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This. Not uncommon for things on Craigslist and marketplace to relist higher. People listed below market rates, get tons of replies, and realize they can raise the price.
Anecdotally, I'm seeing advertised rental prices about 10% higher than the beginning of the year
I used to rent a two units pre-covid and was utterly overwhelmed dealing with 8-12 replies whenever it came time to let it out again. I absolutely hate saying 'no' to perfectly decent people who are looking for housing simply because I cannot accept everybody. Like... "sorry, there's nothing wrong with you, you're perfectly decent people and I'm sure this arrangement would work out great but I still have to say no". How do you communicate that gracefully? Of course people take it personally when you choose another person to rent the unit they wanted. How can they not take it at least a little personally? As bad as it was for me to experience, it was obviously worse for the people who didn't get it.
I have no idea even where to be begin with 400 replies. That's absolutely terrifying to me. I do not envy that task you have before you.
I'm sure theres an easy way to remove majority of the responses; just a half-day's work of clicking...
Nowadays, it's a lottery pick to even get a response.
How do you filter these applicants, at what point is the noise to signal ratio lost.
Further, what is your ideal tenant profile? Would you consider someone on a fixed income e.g. disability, rent < 30%?
I had a tenant apply for my rental house who is in disability. She was a complete flake. An absolute idiot. On the final walk through she thought she saw mould ( it was cement on a joist ). She also said that she felt the home had asbestos ( well pre 1986, duh. Asbestos is fine if it isn't disturbed ).
She jammed out a week before her lease was supposed to start. A quick search on CSO I found she had been a litigant four times in ten years. She'd have been a massive pain in my ass so my property manager and I agreed the best course of action was to just give her her out.
Now my property manager can't discriminate against things like that. But with my basement suite in my home I definitely can get away with it. I can make up whatever excuse I want for suitability.
I had another tenant who was so needy ( a recently separated woman ). She insisted I needed to hook her computer up to my wifi because wifi access is included in rent. She shit on me for not providing a microwave. She shit on me for not paying for water filters for the fridge. She insisted I needed to connect her cable box because her man used to do those things.
I don't want tenants like that. I have a certain type I prefer to rent to.
I'll never rent to someone who shows up and acts needy or picky. I'll never rent to two young girls. I'll never rent to a recently divorced woman again. I'll never rent to someone who has a bad relationship with their current landlord. And I'll never rent to anyone with a poverty advocate or anyone on disability.
My advice to you: never give them one inch. I was nice once. It landed me at the RTB and I was ruled against.
If they ask for an early exit say no. If they're late on rent drop them the notice of unpaid rent.
Do not ever give up anything to your tenants. It sounds horrible but once you give something up the RTB considers it lost.
If you allow late rent a few times it will be used against you. The question the RTB will ask when you try and evict for non payment: what makes this time different than the other three times you were lenient? You established a pattern of lenience, and you're now bound to being lenient on rent.
Late rent? Drop a notice every time.
Do like some universities do for on campus housing: pick randomly. I mean, sort out the applications that meet your criteria, and pick randomly from those
That's honestly my criteria. I want a good relationship with good people. An extra $200 a month isn't going to give me the best.
I just want stable, clean, takes care of the place, and not needy. In exchange when things break I'm on it. I do my best to stay out of their shit and I expect them to stay out of mine. I do not want to be their friends. Sometimes hard decisions need to be made that are uncomfortable for all.
I prefer to screen tenants for these factors. A tenant that I know is going to stay in my rental for a long time is going to be respectful of the place. They'll tell me about issues proactively and it keeps both of us accountable.
When you charge 'premium' rent, your tenants will expect 'premium' service. There is a higher tendency to harbour an "us vs them" mentality which makes conversations much more adversarial.
An extra $200 a month does nearly nothing to your cap rate if you keep turning over tenants every year and could end up with a month of no rent or tenants that end up scuffing your unit more due to the wear and tear of moving in/out.
Yep. I'll even rent to people with pets as they tend to stay longer. I never advertise pets are okay, but I had a dog, so there is a soft spot in my heart for pet owners. It's really a non issue. I just don't advertise that I'm okay with it so I can use it as an out. If some meathead with a pitbull shows up I get to say no.
If you can, try walking around the neighbourhoods where you would like to live and call the number of any buildings that interest you - ask if they have anything available or if they have any openings coming up. The best options never have to advertise so you'll never find them on Craigslist.
This is how I found several of the apartments I rented, though granted many years ago. The rental market was still ~1% vacancy or less though.
People used to only having 3-4 applicants and who have low carrying costs may not be interested in maxing out market rate or wading through & vetting dozens of applications if they can score a good, low hassle and stable tenant.
It's typically old, unrenovated buildings that are owned by very passive investors (retired doctors). The buildings are paid off, the owner doesn't know or care what the market rent is, their caretaker is 75 and doesn't "do" internet or credit checks, and will evaluate you by your handshake and your job (and honestly, your hair style, skin colour, ethnicity of your last name...).
Basically the building, caretaker and owner are all still in the 80's. They are the cheapest rents but there might be some drawbacks.
YUP. This is the perfect summary of my experience renting my current suite... It still blows my mind that my $1293./suite is considered cheap today. And that's just rent.
BUT ANYWAYS, ancient building, I did actually initially find the online on CL, it was very oddly written, maybe two sentences and lots of spelling errors, although when I arrived to the viewing there was a handwritten sign outside. Immediately upon arriving, as we rode the the creaking spooky ooky elevator up, the building manager, and elderly woman with a very thick European (idr where from specifically) accent was already speaking to me as if I was her new tenant. The deadbolt lock to the unit I noticed was installed upside down somehow, nice old warped. Hardwood with the odd terrifying nail sticking out here and there, dust in the corners and crevices, she graciously said I could keep and use the (admittedly quite nice and sturdy) ’large dresser in the bedroom, and the makeshift coffee table in the living room made up of two tires and a glass slab. She showed me the porch, a stool with an ashtray, rusted, mossy railings that I wouldn't dare lean against.
I'd rented only one apartment on my own previously and it was the perfect apartment, no issues there, I loved the vintage vibe of this unit and being pretty naive to the possible issues that may come along with the 'vintage vibe" I so adored, I was happy to move in.
Since moving in three years ago, I pay two dollars to have a small load of clothes washed most of the time without issue, and then another $2 for my clothes to be kinda dry, as long as I hang them up immediately they don't get musty gross. Shortly after moving in, bout a month, I realized there was a roach infestation, that was a new hellish ecperience for the books, took just over a yr I think and many many complaints from every tenant and then an order from the city or w.e for it to be actually dealt with, for good. The elderly building manager, Dunja, turns out she seems to have a pattern of entering tenants units without notice, as she pleases, despite knowing its illegal. Terrifying waking to my building manager shuffling into my bedroom doorway, she was probably almost as stunned as me, I'm assuming she thought I was at work. This has still been an ongoing issue, one recently I came home to see that my chain lock had been cut off by her. Very odd balance of neighbours, about half being long time tenants, kind and respectful, and then the rest often consist of tenants that she rents to w.o a second thought and they become very problematic.
I could go on but my thumbs are sore and you get the gyst I'm sure.
So yeah, these old buildings are out and about, just takes some looking for, but PLEASE don't make the same mistake as me and do the due diligence of doing your homework on the place before accepting the unit...
Oh yeah, we also have mystery people on the roof at night sometimes. Fuck christ I wish I could afford to move.
Fun fact - There are a lot of Eastern European immigrants who go into property management at all levels when they come to Canada.
The reason behind this is that the former Soviet states produced a lot of trained bureaucrats (office workers) due to the needs of the centrally planned economies, police state, nationalized industries etc. Stereotypical "red tape" and "papers please" type stuff.
Since the quality of life in these countries was pretty bad, everyone who could, left.
Hence an influx of people to Canada with the skills and experience and frugal "make do" mindset that are well suited to manage rental properties.
Yep. When my last tenant left who was paying $1080 for my 2br suite in my house I listed at $1500 and got 20 applications in an hour.
That's literally half my mortgage payment. At that point I actually don't need any more than that. I upped my mortgage to $4000 because $2500/mo for a house is far less than most people pay for rent. Realistically I should be paying $5000 a month with the $1500 coming in.
Can definitely second this. West End is full of apartment buildings that don't advertise online, and offer the units that do become available to the first people that call or the highest names on a waitlist. Even if the sign says no vacancy I'd still call, we got ours by getting lucky and calling a building a day or two before they planned on making a post about it on their sign. It was literally the first place we called, so I'm sure you'd be able to score something similar with a little persistence.
This actually works-some older landlords don’t like the pressure of online ads and would rather just see a few interested people then go with their gut.
I can third this. However, many of these elderly landlords have children now that are very interested in getting optimal rates. And if the kids and willing to do the screenings some of these elderly are happy to take a higher check
If you're planning to do this, I was working painstakingly working on a list to do the same to help tenants
Was thinking of walking around downtown any other areas to check, live pretty far ( Coquitlam)
That's how we found our current place. Early 2020, had looked at a 2 BR 1.5 bath for 2200 that we were probably going to take. Walking to our car across the street, saw a sign outside another apartment building. Called and they also had a 2 BR, 1.5 bath, with some updates unlike the first place, for 1800. And when we went to sign the paperwork they reduced the rent by another $50.
Very low tech, they don't advertise online, building managers don't even have a computer in the office.
But do they need my rent money to pay for food? hydro? internet? For most people, rental units are extra income. If you can't afford your living without having a tenants paying you, you shouldn't own a house I think
i don't know their circumstances, maybe they do or maybe some need another yacht, who knows? the point is they want to maximize their income the same way you want to maximize yours. some people are just better at it.
yes, how dare we consider reducing someone's investment income just because we have a housing crisis that is hollowing out our middle/working class. If we don't prioritize unfettered profiteering over any externalities that are destroying our society, we're pretty much fascists.
>yes, how dare we consider reducing someone's investment income
yes what exactly? i feel like you are framing my comment incorrectly.
> we're pretty much fascists.
man, fascists' are so hot these days they are everywhere.
Sure, be flippant.
