Parents who tell their kids that are clearly desperate to keep them close. As a father of two young adults, I can relate. More than anything I want to see them get what they want out of life. Next to that, I want to be close to them so I can see them enjoy it.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=671fd888-2bc6-4155-ab52-ffd5569ab654

The situation for tenants is the worst it has been in almost a quarter of a decade, said Martha Lewis, executive director of the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre.

“The last year and a half it’s gotten especially bad,” Lewis said, adding that more than half the homes in Vancouver are rental units.

I think that Vancouver is calling you…you may be right about finding a decent place to rent for a similar price as here. I would spend some time on Craigslist Vancouver to get a really good idea of what rents are going for. It can be very competitive to find places at times, especially those that are decently priced. I don’t really feel that 900 for an apartment or 500 (someone must be paying the other half) for a basement suite is the norm. But there are always some out there. And also, living in the nearby burbs is not living in Vancouver…the commute is hell and the communities are just okay.

I think many people there have adjusted there expectations about property ownership in Vancouver. Understanding that they may never own. If you think there is angst on this site about not being able to buy a place, spend a night at a dinner party in Vancouver with a bunch of 30 something professionals not in the market…dreaming that one day they might be able to own and raise a family in a 2 bedroom condo….insanity

However, all said, I would never tell anyone not to go to Vancouver….if you can swing the bills and still have a decent disposable income, it is a good life there.

Just frustrated sometimes. Got my mountains of Duct Tape for my head to help it from exploding…

I guess my cause for Vancouver is a simple one. Parents, please…you can like this province, you can LOVE this province…but please for your kids, do not tell them that THIS province is the ONLY place where you can make it.

I’m still waiting a decent art community…

That was a good try.

Maybe read Mark again. He’s been there, done that.

House prices are pretty tough for entry level buyers in Saskatoon. I just think you’re kidding yourself if you think Vancouver is going to be any easier. Again, I know your a sharp guy and you can certainly make it in Vancouver but it’s not going to be instant relief upon arrival.

Be patient. Things are improving here in every way.

The girl that i know that moved to vancouver? She got a job as a receptionist at one of the colleges out there and gets paid the same as i do (43k), and i have 9 years of experience in my field and i went to siast etc. The wage argument just smells fishy to me whenever i hear it.

I guess I’ll just have to agree to disagree.

So just a thought…average wages in Vancouver…so as we all know, it’s kind of like a pyramid from high wage earners to low wage earners. Usually the base of the pyramid is quite a bit larger than the levels to the top. Wouldn’t the average wage be thrown off by the sheer population difference? I mean if they have 10 times the high paid jobs they’d need 50 times the lower paid ones to support the massive population base…

i need a drink…

The average hourly wage of a resident of Saskatchewan between 25-54 years of age in August was $22.43. In B.C. it was $23.05.

I have no doubt that you can “make it” somewhere else, but don’t kid yourself. Vancouver may offer some impressive amenities but judging by the house price to average income ratio it also offers far more of what you hate.

Armoth,

Congratulations on the new job! 10K is a pretty huge step forward. BTW, your links will get far more traction if you place them in the body of your comment.

You are right that the introduction of children into the equation IS a BIG variable and a big decision for sure. The whole game changes, but what I get from it is that you paid 300 in regina (a city which i love btw – lived for 6 years), but then again your friends could afford the 800k in vancouver…try to find anyone out here that could afford 800k…that it MUST be possible somehow to afford things out there if they could do it.

Been a long time since i posted probably 3-4 days going through withdrawl. The link I provided answers the skewed information you guys are posting on here. For 1 take a look at the US with their billion dollars of losses and then click the link where our banks are making money. No one has posted on here about the positives of the market slamming into the ground over and over again well ill be glad to tell you. The new job at Agrium pays me a little more extra of 10k a year on my old job. Im putting everything I can possible afford back into the stock market XIU.TO while every1 is whining and saying the world is ending. While you guys talk I will wait 1-5 years and see who comes out on top. This is an opportunity for all renters and owners. I hope the house prices do fall abit so you guys buy houses and hopefully stop whining about it, heck we should just drop the price 200k for 1 month you all buy houses and we can all be happy heck you can drop it for 5-10 years im not moving.

I’ve heard the exact same thing from a friend that moved out to Van a little over a year ago. So many amenities, within walking distance, good jobs and tons of little neat places and things to see including BEACHES, the OCEAN, any sports teams you would want, and so on.

The people that keep saying that it’s too expensive are losing the battle. If those of us that KNOW it’s different keep saying it, maybe our Sask kids will have a better happier future if they know they have options and aren’t threatened by YOU CAN’T AFFORD IT ANYWHERE ELSE BUT HERE……

If young people in Saskatoon realize they can rent a nice one bedroom basement suite for $500 or a nice one bedroom downtown NEW condo for $900 in Vancouver, they might move their after highschool, for the better university and the big city life style. Saskatoon’s best retention slogan is the “just be happy you don’t live in Vancouver, you could never afford the rent”.

