Stylish, state-of-the-art and convenient

Kate Webb
Province

On the border of West Point Grey and Kitsilano, two of Vancouver‘s most prestigious and sought-after neighbourhoods, large older homes dominate most of the land.

But the condo boom and market for modern living couldn’t wait to touch the beachside community, and developer Toyu Group has picked up on consumer demand there for condos as posh as the scenery.

The company’s new 30-unit, four-storey luxury complex, called Brillia, will be a “landmark” of local architecture by the time it’s finished this April, according to marketing director Jonathan Cheung.

The highrise is located on West 4th Avenue two blocks west of Alma.

“It’s already an established neighbourhood, but it’s because it’s sort of an older neighbourhood that we haven’t seen many new developments,” says Cheung. “People have been here for a long time. They really enjoy it and they’re not ready to leave, so that makes this a very rare opportunity to get into this neighbourhood.”

The perks of living just past the reach of bustling Kitsilano are too many to list, but here are a few: Brillia is a five-minute walk from Jericho Beach, two minutes from shops and one block from tennis courts, as well as being adjacent to the University of B.C.

“All along 4th Avenue you’ve got all your boutiques, all your restaurants, so it’s a great place to just enjoy life,” says Cheung, adding that the prime location prompted the developers’ decision to leave the usual expensive bells and whistles off of Brillia’s short list of communal amenities.

“Locally there’s a lot of stuff to do, so what we decided to do was keep the amenities in the building low to keep the maintenance fees low.”

Vertical glass and horizontal stainless steel tile accents lend a unique contemporary aesthetic to the bathroom and kitchen. Rectangular geometry — it’s hard to miss the distinctive under-mounted bathroom sink with its flush, square corners — is repeated throughout the one- and two-bedroom homes, giving them a clean, modern and slightly masculine appeal.

Peace and quiet are achieved through cement construction and extra soundproofing between floors and shared walls, as well as “inaudible flush” toilets, which couldn’t be tested during our visit last week since they weren’t yet hooked up to the water main.

Appliances and textiles come with designer labels. Custom wood Hunter Douglas blinds are an improvement over vinyl venetians. In the kitchen, stainless steel, energy-efficient appliances include a Fisher & Paykel fridge and Bosch stove, microwave and dishwasher. In fact, luxury is so pervasive that the developer opted not to give buyers any optional upgrades.

“Everything comes standard. There are no options because everything’s given to you,” says Cheung, pointing out the engineered hardwood floors, solid wood cabinetry and natural granite slab countertops.

While some of the suites are what realtors might call “cozy,” with just roughly 600 to 800 sq. ft. of living space, the living rooms feature spacious outdoor patios. Those on the upper floors facing north boast sweeping views of the North Shore mountains, while the raised concrete perimeters of patios on the main floor make the outdoors feel like a true extension of the indoors.

“They’re like an extension of the living space. Because we’re so close to the beach we figured the buyers would like to bring the outside in and the inside out,” says Cheung.

Picking a wardrobe out of the bedrooms’ modestly sized closets could have been a small hang-up for the fashion-forward, but they are so nicely laid out with cabinetry that they look like something out of a closet-organization reality show.

With 11 units sold in three days of showings, the Toyu Group is confident that the end of April will see a full host of buyers moving into their new homes. Buyers so far have been locals downsizing from large homes nearby, or parents with children starting at UBC. “It’s different from what you see in the neighbourhood,” says Cheung of what attracted these eager buyers. “It’s more contemporary than the craftsman look you see along 4th Avenue.”

THE FACTS

What: Brillia, a four-storey, 30-unit condo development.

Where: 3839 West 4th Ave., Vancouver.

Developer: Toyu Group

Sizes: One- and two-bedroom homes, from 575 sq. ft. to 962 sq. ft.

Prices: $429,000 to $738,000

Open: Presentation centre and two display suites open weekends at 3839 West 4th Ave. View by appointment only. Information at www.toyu.ca/brillia.

More info: Visit www.toyu.ca

© The Vancouver Province 2008

 

Who is responsible for cleaning them? First, look up the strata plans

Tony Gioventu
Province

Dear Condo Smarts:

I live on the 12th floor of a high-rise building. Recently, I noticed a water stain on my hallway ceiling. I believe the stain is due to condensation created by a plugged dryer vent.

