West End Realty

SOLD: “The Cornerstone” — #204-2525 Quebec St, Mount Pleasant, Vancouver

Tim — Sat, 12 May 2012 17:45:32 +0000

SOLD. A truly special home in one of the best heritage conversions in Vancouver, this one-bedroom suite welcomes you with its overheight ceilings, large windows, natural gas fireplace (with a wooden mantle made from a beam in the original church), and private west-facing patio and garden area. Sit out in the dappled afternoon sun and enjoy the flowering wisteria, or entertain friends over drinks and a barbecue. Open concept living space w/ high ceilings gives this suite a loft-style character but w/ all the coziness and functionality of a home. Cooks will love the natural gas stove! Other features include California shutters & in-floor radiant heat. 1 secure parking + storage locker.

1 bedroom, 1 bath
691 square feet (strata plan)
Freehold strata
Building name: The Cornerstone
Built in 1994
Annex portion: woodframe construction; stucco exterior
Monthly maintenance fee: $263.31
Maintenance fee includes heat (hot water radiant baseboard), hot water, natural gas for fireplace and stove, management, gardening, garbage pickup
Gross taxes (2011): $1521
Rentals allowed with restrictions
Pets allowed (up to 3 cats and dogs in total, with no more than 2 dogs)
Amenities: meeting room, bike room
Sold: May 2012
Sale price: confidential until Completion

SOLD: “The Lamplighter” — #1604-1146 Harwood St, West End, Vancouver

Tim — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:28:37 +0000

SOLD. IDEAL WEST END INVESTMENT PROPERTY! Beautifully renovated top floor 1 bedroom suite at the Lamplighter, a quality solid concrete freehold building on quiet Harwood St. Fantastic city and mountain views, with English Bay views from the balcony, this suite is inspiring, bright and functional. Modern open kitchen, upgraded flooring throughout, renovated bath with rainshower and soaker tub. Square layout with no wasted space. Move in and enjoy — and then rent it out when you travel or work abroad! Rentals allowed; pets not allowed. New plumbing, new parkade membrane, new common area carpeting/paint. Parking is common property allocated by strata for $35/month. Locker included.

1 bedroom, 1 bath
497 square feet (strata plan)
Freehold strata
Building name: The Lamplighter
Built in 1974
Concrete construction; concrete and stucco exterior
Monthly maintenance fee: $195.43
Maintenance fee includes heat (hot water radiant baseboard), hot water, caretaker, management, gardening, garbage pickup and use of the sauna, hot tub and workshop
Gross taxes (2011): $1115.65
Rentals allowed
Pets not allowed
Amenities: laundry room (6 washers, 8 dryers), workshop room, hot tub, sauna, storage locker, garden
Sold: April 2012
Sale price: confidential until Completion

SOLD: “The Chatsworth” — #408-1950 Robson St, West End, Vancouver

Tim — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 04:53:51 +0000

SOLD. Tranquil, spacious and bright solid concrete 2 bedroom suite west of Denman. This well-laid-out southwest corner unit has an exceptionally large living/dining room and master bedroom which easily accommodates house-sized furniture. Bamboo flooring in the main living area; lots of closet space in both bedrooms; south-exposed balcony off the master currently functions as a reading room/conservatory. Steps from Lost Lagoon and Stanley Park and yet only 1 and 1/2 blocks from great shopping, restaurants and services at Denman and Robson. 2 secure parking stalls plus storage locker.

2 bedrooms, 1 bath
882 square feet on strata plan; 971 square feet including enclosed balcony
Freehold strata
Building name: The Chatsworth
Built in 1985
Concrete construction; concrete, brick and stucco exterior
Rentals not allowed
1 cat or 1 dog allowed to a maximum of 20 lbs
Sold: April 2012
Sale price: confidential until Completion

Tim interviewed about vintage condos in “Vancouver View”

Tim — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 03:24:46 +0000

Home Work: Vintage Condos

Noa Glow | March 2012

While you most likely won’t get a gym or a pool in your vintage building, you may see the tradeoff in having such heritage features as original hardwood flooring, retro ceramic tiles, soaring ceilings and radiant hot-water heating.

If you’re thinking of buying a condo but don’t find the newer offerings too nice, consider Vancouver’s stock of vintage buildings. According to realtor Tim Haig (timhaig.com and vintageapartments.ca), who specializes in units circa the 1960s and earlier, there are many benefits to buying ‘antique’.

“I especially love mid-century apartments for their clean lines, durable materials and full-spectrum natural light,” Haig says, adding that many of his clients would rather let maximum sunlight into their homes than worry about their furniture fading. “We live in such a grey climate; older buildings often have large, beautiful windows that let in lots of light.”

Another bonus: price. “Some of the best value I’ve seen in the city is 1950s freehold strata with no balconies,” he says. “If buyers are willing to sacrifice these amenities, they can get a large, solid apartment for less money.”

While you most likely won’t get a gym or a pool in your vintage building, you may see the tradeoff in hard-to-find heritage features like original hardwood flooring, retro ceramic tiles, soaring ceilings and radiant hot-water heating.

