First time home buyer in vancouver
Where are the nice and not so nice areas, and how much can I spend with a salary of around $60-80k?
Posted Oct 17, 2014, 11:21 AM UTC
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Every good reason for buying a house, especially at what look like really inflated prices right now, should have nothing to do with the house being an investment vehicle that gives gains greater than inflation. Plan accordingly.
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That being said, it still makes sense to view your house/mortgage as part of your financial portfolio, and ensure you're not 100% 'invested' in real estate.
Well put.
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I'm just going to put this here.
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I think the OP is just trolling or really is the house horny virgin that real estate bear blogs like to slag.
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Don't kid yourself, Garth Turner is a self serving salesman.
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Not being flippant here, but what other sources of information and analysis would you suggest that might be more reliable or balanced?
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There is none. You need to use a variety. Garth gives you one biased extreme - almost every other source gives you the other.
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That's been my take on the situation too.
As much as Garth is blowhard, he demonstrates more explicit reasoning, albeit based on limited data sets, compared to most other sources. I wouldn't be planning my life around his stories, but they definitely seem less bullshitty to me.
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Talk to a mortgage broker. I've been very happy with http://www.yaletownmortgage.com/ (they're not limited to Yaletown). They can tell you how much you can borrow and pre-approve you.
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Then talk to a realtor. They'll work as a buyer's agent and send you listings that are in your price range. https://www.facebook.com/MaliaJustus is a great choice.
Then start looking. For example, this place is close to SkyTrain -
http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?PropertyId=14819233
With 10% down your mortgage payment will be around $1000 per month.
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In the city itself, you almost certainly can't afford to buy, especially without a huge down payment.
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A house? No. A condo? Definitely. A townhouse in the suburbs? Yes, as well.
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If you're curious about how much you'll be approved for, use a mortgage calculator. If you want a more in depth explanation as to how you figure out the numbers: An underwriter looks at many things, but mainly to see if numbers fall within their lending guidlines.
They care about Gross Debt Service ratio and Total Debt Service ratio.
For example a typical bank will lend you whatever amount up money up to say... 35%GDS and 42% TDS. IF you are going through CMHC, the max your GDS can be is 32%. I'll use that in my example.
GDS = All income required to cover the cost of the home: mortage payment, heating, strata, property tax.
TDS = All debts in total (GDS plus loan payments, LOC payments, Car payments)
So say you make 80 Grand a year. You have no loans as your car is free title, and you have a 10,000.00 limit credit card. The minimum payment for that would be 3% of the highest balance: 300 dollars added to TDS.
Lets just pick some numbers:
80K/12 = 6667 a month before taxes
Mortgage payment on your new condo - 1500 Condo fees per month - 300 (you have a pool) Property taxes per month - 200 Heating bill- 40
2040 / 6666 = ~32%
TDS would be everything so 2040 + 300 / 6666 = ~37%
So that being said, you're feeling good about your odds and you opt for a Variable rate mortgage. UYou have great credit and you qualify for a good rate of Prime - .5. Max you can go on a CMHC mortgage is 25 years. So with a payment of 1500 over 25 years with a qualifying rate of 2.5% : $334, 361.13 (plus down payment)
Congrats on your shoe box.
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I'm not sure but I was wondering if you can tell me how many air miles I would get for traveling?
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Cool. What we really need is:
- another on of these fucking threads
- another brain-less buyer
I suggest you keep living in your parents' basement....nobody will ever do your laundry as good as your mother.
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If you're not trolling:
Use a "how much can I afford" mortgage calculator.
Cry a little.
Start looking in Surrey.
Cry a little more.
As much as how expensive Vancouver is, $60-80k could still get you a 2 bedroom condo on a long term mortgage... assuming you're not out buying the next iPhone each time it comes out and leasing that bmw that you don't need.
It's not that I don't believe you, you've just piqued my interest... can you provide an example of a 2 bedroom condo that can be purchased in Vancouver with a $60-80k salary?
Depends on how much Down Payment you can afford now.
Assume average of 70k salary, in BC, post tax is around 55k pocketed. 4500 pocketed monthly. Assuming 100 phone bill, 60 internet bill, electric 100, grocery 700/month, transit (1 zone) 100, gas 100 (if you drive sparingly for groceries on weekends). You're left with around 3300/month. Let's shave off another $500/month for other common fees an average individual may have: medication, gym membership, casual spending, movies, etc. Leaving 2800/month.
Let's assume you can afford 5% down payment for first time home buyers on an 500k place. Many 2 bedroom condos in East Van are 450k roughly. 5% is 25k. Your mortgage amount 475k would result in a 2300/month mortgage payment on a 25 year amortization schedule.
Put the rest of the 500 into savings... or RRSP / investments. As you can see, it doesn't leave you much room in case of a down-sizing, this is why I said it's expensive, but... technically affordable. If however, your SO/partner are able to contribute to this, then you should be golden. That or you can cut down on some of the expenses. Some of the ones I listed are definitely above the average like. I bike to work everyday and I save an extra 100/month
Correct me if I missed any basic bills or any mathematical errors. Edit, I actually missed car lease if you really need a car, or car2go/zip car is a great option that could run you less than 200/month if you drive sparingly. My coworker combine it with them riding bike to work everyday when weather permits, you save on transit / gas. I also missed the condo maintenance cost which could be up to 400/month. So yah, I guess not much goes into savings.
450k for a 2 bedroom? Wtf
That's what he could technically get by with, not what a lender is going to give him. Try running the same hypothetical through a "How much can I afford" calculator.
Here are my variables:
$70k pre-tax income
$0 debt payments
$25k down
25 year mortgage
5 years fixed @ 3.5%
$150 property tax
$100 heating
$250 condo fees
Results:
Purchase price of ~$360k
Here you go:
http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?PropertyId=14855425
Wow, there are currently 7 out of 27 units listed at that address... that's a bit of a red flag. I wonder what's wrong? Maybe the envelope and a $100k assessment? If not, there are some screaming deals there.
Does anyone know how to look that stuff up?
Consider moving to Alberta. Cos jobs and shit right.
Cry even more.
Rent a shitty illegal suite in east van and hope for the supposed housing bubble to burst.