At the same time, I noticed it was taking an extra long time for my clothes to dry. Could you advise whose responsibility it is to ensure the dryer vents are cleaned on an annual basis?

The dryer vents in our building were cleaned in late 2006 but not done in 2007 as the roof anchors had to be replaced.

— BR, New Westminster

Dear BR:

Who’s responsible for dryer vents? Who’s responsible for windows? These are the two most common questions we field every day and share a common answer.

As no two strata plans and bylaws are identical, the answer cannot be general. The boundaries of strata lots are between units defined by the walls, ceilings, floors, common hallways or outside walls, as shown on your registered strata plan.

The boundaries divide what is part of the strata lot and what is common property. So the first step for anyone is to look at the strata plan.

Next, look at the Strata Act and the Strata Bylaws.

According to the Act, common property is the part of the land and buildings shown on a strata plan that is not part of a strata lot.

Commong property includes: pipes and ducts located within a floor, wall or ceiling that forms a common boundary between two or more strata lots, between the strata lot and common property or between a strata lot and another parcel of land.

In most highrise and apartment-style buildings, ducting in the floors is common property.

The windows border the outside and the exterior and are also generally common property. The Act & Regulations do not permit bylaws that make owners responsible for common property.

That means the strata corporation must maintain and repair the dryer vents (ducts) and windows.

Many strata corporations routinely clean their ducts once a year, but it is not uncommon during the course of construction that a vent may have collapsed or was plugged with constructions materials; the exterior screens may be plugged or your dryer is simply not powerful enough to exhaust the air over a long distance.

Residents must use lint traps and clean them every time, otherwise the ducts will compact much quicker, and the long-term damage to interior finishes may be significant. If your unit is experiencing difficulties, then so are other units.

If the ducts are plugged, there is an excessive amount of moisture pumping into your building. The results will be mould and long-term damages. Tony Gioventu is executive director of the Condominium Home Owners Association. Contact CHOA at 604-584-2462 or toll-free at 1-877-353-2462 or e-mail [email protected]

© The Vancouver Province 2008

Difficulties are rare, diligent buying makes them rarer

Jenn Podmore Russell and Julia Smith
Sun

A few new-home projects in the Lower Mainland have run into difficulties recently, creating uncertainty for purchasers. The exposure of this portrays an industry-wide problem. The reality is some developers fail to complete their projects in our market.

However, a larger reality is that incompleted sales amount to a fraction of one per cent of all the new homes purchased during 2006 and 2007.

In those two years, more than 36,000 homes were sold before or during construction. Of those, more than 99.7 per cent have or will be completed without issue.

Greater Vancouver has some of the very best developers, big and small. Many of them have been building for generations and have worked through good times and bad.

While the real estate market is currently healthy and flourishing, there are still some basic principles buyers should follow to avoid falling into the less-than-one per-cent category of investing in a development that fails to complete

The first basic principle is to do your homework. Buying a place to live, whether it’s a condo or single-family home, is the largest financial decision most of us will ever make.

Before purchasing, you should educate yourself on your potential new neighbourhood and the area’s regional values.

You will also need to decipher your needs from your wants, and determine what you can afford and what threshold of risk you are comfortable with.

The reality is that risk will be prevalent in any housing decision you make.

Should you rent and risk the market moving up beyond your affordability?

Do you buy an older building and risk a large assessment?

Do you buy a home knowing that it will have to be renovated into something you like?

Do you buy a new place in light of the over-inflated presale uncertainty portrayed in the news media?

If you decide that a new development is what you want, what steps should you take before you put down your deposit?

The first thing any good realtor will tell you is to look at reputation. Researching reputation shouldn’t be limited to the developer; it should also include the builder and the insurance company.

The good news is researching has never been easier.

Starting the process is simple: look online. For both the developer and builder, find out what projects they have worked on. Next, go and visit these buildings to see how they stand up over time.

During this visit, you may meet a resident who can attest to the pros and cons of living in the building. Realtors who have worked on these products before are also great resources for your research. They can offer insight into the building history and if their clients have been happy with their purchases in it.

Another approach is to survey friends and family and co-workers about what they have heard or what their experiences have been with various developers and builders.

You can, of course, go to exhaustive lengths while you are researching. The point is, you should only consider developers or builders with proven track records.

After you have selected a developer and builder, visit the building’s sales centre to find out what they offer. It is important that you fully understand the terms.