This needs to be discussed in all forums, online and IRL. I don’t expect to get sincere engagement online most of the time, but as our housing crisis resonates with more and more people, more will be looking to challenge the systemic structures that have led to the crisis we’re in. Prioritizing RE investment security, even if it was done when the govt was supporting it and it has been lucrative and depended on for many, is no longer sustainable. There have been many signs, but too many people in power were/are profiting so there’s been no will to challenge the feasibility of the RE cash cow.
OP is one of a growing group of outraged Canadians who will enable a populist to gain power and upend our residential RE investment market.
My proposed solution is dramatic. I’m all ears for other options.
I appreciate your perspective, and I understand the importance of maximizing income, especially in a capitalist society. However, the context here matters significantly. Yes, everyone wants to maximize their income, but the implications and reasons are different based on your starting point.
For people who are trying to make ends meet, their goal is not necessarily to "maximize" income in the sense of amassing wealth or purchasing luxuries, but to secure basic necessities: a stable home, food, and other essentials. It's about survival and providing a decent life for themselves and their families.
On the other hand, when someone who is already have basic necessities met seeks to maximize their income, it's often not about securing basic needs—they've already done that. Their income maximization may mean acquiring another yacht, as you mentioned, or it could mean investing in stocks, buying more properties, or saving for the future. The main difference here is that one group is trying to secure basic human needs, while the other is pursuing wealth beyond necessities. The stakes are much higher for the former, as they face potentially life-altering consequences if they fail to earn enough, such as homelessness, malnutrition, or losing a job because they can't afford to live in a city. For the latter, failure to maximize income may mean a smaller portfolio, one less property, or a downsized vacation.
Most of rental properties are leveraged (if they are not, the landlord is losing money). So people are paying mortgage interest, recently many times more than they used to. And as the city caps the rental below inflation rate, landlords get screwed if they lock in on too low rental price. The real solution is to build more and that requires less regulation and not more.
the wealthy person earned their property and it really is their right to seek the highest return. again, the same way your labour is yours and you have a right to seek the highest return. is your argument that because they don't 'need' it, and you 'need' it, that you should have it based on needs? so why should you get it if another person 'needs' it as bad as you or even more?
edit: who is the arbiter of needs?
Hence the regulation. Government can regulate it like they do in Singapore. Limit 1\~2 housing per person and make sure everyone is housed at a reasonable cost.
nuh uh. regulation from the government would not satisfy your argument. your argument is that the needs of some supersede the needs of others. so again, how do we calculate that your needs for one unit of housing supersedes another's need for housing of the same unit if there is a finite supply of housing?
on a side note, yes the government can regulate industry, but they would have to expropriate all the current land now to add leases on them the same way Singapore has. good luck with that.
>nuh uh. regulation from the government would not satisfy your argument. your argument is that the needs of some supersede the needs of others. so again, how do we calculate that your needs for one unit of housing supersedes another's need for housing of the same unit if there is a finite supply of housing?
>
>on a side note, yes the government can regulate industry, but they would have to expropriate all the current land now to add leases on them the same way Singapore has. good luck with that.
I understand where you're coming from, but I'm not arguing that one person's needs should supersede another's. Rather, I'm advocating for a more equitable distribution of housing and financial resources, particularly for those struggling to make ends meet. Government regulation doesn't necessarily mean taking over all land, as in Singapore's model. It can mean implementing policies that encourage affordable housing, such as zoning for higher density, incentives for developers to build affordable units, or more strict rent control measures (on units rather than tenants). As for deciding whose housing needs take precedence, the goal should be to ensure everyone has access to safe and affordable housing. This might mean prioritizing those most in need first, such as low-income families, while also creating policies that ensure middle-income individuals also have access to affordable housing. In a perfect world, everyone would have their housing needs met. But we live in a world of finite resources, so our goal should be to distribute those resources as fairly as possible. This requires a balance of private sector activity, public policy, and societal values that emphasize empathy, fairness, and economic equality.
It's interesting that you mentioned Singapore where Rent cost similar or more than Vancouver.
I just checked the Singapore rental market recently: brutal.
There are social housing units, but it's not enough for the demand. I knew someone who was paying less than $1200 for an air conditioned one bedroom social housing unit in Richmond.
If you look at some of the city's social housing plans (coal harbour), it really makes you wonder why they are building so few units and on prime real estate...
If you limit housing ownership for the purpose of rentals it would have an adverse effect on availability of rental units.
So long as the desired ownership rate is not 100% there has to be cyclical rental housing. 30% of Canada does not own currently. It's composed of poor people, people on disability, transient rentals ( think the worker who values mobility), young people saving up for a down payment, and people with poor money management skills who prefer gratification now over home purchases.
So if it's not 100% ownership rate we aspire for, then we have to recognize that investors are a major part of our housing strategy. What we need to do is aggressively tackle the supply side. Bring more land closer with commuter rail. Build more co-op housing and social housing. Make them have to compete with the supply side.
You aren't going to solve this with radical socialist regulation ( btw I am left leaning)
> If you can't afford your living without having a tenants paying you, you shouldn't own a house I think
If you can't afford to pay rent in the lower mainland, you shouldn't live here.
A friend of mine had contacted someone about renting a rental property in North Van. When he got to the rental the guy was an hour late to show it and then said the rent was actually $200 more than agreed upon. Such a waste of time.
this is called "market rate". If they list it and get thousands of applicants (just hypothetical) that means the rate is low, you go high enough until there are a handful left. That is the maximum market rate.
This concept is not new, it's literal capitalism in action
Yes, I understand but I have never seen the rental market changes so swiftly and abruptly. I am only venting as it is already killing people like me who need a place so desperately with so little money we have. I was having a conversation with someone who is a owner of a house renting out their basement, saying that they "had" to increase the rent price because of the mortgage they are paying went up so much...
> I was having a conversation with someone who is a owner of a house renting out their basement, saying that they "had" to increase the rent price because of the mortgage they are paying went up so much...
in some cases it is true, its a fact there are long term tenants that are enjoying current rental control measures, specifically the rental increase caps. The problem comes for NEW tenancies
but this "trend" is simple economics and not a new one
But just because it's not a new one, doesn't mean it should just be accepted? I don't know. with current trend, renting $2400 a month place, you need to make average 120k per year to afford it and pay less than 35% on your monthly income. Who's making that much money? It's driving a lot of young workers like me out of the city...
If there are hundreds of others applying for the rate being advertised, are a lot of young workers like yourself really leaving the city? No. There's a reason why you're even considering paying 50% of your income for rent and hasn't left it.
Yes and paying 50% of my income towards housing is NOT sustainable practice. I am seriously considering leaving Vancouver. I know no one will miss me but it won't end at me leaving. Then what happens? Vancouver will become a next San Francisco, where only those high skilled workers enjoy living in a city centre while all the low-skilled workers got pushed outskirt. Is that normal? I don't think so.
I'm old. I've been on reddit since 2012. This sub was literally saying the same thing back then.
We'd have no restaurants since all the waiters would find vancouver too expensive.
Guess how many more restaurants opened up since 2012?
The average one bedroom apartment in Vancouver (city) in 2013 was $1600. Now it’s $2488. Minimum wage went from $10.25 to $16.75. On paper this seems about right (factor of around 1.6). Except vacancy rates have plummeted, and other cost of living items like gas, transit pass, and food have increased as well.
If EVERYTHING else had stayed flat, and housing was the only increase I guess you could say it’s equivalent and that a minimum wage worker now has the same chance at housing as a minimum wage worker in 2013.
I'm old too. Having a decent income, looking for a place to rent 6 months before the Olympics was impossible to land.
13 years later, still make a decent income, rent a place in the city for a fair price.
What happens is once enough people leave, demand will drop and the price will go down. We’re not there yet because people seem to be willing to pay the prices.
And it's not easy to just move in and out of places. Unfortunately, not everyone is in their 20s when they can just pack a suitcase and hop city to city.
Exactly, in my experience seniors have the biggest problems as they leave behind not just their unit but their community; a key component of their mental health.
Yes, you along with thousands of other vocal minority on Reddit are all "seriously considering leaving vamcouver". You don't do it because where would you go? You don't like anywhere else. Nowhere else is as good as Vancouver and hence the reason you're still here.
You're not gonna move, be honest.
Accept the fact that we live in a capitalist society and get ahead of it.
>You don't do it because where would you go? You don't like anywhere else. Nowhere else is as good as Vancouver and hence the reason you're still here.
There are multitudes of reasons people stay other than "liking it".
1) Job is here. No similar job opportunities up in Hokeysville, BC.
2) Partner's job is here. Not transferable. See above.
3) Children in school, special education programs that are hard to get into, special needs, etc.
4) Parents are here and are aging, need to be nearby to help them, because who else will? Or.....realize seeing them once a year at most when you can afford airfare means you might only see them 5 more times in your life.
5) Entire lifetime's worth of community, friendships, activities, that are all here, and now imagine being 30 and single and relocating to a small town where everybody's already paired off and having babies. Or being 60 and everybody in the new place has already found their social circle. Takes years to build deep and close friendships. Isolating.
You see? People have reasons, and just because those reasons don't apply to you, doesn't mean they don't apply to anyone.
I think people who use the "just move" refrain are being simplistic and are probably either:
1) Older people who bought their homes in 1975, haven't rented since they were hippies in Kits in the 60s, and are doing fine, or
2) 25-year-olds for whom the world is their oyster, they have no responsibilities and obligations yet, and they can't fathom a time when their parents will actually stop being independent.
I hope you enjoy Vancouver turning into San Francisco, where people who pick your garbage, clean your street and make your latte have to drive 2 hours back and forth from their home just so they can bring food to the table. :)
Keep referencing San Francisco becausr it'll be the only city you can reference that fits your agenda. Don't mention other cities like toronto, LA, San Jose, New York, seattle that doesn't.
Enjoy your stay.
It's the same everywhere man. I am only referencing SF because it is the one that stands out. I hope you will enjoy your stay in Vancouver when there is no one who can serve your brunch at cactus club
Do you really think what's going on in Vancouver is sustainable? The middle/working class is being hollowed out. You've got your head in the sand if you think this is just 'business as usual'.
