Should I Stay or Should I Go Now
this past weekend, I had the kind of gathering that makes me love where I live. I rent a turn-of-the-century (read: very large) one-bedroom in the West End, and to celebrate my birthday this year, nine of my friends piled into my place to cook food together and to carry on into the wee hours. We discovered that another friend a few floors up was doing the same thing, so we travelled en masse up the stairs with a bottle of Champagne to celebrate with him, too.
Part of the reason why I haven’t yet purchased a condo in this city is that I’m reluctant to give up the elbow room that allows for these kinds of gatherings. I couldn’t buy a 1,000-square-foot place in the West End, but for now I can certainly rent one while continuing to make my home the landing pad for many a Saturdaynight gathering. (Our get-togethers are frequent enough that the group on my birthday weekend suggested they all pitch in on a dishwasher. I didn’t object.)
I’ll admit I often have real estate envy. I’ve long felt the anxiety of watching our market skyrocket without enjoying the return-on-investment benefits that come with it. Lucy Lau’s piece in this issue, “Single and Looking (for Real Estate),” on page 44, is about how tough it is as a single person to get into the market, and if you’re in the same boat as I am, it will resonate. But recently we’ve seen a dip—so is now my time to attempt to get in on the action?
In this issue we’re following a handful of Vancouverites who have figured out how to work with the current wobble in our market. Should we be buying, selling or holding on for dear life? From a first-time buyer who opted for a now-less-expensive fixer-upper to a mid-career homeowner who’s choosing to hunker down and wait it out, they’re sharing their stories and getting counsel from experts like Thomas Davidoff, director at the Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate at UBC’s Sauder School of Business.
I particularly love this gem of advice he offers: “Breathe,” he says. “Most of the time it comes down to, Are you in a situation where you have to move, and thus if the market is down you have to sell into it? Because if you’re not and you like where you are, just continue to live there,” he says. “Just wait. Don’t worry.”
So I’m doing my best not to worry. And, meanwhile, I’m enjoying my new dishwasher.