Is the project completing when you want it to complete?

Does it meet your needs (not your wants)?

Do you understand the product offered?

Can you obtain a capped mortgage to secure today’s rate for tomorrow’s product? How much of a deposit do they want? Strangely enough, developers that ask for larger deposits are typically some of the most seasoned in the industry.

It is important to note that presale risk is not exclusive to the consumer. Developers require your deposits as a guarantee that you will honour the terms of the contract to completion. In fact, higher deposits are indications of developers trying to attract end-users and dissuade investors from their properties.

When looking to buy a home, it is vital to understand what the realities of the market are. Currently, developers are facing the same challenges as everyone else, such as labour shortages, cost overruns and long waits from the city.

However, in addition to those challenges, developers also face the rising cost of land.

Developers also endure a loss of confidence in the industry every time a development falls into receivership. Nobody aspires to go into receivership and it is not in the industry’s best interest for this to happen.

In the real estate industry, nearly everybody is working with the consumer’s best interest in mind because when the customer is happy, the

industry is healthy.

As B.C. continues on its positive economic path, the development industry will continue to deal with cost increases, lack of available land and labour shortages. Our market demands more homes to be built as more and more people are moving to the Lower Mainland. This demand continues to fuel the development industry.

To keep the industry healthy and minimize risks, developers need a certain percentage of presale homes. The reality is homes sold by presale serve as a vehicle to new development and developers need them to secure their financing. The cost of construction demands this.

While many tend to focus on the risk of presales, there are considerable benefits.

You are buying and will be living in a brand new place with new finishes.

You are buying tomorrow’s product at today’s price.

You are putting down a deposit today, which allows you to save for the next couple of years.

You are securing a mortgage today at today’s rate for completion of a product up to 36 months away. This means if rates go up, your mortgage will be at a 2008 rate.

So what are the downfalls? For one, you can’t “kick the tires” and see the suite until it’s finished.

Two, you have to do your homework.

Three, you have to be patient; and four, you have to trust the group you have chosen to invest with.

When you look at the odds, the benefits currently outweigh possible risks.

After you have selected a unit and entered a contract, you have seven days for rescission.

This means you have seven days to do more due diligence by reading your disclosure statement, which tells you everything you could possibly ever want to know about the developer (completion dates, strata plans, developer promises to customer obligations).

The disclosure statement is filed with the British Columbia superintendent of real estate, an office of government under the provincial Real Estate Services Act and the Real Estate Development Marketing Act.

It isn’t usual to take the disclosure statement to a lawyer or trusted adviser to review the documents during the seven-day rescission period.

It is important to note that when you buy a new home through the presale process, similar to purchasing a home on the multiple service listing, your deposit is placed In Trust, either with an agency or a legal office.

Deposits are placed in trust to give assurance to both parties of each of their commitment to the contract. If the contract is nullified for any reason, the deposit is directed to the injured party.

If the unthinkable does happen and you end up in the less than one per cent group, here’s a Coles Notes version of some of the things you may experience. Since your deposit was placed In Trust, if the transaction is cancelled by the developer, your deposit will be returned.

If the development in placed under receivership, the court appoints a representative at the request of the creditor. It is the representative’s job to try to safeguard against losses for the creditor. The appointed representatives will work to recoup costs for lenders, which ideally leads to completion of the building.

A development going into receivership doesn’t automatically mean its purchasers will not get to their homes.

If you find yourself in this situation, the best thing for you to do is call a lawyer to seek advice and guidance through the process.

Occasionally developments are cancelled outright. There are a number of reasons why this can happen, ranging from issues that are out of a developer’s control, like poor soil conditions to an inability to build and/or maintain costs.

If this happens, your money is returned and you need to decide if you want to start the process over again. Typically, a credible developer will assess these risks beforehand.

Developers do not aspire to get into these situations and they will do anything in their power to avoid it. Developers want to build homes for people, and want to be successful.

On the rare occasion that a development is cancelled or placed under receivership, all parties are merely trying to secure against losses and find the best resolution possible.

By researching the market, you can find comfort in the integrity of Vancouver‘s development industry and the developers, who continue to build, create and dream the future of our city.

The bottom line is that while risk will continue to exist in the purchase of presale condominiums, it is minimal and mitigating that risk, be it perceived or real, can be done through due diligence on the part of the consumer.