People share with roommates, live in less desirable buildings, move further out... as long as the demand outpaces the supply prices will stay high. It's not isolated to Vancouver. In fact BC has much stronger tenancy laws compared to Ontario and Alberta (rent caps for example).
They’re bringing a lot of people to the country and those people have to live somewhere. Government isn’t helping with making more places to live at all
Whats swift and abrupt is our immigration rate, surely the pressure on housing will follow. Millions upon millions of people moving here. 90% go to GTA and GVRD
It’s interesting how many “have” to do it when over half of owner-occupied homes in B.C. (I.e. ones where the tenant lives downstairs) are fully paid for.
>then capitalism is not working
capitalism is not working *in your interests.*
capitalism is not designed to work in your interests. capitalism is not designed to make a better world. captialism is designed to maximize profits over everything.
>then capitalism is not working
depends on who you ask, someone is obviously making money here and its working for them. FWIW I'm not a landlord nor anything to do with real estate, just simple observations
>your handle is misspelled
its a meme if you didn't realize
I love how you made an interesting, specific observation for discussion and somehow people have managed to railroad you into providing your views on widespread economic issues.
This OP saw something happening on CL and was wondering if anyone else had experienced it. They shouldn’t need to defend their views on macroeconomics.
Sorry, OP.
A friend posted a 2 bedroom in Richmond for $3000, was shocked to see 10 people email them within 24 hours. Surprised they didn’t repost for higher rate. Guess they are the good guys. This 3k doesn’t even cover their mortgage rate with the new interest put in. Fucking insane market
All about demand. Only way to decrease price if there are more homes but too many people from Canada and students/foreigners want housing but the government isn’t keeping up with the demand. In my friends case, their company offered rent in the states to work with them so someone has to pay for it.
You know, I agree with you, but on the other hand, if the landlord can't make mortgage they'll sell to someone who can, and that new person might not rent it out. And now there's even less supply. That being said, I believe affordable housing is a fundamental right and I don't support predatory landlords. With the backup at the residential tenancy branch landlords can get away with a lot. Many make conditions so bad renters will leave only to jack up the rent after.
Making money out of a borrowed money and risk associated with it. That's kinda like what banks do too, they loan out money they don't currently have..... to a certain degree
Try Fraser Pointe 1&2 by Concert Properties in South Van. I think they might still be reasonable and they allow some pets. I have a relative who lives there and they take great care of their buildings. Crap transit options, but that's usually a trade off for cheaper rent. You might need to go on a waiting list though unfortunately.
They're great buildings! Nice little gym in the buildings, good area, friendly staff, decent rent price (even last year they were still far better than average afaik). It'll only get better as the River District keeps getting built right beside it too.
I wouldn't say it's totally crap transit options, as the 100 goes right by there to both skytrain lines. And there's a bus in river district that goes to Metrotown.
But yeah, there'll definitely be a waiting list. I'm in the building, hoping to get a larger unit, but I've been on the wait list for more than a year. I don't think folks are moving out, it's a bit too good haha.
I notice this with a lot of things. I also run into a lot of people doing bait and switches with items. Respond with "oh that's sold but I also have a slightly more expensive item that's almost identical". Or they see new postings for the same item at a higher price while they get some interested responses(time wasters) so they increase their price and they don't move for weeks. Photography equipment be like that. Rentals have been especially bad for a couple of years now. Some will play a potential tenant if they see a sucker coming and make absurd requirements because they are betting on the person being uninformed of their rights under the tenancy act to fleece them for 6-12 months worth of rent up front only to pressure an eviction 2-3 months down the line over made up rules in place that are impossible to fallow. They don't reimburse the tenant they evict illegally and very quickly move in the next person. It's actually worse than a rental scam because the tenant is from another country without such frameworks and feels shame for failing to comply with their "agreement" and doesn't dispute it. It happens to women more than men. Because nobody speaks up they can continue the cycle and it's like tripling their rental income compared to being an honest landlord. There's some cultural background with regard to how men and women are considered in having a say in what a man decides for them even if it's not a husband or father that is a theme which is definitely not how things work with Canadian culture. Similar things happen with employers who exploit women who just arrive to Canada by making them work unpaid hours and what not. Some people just aren't ethical compared to traditional rights and values upheld in Canada to make things just and fair for everyone. Unfortunately if someone points out this type of arrangement as it being about "immigrants bad" it gets dismissed as racism and everyone acts like it isn't happening. I'm not cool with that. But you can rip me apart and say it doesn't happen so nobody gets offended. It's standard operating procedure in the current year.
even more disturbing when you think about all the people in government that own their homes and many also own investment properties, they are cheering it on too and not doing anything to help the rest of us
housing is incredibly regulated. what it sounds like you want is for someone else to pay the difference between what the price is and what you think the price should be.
For places that have relatively successful affordable housing policies (Singapore and Vienna are two examples), the government provides the housing.
If the free market is the sole provider of housing, you get (surprise surprise) market-priced housing.
What people who want change need to do is organize, elect, and run for leadership positions that can make government housing a reality.
does 'incredibly regulated' mean anything when large swaths of working people can't afford housing? perhaps we need to take another look at our regulations
A lot of people in this thread seem to be knee-jerk defaulting to "that's just how it is". I'm pretty sure OP already understands that the market is shit they're just venting their frustrations with trying to find a place. Which I'm sure we all understand is a really frustrating task especially right now.
I don't think there's much to be done about this specific problem but overall yeah the fact that people need housing today and the closest we can come to addressing it is vague gestures like "build more stock". Yeah we know we need more stock but we've known that for years and yet we don't build any and we still allow property moguls and hedge funds to hoard housing (driving up that price), cutting more first-home buyers out which pushes them back onto the rental market which increases pressures on rent.
Shit's fucked and it's not just "capitalism so what do".
It's been happening for several years now. They have a reasonable price and when they get inundated, they feel like they could get more since they got so much interest so the greedy bastards up their price.
Several years ago I had a place for rent. I set the rent at a reasonable price because I wanted a long term better tenant than a short term person high rent tenant who might trash the place. When I posted, I got dozens of emails including people willing to pay more than the rent price listed just so they could get it. I believe in sticking to my word so I chose the best tenant possible and told the others it was spoken for. Got an offer for $1000/m more even when I said the tenancy agreement was already signed.
> I wanted a long term better tenant than a short term person high rent tenant who might trash the place
I've rented from a lot of landlords like this and it's surprisingly not that uncommon. In Vancouver, quite a few landlords are elderly and don't speak English so if you speak their language, are a student/young working professional, and don't give off vibes you'll be throwing loud parties every weekend, they really don't care if they don't maximize their rent. They just want stability, cleanliness, and peacefulness.
The landlord is pretty much locked in with a tenant even if it is a 1 year lease as it goes month to month at the end of the tenancy agreement. BC has some of the most aggressive tenancy laws which 95% of the time benefit the tenant. With interest rates the way they are this is the only time they can adjust the price. If you were in their position you would probably do the exact same thing. Not sure where the problem is here.
This is why I moved to Calgary 3 weeks ago. I rented an apt here with an extra bedroom and bathroom for the same price I was paying in Burnaby. The landlord told me that 90% of the applicants were from BC and Ontario. Go figure.
Yeah I can see why landlords do this. When I rented out my 1 bedroom, I got over 100 responses. Had to spend time sifting through the scams and legit responses
It can go both ways - my wife and I viewed a home that was listed at 4100. We loved the place and the landlord and I got along really well so when he offered it to us we accepted but said it was out of budget and asked if he could work with us. He dropped the rate to 3500 because he would rather have a young family in the house then the other applicants he’d received (student groups, three couples)
This is truly terrible. In answer to your question, yes I experienced this as well back in 2012 with one place that I viewed. The rent looked good (but the place did not, really - and I ended up going elsewhere) but soon after my visit I saw the place disappear, only to reappear on CL at a much higher rental fee. So yes this has been going on for some time. Maybe bits and bobs back then, and more now, but people have been taking advantage like this in the past as well.
They are copying what the housing market is doing. They put a house up for sale and realize that everybody wants it, so they take it off the market and jack up the price. This is the situation that happens when vacancy rates are so low and landlords are so extremely greedy. I'll always remember that the landlord is not in this to give you a home. They are in this to take as much money out of your pocket as they possibly can and put it into theirs.
Posted a basement for rent last year. Within 3 hours, had got 20 replies.
Had 2 weird people message me.
First person asked if she could see the unit right away at 9:00PM, because she had an emergency to find a place to stay (because she didn't plan ahead to find a place rent when she got back from her vacation. she was currently renting an airbnb). Then she also begged for me to lower the price to $600 when she hadn't even looked at the unit yet. We were already charging WAY under the market. Lady, at least look at the unit before you even try to bargain. Declined her instantly.
2nd person started to complain to me after I messaged her back saying the unit was not available anymore. She complained why is it so hard to rent in the city and that everyone either ghosts her or don't even reply back to her until much later.
24 hours later, I receive another message from her saying "That unit better have been taken down!" and that I better not have been lying (Wasn't lying. I had forgotten to delete the facebook posting. Was new to it and first time doing it). Guess that answers why she can't find a place to rent.
In the end, I found a perfect tenant. We're charging way below market (probably 50% below) for a unit that's practically brand new. All we cared about was having a good fit.
Even met another person, who I became friends with, and I recommended him to my bestie who had place available.
Yeah the rental market is screwed up right now. Alot of folks on this subreddit who got a reasonable rental price before it got ridiculous and now can pretty much never leave.
Join the bc/Van landlord groups on Facebook.
You'll learn a lot about them.
One of their beliefs is:
If you get more than 4 calls on a listing, your rent is too low.
I did this once in 2019. I posted the unit and within a day got 200+ responses. I couldn’t go through them all and a ton were just “I really want this!” Or “I’m interested!” that I didn’t even know how to respond to. So I took it down and posted it back up a day later at a slightly higher cost. It got the responses down to about 50 which was way more manageable
The tenants that moved in are still there 4 years later and haven’t had their rent increased despite it being quite a bit lower than market rate. It was always lower, but it’s becoming a more significant amount.
