How are people buying houses in this market... with these prices???

With the housing market being as crazy as it is, have you ever turned to somebody and said, "How are people buying houses?"

When you're always looking at the average price escalating, and you come and visit someone like me, have you ever wondered, "how are people paying these prices?"

I'm not here to dispute whether the market should be that high or whether different markets are pricing different incomes and families out... that's certainly a topic for another day.

However, I can say that everyday I see people qualify for mortgages and markets that are heavily priced with massive appreciation.

And obviously, the market continues to become hotter and hotter because there is a way for people to buy houses at this price.

So below, I've laid out a few things that you could do to get yourself into this market.

It doesn't mean you have to do them, and it doesn't mean it's something that you have to be willing to take on.

It's just some ideas, that we're seeing, that you could consider if that makes sense for your circumstance.

Number one:    don't buy where you want to live by where you want to invest.

Way too many people these days are obsessed with making sure they buy a home in the area that they are living.

You don't have to go far to look at the news to see that house prices particularly in Metro Vancouver, are far out of reach of many working families, even far out of reach of a working professional.

But perhaps that's not the market you need to own real estate in anyway... at least not yet.

Perhaps it's not the spot you need to start with.

Perhaps it's not the place you get your foot in the market, perhaps is not all that bad to be renting in that market.

And perhaps it's not all that bad to not plan on buying that market.

Did you know that if you compare metro cities, a condo may be expensive in Vancouver, but you could buy a condo in a place like Calgary for $250,000 - $300,000.

Certainly you'll have some a little higher and some a little bit lower.

But the point is made there is a meaningful price difference from those two major cities in Canada.

And you can see examples like this all across the nation.

So perhaps instead of thinking about buying where you're living, rent where you live and buy where you want to invest.

So if you're having a problem getting into the market, don't think about buying where you are, think about buying a different market and getting your foot inside the housing market, at a place you can afford, at a place that makes sense for you and using that as a rental property until which time you may qualify in different markets.

This will allow you to get into the housing market and to acquire some appreciation without having to be disappointed while you chase high real estate prices in other places.

Number two  , the amount of people that we see that are buying homes together has increased significantly.

In fact, just last month, I had people buy a home together where there was five friends involved.

Now this may seem quite whimsical or quite crazy.

But if you think about it, it's not as crazy or inconvenient as people might think.

Combining five incomes together surely gives a significant amount of buying power in a market and makes mortgage payments seem very small compared to what it would be by servicing the payment yourself after the qualifying perspective opens up a lot of doors and options on which you can pursue.

If you are in a life situation where you're single, or perhaps there is only you and your partner and you don't have kids, you could really consider buying a big house and joining up with a few friends to buy a home.

Now this is not a situation where you have to commit your life to it, but maybe this is a situation where you think about for the next three to four years you bought a home with three or four of your friends, you're each paying the mortgage payment and there's an exit strategy where you can appreciate some equity and go on to your own things down the road.

This enables you to get into pricey markets and markets that would easily be out of your price range due to your income but allow you to be in there and take advantage of appreciation in markets that would often be very difficult to get into. The data is clear that a lot of people are thinking this way.

It was only a short time ago that the popularized McMansions in Vancouver would happen where 2 families were buying gigantic homes in order to qualify for a bigger mortgage with each family taking one separate wing of the house.

These ideas are not as crazy as we think.

Number three , at this point, everybody's pretty familiar with the idea that you buy a home with a suite and that would allow you to qualify for more income that would allow somebody to service your mortgage payment and thus make your monthly payment and what you qualify for easier.

The problem is this is a much more common thing these days.

Suites are priced accordingly.

It's harder to find this stuff.

And, getting a mortgage helper is not as an easy as a way to get in the housing market as it once was just a few short years ago.

Perhaps is time to think a little out of the box.

If you're thinking about buying a home that has even just a little bit of property on it, perhaps instead of thinking about a suite, think about the idea that you could build a carriage home ,or you could build a tiny home or you could build something that is not already on the property. 

Did you know that we offer loans without adding to your income where we could have we could have the construction costs added to your mortgage.

In many situations, this can take a home that is priced below what you would have paid for a suite at home and make it something where you can turn into income generating.

Number four , I haven't seen this trend start to pick up yet, but I'm very curious that this could be something that could be very worthwhile for our clients.

Over the past few years, we've seen more and more people go towards remote work and more and more companies allowing their client their employees to work from home.

Does this mean as pandemic restrictions are taken off, that everybody will go back to the office?

Does it mean that businesses will take a second look on whether they want to spend the operating income on huge office spaces that they once used?

My guess is that some typical office space retail spaces and industrial spaces will no longer be as desirable for businesses and you will see a lot of real estate that was once used for those purposes become vacant, and in many cases become screaming deals for people to purchase.

Now, why am I saying this?

You're looking for a house after all.

Well, perhaps you were to take one of these industrial buildings or retail spaces and renovate that into a residential home.

Not only would that be a very cool idea, you could get these properties for a significant discount.

Again, we could finance the construction costs.

And it'd be like having a blank canvas and perhaps buying a home like this would enable you to get into markets while paying a significant discount off of what could be available.

Again, it's not that you have to do any of these.

But it's important to be creative in order to take advantage of some of the opportunities and so it's important to think about other ways that you can get in get into the market.


As always, I remain available for us to discuss creative and custom strategies just for your situation.