Even seemingly missing elements can be a blessing in disguise. For example, the lack of underground parkades in buildings pre-dating the ’50s is, according to Haig, “an advantage from the perspective of costly building repairs” as it “reduces the likelihood of water penetration and erosion of the foundation.”

For those concerned with the ‘health’ of an older building, don’t worry. “Buildings from the 1960s and earlier totally bypassed the leaky condo syndrome that hit Vancouver in the 1980s and 1990s,” he says.

Haig’s favourite local heritage properties include the Queen Charlotte (1101 Nicola Street; circa 1928), featuring Vancouver’s last brass-gated birdcage elevator, and Hycroft Towers (1445 Marpole Avenue), with original wall-to-wall Critall windows from Britain and oak floors.

Download PDF of article

A-Z: Reasons to love the West End

Tim — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:00:31 +0000

A – Air quality
B – Bikram Yoga West End (Alberni St)
C – Community Centre and Library
D – Delany’s
E – English Bay
F – Farmer’s market
G – Gelato places (Denman St and Robson St)
H – Herbert, Spencer Chandra
I – International feeling
J – Jagalchi restaurant — Japanese/Korean
K – Kingyo — Tokyo tapas-style Japanese food
L – Legendary Noodles — handmade noodle dishes
M – Marquis Wine Cellars
N – Nelson Park
O – Ocean Towers
P – Poncho’s Mexican restaurant
Q – Qmunity
R – Robson St shopping and restaurants
S – Stanley Park, and the Stanley Park seawall
T – Twenty-four-hour Blenz Coffee
U – Ukranian Village restaurant
V – Vancouver Park Board office — beautiful 1960s structure at the end of Beach Ave — responsible for all the little parks in the West End as well as the Big Park
W – WE. Coffee
X – Xenodochial feeling
Y – YMCA (Robert Lee)
Z – Zestful old people

Should people under 40 buy in Vancouver?

Tim — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:42:40 +0000

If you’re under 40 or if you’ve never owned property before, or if you’ve owned property but suffered financial loss and feel like you are starting over, you may wonder whether it makes sense to purchase property in Vancouver at all. Vancouver is currently the second most expensive city in the world in which to buy real estate, next to Hong Kong, looking at cost versus median income.

But if you can’t let go of the dream of holding a piece of real estate in your chosen city, and if Vancouver is that city (or one of them), here are a few thoughts intended to widen the discourse in your mind:

1. Vancouver is expensive. So is New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney, etc etc. The world’s great cities are expensive. Many residents in these cities choose to rent forever. Is that your choice? Today, in February 2012, there are still affordable ways of purchasing prime Vancouver real estate. That investment is likely to be extremely stable and/or to rise in value (West End 1 bedroom condos cost a median sale price of $348,500 in December 2007 and $358,000 in December 2011). It will almost always cost more than rent in the short-term.

2. Buying real estate is like buying a piece of jewelry. It’s an indulgence. It’s saying, “I deserve this. I deserve to own a piece of land. I deserve to decorate my own space and not my landlord’s space. I deserve to be rooted in my town.” You could rent jewelry for less than buying a beautiful piece. But would it feel the same?

3. It raises your middle class status. Let’s face it, we hate status games and try to “rise above” them (a meek attempt at status in itself), but we are nonetheless sensitive to snobbery. Do you really want to be at the bottom of the middle class totem — a permanent renter? Or would you like to rise up one notch? I’m all for keeping appetites small and fulfilling one’s needs with as little expenditure as possible. But for me this includes owning a small piece of Vancouver real estate.

4. Rents will keep going up. Vancouver’s rents are reasonable, currently not at par with the cost of individually-owned condos and apartments. Positive cash flow investment properties are not easy to find unless you have 25% to put down. But are you willing to gamble that Vancouver rents will remain low forever? Do you like receiving that 4% rent increase notice each year?

5. It’s something to pass along to your children or your heirs. Who doesn’t like inheriting an apartment from their favourite uncle?

6. It makes your parents, children and extended family breathe a sigh of relief. It sends them the message that you won’t be destitute in old age — you’ll have a place to live, or a place to collect income from.

7. It roots you. Nothing in this world is permanent, but for the time-being, your home is. Get some return address labels printed.

8. It deepens your sense of civic and national pride. Singapore’s long-standing past prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, made it a mandate to help each family or citizen purchase an apartment — usually a concrete square space — so that families would feel slightly better about sending their sons off to war if it became necessary (military service is mandatory for Singaporean males). This is an extreme example — I do not believe in mandatory military service — but I do see Mr. Lee’s logic in helping citizens feel like owners.

9. Forced savings.

10. Stopping worrying about the whole mess. Enough ambivalence. You’ve bought — you’re an owner — end of drama!

Search West End studio and 1 bedroom condos to $325K →
Search West End 2 bedroom condos to $525K →

West End detached houses

Tim — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:03:52 +0000

Detached homes for sale are rare in the West End and range from around $1.5-3 million. There are some beautifully restored heritage houses being run as bed and breakfasts and guesthouses.