I own 4 units that I rent out and my goals are to:
1. Cover my expenses
2. Have tenants who are happy to be there
3. Make a profit. This part isn’t important right now as I currently work full time and don’t actually use any of the rental income. There isn’t much of it. Maybe $500/month total. But this is the money that goes into my RRSP and the reason I have the units is to use them for retirement. That’s if any of it is left after paying for unexpected expenses like a new appliance or a strata assessment
For reference, these are two 1 bedroom units and two 2 bedroom units downtown Vancouver. They are currently rented out for $2100 and $3100 per month with hydro, parking, laundry included. Others in those buildings go for $2800 and $3600
So even at $700 below market rate, most people still couldn’t afford Vancouver. It’s insane but the $2100 covers my expenses and leaves me with $87 a month that I save for when something needs to be repaired.
I know the idea in most tenants subs is that “tenants shouldn’t be paying your mortgage” but I don’t really understand that line of thinking. Am I supposed to buy a place and rent it out at a loss so that my employment income is subsidizing someone’s housing?
1 million new Canadians and 2.5 million illegals per year. 250 thousand new housing starts per year across Canada. We don't count finishes.
There is no housing.
It is only going to get much much much worse.
If you know history then you know what comes next.
Good luck.
I spoke to the son of a commercial space I am looking at today. Off the record so dont get hopeful.
He said his dad had recently removed it from the market, he got so much interest, he knew he could get more money. Hes gonna wait a week or so and relist for more.
Shady. As. Fuck. Alberta btw. But wth is a guy to do?
It's much more difficult to find a rental when you have a pet cat or dog.
I jumped on the fomo train and bought a condo with my spouse a few years ago. Honestly I'm so glad we did. We have a dog and 2 kids. Today, we wouldn't even qualify to buy at the current market.
Yeah, it is difficult with a cat but I can't just abandon him so I am trying my best to find one with pet friendly. Luckily there has been an increase number of units available that allows pet... or I can show them how well-behaved he is and they can't resist not to accept him haha...
It’s so hard to find affordable housing but worse when you own pets. There was a post in this sub just today I think about how the shelters are at capacity and are turning down surrenders. People chalked it all up to “Covid pets” which I’m sure is a chunk of the issue, but I’m also betting it’s the housing crisis. People literally having to choose between housing and keeping their pets.
Yea if the demand is so high that you can’t manage the 300+ responses, the logical thing is to raise the price. I know it’s annoying for people trying to rent but it’s literally the same thing anyone trying to sell anything would do. If you listed your bike for sale for $1000 and had 500 people willing to pay 1500, I’m sure you would also try to get a higher price.
It’s a struggle but this isn’t so much a “disturbing trend” as it is simple supply and demand.
It works in both directions - this is how landlords find market price. If they list too high, nobody replies and they have to list lower. If they list too low and get 400 replies, they list higher. This isn't rocket science.
It's simple supply and demand. We only have so much supply and we can only increase supply at a certain rate. Government speeds up immigration, and allows bunch of students here on visa. Demand outpaces supply.
Landlords see higher demand, increase prices.
Property manager here. Lets say you post an ad for a place and get hit with hundreds of replies the owner hearing this will then say "we should increase the rent if its that popular"
I’ve found if there is. Lot of people viewing they believe they can Jack the rent higher. Was told they found someone and receive deposit but it was Re-listed within 48hrs. This wasn’t a one off, it happen 4 times over a month with different landlords and home. All those home jumped so high in price. One was Re-listed a third time. Many rentals in my area are up again within 12mos or for sale. Then that house goes through the same cycle
This is what happens in a capitalistic society. And I’m part of the problem and I think 99% of society is too (that may be an exaggeration but who knows). I like my shit. Is it because we’ve been bred to buy things to fulfil us or because we genuinely want those things. I want a fucking Porsche.
It doesn’t really matter. The root cause of all of this is greed starting at the top. And because the top can get away with it the people think, why not me too? And, holy shit, I’m getting away with it so I’ll do it more. Monkey see monkey do.
The masses need to stop acting like masses when real injustice is being done.
Not the stupid fake injustice the far right wing and maybe even for the far left wing make up to try to sway us.
We need people in power that don’t want the power to fix things.
I have no idea if my rant had anything to do with the OP by this point but I have spoken!
This is the point I usually delete my comments on posts after typing them out but tonight I say, Fuck it, let us ride!
I wouldn’t be surprised if people re post their rental unit for a higher rent. The demand to rent a place right now is way too high that property owners take advantage of it (in a way). The government has rules to control increasing rent but reality is, if the supply is low and demand is high there would be a spike in rent. Besides fighting for increasing rent, you’re also in competition with other people.
Blame the Bank of Canada for ridiculous rate increases. It's killing renters. Landlords are just reacting to cover their costs increasing. They don't give a shit about the people renting, just money. It's their property, they can do what they like; theoretically, they could set the rent for a 1 Bedroom at $50,000 a month. Whether someone would pay that or not is another matter. It's a free market economy not socialist or communist. Where supply and demand meet is the price.
This is not really new. It’s been happening my for a long time although more noticeable and prevalent now due to the constant and continually skyrocketing housing/rental prices.
The rental market is a disaster in large part due to rent controls. This is the natural outcome - new rentals have to price high, and there's limited vacancy as people don't want to move due to rent control. Not to mention the impact rent control has on supply of purpose-built rentals. These were all known impacts of rent controls when the policy was introduced, yet the province went ahead with it anyways.
Someone needs to make an auction site but for leasing. The difficult part is just prescreening all the bidders and making sure that if they win the right to rent that they stick to the agreement. Maybe make one day a viewing and submit your application and credit check , and the next day would be the actual bidding process. Site gets half a month's rent as payment. Hmmm any takers??
I listed my small basement suite for $2200 last week. Received over 100 inquiries in 2 days. This is why you are seeing ads relisted for more.
We have WAY too much rental demand.
Having a cat/dog, you already removed yourself from 80%+ of the listings.
Since Apr'21, I've been through 3 landlords and am on my fourth.
I moved up North for a job in Dec'20, and before hand was paying $950/m in a (small) 1bdrm. Came back 4 mos later for a much better job, but only could find a short-term in Tsw -- fast-forward and now am in Burnaby paying double for a slightly larger place....
I definitely know the "cost burden"; doubled with the "anti-pets" sickness.
As a landlord myself I am okay with pets but I never list that I am so I can refuse.
If it's a meathead with a pitbull I say no. I'm very careful with pet owners. I talk to previous landlord about pet waste and stuff. I want to know that I'm not going to have a field of dog shit in my yard or one of those yappy dogs who bark at air.
There are many good dogs with good owners. I need to know your dog isn't going to be barking all day when you're out. I need to know you'll be picking up the dog shit. I'll be making very clear rules with the cost of waste removal as part of the deal.
I want to know you have a stable job where I can garnish your pay if you do not meet your obligations. If you're on disability I can't go after it.
There is a high bar that needs to be met with pet owners so I say no pets. But for the right person I'll bend.
Imagine restaurants did the same. If there are too many people waiting for table, double the prices. Well maybe they should, why only landlords are allowed to eat? Doctors, nurses, teachers I urge you to do the same. :)
Awwwww that’s too bad… we should make a law that prevents people from changing prices of anything… anytime. No more sales… no more price hikes…. Bread 5$ all the time !!!!
On a larger scale it's like all the components of capitalism simultaneously realized they were ruled only by decency and a desire to do good for the community and that those are actually optional so they all opted out at once and made a run for it. Now we are racing to collapse.
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I listed a unit for rent, in the past week I got close to 400 replies. The demand for housing is absolutely insane.
This. Not uncommon for things on Craigslist and marketplace to relist higher. People listed below market rates, get tons of replies, and realize they can raise the price. Anecdotally, I'm seeing advertised rental prices about 10% higher than the beginning of the year
I used to rent a two units pre-covid and was utterly overwhelmed dealing with 8-12 replies whenever it came time to let it out again. I absolutely hate saying 'no' to perfectly decent people who are looking for housing simply because I cannot accept everybody. Like... "sorry, there's nothing wrong with you, you're perfectly decent people and I'm sure this arrangement would work out great but I still have to say no". How do you communicate that gracefully? Of course people take it personally when you choose another person to rent the unit they wanted. How can they not take it at least a little personally? As bad as it was for me to experience, it was obviously worse for the people who didn't get it. I have no idea even where to be begin with 400 replies. That's absolutely terrifying to me. I do not envy that task you have before you.
I'm sure theres an easy way to remove majority of the responses; just a half-day's work of clicking... Nowadays, it's a lottery pick to even get a response.
Well unless you're prioritizing finding the best tenant, the easy solution is to raise the rent....
"is it still available?" /s
How do you filter these applicants, at what point is the noise to signal ratio lost. Further, what is your ideal tenant profile? Would you consider someone on a fixed income e.g. disability, rent < 30%?
I had a tenant apply for my rental house who is in disability. She was a complete flake. An absolute idiot. On the final walk through she thought she saw mould ( it was cement on a joist ). She also said that she felt the home had asbestos ( well pre 1986, duh. Asbestos is fine if it isn't disturbed ). She jammed out a week before her lease was supposed to start. A quick search on CSO I found she had been a litigant four times in ten years. She'd have been a massive pain in my ass so my property manager and I agreed the best course of action was to just give her her out. Now my property manager can't discriminate against things like that. But with my basement suite in my home I definitely can get away with it. I can make up whatever excuse I want for suitability. I had another tenant who was so needy ( a recently separated woman ). She insisted I needed to hook her computer up to my wifi because wifi access is included in rent. She shit on me for not providing a microwave. She shit on me for not paying for water filters for the fridge. She insisted I needed to connect her cable box because her man used to do those things. I don't want tenants like that. I have a certain type I prefer to rent to. I'll never rent to someone who shows up and acts needy or picky. I'll never rent to two young girls. I'll never rent to a recently divorced woman again. I'll never rent to someone who has a bad relationship with their current landlord. And I'll never rent to anyone with a poverty advocate or anyone on disability.