Jenn Podmore Russell is a principal with MPC Intelligence, which provided the Sophia new-home-project receiver with estimates of the value of the homes there today and when sold. Julia Smith is a writer and publicist with Peak Communicators.

Sophia woes a reminder that neighbours matter

The report on the Sophia new-home project prepared by the receiver for the Supreme Court of B.C. underlines the importance of neighbours to developer and buyer — and not just across the street or around the corner, but in the development. Some germane numbers:

3: # of “very competitive projects . . . launched within several months of the Sophia” sales and marketing campaign, two of which “benefited from significant sales and marketing campaigns that pushed prices”

4: # of adjacencies in Mountain Pleasant, “a funeral home, a Salvation Army, the Vancouver Recovery Club and the Coastal Health Authority building,” that made an “attractive offering” a “however” proposition

13: # of apartments bought by insiders”

14: # of apartments “sold at price discounts of $75,000 below the then-estimated current market value”

$98,000: Average value of the discount” on those 14 apartments

19: # of apartments “sold at discounts of $60,000 or more below the then-estimated current market value”

$90,000: Average value of the “discount” on those 19 apartments

81: # of Sophia apartments, 79 of which were bought before or during construction

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

‘Visionary’ honour mostly sold in weekend

Michael Sa
Sun

Project Profile

The Beasley

Project location: Homer at Smithe, downtown Vancouver

Project size: 34-storey tower, 211 residences for sale, 15 heritage apartments for rent, 5 retail spaces, 2 floors of offices

Residence size: 1 bed, 2 bed, 2 +den, 550 sq. ft. — 1,300 sq. ft.

Prices: $399,900 — $1.5 million

Sales centre address: 1035

Seymour

Hours: noon — 6 p.m., Sat — Thurs

Telephone: 604-669-7343

Web: thebeasley.com

Developer: Amacon

Architect: Gomberoff Bell Lyon

Interior design: Insight Design Group Inc. and False Creek Design Group Inc.

Tentative occupancy: Fall 2010

Residency in a Beasley apartment or townhouse is an opportunity to participate in the memorialization of two Vancouver histories, one earlier, one later, one foundational, one transformative.

The retention of a building that has stood on the Beasley site for 95 years will commemorate the inaugural Yaletown, that Yaletown of warehouses and factories and rooming houses and greasy spoons created in the opening decades of the previous century.

The addition of a tower of glass to the site will commemorate the transformation of the warehouse neighbourhood into a residential neighbourhood that began in the closing decades of the previous century.

Consideration of the public purpose of Beasley residency is inevitable, given the project’s “birth order” and name.

Larry Beasley was, until recently, co-director of planning at city hall. In that role, he organized and managed the city hall contribution to the insertion of homes into the old business districts downtown.

“He was a visionary who helped make the city what it is today,” Amacon executive Richard Wittstock says.

“As residents and business people in the vital urban core, we [at Amacon] felt that it was appropriate to say a collective ‘thank you’ for this.

“As Larry will be first to mention, the building is a tribute not just to Larry, but to all the visionary planning staff at city hall who work hard, but receive no recognition and share an equal partnership role with developers and architects in making a neighbourhood successful.”

There should be no doubt that The Beasley will be either the last tower of glass homes or one of the last erected in Yaletown.

“The Beasley site is an extremely rare opportunity for buyers to get into the Yaletown market,” Wittstock says.

“This is the last remaining true Yaletown highrise site giving buyers the possibility of a Homer Street address. Supply gets tighter every year downtown as fewer and fewer sites become available for development.”

The market response signals agreement: two-thirds of the homes were sold last weekend, the first weekend of selling. Buyers, by law, have a week to rescind.

In commemorating Larry Beasley’s leadership contribution to “the evolution of downtown over the past 20 years,” Wittstock says, all involved in the project wanted it to manifest his spirit, those “key principles that Larry advanced in his tenure.”

Accordingly . . .

– The Beasley is a high-density-residency addition to Vancouver.

– It is a mixed-use addition.

– As an addition, it does not subtract, as completely, or as irrevocably, as it might. It does not exclude, as completely as it might. And it does not impose, as completely as it might.

The project preserves a heritage building. It creates new rental accommodation downtown, built by the developer. And, lastly, it lessens its consequences on the environment.

“A passive green roof to mitigate stormwater runoff and microclimatic effects” makes it a sustainable addition to the built environment.