Browse current West End detached house listings →

Financing West End detached homes

Justin Blacklock, Aver Bach Mortgages
604-736-1855
Johnny Lee, BMO Bank of Montreal
604-762-7081
Jeff Fraser, RBC Royal Bank
604-340-1809
Ryan McKinley, Vancity
604-340-1611

West End condos

Tim — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:33:25 +0000

Freehold strata ownership is by far the most common type of individually-held real estate in the West End. Owners of individual strata lots also own a share of the common property and are responsible for the strata corporation’s maintenance and operating costs according to the unit entitlement of the strata lot. The strata lot may or may not include an allocated parking stall or storage locker. Owners have the opportunity to vote on yearly budgets, bylaw amendments and major expenses, and can nominate themselves (or agree to be nominated) to serve on the strata council, which meets semi-regularly.

Browse current West End condo listings to $300,000 →
Browse current West End condo listings $300,000-500,000 →
Browse current West End condo listings $500,000-1,000,000 →
Browse current West End condo listings $1,000,000-2,000,000 →
Browse current West End condo listings $2,000,000 and higher →

Financing West End condos

Justin Blacklock, Aver Bach Mortgages
604-736-1855
Johnny Lee, BMO Bank of Montreal
604-762-7081
Jeff Fraser, RBC Royal Bank
604-340-1809
Ryan McKinley, Vancity
604-340-1611

West End leaseholds

Tim — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:29:23 +0000

There are nine corporate-owned leasehold apartment buildings in the West End, mostly in the Harwood/Burnaby St corridor south of Davie. Leasehold strata title gives the lessee the right to occupy a suite until the lease expires, at which point the value of the leasehold interest is zero. Prepaid lease terms in the West End typically run until December 31, 2073. West End prepaid leasehold properties have increased in value over the last 5 years at roughly the same rate as freehold strata properties, and are likely to continue to do so for another 10-15 years.

Since individual leasehold interests in these buildings are registered on title, many banks will provide mortgages for them, including RBC Royal Bank. A West End leasehold property can be a good positive cash-flow investment, as purchase prices are considerably lower than freehold properties, they can be financed at the bank’s best rates, and there are few rental restrictions. Something to keep in mind, though, is fluctuating monthly maintenance fees which can be brought up quite high by the management company when there are major repairs to be done, such as replacing elevators or repairing the underground parkade membrane. Unlike owners of freehold strata property, leaseholders do not have voting rights on the building’s annual budget and corresponding maintenance fees.

West End leasehold buildings are solid concrete highrises and many suites have good views of the city, mountains and water. If you want the flexibility of being able to rent your suite out, can tolerate year-to-year fluctuation of maintenance fees, and wish the purchase price to be substantially less than what a similar freehold unit would cost, a prepaid West End leasehold might be an excellent choice for you.

Browse current West End pre-paid leasehold listings to $200,000 →
Browse current West End pre-paid leaseholds $200,000-300,000 →
Browse current West End pre-paid leaseholds $300,000 and higher →

Financing West End leaseholds

Jeff Fraser, RBC Royal Bank
604-340-1809
Chris Cornborough, RBC Royal Bank
604-765-4823
Kjell Nyroos, Canadian Western Bank
604-730-8818
Sarah Wilkinson, HSBC
604-678-6812

West End coops

Tim — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:27:59 +0000

Before strata law came into effect in British Columbia in 1966, creating condo ownership, equity cooperative corporations were formed as a way of dividing up ownership of non-subdividable buildings and land. The corporation would purchase the land and building and become the fee simple owner, selling shares to purchasers in proportion to the size of their suites. Owning shares in the corporation means proportionate ownership of its land and improvements along with the right to occupy a particular suite. Equity coops are extremely common in apartment-dominated cities like New York and are also quite common in the West End, and include some of the West End’s nicest art deco and mid-century buildings.

Coops have the right to refuse new members based on their application, unlike most strata corporations (condos) which do not require an approval process for new owners. Rentals are generally not allowed, but coop boards often give temporary permission to members who are traveling or living out of town for a specific length of time. This should be investigated carefully prior to purchase if important.

While mortgages for shares in a coop are not possible since shareholders’ interests are not registered on title, several banks and credit unions provide loans structured like mortgages for up to 65% of the appraised value. The interest on these loans is about 1-1.5% higher than conventional mortgage rates.

Prospective shareholders must meet with the Board of Directors and be prepared to answer questions about their financial background and willingness to contribute some energy towards the coop’s administration and maintenance. But Vancouver interviews are nothing like the notoriously difficult New York City coop interviews!

Browse current West End coop listings to $300,000 →
Browse current West End coop listings $300,000-1,000,000 →
Browse current West End coop listings $1,000,000 and higher →

Financing West End coops

Ryan McKinley, Vancity
604-340-1611
Kjell Nyroos, Canadian Western Bank
604-730-8818
Sarah Wilkinson, HSBC
604-678-6812
Greater Vancouver Community Credit Union
604-876-7101
Prospera Credit Union
604-734-5774