2937 Crazy House Market

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The end move in politics is to pick up a gun.
--Buckminster Fuller --

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Wow! What does Vancouver, BC, Canada have that makes it so desirable? Or at least makes the land/houses so expensive? Go to http://www.crackshackormansion.com/ to find out what one million dollars will buy. (It's a test to determine whether you can tell the difference between a mansion and a crack house. It's mind-blowing.) They're talking about one million Canadian dollars, but the current exchange rate is almost dollar for dollar, so it's still one million.

I couldn't believe it, so I found a real estate listing site, and checked. At http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search?cmid=1021104&sby=1, sorted by lowest price to highest, the cheapest 1 bedroom "bachelor" condo in West Vancouver, 393 sq ft, is $240,000. You don't see two bedrooms and more than 700 sq ft until the $400,000 mark. And that's apartments, not houses.

At the $598,000 mark I found a large 5/6 bedroom house - the first - followed by more condos. I wondered what was wrong with the house that it should be so cheap, and found this little tickler: "Land lease is 10,200 yearly." Huh? No wonder.

I didn't see another freestanding house until $839,000.

So, ok, maybe West Vancouver is the ritzy area. It's near the ocean. Let's head inland to East Vancouver, at http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search?cmid=1095503. Ok, we can get a bachelor suite for $190,000, but prices go up rapidly. The fifth cheapest condo is $225,000. Not a lot better than West Vancouver.

Here's what $580,000, the cheapest house, will get you:
"Handy man special. Needs TLC. Mainly Land Value." They don't say how much land.

What is going on in Vancouver? Are the salaries commensurate? This is scary.
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