An extraordinary number of floorplans, 26, and the insertion of 15 new homes for rent in the heritage building demonstrate respect for the inclusion principle.

Both city hall and Amacon expect children will be among future Beasley residents.

“We know that more and more children are living downtown, as evidenced by what we see every day from our office and the waiting lists for daycare spaces and the Elsie Roy elementary school,” Wittstock says.

“We fully anticipate that we may have a number of families with young children in The Beasley, and have designed our floorplans to be as flexible as possible to accommodate growing families.”

The Beasley asking prices are the latest contribution to the affordability debate in Lower Mainland. Absolutely high, but relatively low.

”The homes are attractively priced relative to today’s market, starting well under $800 per square foot,” Wittstock says.

”This compares favourably to the most recent offerings in the downtown market and on the Westside. The Beasley represents exceptional value in comparison with southeast False Creek or anything else available downtown today.”

The heritage component of the project, the Homer Building, is one of eight reminders of old Yaletown in the vicinity of the Beasley project.

City hall staff consider it ”a fine example of an early 20th century Edwardian-style, three-storey apartment block” built ”to provide modest self-contained, single-room rental accommodation for single people or couples who would have worked in the downtown or [the Yaletown] warehouse district . . . .”

The retention and refurbishment of the Homer Building gained Amacon more than 80,000 square feet of ”bonus” density that it can either use on site or sell to another developer. It is using its 80,000 square feet on site.

The heritage component is equally a bonus for the city, or the public realm, and future Beasley households.

”The retention of the Homer Building provides a very attractive link to Yaletown’s past and serves as an anchor for the development,” Wittstock says.

”Architecturally, it provides a counterpoint for the modern architecture of The Beasley.”

If there is a developer with the ability to mix office, retail and residential purposes in one building, it is Amacon: Its Melville project in Coal Harbour was voted best mixed-use project in a biannual industry competition.

The judges were all members of the local development fraternity, industry and government. The organizer of the competition is the local chapter of the Urban Development Institute.

Says Wittstock of the influence of The Melville on The Beasley: ”In designing The Melville, we saw how the various parts can be integrated seamlessly both along the streetscape and within the structure itself to provide great urban design.

”These lessons have been applied in a similar fashion at The Beasley.”

On his watch, planner Beasley was famous for asking developers and builders to bring him architecture that demonstrated a ”dash of fun,” as one Beasley news release says.

At The Beasley, that ”dash” will be memorialized by a dog run on the eighth floor, a Vancouver first.

”The incorporation of the dog run speaks to the livability of Yaletown, that it can offer all the great attributes of livability that in the past drew people out to the suburbs,” Wittstock says.

[email protected]

The city that was, the city that is

There are at least two good reasons to visit the Beasley sales centre on Seymour Street, even if not new-home shopping . . . to see that the Penthouse night club is still there, next door, Satchmo and Martha Rae and Muhammad Ali bidding you c’mon in . . . and to see the latest demonstration of small-space mastery by a local developer and architect and interior designer(s).

Two show homes

The Amacon development company is selling the Beasley with two show homes, a one-bedroom with den and a two-bedroom with den (or two).

Shown above is the living and dining “room” and kitchen in the larger show home.

Twenty-one Beasley households will reside in these northwest-facing homes.

Country, Craftsman

Two designer nods to earlier times and other places will occur in the Beasley kitchens.

Country inspiration

The single-bowl sinks will be skirted, a country-farmhouse pointer. And the cabinetry doors will be framed by stiles and rails, equally country-farmhouse pointer and Craftsman-bungalow pointer.

Amacon will install mostly KitchenAid appliances in the kitchens, in stainless steel. (It will also install a Whirlpool washer-dryer combination in the homes.)

Beasley cooks will prep meals, and the assistants will clean up later, on countertops of either natural or engineered stone.

Why ever leave?

At 980 square feet, the larger apartment in the sales centre is 400 square feet larger than the smaller.

Purposeful home office

A second bedroom, a second bathroom, the ensuite, and a second, enclosed balcony (shown) account for most of the extra square footage.

Both show homes make strong statements about the contribution of a den or home office to space-space occupancy. Accordingly, it could be said of the second and enclosed balcony in the larger show home that it is a second den.

The den in the smaller show home won’t have the views of the den in the larger show home. Accordingly, it could be said it would serve as a more purposeful home office, no distracting water and mountains and neighbours anywhere to be seen.