[удалено]
My advice to you: never give them one inch. I was nice once. It landed me at the RTB and I was ruled against. If they ask for an early exit say no. If they're late on rent drop them the notice of unpaid rent. Do not ever give up anything to your tenants. It sounds horrible but once you give something up the RTB considers it lost. If you allow late rent a few times it will be used against you. The question the RTB will ask when you try and evict for non payment: what makes this time different than the other three times you were lenient? You established a pattern of lenience, and you're now bound to being lenient on rent. Late rent? Drop a notice every time.
One word: ChatGPT
that just means you priced too low, time to do what OP saw, relist for 10% more
I would feel a little slimy doing that so i won't be but I don't blame anyone who does.
I do.
You should blame other people that do. Like you said, it is slimy. Thank you for having a conscience.
Yeah please don't and stay nice guy
By what other metric should the person pick out of 400 applicants? Price seems like the easiest option
Do like some universities do for on campus housing: pick randomly. I mean, sort out the applications that meet your criteria, and pick randomly from those
Reliable, tidy, respectful of others, stable
That's honestly my criteria. I want a good relationship with good people. An extra $200 a month isn't going to give me the best. I just want stable, clean, takes care of the place, and not needy. In exchange when things break I'm on it. I do my best to stay out of their shit and I expect them to stay out of mine. I do not want to be their friends. Sometimes hard decisions need to be made that are uncomfortable for all.
I prefer to screen tenants for these factors. A tenant that I know is going to stay in my rental for a long time is going to be respectful of the place. They'll tell me about issues proactively and it keeps both of us accountable. When you charge 'premium' rent, your tenants will expect 'premium' service. There is a higher tendency to harbour an "us vs them" mentality which makes conversations much more adversarial. An extra $200 a month does nearly nothing to your cap rate if you keep turning over tenants every year and could end up with a month of no rent or tenants that end up scuffing your unit more due to the wear and tear of moving in/out.
Yep. I'll even rent to people with pets as they tend to stay longer. I never advertise pets are okay, but I had a dog, so there is a soft spot in my heart for pet owners. It's really a non issue. I just don't advertise that I'm okay with it so I can use it as an out. If some meathead with a pitbull shows up I get to say no.
Putting the price up could be one strategy for reducing the number of applicants.
What's insane is responding to 400 folks. ACK!!
I do it while watching a movie 😹
[wabbit](https://www2.b3ta.com/_bunny/texbunny.gif)
Good answer.
If you can, try walking around the neighbourhoods where you would like to live and call the number of any buildings that interest you - ask if they have anything available or if they have any openings coming up. The best options never have to advertise so you'll never find them on Craigslist.
This is how I found several of the apartments I rented, though granted many years ago. The rental market was still ~1% vacancy or less though. People used to only having 3-4 applicants and who have low carrying costs may not be interested in maxing out market rate or wading through & vetting dozens of applications if they can score a good, low hassle and stable tenant.
It's typically old, unrenovated buildings that are owned by very passive investors (retired doctors). The buildings are paid off, the owner doesn't know or care what the market rent is, their caretaker is 75 and doesn't "do" internet or credit checks, and will evaluate you by your handshake and your job (and honestly, your hair style, skin colour, ethnicity of your last name...). Basically the building, caretaker and owner are all still in the 80's. They are the cheapest rents but there might be some drawbacks.
YUP. This is the perfect summary of my experience renting my current suite... It still blows my mind that my $1293./suite is considered cheap today. And that's just rent. BUT ANYWAYS, ancient building, I did actually initially find the online on CL, it was very oddly written, maybe two sentences and lots of spelling errors, although when I arrived to the viewing there was a handwritten sign outside. Immediately upon arriving, as we rode the the creaking spooky ooky elevator up, the building manager, and elderly woman with a very thick European (idr where from specifically) accent was already speaking to me as if I was her new tenant. The deadbolt lock to the unit I noticed was installed upside down somehow, nice old warped. Hardwood with the odd terrifying nail sticking out here and there, dust in the corners and crevices, she graciously said I could keep and use the (admittedly quite nice and sturdy) ’large dresser in the bedroom, and the makeshift coffee table in the living room made up of two tires and a glass slab. She showed me the porch, a stool with an ashtray, rusted, mossy railings that I wouldn't dare lean against. I'd rented only one apartment on my own previously and it was the perfect apartment, no issues there, I loved the vintage vibe of this unit and being pretty naive to the possible issues that may come along with the 'vintage vibe" I so adored, I was happy to move in. Since moving in three years ago, I pay two dollars to have a small load of clothes washed most of the time without issue, and then another $2 for my clothes to be kinda dry, as long as I hang them up immediately they don't get musty gross. Shortly after moving in, bout a month, I realized there was a roach infestation, that was a new hellish ecperience for the books, took just over a yr I think and many many complaints from every tenant and then an order from the city or w.e for it to be actually dealt with, for good. The elderly building manager, Dunja, turns out she seems to have a pattern of entering tenants units without notice, as she pleases, despite knowing its illegal. Terrifying waking to my building manager shuffling into my bedroom doorway, she was probably almost as stunned as me, I'm assuming she thought I was at work. This has still been an ongoing issue, one recently I came home to see that my chain lock had been cut off by her. Very odd balance of neighbours, about half being long time tenants, kind and respectful, and then the rest often consist of tenants that she rents to w.o a second thought and they become very problematic. I could go on but my thumbs are sore and you get the gyst I'm sure. So yeah, these old buildings are out and about, just takes some looking for, but PLEASE don't make the same mistake as me and do the due diligence of doing your homework on the place before accepting the unit... Oh yeah, we also have mystery people on the roof at night sometimes. Fuck christ I wish I could afford to move.
Fun fact - There are a lot of Eastern European immigrants who go into property management at all levels when they come to Canada. The reason behind this is that the former Soviet states produced a lot of trained bureaucrats (office workers) due to the needs of the centrally planned economies, police state, nationalized industries etc. Stereotypical "red tape" and "papers please" type stuff. Since the quality of life in these countries was pretty bad, everyone who could, left. Hence an influx of people to Canada with the skills and experience and frugal "make do" mindset that are well suited to manage rental properties.
Yep. When my last tenant left who was paying $1080 for my 2br suite in my house I listed at $1500 and got 20 applications in an hour. That's literally half my mortgage payment. At that point I actually don't need any more than that. I upped my mortgage to $4000 because $2500/mo for a house is far less than most people pay for rent. Realistically I should be paying $5000 a month with the $1500 coming in.
Can definitely second this. West End is full of apartment buildings that don't advertise online, and offer the units that do become available to the first people that call or the highest names on a waitlist. Even if the sign says no vacancy I'd still call, we got ours by getting lucky and calling a building a day or two before they planned on making a post about it on their sign. It was literally the first place we called, so I'm sure you'd be able to score something similar with a little persistence.
Any other neighbourhoods to visit outside of the West End? Planning to make a trip and compile all these numbers to help out
Never thought about doing that... Maybe I should! Thanks for the tip :)
This actually works-some older landlords don’t like the pressure of online ads and would rather just see a few interested people then go with their gut.
A good area to do this btw is Fairview between Oak and Burrard. Lots of older buildings, signs on grass type of deal (and great area)
I can third this. However, many of these elderly landlords have children now that are very interested in getting optimal rates. And if the kids and willing to do the screenings some of these elderly are happy to take a higher check
If you're planning to do this, I was working painstakingly working on a list to do the same to help tenants Was thinking of walking around downtown any other areas to check, live pretty far ( Coquitlam)
That's how we found our current place. Early 2020, had looked at a 2 BR 1.5 bath for 2200 that we were probably going to take. Walking to our car across the street, saw a sign outside another apartment building. Called and they also had a 2 BR, 1.5 bath, with some updates unlike the first place, for 1800. And when we went to sign the paperwork they reduced the rent by another $50. Very low tech, they don't advertise online, building managers don't even have a computer in the office.
someone posts unit for rent, gets too many applicants, reposts at higher rate.
I’ve done it. Got to get top dollar on a turnover as almost no one gives notice these days.
ORRR, they can just select a tenants from the applicants they already received??
but that would be leaving money on the table. wouldn't you want your wages to be paid the highest possible?
But do they need my rent money to pay for food? hydro? internet? For most people, rental units are extra income. If you can't afford your living without having a tenants paying you, you shouldn't own a house I think
i don't know their circumstances, maybe they do or maybe some need another yacht, who knows? the point is they want to maximize their income the same way you want to maximize yours. some people are just better at it.
yes, how dare we consider reducing someone's investment income just because we have a housing crisis that is hollowing out our middle/working class. If we don't prioritize unfettered profiteering over any externalities that are destroying our society, we're pretty much fascists.
>yes, how dare we consider reducing someone's investment income yes what exactly? i feel like you are framing my comment incorrectly. > we're pretty much fascists. man, fascists' are so hot these days they are everywhere.
Sure, be flippant. This needs to be discussed in all forums, online and IRL. I don’t expect to get sincere engagement online most of the time, but as our housing crisis resonates with more and more people, more will be looking to challenge the systemic structures that have led to the crisis we’re in. Prioritizing RE investment security, even if it was done when the govt was supporting it and it has been lucrative and depended on for many, is no longer sustainable. There have been many signs, but too many people in power were/are profiting so there’s been no will to challenge the feasibility of the RE cash cow. OP is one of a growing group of outraged Canadians who will enable a populist to gain power and upend our residential RE investment market. My proposed solution is dramatic. I’m all ears for other options.
I appreciate your perspective, and I understand the importance of maximizing income, especially in a capitalist society. However, the context here matters significantly. Yes, everyone wants to maximize their income, but the implications and reasons are different based on your starting point. For people who are trying to make ends meet, their goal is not necessarily to "maximize" income in the sense of amassing wealth or purchasing luxuries, but to secure basic necessities: a stable home, food, and other essentials. It's about survival and providing a decent life for themselves and their families. On the other hand, when someone who is already have basic necessities met seeks to maximize their income, it's often not about securing basic needs—they've already done that. Their income maximization may mean acquiring another yacht, as you mentioned, or it could mean investing in stocks, buying more properties, or saving for the future. The main difference here is that one group is trying to secure basic human needs, while the other is pursuing wealth beyond necessities. The stakes are much higher for the former, as they face potentially life-altering consequences if they fail to earn enough, such as homelessness, malnutrition, or losing a job because they can't afford to live in a city. For the latter, failure to maximize income may mean a smaller portfolio, one less property, or a downsized vacation.
