Be realistic about what you can afford, where you are willing to live

MARIA COOTAUCO
Province

Get pre-approved for financing

Real estate in Vancouver. The notion is enough to send a chill down a consumer’s spine. From the well-heeled buyer looking for the next lucrative investment opportunity to a young couple looking to make t h e g i a n t l e a p f r o m t h e precipice of renting, hunting for real estate can be a stressful experience.

This long weekend, whether you’re pounding the pavement in search of a Yaletown loft with exposed brick or a Commercial Drive townhouse with two parking spots, here are six homebuying tips from Gary Friend, a builder and real estate agent based in Surrey:

“We’re all dreamers,” Friend said. “Buyers think they know what they want and what it costs. And of course it’s expensive in Vancouver and they spend a lot of time looking in the wrong price range.”

The price range will inevitably affect your area, so be realistic, he says.

“We all want to live in the nicest neighbourhood but price may not say we have that choice,” Friend said.

Knowing what you can afford will help you to narrow your search on feasible options.

Location, location

“Decide,” Friend said simply. “Pick three different locations in your budget. Until you wear those out, that’s all you do.”

Do you want to live in a condominium overlooking the water or in a townhouse close to the transit system?

Your decision on where to live should be contingent on your needs and wants, not price alone.

And if you’re looking into a new home, look for reputable builders in the area, either those who belong to an organization like the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association or those who have been around for years. Make lists, Friend suggests. Stay organized.

Look at your options

You probably won’t make a bigger purchase in your life, so do justice to your decision and explore all avenues.

“A house is unique,” Friend said. “When you drive down a street with a house with a white picket fence and blue trim, there’s only one like that on that street on that day. If you’re buying a Chevy, there’s a car dealer in every city. You can go anywhere and look at the same car. There’s more emotion in a home than a car because there’s less choice.”

Buyer’s remorse is more difficult to navigate when it’s in the scope of a house, so be informed about the market as best you can.

Give yourself time

“Make sure that you take enough time to shop around,” Friend said. “You need to work hard in this kind of market because it’s so busy and good prices are hard to find. You need need to work hard at it.”

Going house hunting every once in a while for a quick look won’t cut it, Friend says.

For his first-time buyers, Friend says he wears clients out by showing them three houses that they may not even like just so they know why they picked the house they did like.

“Then what happens is you feel more comfortable when you have to sign your life away on your mortgage,” he said.

Choose your neighbourhood carefully

“You have to feel good when you walk up to the house,” Friend said. “I’ve shown houses to lots of people and they go because of the price, but you can tell as they walk in that they don’t even like the street.”

If you can feel good about your neighbourhood and it’s in your price range, even though it may not be your dream spot, you are in a good situation, Friend says.

Start looking now

If you are serious about buying a home, there’s no time like now to start looking, Friend says.

Years ago, there were some months better than others to house-hunt, but it’s no longer the case. So, get out there are start hunting for your dream home.

“Today, there’s no month better than any other,” Friend said. “It’s more important how much time you spend whenever you start to do the process.”

Get a pro to set terms down on paper

Ray Turchansky
Province

EDMONTON — An increasing number of young people are entering the housing market by buying jointly with a friend or relative. Families banding together to buy a cottage or rental property has become another trend.

Statistics Canada reported that 70,000 young adults bought homes with a friend, sibling, parent or other family member during 2006, a movement likely to continue as house prices stay high.

But while joint real-estate ownership can be highly successful, it can also be as treacherous as teaching a friend or family member how to drive a car. According to Investors Group financial planner Murray Pituley of Regina, the difficulty comes in separating the personal relationship from the financial one.

He said many co-owners don’t consider possible twists in life.

“What if one of them dies; what if one of them gets married; what if one of them takes a job transfer and moves out of province? You have to set out in advance what those what-ifs could be and try to document them into a co-ownership agreement. It could be a simple thing like who pays for some of the expenses.

“The best dollars on professional fees are spent up front to get things structured properly . . . sooner or later, things are going to have to unravel.”

Pituley said ownership structure is critical.

He said parents might have their name on the title and mortgage, but claim a child is the beneficial owner and entitled to the principal residence exemption. However, Canada Revenue Agency might argue that the parents bought the house to “flip” it and the children were little more than maintenance people, in which case the parents would have to pay capital gains.