I lived in Vancouver for a brief period last year, my rent was $500 for a nice basement suite, which is pretty standard, and Super Store (or Safeway) has the SAME prices in Van as in Saskatoon! And you don’t need a car because public transit to and from university, downtown, Broadway, heck even Surrey from downtown Van, is sooooo much better than the “Dart” in Saskatoon.

If you rent, Vancouver is actually probably cheaper to live than Saskatoon. Unfortunately, only jobs for accountants, nurses, doctors, finance majors, computer scientists, sales, service, engineers.

No jobs in labour for potash or oil rigs, so if it is your life’s calling to be a rig pig, stay in Saskatoon and commute.

Unfortunately buying a house probably means moving to Langley. Still, pretty tempting to live in a sky scraper in downtown Van for $900 with an ocean or mountain view, when the Saskatoon equivalent is topping $1,000!

I bought the townhouse for $106K before the prices skyrocketed. Sold it for $240K. Bought a bungalow in the same general area of the city for $334K, essentially doubling my square footage. Since I had equity built up, and I needed more room, I feel that moving now is a good decision. It’s an average sized house that is well built, nothing fancy.

If I were a first time home buyer I would try and rent for as long as possible, I believe that prices will drop. That may eat up my equity in my new house, but as they say, easy come, easy go.

I read Garth Turner’s book “Greater Fool”. In my opinion he took a long time to say “Don’t buy a McMansion.” Then there was the rather odd chapter thrown in about the coming apocalypse and how we should all have our own generators and possibly shotguns and rottweilers to protect our daughters.

Just remember that coffee and chocolate are the real currency of the postapocalyptic era!

Guardrails need to be 42″ high, handrails have to be 36″ high (approx), there can’t be any penetrations into corridors (like milk boxes), and the corridor / stair doors should be on closers, or hold open closers (until fire alarm goes off and then they slam closed to prevent stack effect of smoke travelling into the other floor areas…which is why i’m driven nuts when people prop these doors open but that’s another rant).

That’s basically it. Maybe some mechanical modifications to do with fire dampers (again so smoke doesn’t travel) and there you have it!

Don’t go putting words in my mouth, now.

The SP has an agenda, just like the rest of us, I suppose. One must keep a watchful eye out for those whose agendas are bought and paid for- that’s all I’m saying. You spoil us by allowing more than the inane “everything’s fine, we’re different here” stories, and allowing people to decide for themselves. I think most people would agree we can expect far less from most of the main-stream media. Telling the truth is not always pretty or easy, but leading people by the nose (or their wallets) can lead to disasterous results, no? Just look south for the answer to that one.

“Condo” is more of a form of ownership than a type of building. There are apartments, town homes, detached houses and office buildings which are condos. The office I work out of is a condo. Our company owns 70% and someone else owns the rest.

Conversions must meet the national building code when they’re converted but you don’t need all of the components to be new to qualify. Many of these old apartments which have been converted have older components with a more limited life span, and often, a fairly small reserve fund.

Saskatchewan legislation requires condo corporations have a “reserve fund study” completed. All major components of the improvements are examined and the remaining life of those components is estimated, and so are the future costs of replacement. A well researched study should provide some insights into whether or not the condo fees being charged can meet future financial needs.

To Jesse’s point – I think most apartments were built with the lowest possible rent in mind and in many cases they won’t have the same level of quality as a building that was built for prospective owners.

Crikey,

You saying that the SP is making this stuff up?

I know i’m not Norm, but a few things I would be aware of with ‘conversions’ are the following:

1. In a condo unit, the sound proofing between suites may be built thicker than in an apartment building conversion.

2. Building conversions may not have decent roofing. If they are like the old 60′s ones out here, that could come up. I’m not sure what would happen if you had a leak on the roof…

3. I’m not sure if i’m correct but condoized apartments aren’t really ‘condo’s’ in the definition are they? Condo’s usaully are walk up and have their own entrances do they not?

Basically if it was me looking into a converted unit, I would be concerned with sound (an extra layer of drywall won’t really help for that) transmission and the state of the existing structure.

My luck is i always end up beside partiers…not the ones that party until 10pm ,but the ones don’t start until midnight.

In news that may likely affect mortgage rates, the LIBOR (London Interbank lending rate, the rate at which banks will lend to each other), essentially doubled on the Lehman/AIG news.

http://tinyurl.com/6pokx6

“The overnight Libor rate in U.S. dollars soared 3.33 percentage points to 6.44 percent today, its biggest jump in at least seven years, according to the British Bankers’ Association. Many Libor-linked U.S. mortgages don’t limit the size of a loan’s first adjustment, with caps of 2 percent on subsequent changes. That means a monthly mortgage bill could double or even triple when it first resets.”

If this keeps up, those with adjustable-rate mortgages will definitely be feeling the pain. Right now might not be the best time to go for a variable-rate mortgage, either. Heads up, folks.