“Love high housing prices? In the city of mountains, trees, and sea, it’s real estate first and families last.”

Navigating the Vancouver real estate market has been a big fat series of WTF moments. When WTF Hubby and I started dipping our toes into the market in 2017, Vancouver condos started at a crisp half a mill and houses were double that. #donthaveamillion, amirite?!

WTF Hubby has spent years suggesting housing alternatives. He’s smart, hip, and unconventional. I’m stubborn, refuse to leave Vancouver, and cringe at the thought of no running water. If travelling has taught me anything, it’s that I’m a Vancouverite for life.

Our initiation into the HRCP (House Rich, Cash Poor) Society was last Friday when we handed over the deposit (oww?). WTF, we’re homeowners! Here’s how we ended up making one of the biggest purchases of our life within a few hours of seeing our dream home.

Credits: Business photo created by mrsiraphol

How We Bought Our Vancouver Home

Get a real estate agent
Luckily, our friend knew a friend who is an agent. He never pressured us to buy dumb property (You will see your fair share) and answered all our questions.
Finding a real estate agent you can work with is freaking important.
Figure out your budget + get pre-approved for a mortgage
How much are you willing to pay for that hot piece of property? Decide now. There’s no hard rule when buying property, and emotions will definitely influence your decisions. Set your limit and play within it.
Your budget, coupled with your downpayment, will tell you how much you’ll need to borrow. Do yourself a big favour and get pre-approved for a mortgage. It will save you the heartache of having an accepted offer, only to have your financing fall through.
New date idea - Go to open houses!
Concrete or wood-frame? Open concept kitchen? Need a den for a home office? Balcony a must? Unit facing south so your house plants can stay alive?
Go see as many different homes as you possibly can. This is trickier during a pandemic but open houses still exist! They’re limited to one party at a time. Masks, waivers, and contact tracing are usually required too.
The housing market in Vancouver is always hot. Don’t be surprised when you find that you have only a few days or even hours to decide if you want to buy. We saw a unit on Thursday, decided to put an offer down on Sunday, and there was already an accepted offer. In other cases, we had an hour after viewing a place to decide whether we wanted to put in an offer.
Figure out what you love (location + layout) so you can quickly act!
Get on your agent’s mailing list
Now that you’ve figured out your budget and what you want, your agent can send you new listings with your specified criteria. This will save you time.
Let your agent know what units you want to see and he/she will help you set up the appointments.
Putting down an offer
You love the place and have decided to put down an offer. It’s like a marriage proposal - will the sellers accept?!
I found this stage to be incredibly tricky. You don’t want to offer too much, but you don’t want to lose out because of a couple thousand dollars difference.
The first time we put down an offer was against another buyer. After reviewing the history of how much similar units were selling for, we put in an offer that was a little above asking price. The sellers wanted to work with us, but they sent back a counter offer.
An 85K increase. WTF Hubby and I laughed so hard, our stomach hurt.
“Hahahaha, we’re out!” We told our agent. Be wary of sellers who are trying to start bidding wars. They are a time waster.
Losing out is disappointing, but something else will come along. If your offer gets accepted, CONGRATULATIONS!
Your agent will help you with the next step - it’s filled with paperwork so brew ten cups of coffee and get ready!

For WTF Hubby and me, home isn’t a place. It’s a person. It has always felt like home when we are with each other.

That’s not to say we don’t feel all sorts of good vibes and gratitude. We are so fortunate that we are able to buy in Vancouver and stay close to our friends and family.

Our Saturday nights may no longer be over trendy dinners with spiralling lemon twists in French 75s, but then again, it hasn’t been like that in awhile. CoVid may have thrown a wrench in 2020, but it has also helped us find our happily ever home.

Good luck in your search!