“That’s where the legal advice comes into play. You can get similar-sounding situations with different tax results.”

In recent years there has been a rush to get into real estate, with a sense that prices will always climb.

“If I were a parent helping a child get into real estate, I would be looking at where the market is at. Where did it come from and where is it expected to go? If you bought at the top end and you’ve got a high percentage of the purchase price mortgaged and the real-estate price drops, it’s something to be concerned about.”

He cautioned parents to step back and remember their own needs first.

“What happens if a child goes bankrupt or has a marriage breakdown or the parent wants a little extra to go on a holiday or buy a car?”

How hands-on does a parent want to be, or need to be in the event of an overflowing toilet at midnight?

Getting involved in the purchase of a house for a child working or going to school in another city presents other problems.

“Sometimes it’s tough to separate business from family. If you have concerns about a child in advance, you probably shouldn’t go in and help them out with a house in the first place.”

As for buying a cottage or rental property with friends, many articles suggest it be done through a corporation to reduce taxes.

“A corporation can’t have a principal residence,” Pituley said. “A corporation would make sense if it’s a real-estate development and a business.”

The annual legal and accounting corporation costs might outweigh tax benefits.

© The Vancouver Province 2008

DARALYN SCHOENEWALD
Province

It’s summer time, and the pickings are easy – for bulars.

Most security and insurance experts agree that burlaries tend to increase during July and August when most people go on vacation.

Burglars know the signs that let them know a family isn’t at home: a porch light left on all day, newspapers piling up in the driveway or a mailbox that is stuffed full, said security consultant Chris McGoey, who runs the security-education website www.crimedactar.com.

The good news is there are a number of things you can do to protect your house or apartment while you are away, Mcoey says.

* Won’t you be my neighbour?

“The best method is to seek help from adjoining neighbours in watching your home and making it look occupied, Have them park a car in your driveway, raise the window shades occasionally, put out garbage cans on schedule, etc.”

* Lockdown:Ensure that all door and window locks are working properly. Rose Rougeau, spokeswoman AAA, suggested investing in slide-lock protection for sliding glass doors, which are a frequent point for burglars.

* Remote control: “Consider buying a light timer set for every evening” Rougeau said, “Setting up multiple timers in alternating rooms works best,”

Timers for your radio are also a good idea, she said.

* Read it later: McGoey and Rougeau both suggested temporarily cancelling newspapers and postponing mail deliver.

* Rearrangement: Rougeau also suggests moving electronic equipment away from the windows so it won’t be easily visible, and arranging for lawn service.

Protecting your home from burglars while you’re out of town doesn’t mean you are free from them while vacationing. Thieves are known to target hotel rooms, McGoey said. Some tips:

** Aim high: He suggests choosing a newer hotel and requesting a room on an upper floor to reduce crime exposure.

“Ground-floor rooms are more vulnerable to crime problems because of access and ease of escape,” he said in a Crime Doctor article.

** You are not alone: Women travelling alone or with young children should use car-valet services and try to avoid hotel parking lots.

** Anybody there? Putting a “do not disturb” sign on the hotel-room doorknob, leaving a TV or radio on loud enough to hear through the door and leaving a small light on at all times will help deter a potential burglar, he added.

McGoey said he has heard hundreds of stories about how a home burglary wiped out years of records on home computers and ended up in the loss of irreplaceable items and ultimately left the family feeling unsafe.

Special levy is the best option since it leaves no debt load

Tony Gioventu
Province

Dear Condo Smarts: Our strata had a bit of a wrestling match at our AGM (annual general meeting) in January. The retiring council proposed a 15-per- cent increase in strata fees, and the owners chopped down the budget and left us with the same as last year.

We’ve just received our insurance renewal, and with the increase in our service contracts and utilities it’s looking like we’re going to be short by about 20 per cent at the end of the year.

In the short term, we’ll borrow the funds from the contingency to pay the bills, but we were wondering if we can amend the budget halfway through the year?

Our property manager says we can, but our accountant advised that we cannot amend the budget half way through the year.

How do we raise additional funds?