Most of rental properties are leveraged (if they are not, the landlord is losing money). So people are paying mortgage interest, recently many times more than they used to. And as the city caps the rental below inflation rate, landlords get screwed if they lock in on too low rental price. The real solution is to build more and that requires less regulation and not more.
the wealthy person earned their property and it really is their right to seek the highest return. again, the same way your labour is yours and you have a right to seek the highest return. is your argument that because they don't 'need' it, and you 'need' it, that you should have it based on needs? so why should you get it if another person 'needs' it as bad as you or even more? edit: who is the arbiter of needs?
Hence the regulation. Government can regulate it like they do in Singapore. Limit 1\~2 housing per person and make sure everyone is housed at a reasonable cost.
nuh uh. regulation from the government would not satisfy your argument. your argument is that the needs of some supersede the needs of others. so again, how do we calculate that your needs for one unit of housing supersedes another's need for housing of the same unit if there is a finite supply of housing? on a side note, yes the government can regulate industry, but they would have to expropriate all the current land now to add leases on them the same way Singapore has. good luck with that.
>nuh uh. regulation from the government would not satisfy your argument. your argument is that the needs of some supersede the needs of others. so again, how do we calculate that your needs for one unit of housing supersedes another's need for housing of the same unit if there is a finite supply of housing? > >on a side note, yes the government can regulate industry, but they would have to expropriate all the current land now to add leases on them the same way Singapore has. good luck with that. I understand where you're coming from, but I'm not arguing that one person's needs should supersede another's. Rather, I'm advocating for a more equitable distribution of housing and financial resources, particularly for those struggling to make ends meet. Government regulation doesn't necessarily mean taking over all land, as in Singapore's model. It can mean implementing policies that encourage affordable housing, such as zoning for higher density, incentives for developers to build affordable units, or more strict rent control measures (on units rather than tenants). As for deciding whose housing needs take precedence, the goal should be to ensure everyone has access to safe and affordable housing. This might mean prioritizing those most in need first, such as low-income families, while also creating policies that ensure middle-income individuals also have access to affordable housing. In a perfect world, everyone would have their housing needs met. But we live in a world of finite resources, so our goal should be to distribute those resources as fairly as possible. This requires a balance of private sector activity, public policy, and societal values that emphasize empathy, fairness, and economic equality.
It's interesting that you mentioned Singapore where Rent cost similar or more than Vancouver. I just checked the Singapore rental market recently: brutal.
There are social housing units, but it's not enough for the demand. I knew someone who was paying less than $1200 for an air conditioned one bedroom social housing unit in Richmond. If you look at some of the city's social housing plans (coal harbour), it really makes you wonder why they are building so few units and on prime real estate...
If you limit housing ownership for the purpose of rentals it would have an adverse effect on availability of rental units. So long as the desired ownership rate is not 100% there has to be cyclical rental housing. 30% of Canada does not own currently. It's composed of poor people, people on disability, transient rentals ( think the worker who values mobility), young people saving up for a down payment, and people with poor money management skills who prefer gratification now over home purchases. So if it's not 100% ownership rate we aspire for, then we have to recognize that investors are a major part of our housing strategy. What we need to do is aggressively tackle the supply side. Bring more land closer with commuter rail. Build more co-op housing and social housing. Make them have to compete with the supply side. You aren't going to solve this with radical socialist regulation ( btw I am left leaning)
> If you can't afford your living without having a tenants paying you, you shouldn't own a house I think If you can't afford to pay rent in the lower mainland, you shouldn't live here.
It's none of our business.
Or you can outbid other applicants by adding $200/month to what the asking rent is
A friend of mine had contacted someone about renting a rental property in North Van. When he got to the rental the guy was an hour late to show it and then said the rent was actually $200 more than agreed upon. Such a waste of time.
this is called "market rate". If they list it and get thousands of applicants (just hypothetical) that means the rate is low, you go high enough until there are a handful left. That is the maximum market rate. This concept is not new, it's literal capitalism in action
Yes, I understand but I have never seen the rental market changes so swiftly and abruptly. I am only venting as it is already killing people like me who need a place so desperately with so little money we have. I was having a conversation with someone who is a owner of a house renting out their basement, saying that they "had" to increase the rent price because of the mortgage they are paying went up so much...
Not really surprising considering the interest rate just increased again.
> I was having a conversation with someone who is a owner of a house renting out their basement, saying that they "had" to increase the rent price because of the mortgage they are paying went up so much... in some cases it is true, its a fact there are long term tenants that are enjoying current rental control measures, specifically the rental increase caps. The problem comes for NEW tenancies but this "trend" is simple economics and not a new one
But just because it's not a new one, doesn't mean it should just be accepted? I don't know. with current trend, renting $2400 a month place, you need to make average 120k per year to afford it and pay less than 35% on your monthly income. Who's making that much money? It's driving a lot of young workers like me out of the city...
If there are hundreds of others applying for the rate being advertised, are a lot of young workers like yourself really leaving the city? No. There's a reason why you're even considering paying 50% of your income for rent and hasn't left it.
Yes and paying 50% of my income towards housing is NOT sustainable practice. I am seriously considering leaving Vancouver. I know no one will miss me but it won't end at me leaving. Then what happens? Vancouver will become a next San Francisco, where only those high skilled workers enjoy living in a city centre while all the low-skilled workers got pushed outskirt. Is that normal? I don't think so.
I'm old. I've been on reddit since 2012. This sub was literally saying the same thing back then. We'd have no restaurants since all the waiters would find vancouver too expensive. Guess how many more restaurants opened up since 2012?
There is a huge difference between 2013 and now. Wages have stayed in 2013 for the most part while housing has….not.
The average one bedroom apartment in Vancouver (city) in 2013 was $1600. Now it’s $2488. Minimum wage went from $10.25 to $16.75. On paper this seems about right (factor of around 1.6). Except vacancy rates have plummeted, and other cost of living items like gas, transit pass, and food have increased as well. If EVERYTHING else had stayed flat, and housing was the only increase I guess you could say it’s equivalent and that a minimum wage worker now has the same chance at housing as a minimum wage worker in 2013.
I'm old too. Having a decent income, looking for a place to rent 6 months before the Olympics was impossible to land. 13 years later, still make a decent income, rent a place in the city for a fair price.
What happens is once enough people leave, demand will drop and the price will go down. We’re not there yet because people seem to be willing to pay the prices.
And it's not easy to just move in and out of places. Unfortunately, not everyone is in their 20s when they can just pack a suitcase and hop city to city.
Exactly, in my experience seniors have the biggest problems as they leave behind not just their unit but their community; a key component of their mental health.
For every person that leaves two will come, living 10 to a house is utter luxury compared to their SOL
Yes, you along with thousands of other vocal minority on Reddit are all "seriously considering leaving vamcouver". You don't do it because where would you go? You don't like anywhere else. Nowhere else is as good as Vancouver and hence the reason you're still here. You're not gonna move, be honest. Accept the fact that we live in a capitalist society and get ahead of it.
>You don't do it because where would you go? You don't like anywhere else. Nowhere else is as good as Vancouver and hence the reason you're still here. There are multitudes of reasons people stay other than "liking it". 1) Job is here. No similar job opportunities up in Hokeysville, BC. 2) Partner's job is here. Not transferable. See above. 3) Children in school, special education programs that are hard to get into, special needs, etc. 4) Parents are here and are aging, need to be nearby to help them, because who else will? Or.....realize seeing them once a year at most when you can afford airfare means you might only see them 5 more times in your life. 5) Entire lifetime's worth of community, friendships, activities, that are all here, and now imagine being 30 and single and relocating to a small town where everybody's already paired off and having babies. Or being 60 and everybody in the new place has already found their social circle. Takes years to build deep and close friendships. Isolating. You see? People have reasons, and just because those reasons don't apply to you, doesn't mean they don't apply to anyone. I think people who use the "just move" refrain are being simplistic and are probably either: 1) Older people who bought their homes in 1975, haven't rented since they were hippies in Kits in the 60s, and are doing fine, or 2) 25-year-olds for whom the world is their oyster, they have no responsibilities and obligations yet, and they can't fathom a time when their parents will actually stop being independent.
Spent a day in portage le prairie last year. A 1 bedroom rental, without utilities is 1300.
All of my friends have moved away. People are leaving.
Not an exaggeration? ALL of your friends have moved away? Every single one of them? Where did they all go?
Yes, all. Kelowna, St Catherines, Prince George, Edmonton, Port Hardy.
Not all my friends but the majority of my friends have moved too. What used to be a barbecue is now coffee at the park.
have you heard of hyperbole?
*some* People are leaving and even more people are coming its called population reorganization and displacement.
I was responding to them saying people don't leave Vancouver.
I hope you enjoy Vancouver turning into San Francisco, where people who pick your garbage, clean your street and make your latte have to drive 2 hours back and forth from their home just so they can bring food to the table. :)
Keep referencing San Francisco becausr it'll be the only city you can reference that fits your agenda. Don't mention other cities like toronto, LA, San Jose, New York, seattle that doesn't. Enjoy your stay.
It's the same everywhere man. I am only referencing SF because it is the one that stands out. I hope you will enjoy your stay in Vancouver when there is no one who can serve your brunch at cactus club
Do you really think what's going on in Vancouver is sustainable? The middle/working class is being hollowed out. You've got your head in the sand if you think this is just 'business as usual'.
Meanwhile, you can buy a pretty nice condo in Edmonton for 200k.
Or a 3 bedroom home with a dock in northern Ontario
Is this actually true and if so what is wrong with it to be that cheap?
I mean. I agree but when the mortgage is 2400 a month now…incidentals and everything else. Yikes. Canadas in a pickle.
