cost me $180-220K right now (damn materials spiking) which is around $80-120K over the roof/windows/grey pipe/HVAC. But then I'd have barely anything to worry about for 15 to 25+ years and I'd have a sexy brand spanking new looking place. Others don't think that way and they'd rather just move/cash out and pay someone the premium of $30-230K for a pre-done place like that or do nothing and let their place fall derelict as time goes on.

Luckily, with the spiking of homes right now, a HELOC would easily cover it if I decided to finance it rather than save up for it.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

It's already proven in Marda Loop that there is limited appeal for these 'zero parking' micro-unit buildings in Calgary outside of the downtown core / beltline. The "Marlo" stacked townhouses with 11 parkingless 400 sq ft micro-units below grade has failed to sell, leaving behind a commercial failure and undeveloped parcels.

It always amuses me to no end that many of the loudest voices in the "up not out" movement chose single detached/attached housing for themselves. Just as long as they themselves don't have to live in apartment style condo units I suppose.

No one is saying that people shouldn't live in single family homes. I don't think people should be able to live in single family homes at the expense of the ability of others to attain a home.

By continuing to prioritize "parking", and a car centric city, we are making owning a car a barrier to entry in the workforce. There is a crap ton of people out there that would be much better off in life if they didn't have to divert a large portion of their income into car ownership and operation. For some people, that's the ability to go down to 1 car from 2. For others, that's having zero cars.

By requiring every unit to have 2 parking spots, we are making the choice to dramatically reduce housing affordability.

People should be able to have 2 parking spots, and they should have to pay for it accordingly.

I don't understand the counterpoint of "people have to wake up and go move their cars around the neighbourhood". Sounds like they can't afford to own that car, as they're missing the parking spot for it. We don't all just get to dibs the street, which is public realm, as our personal storage spot for our massive hunks of metal.

[jwslam]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

By requiring every unit to have 2 parking spots, we are making the choice to dramatically reduce housing affordability.

People should be able to have 2 parking spots, and they should have to pay for it accordingly.

Name a builder that offers this... It doesn't exist. They build according to bylaw minimums, and you get what you get. I can't choose to live in a 1BR downtown and own 5 parking stalls for my collection.

Conversely if I buy a 2BR that comes with 2 parking spots, it's against condo board laws / security rules to rent it out / sell its title.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by jwslam

Name a builder that offers this... It doesn't exist. They build according to bylaw minimums, and you get what you get. I can't choose to live in a 1BR downtown and own 5 parking stalls for my collection.

Conversely if I buy a 2BR that comes with 2 parking spots, it's against condo board laws / security rules to rent it out / sell its title.

The issue isn't builders, it's how we look at the thousands of kilometers of street parking.

NIMBYs want a guaranteed spot in the street in front of their house instead of taking the extra minute to use their garage (or they can't because of all the #### they own and never use). Put a price on that space and the issue will resolve itself.

[Macman]

Gio also selling his house.

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/former-fl...sale-1.5900692

[GGG]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

You underestimate how much people value being able to handle those expenses independently. In my home I get to decide how to prioritize installing new windows, upgrading the furnace, painting the exterior, replacing a fence, etc. I can do them in the order I want, allocate the money to suit my preferences, choose exactly the options I want. And I can put sweat equity into the work.

With condos these decisions are all made collectively by people who may have different values. For a homeowner, something as basic as a new fence is much more stressful than regular home expenses because you have to wrangle with another household over the type of fence, the cost, even whether it needs to be done in the first place. With a condo, you have to wrangle like this over everything.

I don’t think I am underestimating anything.

I’m saying the way to two sets of costs are advertised and calculated into mortgage allowables result in one seeming more burdensome than the other and therefore people assess the difference poorly.

Certainly peoples preferences on the type of owner they want to be factor in but even when people factor that in the nature of how the items are compared will be done in non apples to apples to manner aside from a few diligent spreadsheet owners.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by Macman

Gio also selling his house.

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/former-fl...sale-1.5900692

He can use the proceeds to by a nice 2 BR condo in the GTA.

No parking space though.

[GordonBlue]

FYI

Long delays at Alberta Land Titles office slowing down real estate transactions

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...fice-1.6451554

According to the provincial government's land titles website, the office is currently registering land title documents received on Feb. 4 and survey plans and documents received on March 2.

Lou Pesta, a Calgary real estate lawyer with Parlee McLaws, said the typical turnaround time during his 40-year career has been two-to-five days and as long as two weeks during peak times.

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by GordonBlue

FYI

Long delays at Alberta Land Titles office slowing down real estate transactions

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...fice-1.6451554

According to the provincial government's land titles website, the office is currently registering land title documents received on Feb. 4 and survey plans and documents received on March 2.

Lou Pesta, a Calgary real estate lawyer with Parlee McLaws, said the typical turnaround time during his 40-year career has been two-to-five days and as long as two weeks during peak times.

New build condo's were 8-12 weeks behind pretty much all of last year.

[Regular_John]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

The issue isn't builders, it's how we look at the thousands of kilometers of street parking.

NIMBYs want a guaranteed spot in the street in front of their house instead of taking the extra minute to use their garage (or they can't because of all the #### they own and never use). Put a price on that space and the issue will resolve itself.

It’s always baffling to me walking around the neighbourhood and seeing how many folks have their garage absolutely stuffed to the rafters with inaccessible crap. Once in a blue moon you’ll see some one’s converted the space to a functional wood shop or something, but the vast majority really is storage for junk.

Having said that, some of the inner city garages are actually too tight for modern vehicles, I drive a medium sized car and it takes some effort to park it in our single car garage, neighbours SUVs can’t even open the doors once inside.

[Cappy]

Originally Posted by Macman

Gio also selling his house.

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/former-fl...sale-1.5900692

The listing site calls it "Frank Lloyd Wright inspired"

how?

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Originally Posted by Cappy

The listing site calls it "Frank Lloyd Wright inspired"

how?

The realtor himself talked about "flat roof and lots of windows", which is hilariously reductive. Still, I used to live in the area and it is an attractive house to my eye. Unfortunately, as with much of Altadore, you have lots of house and very little yard. I think that is an issue with this one, but still, nice enough.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Macman

Gio also selling his house.

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/former-fl...sale-1.5900692

Not a fan.
Looks like a cliché "modern" home. Doesn't quite hit the marks on that style.