— KL, Kelowna

Dear KL: The annual budget proposed at the AGM each year is an estimate of what the strata council and the manager project will be the funding needs for the year.

The Strata Act gives provisions to amend the budget at the annual meeting when it is ratified, but is silent on whether you can amend the budget throughout the year. However, there are other sections of the act that direct us against amending the budget, other than at the AGM.

A strata must prepare a budget for the coming fiscal year, which is passed by majority vote at the AGM. The fiscal year is a 12-month period and there is only one annual general meeting for the corporation.

In addition to those limitations, the strata has to remember that when someone sells a unit, they have likely provided the purchaser with a Form B information certificate that show the monthly strata fees and disclose any amount by which the strata may exceed the expenses in the budgeted year.

There can also be additional costs with changing formulas halfway through the year.

This leaves you with basically two options: You can continue to the end of the year and report the deficit to the owners, which they will have to pay in the following year, or you can call a special general meeting and approve a special levy to offset the additional expenses.

The special levy is the best option. It provides the owners with notice of the funding crisis and at the end of the year you won’t be left with a debt burden.

Look at it this way: If you get to the end of the year and you are 20 per cent short on fees, then automatically next year’s fees are going to be 20 per cent higher, along with the projected increases for the following year, which under the current energy market could be substantial.

At the very least, strata corporations need to budget conservatively and include the cost-of-living in their annual projections. They must also annually assess the financial status of the reserve fund.

If you’ve been paying for emergency costs or insurance deductibles from your reserves, replenish them.

Don’t forget that the carbon tax comes into effect on July 1, 2008. This tax also applies to residential services. It won’t have a significant effect on most budgets in 2008, but will later on.

The tax imposed on each fuel type will be proportional to the greenhouse gas emissions produced by burning the fuel, measured in terms of tonnes of CO2 produced (or the equivalent for other greenhouse gases).

The tax will start on July 1 at a rate of $10 per tonne, and will rise by $5 per year up to $30 by 2012. The current rates per fuel type will be:

– Gasoline: 2.41 cents per litre in 2008, rising to 7.24 cents per litre by 2012.

– Natural gas: 49.88 cents per GJ in 2008, rising to 149.64 cents per GJ by 2012.

– Electricity: There will be no carbon tax on electricity.

Tony Gioventu is executive director of the Condominium Home Owners Association (CHOA). E-mail: [email protected]

© The Vancouver Province 2008

 

Sun

Part of the Private Residences at the Hotel Georgia new-home project in downtown Vancouver is the reclamation and restoration of the adjacent, and historic, hotel. That work is turning up long-lost architectural detail such as ballroom windows (above left) and generating an opportunity to burnish the reopened hotel with the ambience of its inaugural decade, the 1920s. ‘Heritage renovation is all about detective work and unexpected discoveries,’ says architect Malcolm Elliot of Endall Elliot Architects. ‘There are great surprises such as when we discovered portions of original ballroom windows well preserved and buried under the brick in the existing ballroom walls. ‘This discovery of heritage relics will assist us in the design and construction of identical replacement heritage windows to be resurrected in the reconstructed ballroom.’ Restoration projects include: • The wrought iron railing (above right) of the staircase connecting and promenade and ballroom. • The door (below) in what was once called the York Room, on the promenade. •The two fireplaces on the promenade, which disappeared from public view when the promenade was broken up into rooms.

The Private Residences at the Hotel Georgia new-home project, because it involves the restoration and renovation of a downtown Vancouver landmark, demonstrates the contribution of the past, and not a distant past, to the commercial present. ‘Heritage redevelopment allows us retain our links to the past within updated quality buildings that satisfy our changing needs into the future,’ says architect Malcolm Elliot of Endall Elliot. ‘From the very beginning, we felt the strong architectural character of this historic Georgian landmark would be a real differentiator for this development.’ The hotel opened in 1926. Shown on this page are the ballroom (above left) before a renovation eliminated windows at one end of the room; the promenade (left) before it was turned into a corridor lined with small offices and meeting rooms; and the hotel sign above the corner of Howe and Georgia, a photograph taken in 1958 on the occasion of B.C.’s centennial. The Hotel Georgia has asked city hall permit installation of a similar sign.