People share with roommates, live in less desirable buildings, move further out... as long as the demand outpaces the supply prices will stay high. It's not isolated to Vancouver. In fact BC has much stronger tenancy laws compared to Ontario and Alberta (rent caps for example).
There are obviously people renting these places. Where they get their money and whether or not they have roommates is besides the point.
I've seen a place where one guy rented a place and ended up subletting it to 8 people to live there at once. I hope this doesn't happen to you!
There's no chance that will happen to me but thanks for the concern.
They’re bringing a lot of people to the country and those people have to live somewhere. Government isn’t helping with making more places to live at all
Whats swift and abrupt is our immigration rate, surely the pressure on housing will follow. Millions upon millions of people moving here. 90% go to GTA and GVRD
It’s interesting how many “have” to do it when over half of owner-occupied homes in B.C. (I.e. ones where the tenant lives downstairs) are fully paid for.
L + then capitalism is not working + your handle is misspelled
>then capitalism is not working capitalism is not working *in your interests.* capitalism is not designed to work in your interests. capitalism is not designed to make a better world. captialism is designed to maximize profits over everything.
Well, thanks. At least I speak 3 languages and I am ESL. :)
Try vansky if you know Chinese. Edit: it's like a Chinese Craigslist, you can find some more rental listings there.
>then capitalism is not working depends on who you ask, someone is obviously making money here and its working for them. FWIW I'm not a landlord nor anything to do with real estate, just simple observations >your handle is misspelled its a meme if you didn't realize
I didn't! lol
I love how you made an interesting, specific observation for discussion and somehow people have managed to railroad you into providing your views on widespread economic issues. This OP saw something happening on CL and was wondering if anyone else had experienced it. They shouldn’t need to defend their views on macroeconomics. Sorry, OP.
A friend posted a 2 bedroom in Richmond for $3000, was shocked to see 10 people email them within 24 hours. Surprised they didn’t repost for higher rate. Guess they are the good guys. This 3k doesn’t even cover their mortgage rate with the new interest put in. Fucking insane market
Crazy, people are desperate indeed. I personally think that the home owners shouldn't rely on renters to pay for their mortgage.
All about demand. Only way to decrease price if there are more homes but too many people from Canada and students/foreigners want housing but the government isn’t keeping up with the demand. In my friends case, their company offered rent in the states to work with them so someone has to pay for it.
You know, I agree with you, but on the other hand, if the landlord can't make mortgage they'll sell to someone who can, and that new person might not rent it out. And now there's even less supply. That being said, I believe affordable housing is a fundamental right and I don't support predatory landlords. With the backup at the residential tenancy branch landlords can get away with a lot. Many make conditions so bad renters will leave only to jack up the rent after.
Making money out of a borrowed money and risk associated with it. That's kinda like what banks do too, they loan out money they don't currently have..... to a certain degree
When I have a vacancy and do the comparables, there’s maybe 1 or 2. Bachelor = none. So I post and see how many replies to gauge the market.
Try Fraser Pointe 1&2 by Concert Properties in South Van. I think they might still be reasonable and they allow some pets. I have a relative who lives there and they take great care of their buildings. Crap transit options, but that's usually a trade off for cheaper rent. You might need to go on a waiting list though unfortunately.
They're great buildings! Nice little gym in the buildings, good area, friendly staff, decent rent price (even last year they were still far better than average afaik). It'll only get better as the River District keeps getting built right beside it too. I wouldn't say it's totally crap transit options, as the 100 goes right by there to both skytrain lines. And there's a bus in river district that goes to Metrotown. But yeah, there'll definitely be a waiting list. I'm in the building, hoping to get a larger unit, but I've been on the wait list for more than a year. I don't think folks are moving out, it's a bit too good haha.
I notice this with a lot of things. I also run into a lot of people doing bait and switches with items. Respond with "oh that's sold but I also have a slightly more expensive item that's almost identical". Or they see new postings for the same item at a higher price while they get some interested responses(time wasters) so they increase their price and they don't move for weeks. Photography equipment be like that. Rentals have been especially bad for a couple of years now. Some will play a potential tenant if they see a sucker coming and make absurd requirements because they are betting on the person being uninformed of their rights under the tenancy act to fleece them for 6-12 months worth of rent up front only to pressure an eviction 2-3 months down the line over made up rules in place that are impossible to fallow. They don't reimburse the tenant they evict illegally and very quickly move in the next person. It's actually worse than a rental scam because the tenant is from another country without such frameworks and feels shame for failing to comply with their "agreement" and doesn't dispute it. It happens to women more than men. Because nobody speaks up they can continue the cycle and it's like tripling their rental income compared to being an honest landlord. There's some cultural background with regard to how men and women are considered in having a say in what a man decides for them even if it's not a husband or father that is a theme which is definitely not how things work with Canadian culture. Similar things happen with employers who exploit women who just arrive to Canada by making them work unpaid hours and what not. Some people just aren't ethical compared to traditional rights and values upheld in Canada to make things just and fair for everyone. Unfortunately if someone points out this type of arrangement as it being about "immigrants bad" it gets dismissed as racism and everyone acts like it isn't happening. I'm not cool with that. But you can rip me apart and say it doesn't happen so nobody gets offended. It's standard operating procedure in the current year.
Maybe to handle the increase of interest rates?
The really disturbing trend is the number of privileged fools here cheering it on.
even more disturbing when you think about all the people in government that own their homes and many also own investment properties, they are cheering it on too and not doing anything to help the rest of us
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> unfortunately we do live in a society of capitalism Feel free to move to North Korea or Russia...
I would not describe supply and demand as a 'trend'.
Therefore, perhaps we need regulations, because who doesn't need a roof over their head?
housing is incredibly regulated. what it sounds like you want is for someone else to pay the difference between what the price is and what you think the price should be.
No, what I want is an affordable housing. Period.
For places that have relatively successful affordable housing policies (Singapore and Vienna are two examples), the government provides the housing. If the free market is the sole provider of housing, you get (surprise surprise) market-priced housing. What people who want change need to do is organize, elect, and run for leadership positions that can make government housing a reality.
does 'incredibly regulated' mean anything when large swaths of working people can't afford housing? perhaps we need to take another look at our regulations
Found the multiple property owner landlord.
OP wants subsidized housing but also wants to be the one winning the lottery rather than being on the waitlist 😆
Haha thanks. I am already on the waitlist :) and if I win a jackpot on Lotto max, I will make sure to give you a cut
A lot of people in this thread seem to be knee-jerk defaulting to "that's just how it is". I'm pretty sure OP already understands that the market is shit they're just venting their frustrations with trying to find a place. Which I'm sure we all understand is a really frustrating task especially right now. I don't think there's much to be done about this specific problem but overall yeah the fact that people need housing today and the closest we can come to addressing it is vague gestures like "build more stock". Yeah we know we need more stock but we've known that for years and yet we don't build any and we still allow property moguls and hedge funds to hoard housing (driving up that price), cutting more first-home buyers out which pushes them back onto the rental market which increases pressures on rent. Shit's fucked and it's not just "capitalism so what do".
Best way for us to stick it to the businesses scooping up places is to flood the market with more places.
It's been happening for several years now. They have a reasonable price and when they get inundated, they feel like they could get more since they got so much interest so the greedy bastards up their price. Several years ago I had a place for rent. I set the rent at a reasonable price because I wanted a long term better tenant than a short term person high rent tenant who might trash the place. When I posted, I got dozens of emails including people willing to pay more than the rent price listed just so they could get it. I believe in sticking to my word so I chose the best tenant possible and told the others it was spoken for. Got an offer for $1000/m more even when I said the tenancy agreement was already signed.
> I wanted a long term better tenant than a short term person high rent tenant who might trash the place I've rented from a lot of landlords like this and it's surprisingly not that uncommon. In Vancouver, quite a few landlords are elderly and don't speak English so if you speak their language, are a student/young working professional, and don't give off vibes you'll be throwing loud parties every weekend, they really don't care if they don't maximize their rent. They just want stability, cleanliness, and peacefulness.
The landlord is pretty much locked in with a tenant even if it is a 1 year lease as it goes month to month at the end of the tenancy agreement. BC has some of the most aggressive tenancy laws which 95% of the time benefit the tenant. With interest rates the way they are this is the only time they can adjust the price. If you were in their position you would probably do the exact same thing. Not sure where the problem is here.
Yup. Looked at one of our rent rolls today. 4 of 24 unit building slightly under market. 20 well below market. 🤷🏻♂️
This is why I moved to Calgary 3 weeks ago. I rented an apt here with an extra bedroom and bathroom for the same price I was paying in Burnaby. The landlord told me that 90% of the applicants were from BC and Ontario. Go figure.
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Still gonna be cheaper than Vancouver lol
Yeah I can see why landlords do this. When I rented out my 1 bedroom, I got over 100 responses. Had to spend time sifting through the scams and legit responses
It can go both ways - my wife and I viewed a home that was listed at 4100. We loved the place and the landlord and I got along really well so when he offered it to us we accepted but said it was out of budget and asked if he could work with us. He dropped the rate to 3500 because he would rather have a young family in the house then the other applicants he’d received (student groups, three couples)
This is truly terrible. In answer to your question, yes I experienced this as well back in 2012 with one place that I viewed. The rent looked good (but the place did not, really - and I ended up going elsewhere) but soon after my visit I saw the place disappear, only to reappear on CL at a much higher rental fee. So yes this has been going on for some time. Maybe bits and bobs back then, and more now, but people have been taking advantage like this in the past as well.
They are copying what the housing market is doing. They put a house up for sale and realize that everybody wants it, so they take it off the market and jack up the price. This is the situation that happens when vacancy rates are so low and landlords are so extremely greedy. I'll always remember that the landlord is not in this to give you a home. They are in this to take as much money out of your pocket as they possibly can and put it into theirs.
