Unaffordability

Ya know that house I was blogging about a few months back? The one that used to be clad with white vinyl siding, and the new owners stripped it and restored the original underlying cedar siding and shingles.

Well, a “For Sale” sign popped up on the front lawn a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been waiting for that to happen, as I haven’t seen anyone working on it (or living in it) for at least 3 months now (probably more). I looked it up on an internet realty website to see what they wanted to flip it for. Would you believe a cool $949,000? Are they kiddin’ me? Just shy of a million dollars (meant to be spoken aloud, of course, with an evil Dr. Evil (from Austin Powers fame) inflection, for added emphasis).

Naturally, being lookie-loos at heart, my wife and I attended the Open House this past weekend, just for kicks. As previously noted, I was impressed by the exterior workmanship.

But not so much with the interior. Although I liked the re-finished Fir floors, I guess there’s only so much you can do with inside finishes if you’re not willing to remove the multiple layers of paint from original trim pieces. And I can totally understand in this age of increased awareness to hazardous materials that one might wish to avoid contact with lead paint, and the expense of having lead paint professionally removed. But some of the new baseboard trims, added to accent original wide baseboards, weren’t even painted or stained. That seemed out of place.



But the first glaring deficiency, in my mind, was noticed at the bottom of the basement stairs, leading to a mortgage-helper (no kidding!) suite. A washer and dryer were placed opposite a doorway leading into the downstairs unit. I wondered right away for whom this laundry set-up was intended. I assumed it was for the tenants’ use. But…around another corner stood a stackable washer/ dryer combo. In other words, for a cool 949 the new owner gets to construct a partial wall and install a lockable door at the base of stairs in order to be able to use their own washer and dryer. Hmmm…

After that I became more vigilant regarding deficiencies. It wasn’t hard as it turned out. The upstairs bathrooms were interesting for the fact that neither one features frosted panes for windows. So, either you have no shame, or you install curtains.

I looked out that upstairs bathroom window down onto the backyard and noticed a sloped-roof carport that has been added since the last time I walked our dog down the back lane. It’s a nice looking structure, but upon second glance I was rather amused to realize that gravel has been substituted for a concrete slab. The new owner is forever going to be raking that gravel back in place each time his car makes the sharp turn into its parking space.

I could go on, but I don’t want to sound unduly harsh. It is a nice house (again, I was impressed with the exterior workmanship), but I firmly believe that for almost a mil in East Van you really shouldn’t have to add anything. Unless, of course, you absolutely can’t stand the colour or style of something. Then it’s an issue of personal taste.

I’m all for property values increasing; after all we’re homeowners ourselves. But this 949 does nothing to reduce Vancouver’s label as unaffordable.

But just to prove me wrong, a SOLD sign has been posted this morning.