The promenade will be restored to its original size and made into a space that can be used as it was previously — for receptions or drinks before an event in the ballroom, which is off the promenade. The ballroom windows will be replaced. Their condition is too poor to be used as originally installed. If the discovery of long-ago covered-over windows in the ballroom was a pleasant surprise, the discovery of an originalconstruction shortcut was an unpleasant surprise. “There have been unfortunate surprises such as our discovery that the Hotel Georgia concrete structure had not been built to the strength requirements of the original 1926 design,’ architect Elliot reports. “Some of the steel reinforcing had been left out and the concrete was not of the appropriate strength. “The solution to this challenge has resulted in the wrapping of the under strength columns and beams with hightech carbon fibre to increase their strength.”

It makes greener sense to reuse an old building as

KIM DAVIS
Sun

The Heritage Vancouver Society lists the Heatley Block, a collection of buildings built between 1889 and 1932, as one of Vancouver’s top 10 endangered sites for 2008. A Strathcona landmark — the society describes it as “one of the last remaining character buildings on a particularly bleak section of East Hastings” — the Heatley Block could succumb to demolition in the city’s effort to make room for a much-needed community library. Unfortunately, the Heatley Block is representative of a number of older and historic buildings in Vancouver.

There are only a few hundred structures in the city legally protected from demolition, and every year heritage homes and buildings are demolished, or radically altered, to accommodate newer, bigger, and as it is sometimes argued, greener projects. In his article in the Forum Journal entitled The Greenest Building Is… One That Is Already Built, architect Carl Elefante writes “even if, with the wave of a green wand, every building constructed from this day hence has a vegetative roof, is powered only with renewable energy sources, and is built entirely of environmentally appropriate materials, sustainability would still be far from fully realized.”

Elefante says “we cannot build our way to sustainability, we must conserve our way to it.”

OUR GREEN FOREFATHERS

It has only been recently that North Americans have begun to recognize the connection between heritage conservation and sustainable development.

“A lot of new visitors are calling our office because of the sustainable aspect of working with an old building,” says Elana Zysblat of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation. “While heritage conservation is not perceived to be sustainable, it is inherently green at all levels.”

For example, when one considers that approximately 30 per cent of what goes into our landfill is construction waste — both from new homes and demolition — the rehabilitation of older buildings keeps tons of materials from entering the waste stream.

“Reusing an old building is one of the most significant forms of recycling people can participate in,” says Zysblat.

Elefante writes that “taking into account the massive investment of materials and energy in existing buildings, it is both obvious and profound that extending the useful service life of the building stock is common sense, good business and sound resource management.”

ENERGY ARGUMENTS

There are many otherwise eco-minded people, however, who feel that aging structures — and their energy efficiency, in particular — are not compatible with sustainable development.

In an article in the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce, architect Michael S. Wishkoski says he feels this idea has been reinforced by the U.S. Green Building Council’s treatment of resource reuse issues in its LEED certification program, which awards only three points (out of 69) for the reuse of an entire building, including its interior walls. Should sustainable performance be judged solely on energy consumption, though? What about embodied energy in existing materials, the cost of demolition and the creation, delivery, and installation of new materials?

Wishkoski writes that “from an embodied energy standpoint — that which has already been extracted, harvested, processed and constructed — conservation offers an enormous sustainable advantage over any kind of virgin or newly manufactured material.”

Zysblat says that “the way green is being marketed right now, old equals ‘not energy efficient,’ but we need to compare the energy to build a new building to the energy needed to upgrade and improve one.”

Another myth related to energy is that people need to replace the single-paned windows in historic buildings with double-paned, low-E versions. According to the National Institute of Building Sciences in the U.S. and their Whole Building Design Guide (www.wbdg.org), one does not need to replace historic windows to meet the rigors of LEED guidelines. They suggest that the primary cause of infiltration can be addressed with insulation, weatherstripping, and trim repair. Installing storm windows, a feature on many older buildings, is also a recommended alternative.