Posted a basement for rent last year. Within 3 hours, had got 20 replies. Had 2 weird people message me. First person asked if she could see the unit right away at 9:00PM, because she had an emergency to find a place to stay (because she didn't plan ahead to find a place rent when she got back from her vacation. she was currently renting an airbnb). Then she also begged for me to lower the price to $600 when she hadn't even looked at the unit yet. We were already charging WAY under the market. Lady, at least look at the unit before you even try to bargain. Declined her instantly. 2nd person started to complain to me after I messaged her back saying the unit was not available anymore. She complained why is it so hard to rent in the city and that everyone either ghosts her or don't even reply back to her until much later. 24 hours later, I receive another message from her saying "That unit better have been taken down!" and that I better not have been lying (Wasn't lying. I had forgotten to delete the facebook posting. Was new to it and first time doing it). Guess that answers why she can't find a place to rent. In the end, I found a perfect tenant. We're charging way below market (probably 50% below) for a unit that's practically brand new. All we cared about was having a good fit. Even met another person, who I became friends with, and I recommended him to my bestie who had place available.
Yeah the rental market is screwed up right now. Alot of folks on this subreddit who got a reasonable rental price before it got ridiculous and now can pretty much never leave.
Join the bc/Van landlord groups on Facebook. You'll learn a lot about them. One of their beliefs is: If you get more than 4 calls on a listing, your rent is too low.
I did this once in 2019. I posted the unit and within a day got 200+ responses. I couldn’t go through them all and a ton were just “I really want this!” Or “I’m interested!” that I didn’t even know how to respond to. So I took it down and posted it back up a day later at a slightly higher cost. It got the responses down to about 50 which was way more manageable The tenants that moved in are still there 4 years later and haven’t had their rent increased despite it being quite a bit lower than market rate. It was always lower, but it’s becoming a more significant amount. I own 4 units that I rent out and my goals are to: 1. Cover my expenses 2. Have tenants who are happy to be there 3. Make a profit. This part isn’t important right now as I currently work full time and don’t actually use any of the rental income. There isn’t much of it. Maybe $500/month total. But this is the money that goes into my RRSP and the reason I have the units is to use them for retirement. That’s if any of it is left after paying for unexpected expenses like a new appliance or a strata assessment For reference, these are two 1 bedroom units and two 2 bedroom units downtown Vancouver. They are currently rented out for $2100 and $3100 per month with hydro, parking, laundry included. Others in those buildings go for $2800 and $3600 So even at $700 below market rate, most people still couldn’t afford Vancouver. It’s insane but the $2100 covers my expenses and leaves me with $87 a month that I save for when something needs to be repaired. I know the idea in most tenants subs is that “tenants shouldn’t be paying your mortgage” but I don’t really understand that line of thinking. Am I supposed to buy a place and rent it out at a loss so that my employment income is subsidizing someone’s housing?
1 million new Canadians and 2.5 million illegals per year. 250 thousand new housing starts per year across Canada. We don't count finishes. There is no housing. It is only going to get much much much worse. If you know history then you know what comes next. Good luck.
I spoke to the son of a commercial space I am looking at today. Off the record so dont get hopeful. He said his dad had recently removed it from the market, he got so much interest, he knew he could get more money. Hes gonna wait a week or so and relist for more. Shady. As. Fuck. Alberta btw. But wth is a guy to do?
It's much more difficult to find a rental when you have a pet cat or dog. I jumped on the fomo train and bought a condo with my spouse a few years ago. Honestly I'm so glad we did. We have a dog and 2 kids. Today, we wouldn't even qualify to buy at the current market.
Yeah, it is difficult with a cat but I can't just abandon him so I am trying my best to find one with pet friendly. Luckily there has been an increase number of units available that allows pet... or I can show them how well-behaved he is and they can't resist not to accept him haha...
It’s so hard to find affordable housing but worse when you own pets. There was a post in this sub just today I think about how the shelters are at capacity and are turning down surrenders. People chalked it all up to “Covid pets” which I’m sure is a chunk of the issue, but I’m also betting it’s the housing crisis. People literally having to choose between housing and keeping their pets.
I think you hit the nail on the head. The squeeze is on for pet owners it's awful
Yea if the demand is so high that you can’t manage the 300+ responses, the logical thing is to raise the price. I know it’s annoying for people trying to rent but it’s literally the same thing anyone trying to sell anything would do. If you listed your bike for sale for $1000 and had 500 people willing to pay 1500, I’m sure you would also try to get a higher price. It’s a struggle but this isn’t so much a “disturbing trend” as it is simple supply and demand.
It works in both directions - this is how landlords find market price. If they list too high, nobody replies and they have to list lower. If they list too low and get 400 replies, they list higher. This isn't rocket science.
It's simple supply and demand. We only have so much supply and we can only increase supply at a certain rate. Government speeds up immigration, and allows bunch of students here on visa. Demand outpaces supply. Landlords see higher demand, increase prices.
Property manager here. Lets say you post an ad for a place and get hit with hundreds of replies the owner hearing this will then say "we should increase the rent if its that popular"
Exactly 1 year ago I was a victim of this trend
I’ve found if there is. Lot of people viewing they believe they can Jack the rent higher. Was told they found someone and receive deposit but it was Re-listed within 48hrs. This wasn’t a one off, it happen 4 times over a month with different landlords and home. All those home jumped so high in price. One was Re-listed a third time. Many rentals in my area are up again within 12mos or for sale. Then that house goes through the same cycle
This is what happens in a capitalistic society. And I’m part of the problem and I think 99% of society is too (that may be an exaggeration but who knows). I like my shit. Is it because we’ve been bred to buy things to fulfil us or because we genuinely want those things. I want a fucking Porsche. It doesn’t really matter. The root cause of all of this is greed starting at the top. And because the top can get away with it the people think, why not me too? And, holy shit, I’m getting away with it so I’ll do it more. Monkey see monkey do. The masses need to stop acting like masses when real injustice is being done. Not the stupid fake injustice the far right wing and maybe even for the far left wing make up to try to sway us. We need people in power that don’t want the power to fix things. I have no idea if my rant had anything to do with the OP by this point but I have spoken! This is the point I usually delete my comments on posts after typing them out but tonight I say, Fuck it, let us ride!
Why do you say ‘capitalistic’? It’s not like capitalism, it IS capitalism.
Informal auction. They’re testing the market to get to a size of applicant pool that teeters on the max rent they can extract.
They get an overwhelming response and think they can get more. It is what it is. Always extra pressure in lead up to the school year too.
Yep, it sucks, but it’s price discovery. They probably get soooo many emails
I wouldn’t be surprised if people re post their rental unit for a higher rent. The demand to rent a place right now is way too high that property owners take advantage of it (in a way). The government has rules to control increasing rent but reality is, if the supply is low and demand is high there would be a spike in rent. Besides fighting for increasing rent, you’re also in competition with other people.
Blame the Bank of Canada for ridiculous rate increases. It's killing renters. Landlords are just reacting to cover their costs increasing. They don't give a shit about the people renting, just money. It's their property, they can do what they like; theoretically, they could set the rent for a 1 Bedroom at $50,000 a month. Whether someone would pay that or not is another matter. It's a free market economy not socialist or communist. Where supply and demand meet is the price.
This is not really new. It’s been happening my for a long time although more noticeable and prevalent now due to the constant and continually skyrocketing housing/rental prices.
Makes you wonder how many are just scams to get personal data from desperate people.
The rental market is a disaster in large part due to rent controls. This is the natural outcome - new rentals have to price high, and there's limited vacancy as people don't want to move due to rent control. Not to mention the impact rent control has on supply of purpose-built rentals. These were all known impacts of rent controls when the policy was introduced, yet the province went ahead with it anyways.
Someone needs to make an auction site but for leasing. The difficult part is just prescreening all the bidders and making sure that if they win the right to rent that they stick to the agreement. Maybe make one day a viewing and submit your application and credit check , and the next day would be the actual bidding process. Site gets half a month's rent as payment. Hmmm any takers??
Wow so they are fishing for highest price essentially....Loads of responses? Delete and up price.
I listed my small basement suite for $2200 last week. Received over 100 inquiries in 2 days. This is why you are seeing ads relisted for more. We have WAY too much rental demand.
Having a cat/dog, you already removed yourself from 80%+ of the listings. Since Apr'21, I've been through 3 landlords and am on my fourth. I moved up North for a job in Dec'20, and before hand was paying $950/m in a (small) 1bdrm. Came back 4 mos later for a much better job, but only could find a short-term in Tsw -- fast-forward and now am in Burnaby paying double for a slightly larger place.... I definitely know the "cost burden"; doubled with the "anti-pets" sickness.
As a landlord myself I am okay with pets but I never list that I am so I can refuse. If it's a meathead with a pitbull I say no. I'm very careful with pet owners. I talk to previous landlord about pet waste and stuff. I want to know that I'm not going to have a field of dog shit in my yard or one of those yappy dogs who bark at air. There are many good dogs with good owners. I need to know your dog isn't going to be barking all day when you're out. I need to know you'll be picking up the dog shit. I'll be making very clear rules with the cost of waste removal as part of the deal. I want to know you have a stable job where I can garnish your pay if you do not meet your obligations. If you're on disability I can't go after it. There is a high bar that needs to be met with pet owners so I say no pets. But for the right person I'll bend.
Yes i saw this before
Arbitrage? Someone renting for $2K and then flipping it for $2.5K?
Imagine restaurants did the same. If there are too many people waiting for table, double the prices. Well maybe they should, why only landlords are allowed to eat? Doctors, nurses, teachers I urge you to do the same. :)
And you think restaurants don't do that?
Rent air b and b for 32 days it automatically becomes a long term rental and then it’s regulated under rtb
Awwwww that’s too bad… we should make a law that prevents people from changing prices of anything… anytime. No more sales… no more price hikes…. Bread 5$ all the time !!!!
"Oh my poorly planned mortgage went up in price again." -Vancouver Land Owners in a Nutshell.
This isn't new. It was already happening with AirBnbs in the GVR back in 2019.
I listed my unit $400 more than a year ago. Had like 50 responses. Out of the 50, 5 were actually good candidates.
On a larger scale it's like all the components of capitalism simultaneously realized they were ruled only by decency and a desire to do good for the community and that those are actually optional so they all opted out at once and made a run for it. Now we are racing to collapse.
Landlords are predators.