selectorAltered, it will be even harder to sell than it is at present, or when converted to a layout room.
.
But if you are going to die in the house, none of this makes any difference. I am building my house to be the house I want. Once I am gone, it does not matter.
If this is the OP's last house, it should be exactly what he wants.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I just went thru the listing website - and WOW, what a house, and with a price tag to match!!!
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
mobilman44 I just went thru the listing website - and WOW, what a house, and with a price tag to match!!!
If you want sticker shock look up average Vancouver house prices.
Vancouver Island is where all us mainlanders go to die. If we buy this house it is less than half of what we will get for ours on the mainland.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
I remember when Vancover was cheap, although compared to where I live it still is.
SeeYou190 selector Altered, it will be even harder to sell than it is at present, or when converted to a layout room. . But if you are going to die in the house, none of this makes any difference. I am building my house to be the house I want. Once I am gone, it does not matter. . If this is the OP's last house, it should be exactly what he wants. . -Kevin .
selector Altered, it will be even harder to sell than it is at present, or when converted to a layout room.
My aim here isn't to disparage your reasoning, Kevin, but your thinking seems to me to be short-sighted. There is more to living than what happens prior to death. The house will become part of Brent's estate, and from there 'someone' will have to figure out how to render its value, but with a view to maximizing it, if the estate is to be shared. I don't know his situation, but he will have an estate, either contested or uncontested. The more untidy it is, the higher the probability that it will be contested. If his will says that the house is to be sold expeditiously and without due regard to a 'best' price, then it becomes moot.
Few of us ever get exactly what we want; there are always significant considerations that make the prospects of a home much like the way we build our layouts...with compromises.
In the case of Vancouver, that market is tanking due to falling interest and because the municipality is fiddling with the market to make it less attractive to foreign investors and to flipper/speculators. Those types, and criminal money laundering, have driven up the value of property by three or four times over the past 12 years and a bit. People who build or who buy in a falling market had better have lots of discretionary income that they don't mind losing like magic smoke.
It happens that my own home rose almost 8% in assessed value last year, about average for anywhere else but Vancouver. It's on Vancouver Island, where I had thought that Brent was looking closely at one point.
selector It's on Vancouver Island, where I had thought that Brent was looking closely at one point.
Crandell
We have been over to Vancouver Island twice now to scope out areas and spent 3 nights out of the 8 on our last trip in Comox. We looked at those new houses right next to your old house while we were there.
We stayed 3 nights at our friends waterfront home in Saanich and loved it there a lot, so this is why we are considering this house. Anything a couple of old geezers need is close including all things medical. With the ferry 5 minutes away the we can be in Vancouver pretty quick with no driving.
Our Daughter is going to UVIC and there are direct flights to Ottawa from Victoria for the other kid so Saanich is a better choice than up island, though we have not eliminated it completely.
Vancouver houseprices were up 6% in May and according to family in the business they should be back to where they were in 18 months.
BATMAN Vancouver houseprices were up 6% in May and according to family in the business they should be back to where they were in 18 months.
Where we are looking are up 3-6% depending on the exact neighborhood, but inventories are down something insane like 45% because people are holding until the Amazon HQ2 run-up in the next couple years.
The DC area is nuts on the housing. One of the counties is up 17% this year alone.
I would still ditch the pool and build the layout......
First off, wills. People of means ussually only have these as an after though with all real assets in a revokable living trust. Second if you like living there, who cares what the cost is, you can buy mansions in this country for $50,000 in some areas, in others the price goes so high, it makes $2,000,000 look like a bargin. Couldn't find the sales history but it has not been listed that long. Since you don't know the seller situation, I would put in a low ball offer now, if they don't bite, who cares. Bought every property I ever owned where the people had to get rid of, including my currant home, got me a much better price, only 12% off this time but I was in a time crunch, last time it was 20%.
Hey you guys.
Have fun with your pools. I don't have one to take care of. I don't buy everything being sold here.
I will always say and see it like it is.
Don's Riverside Resort in Laughlin Nevada just called me yesterday and I got another free trip. I'm heading out July 13th for July 14th through the 18th.
Judy and I always have a ball there.
This time we're going to rent a car and see the Hoover Dam and go see some of the old Railroad mining towns in Arizona.
Should be fun.
I like to taste the tastes of life that's real..... always having fun
TF
The price of real estate is what it is where it is, as are wages , standard of living, quality of life, access to education, health care and a long list of other things. People scoff at the idea that a University education should be free yet are disgusted at the thought of parents having to pay for their children to go to grade school as happens in many third world countries. A person on welfare in Canada or the U.S. live better than many in the rest of the world.
The cost of this house is kind of average here, yet I could never afford a house in many places I have visited. You never miss what you never had but assuming that what one has is the benchmark to which all else is measured by is naive at best.
I use to get my counterparts from all over the world come to see how we did things on our end when I was working. My counterpart from Switzerland made 2 1/2 times what I did for doing the same job, yet the way we lived was very different. The guy that came from the Phillipines made 1/5 what I did.
Go online and see where you rank on the freedom index, healthcare index, wealth index, quality of life index, education index and a long list of others.