DOLLARS AND

CONCERNS

Another challenge that faces heritage conservation is the belief that it is more expensive to renovate and upgrade older structures than to build new ones. Zysblat notes a quote by the consummate businessman Donald Trump in Preservation magazine: “I’ve always found that it’s cheaper to use an existing structure. Now doing so is more complicated, and you actually have to be a better builder to do that kind of work, but if you know what you’re doing, it costs you less money.”

Donovan Rypkema, a principal in PlaceEconomics, a Washington, D.C.–based real estate consulting firm, writes in his article, Economics, Sustainability, and Historic Preservation in Forum Journal that “the city tells its own past, transfers its own memory, largely through the fabric of the built environment.” He says that “we need to use our cities, our cultural resources, and our memories to ensure that they are available for future generations to use as well.”

While it is too early to say whether the pressed metal cornices and crenellated parapets that echo the memories of Heatley Block will be spared the pressures of development, Rypkema believes that “there can be no sustainable development without a central role for historic preservation.”

The Vancouver Heritage Foundation will be releasing a technical pamphlet on heritage conservation and sustainable development this fall. For more information visit www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org

Innovative movable screens will give downtown highrise

BARBARA GUNN
Sun

A patio or a deck, a balcony or a porch, all builders and developers assert, can be an extension of a homeowner’s interior living space. When the Townline Group makes the claim, it’s truly telling it like it is.

That’s the case, at least, at the Townline new-home project that will be starting to take shape at the downtown northwest corner of Nelson and Seymour. Named for its street address — 999 Seymour — the 21-storey highrise will have an innovative outdoor feature that Townline president Rick Ilich believes may be a first for a highrise.

“No, I haven’t seen this anywhere,” says Ilich in describing the interactive, movable, aluminum sun screens and fixed glass panels that can be used to enclose the homes’ deep, covered deck spaces. “I haven’t seen it… In a highrise environment, it’s very unlikely it’s around.”

The movable screens, which will be installed in the majority of units, and in all of the homes with the south-facing Nelson Street exposure, are perforated, to permit the entry of air and light. When closed, they will afford residents some privacy. When open — homes will have four or five screens that can be shifted about in any number of configurations — they’ll give the exterior facade a look that’s constantly changing.

“This gives the individual who’s living on the fifth or 10th or whatever floor a sense of privacy,” says Ilich. “They can physically step out onto their deck at night, have their glass of wine or their cigar or whatever they might do, and manipulate the screens to close off their private environment… [But] they also add this great animation from the pedestrian level as you drive up or down Seymour. These are always going to be moving.”

Additionally, says Ilich, the screens will allow homeowners to regulate the sunlight exposure in their units, which are not air conditioned.

“They act as great solar screens,” he points out. “When you look around the city of Vancouver, on the west wall, 99 per cent of the highrises have the venetian blinds shut. They’re doing everything they can to block out the heat… We’ve created these extra deep balconies to shade the windows. Plus, we’ve created these solar shades that you can move around.

“So they’re serving two purposes. It’s all about a sense of livability, both for reducing solar heat gain, and for creating privacy.”

That livability is sure to be furthered by the decks’ gas fireplaces, an optional upgrade that Townline is including in the homes’ purchase price for a limited time.

“As much as we definitely think it will enhance their experience living in the home, we’re saying, ‘Look, we’ll give you these fireplaces for a certain time frame.”

The 999 Seymour project is the latest — and the last — of the veteran developer’s six-project foray in downtown Vancouver known as Metroliving.

It’s a vision, says Ilich, that was created by a company intent on seeking out the city’s “forgotten sites” for urban infill.

“The development community, over the years, went to the… big open parking lots, the larger, easier-to-assemble sites. And we focused on all the little leftovers… Our commitment in this Metroliving brand was really all about enriching the pedestrian experience as they walk by our projects, our infills.”

This particular “leftover” was a surface parking lot since 1999. Before that, it was home to a one-level billiard hall.

The project’s architects had asked the city to rezone the site for a higher density mixed-use, and saw that density almost doubled.

As part of that agreement, the developer will make a so-called Community Amenity Contribution of about $4 million, part of which will be directed toward the redevelopment of the old Woodward’s site.

“It is a city process,” explains Ilich. “They have a formula that says, ‘We believe in what you’re doing architecturally and such… but what’s in it for the neighbourhood?’