Glass tower, Edwardian base

New and old, the Beasley new-home project will put households in a glass tower and a refurbished Edwardian on and above the northeast corner of Smithe and Homer, downtown Vancouver.

Wide variety of floor plans

The multiplicity of elevations on the new construction made possible the high number of floorplans, 26.

“The terracing design of the tower has produced a greater variety of layouts than one would expect in a more simply designed tower,” Amacon’s Richard Wittstock reports.

The base of the tower, or its podium, will consist of office and retail spaces and homes.

The heritage building will consist of retail space and rental homes and will act as a component of a “mews-style courtyard.” The other component are three townhouses on Smithe Street.

Smithe Street‘s thoroughfare, or commuter, status demanded special study. “The townhomes are turned inward, onto the courtyard to shelter them from the traffic on Smithe Street,” Wittstock says.

 

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

Today’s investment-savvy buyers aren’t put off by sky-high prices

Shannon Proudfoot
Sun

Today’s young adults aren’t about to let lingering student loans, uncertain career tracks and stratospheric housing prices stop them from finding their first home sweet home.

This investment-savvy generation of 20- and 30-somethings knows a hot market when they see one, and many have developed creative strategies to reach home ownership at a younger age, often without the benefit of a spouse’s salary.

Some buy their first home jointly with a friend or sibling. Others become small-scale landlords, renting out basements or extra bedrooms to tenants whose rents offset the mortgage.

“It’s something that a lot of people have to turn to because housing prices are just sky-high, particularly in a lot of the larger cities,” says Brenda Bouw, author of Home Girl: The Single Woman’s Guide to Buying Real Estate in Canada.

“I think a lot of people have been influenced by their parents, whose best investment has been their house. They’re feeling pressure to get into the market any way they can.”

About one-quarter of Canadians aged 18 to 34 are homeowners, according to a recent survey by the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP).

Realtors say a few young buyers have even been successful at “flipping” houses and netting tidy profits that help buy the next, bigger, property or pay down student loans.

The increasing number of singles buying property — particularly women — has also given new meaning to the question, “My place or yours?”

People are marrying later on average, if at all, leaving some couples to figure out where to live and what to do with an “extra” property when two homeowners move in together.

A Statistics Canada report found that almost one-quarter (22 per cent) of people aged 25 to 39 who owned a home in 2006 bought it by themselves, while 76 per cent became homeowners with a spouse or common-law partner.

About two per cent bought a house with a parent, in-laws, other family member or friends.

“Nobody waits around . . .,” says Bouw, who bought and sold three homes in Toronto before her 35th birthday.

Indeed, 83 per cent of renters surveyed for Genworth Financial’s first-time buyer report say waiting to get engaged or married plays no role in their home ownership decisions. Rather, prices and the ability to make a down payment are the biggest obstacles.

FIRST-TIME BUYERS

“It’s definitely intimidating,” says David Fu, a 25-year-old Edmonton resident. “I think a lot of people want to do it, but it’s whether they get the house they’re looking for or the location they’re looking for. On an individual income, it’s damn near impossible.”

Last year, he and a close friend who had arrived at the same realization bought a two-bedroom townhouse together. Another pair of friends had already done the same.

Pooling their resources allowed both to buy a better place than either could have alone.

Fu and his co-owner wanted to make sure practicalities wouldn’t get in the way of their friendship, so they had a lawyer draw up a legal document spelling out their responsibilities and the procedure if one wants to sell. Experts strongly endorse such a safeguard.

“I love having my house and going home and knowing that it’s mine,” he says. “It’s a sense of maturity, you just feel a bit older and that you’ve got your own place and you paid for it on your own.”

According to the Genworth report, the average age of first-time buyers was 32.5 in 2006, but that is dropping.

LONG-TERM MORTGAGES

“People are definitely buying younger these days,” says Jim Murphy, president and CEO of CAAMP. “A lot of people are skipping the rental phase and going into ownership.”

It only makes sense, he says, considering that rent on a two-bedroom apartment in many Canadian cities is equivalent to a townhouse or condo mortgage payment that lets people build their own equity instead of their landlord’s.

Murphy and others in the field say long-term mortgages with little or no down-payment requirements are one of the big drivers behind this rise in young homeowners.

A recent CAAMP report showed that 37 per cent of the mortgages in Canada last year had amortization terms longer than 25 years, he says.