Realestate is pricy in this part of the world but it is a lot more expensive in other parts. Most of us on this forum should be thankful for what we have and the fact we have money to spend on trains speaks volumes. Check out house prices in Taiwan my neighbour is from there and said my average house here would be $25,000,000.00 at least in Taiwan it is what it is.
This thread is way off topic and we should call it quits.
Never mind
deleted
Alton Junction
I just looked at the listing. Wayyyyyyy to much for this ol'boy. Why would any empty nester even consider a 5200 sq. ft. McMansion and all of the up keep and maintainence that goes with it.
If the reason is because " he can", than I say move on and check out the places on the ocean that the OP mentions.
Mike.
My You Tube
Aww, Batman, do we have to quit, I am really enjoying this thread. That being said I agree with what you said. Most of the people on here are 1%ers as far as the world goes. In this country we chose what pathway we go down to a great extent. I have had my Victorian mansion (and on a budget too). I never made much money but I invested and made sacrafices to get to where I am and I am sure you have too.
Sheldon, my comments were not directed at you though I can see how you would think they were. I had a couple of PMs waiting for me late last night from people that seem to want me to defend where I spent the last 60 plus years of my life and grew up to what is normal for those of us that have done so. So I guess my comments came from being frustrated with people not understanding the world is a vast and varied place.
As far as the size of the house, once you take away the pool room, it is smaller than what we have now being three bedrooms where we now have five bedrooms and the property is also smaller , so we are downsizing, sort of.
We had a good offer this morning from someone that wants our house and it would be a private sale.
Happy to see that news, Brent, and I sincerely hope for you and the missus that the other end goes as easily. I do agree with the sentiment that, at this point in our lives, we should be able to cobble together a lot of druthers, and not just givens.
In the end, with some engineering done, you should be able to mothball the pool, build over it, and enjoy something approximating a dream.
I would fill in the pool with sand or pea gravel, but I would have fun with it too. I would grab a paint brush and some red paint and slopply write " a curse on you for disturbing my resting place!" or some such silly nonsense.
Batman, I am surprised someone would PM you about your choises. You have done well for yourself and just delete those PM's. I personally love those things, someone to argue with when I get bored.
BATMAN Sheldon, my comments were not directed at you though I can see how you would think they were. I had a couple of PMs waiting for me late last night from people that seem to want me to defend where I spent the last 60 plus years of my life and grew up to what is normal for those of us that have done so. So I guess my comments came from being frustrated with people not understanding the world is a vast and varied place. As far as the size of the house, once you take away the pool room, it is smaller than what we have now being three bedrooms where we now have five bedrooms and the property is also smaller , so we are downsizing, sort of. We had a good offer this morning from someone that wants our house and it would be a private sale.
Brent,
Directed at me or not, I just felt maybe I was just throwing gas on the fire, so I "adjusted" my posts.
We down sized:
From: the 4,000 sq ft 2-1/2 story Queen Anne, 5 bed rooms, 2.5 baths, 14 rooms total, 950 sq ft porch, 450 sq ft deck with gazebo and hot tub, 6 car garage w/1000 sq ft train rm above, 7000 sq ft wrap around drive/parking, 20 x 50 pool with covered pavilian with changing rm and storage rm neatly arranged on 1 acre.
To: the 2300 sq ft, 3 bedroom, two bath, 1-1/2 car attached garage, brick rancher on 2.3 acres.
I will be building some more garage space, likely about 900 sq ft of detached garage/shop, and making one small change indoors, but we have been here since October, and honestly I don't miss the old house at all.
Here is view of the back of the new place:
We love the new house. But its not new, build in 1964, pretty young still compaired to the 1901 Queen Anne.....
The big old house was a great adventure, it was a privledge to live there and be its care taker for 24 years, but it is time for a new adventure.
My train space has grown from 1,000 sq ft to 1,700 sq feet.
And the pool is the one thing I am most happy to be rid of, as well as the complex and elaborate gardens and landscaping.
Good luck with whatever choice you make,
Sheldon
Ah, I miss restoration, learning how to install mortised offset locks (a skill from over 100 years ago), etc.
rrebell Batman, I am surprised someone would PM you about your choises. You have done well for yourself and just delete those PM's. I personally love those things, someone to argue with when I get bored.
It could be that with a forum of people in all ranges of living status from just above poverty level to very well-to-do, it's difficult not to illicit reactions, especially from those who have little vs. those who have done very well for themselves. It's human nature to compare, and in this hobby, there are often those who are in a position to display evidence of wealth. Even if not intentional, it may make some bothered. Just something to be aware of in some discussion settings or contexts.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Around here, you need to get a permit to "abandon" a pool, and if it is filled in, you have to disclose it to a potential buyer. I don't know what the requirements are in Canada, but you might want to check with the local building authorities before you decide what you are going to do.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
Could be growing hair if what Bearman says is also true in Canada.
No such requrements anywhere I ever lived, most places do require a permit for construction but that may not even be the case here except for the electrical.
rrebell No such requrements anywhere I ever lived, most places do require a permit for construction but that may not even be the case here except for the electrical.
Fairly recent, but our county now requires a demo permit. And requires the actual removal of concrete pools, no more just caving in the upper part of the sides and filling them in.
But, that applies to outdoor pools.
Indoor work would be treated differently. So the exact scope and nature of the project would determine what if any permits were required.