“The net gain for the developer is simply the ability to do what’s right for the site. The community gets [a] benefit out of that, having the structure and new residence in the neighbourhood, but they also get other benefits.

“It’s quite a unique and

innovative process that the city has come up with.”

And it’s the neighbourhood — and not just the homeowners — who will find something special at 999 Seymour, suggests Townline’s president.

A three-storey green “living wall”, for instance, will be installed in the lobby of the project, a feature designed to appeal as much to passersby, as residents.

“They’re definitely going to experience this as they walk [by] and see this great 24-7, 365-day-a-year green wall,” he says.

The neighbourhood will also be able to take advantage of the retail offerings at 999 Seymour: Some 20 per cent of the overall space has been allocated for retail and office.

It’s the residents, however, who will enjoy the homes.

The outdoor spaces — some units will have open terraces, rather than decks — are separated from the interiors by what Townline calls “virtually seamless transitions”: fullheight, sliding glass walls, and polished concrete flooring that extends inside and out.

“The whole window system and the treatment of floor materials is to give you this great option of flexibility,” says Ilich. “It was a challenge and a big deal to us to get the threshold between the indoor and outdoor spaces virtually invisible.”

Exposed concrete feature walls will lend a contemporary, urban feel to the interiors. The linear kitchens will feature stainless steel gas cooktops, quartz slab counters and cabinets in one of three finishes.

The project, says Ilich, is somewhat of a standout in the Townline portfolio.

“Yes, I would say it is. And I say that cautiously because we do a lot of heritage restoration, which has its own unique hot buttons… .

“But this is, as a modern highrise, without question, it would be the most innovative building that we’ve dealt with to date.”

And that, says Ilich, is largely because of the units’ capacity to the flexible.

“People have been talking about flex rooms and flex space in residential development for years, but I haven’t heard [of] anybody applying it to highrise urban housing.

“And we’ve clearly done that.”

Derrick Penner
Sun

A Vancouver Island developer is opting out of the traditional list-and-sell sales method to throw the last five units in an upscale Parksville development on the open auction block.

“Rather than waiting for the market to come to him, he’s going to the market,” Keiran Holm, regional manager for Richmond-based Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers’ real-estate auctions division, said in an interview.

“I think that could be a wise move,” Holm added, with news about real estate markets around the province slowing down and inventories of units building.

“As stories around real estate get negative, people will hesitate,” Holm surmised.

Today, however, there will be no hesitation as the unreserved auction Holm has been planning, taking place at three satellite locations, will dispense with the properties to the highest bidders, regardless of how high or low their bids might be.

The apartments are in the 30-unit Onyx building in Craig Bay, a 420-unit resort development near Parksville.

The auction is getting mixed reviews in the local real estate community, with at least one realtor hoping it will put a renewed spotlight on the market, and others concerned that poor results could erode the property values of current owners in the Onyx building who are also trying to sell.

Besides the apartments being auctioned, at least six are listed for resale at prices ranging from $489,000 to almost $1.2 million.

Harry Greenberg, a realtor with Royal LePage Parksville who has two of those resale listings, said the final five units that have gone unsold have languished on the market for no reason, so he is happy to see the auction.

“[The auction] brings Craig Bay to the attention of people from around the world, because that’s the way [Ritchie Bros.] promotes things,” Greenberg said.

He believes the auction process will make the sale more competitive, and, “I’d bet [the five apartments] are going to bring a fair buck.”

However, Ron Limer, a Parksville-Qualicum area director on the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, said some owners in the Onyx project are wary of the auction.

“The concern is, especially for those who have their properties for sale, is that [the auction will] just blow [the units] out the door and devalue those on sale,” Limer said. “That’s relatively a realistic concern that one would have.”

Sales in the Parksville-Qualicum market have slowed, Limer said.

The Vancouver Island Real Estate Board statistics recorded 51 Multiple Listing Service registered sales in Parksville during May compared with 93 in the same month a year ago. May’s sales were even down from the 67 units sold in April.

The sale starts at 12 p.m. Pacific time, and 1 p.m. mountain, simulcast at three locations: the Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Spa Resort in Parksville, River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond and the Deerfoot Inn & Casino in Calgary.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008