“It gets you into the home ownership market quicker, sooner,” he says, while also pointing out the downside of paying a lot more interest in the long run.

Today’s young home buyers are educated, business-savvy and expect professional treatment, says Deepak Verma, a 30-year-old real estate agent in Mississauga, Ont. who specializes in first-time buyers.

They do hours of Internet research before they ever contact him, he says, and most make decisions without their parents’ input.

“By the time they come to me, they have a really good idea of what’s available and what the price ranges are, and it makes the process very quick,” he says. “I’ve had clients who call me and they only want to see one property and they buy it.”

Of about 30 first-time buyer deals Verma has closed in the last year, he estimates two-thirds plan to live in their first home for a few years and then rent it out when they upgrade to something bigger.

Ironically, young buyers taking advantage of these relatively new long-term mortgages are keeping the heat on in the very market they’re struggling to break into, says Craig Alexander, deputy chief economist for TD Bank Financial Group. He and his colleagues have been forecasting a cooling housing market for some time, he says, but it never materialized because they didn’t expected 40-year mortgages to create a whole new crop of potential buyers.

“It never occurred to us that it would have such attraction, particularly to first-time home-buyers,” Alexander says. “And probably that was very foolish of us.”

As a part-time real estate agent and would-be homeowner, Ahmed Abed sees both sides of this “crazy, crazy market.”

The 30-year-old Ottawa resident has been living in his brother’s house, but his brother is about to get married so he’s looking for his own place.

He’s tried to buy several houses in the last month, only to have them snapped up by someone else.

HOT MARKET

“You have all the tools in front of you, you know exactly how much this house is worth, and then all of a sudden you see people putting down $10,000 or $15,000 more than it’s worth,” he says.

The inflated market has nudged Abed a little above his initial budget to get what he wants, and he’s putting in another offer this week.

He’d like to live on his own, but after buying appliances and furniture — he’s already put a deposit on white leather couches — he suspects finances will require him to take in a roommate temporarily.

Even still, “I’m very, very excited,” he says. “It’s something I’ve been waiting for all my life, basically.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

Home builders’ annual seminar provides some answers

Peter Simpson
Sun

With home values still rising throughout the Lower Mainland, the spotlight is clearly on affordability, an issue particularly worrisome to many cash-strapped first-time buyers.

Young people are eager to take that important first step into homeownership, but they might need a little help to demystify what they perceive to be a somewhat daunting process.

Understandably, they have lots of questions. How can they be safe purchasing a condo before construction starts? What location is best? What types of homes are best matched to their needs and financial resources? What are the mortgage options? What are the legal considerations? How do purchasers of new homes benefit from builder licensing and mandatory home warranties?

Those and other key questions will be answered by a panel of housing experts at a popular seminar for first-time homebuyers, presented for the 14th consecutive year by the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association.

The seminar will be held on Tuesday, April 8, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Guildford Sheraton Hotel Ballroom, 15269 104 Avenue in Surrey.

Admission is free, thanks to the generous seminar partners: The Vancouver Sun, The Province, Homeowner Protection Office, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, Genworth Financial Canada, TD Canada Trust, Shaw Cablesystems, CKNW, Rock 101, AM 730 and 99.3 the FOX.

Speakers are Robyn Adamache, senior market analyst, Canada Mortgage and Housing; Ken Cameron, chief executive officer, Homeowner Protection Office; Narrinder Dhanoya, regional vice-president, Genworth Financial Canada; Bill Niblett, regional sales manager, TD Canada Trust; Deborah Spicer, director, Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver; Ralph Archibald, senior vice-president, Polygon Homes; and Adnan Habib, managing partner, Baker Newby Barristers and Solicitors.

Speakers will have 10 minutes each to discuss their topics. As seminar moderator, I will have my stopwatch at the ready, ensuring that no one goes into overtime, thereby allowing plenty of time for questions and one-on-one conversations with presenters at the conclusion of the seminar program.

More than 800 people attended last year’s seminar, the largest of its kind in North America. Because real estate is still a hot topic, a similar attendance is expected next month.

And speaking about hot topics, I will ensure that the pre-construction buying process for condominiums, commonly referred to as presales, will be discussed in detail.

According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., multi-family homes – townhomes and apartment condos – accounted for nearly 90 per cent of all Lower Mainland housing starts in January and February, spiking 61 per cent from the same two-month period last year.

