I grew up in the Vancouver area and wanted to retire there to be closer to family.
Nope - overpriced houses plus buy in taxes. I get what the people who have all their wealth in home equity are saying but they do have a way out - defer their property taxes. Sometimes you have to change with the times; not's not unethical to defer house taxes. Nor is it unethical to use a credit card for groceries to maximize cash back rewards. This is the money world we live in.
https://www.macleans.ca/economy/realestateeconomy/the-real-estate-war-on-the-west-coast-vancouver/
Even from someone living all her life in a stratospheric real estate market, that's just astonishing
ReplyDeleteWow. That's as bad as a lot of California.
ReplyDeleteAll thanks to the crooked BC Liberals. First they dismissed any and all complaints as millennial entitlement and whining. When shadow-flipping evidence was presented they handed out wrist slaps for punishment. When they were presented with hard facts about foreign buyers, mostly from China, they dismissed it all as racism. Until it was election time, but by then prices had tripled or more. Now any real correction means anyone who bought those overpriced properties is plain fucked.
ReplyDeleteI happen to be one of the lucky, native Vancouverites who has benefited from the housing prices. I managed to buy a home at the right time and have made good use out of the equity. I certainly didn't anticipate the rising home prices when I bought my first home. It was just fortunate timing that they were still low enough at the time for me to just get into the market when I got married.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to see so many others who are now on the outside looking in or those who have homes caught up in the cross-hairs of this housing price issue. Even if housing prices stopped climbing, it seems too late for people trying to get a home. I think that if there is a housing crash, it would allow a lot more locals to get a home. However, again such a result would be really bad for people who managed to just get in, but find they end up overpaying for a property that has significantly dropped in price. I don't really have a solution, but whatever is done, I'm sure some people (including locals) would be negatively affected.
My parents recently sold their house and bought a condo. It suits them as they are getting very old and cannot take care of such a large place. The cost of their condo, although significantly less than their house, seem ridiculous compared to what I payed for my first home.
For many of the residence affected by this new school tax, I don't this is necessarily a desirable option for them. Yeah, they can sell their home, but they would have to move somewhere and likely somewhere smaller. They do have the provision to defer the tax. I'm not sure how this is supposed to work or what the rules are regarding how much and who can defer them. Anyone know the details? If this is a way that an keep property taxes from forcing people to sell their homes, then it sounds like it could work.
You can defer the tax if you are over 55 and it's payable on the sale of the house, I asked my dad. Three years ago, before oil collapsed we could have done it. My brother has been fortunate like you Gene Chiu
ReplyDeleteGene Chiu Yep ... I'm among those who got screwed. I've now sold my condo hoping for a crash because I can't see myself spending $1.8M on a shit shack. The down side? I have 2 more weeks before I have to move out and still no rental secured because the rental market just as idiotic as the buyer's market. The application forms require my SIN# and BCDL and I will absolutely not give out my SIN#. Even if I trust the landlord, I definitely won't trust their data safeguarding practices.
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