Among the seminar’s early-bird registrants are bachelor Greg Colombo, and married couple Melanie and Darryl Bowie.

Colombo, 38, told me he is finally serious about purchasing his first home after a 15-year cycle of shoulda-woulda-coulda. A former teacher at both high school and college levels, Colombo now works as a business-development representative for a high-end audio/visual equipment supplier.

“I changed careers so I could move beyond a structured salary range to a position that offered more earnings potential. I have a conservative lifestyle, I know how to pinch a penny, but without the financial support of my family, I wouldn’t be able to buy a home at this time,” said Colombo.

“I am attending the seminar to learn more about the real estate market, the presales process and the options available to me.

“I grew up in Cranbrook, where my family had some dirt under our feet, but I realize a condo is in my future if I want to continue to live here. I am also not afraid of contributing some sweat equity to a fixer-upper, which would increase its value,” he said.

Melanie Bowie, 37, is a business analyst for a major telecommunications company. Husband Darryl, 40, drives a truck for a living.

Although there is no family connection to singer David Bowie, Melanie and Darryl rock a little bit nonetheless. Darryl rides a throaty motorcycle and Melanie hits the streets in a ’64 two-door, four-on-the-floor Galaxy 500XL hot rod.

Bringing the easy ridin‘ couple down to earth on the homefront are five children, aged two to 19.

Currently renting a single-family home in Surrey, the Bowies are attending the seminar to learn the pros and cons of buying new or resale. They are keen to find out about the various fees and taxes, and how to find a realtor and mortgage broker who will look after their interests.

“We have moved 15 times in 18 years, and we are ready to put down roots, to leave something for our children. We are tired of being subjected to a landlord’s rules. I want to be able to hang a picture on the wall, paint a room, or own a dog without asking permission,” said Melanie.

“We have held family meetings about buying a place of our own. Although we have moved often, we have lived in the same area for 14 years, and if we can’t find a suitable home in this community, the children realize a move will involve going to new schools and daycare,” she said.

Melanie said she and Darryl are ready for homeownership, and if the financial commitment means selling the motorcycle and hot rod, those are sacrifices they are willing to make for their family.

Although the seminar starts at 7 p.m., the doors open at 6 p.m., allowing attendees ample time to view displays of homes, financial choices, warranties and other housing-related products and services. There is free underground parking for 300 vehicles and public transit is at the door.

Pre-registration is required. Call 604-588-5036 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. Registrations will also be taken by answering machine at the same phone number on weekends.

Peter Simpson is the chief executive officer of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association. E-mail [email protected].

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

The bigger the job, the better the return

Province

OTTAWA — As much as 100 per cent of the cost of a fully renovated kitchen or bathroom, often done with the help of a contractor, can be recovered when it comes time to sell, a report released this week suggests.

Major renovations generally provide higher certainty of return than do-it-yourself projects, said the report prepared by Toronto-based Royal LePage.

“Those still are the No. 1 return on investment,” said Diane Usher, a broker with Royal LePage.

But she cautioned that contracted jobs must be approached prudently to ensure a decent return, and spending should be relative to the value of the property. “To put a $50,000 kitchen in a $200,000 condo isn’t going to give you as good a return on your investment,” Usher said.

Some Improvements made by the homeowner, like replacing a worn carpet or updating light fixtures, are good ideas but can be less effective in terms of the rate of return when compared with other projects.

She explained many people have success finding quality paints, decorating ideas and techniques on their own but renovations like landscaping are more challenging and returns can be lower without professional aid.

Approximate cost vs. approximate return on your investment

Do-it-yourself renovations

– Paint the interior: $1,000, 50-100%

– Replace carpeting with laminate (1,000 square foot space): $2,000, 50-75%

– Install new light fixtures: $2,000, 60-70%

– Groom exterior landscape: $2,000, 25-50%

– Replace knobs, hardware: $2,000, 75-100%

– Update the entryway: $3,000, 50-75%

– Replace carpeting/laminate with hardwood: $5,000, 50-75%

– Build a fence/deck: $5,000, 50-75%

Renovations that may require a contractor

– Install a main floor powder room: Under $5,000, 80-100%

– Reno bathrooms: $5,000-$8,000, 75-100%.

– Renovate kitchen: $12,000-$15,000, 75-100%

© The Vancouver Province 2008