Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Vancouver Townhouse

Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Vancouver Townhouse

Townhouses in Vancouver are highly sought after.

If you live in Vancouver and you are thinking of buying a home, you are probably considering buying a Vancouver townhouse.

Townhouses are the ideal middle ground between living in a condo and buying a house. For many, they are a relatively affordable option that offers so many of the benefits of living in a house (like your own front door, outdoor space and a garage) but without the much heftier price range.

However, so many people buy townhouses in Vancouver without fully understanding what they are doing. Over my career, I’ve seen it all…and I’ve seen people make some very costly mistakes.

That’s why I made this video. I want to help YOU avoid making these HUGE mistakes when you buy a Vancouver townhouse.

I have an entire series of videos with more mistakes to avoid when buying a home in Vancouver:

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Plus, here’s a video all about the pros and cons of buying a Vancouver townhouse:

…and this video gets into the nitty gritty details of buying a townhouse in Vancouver:

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Sebastian Albrecht - Realtor
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TimeStamp
0:00 Buying a Vancouver Townhouse
1:23 Mistake #1
4:22 Mistake #2
6:35 Mistake #3
9:32 Mistake #4
12:12 Mistake #5
14:59 Mistake #6

[LivingInVancouver-BC]

Thanks for watching...and hope this video helps you avoid making these mistakes when YOU buy a townhouse in Vancouver!

Call/Text Direct - 604-831-4837

[sinou-su]

This is one of the most useful videos on the topic of housing in Vancouver I’ve come across. As a townhouse owner ourselves in Vancouver, when we bought in 2021, we didn’t understand the difference between half-duplexes and townhouses well enough back then. This was even as our realtor showed us some half-duplexes as we were in the market. This makes it even more easy a choice for us to go for a detached home when look to upsize in the future.

I started following this channel out of curiosity a while ago. I’ve found a surprising number of videos useful to me, a longtime Vancouver resident, even as the video tries to cater to newcomers. Thanks!

[chickadddee]

Great info. My concern with the 1/2 duplex situation is exactly what was pointed out as a benefit. Only one neighbour to negotiate with and no rules or bylaws. If that one neighbour happens to be not interested in the upkeep of the building, and. doesn't save for repairs etc., the property value would decrease, and then there is no where to go for help. If you're lucky and get on well, then great. But if not, it could be quite challenging. Don't mean to be negative about people, but experience in these matters is varied.

[OrdinaryFilmmaker]

Just taking a break from editing a video myself. My wife told me today that she no longer likes condos. They are too small. I think we should wait until we are shopping, but I do like the idea of a townhouse. The whole strata convention is very different. It's good for getting a roof fixed, but we do share a building. My only fear with stratas is getting bad neighbours or stratas that like to fine people to raise funds. Do you her about unreasonable stratas that fine people over really minor things like US HOAs? These videos are part of an educational series. Same country, but it feels Vancouver has a completely different set of laws, procedures and culture. Thanks for all your effort.

[lbiggs]

Great job. Strata’s are similar to HOA’s in the U.S. but never seen other structures connected to a high rise. Interesting

[dwoo]

I bought a pre-sale corner unit townhouse three years ago in Burnaby and waiting for the notification of Deficiency Walk Through. The reason I bought it is because it has four levels and also it has a roof top patio and a clubhouse with gym room right behind. I don’t like I was being asked to pay CAD$6000 for a less popular NITE-ON level 2 wall charger for each of my parking stalls(I bought additional one on top of two stalls that came with the townhouse)instead of a Tesla Wall Connector which is much better and cheaper. I’m planning to buy an old detached house with a big lot probably in Capital Hill and pull it down as I want to build a new custom design house in a few years.

[Pudpuds-kk]

Great video! I'm currently a condo owner in Richmond who's looking into buying a townhome or a duplex. One question I have is do maintenance fees in townhomes include water like how it does in condos?
Also, you're looking good. I thought you were in your early 40s!

[PastelP-bu]

We had a basement entry 3 lvl strata townhouse. I resented so much of my unit entitlement/strata fees went towards paying for all the stairwell sqft in our home.

I hated the stairs, even being fit it sucked that it took two flights coming in the front door to shower, and two to bring down laundry from the bedrooms to wash, and everything got carted up a full flight to the kicthen from the front door. Awful layout, young, old, fit or not. moved into a small one level house that feels way bigger because it's not one fifth stairwell and it's absolute heaven, and now my dog is old and I now have to carry him down the stairs outside I am so thankful we bailed when we did and we don't live in the strata anymore.

but the stairs were the least of the issues. A lot of complexes seem to hate maintenance, and ours did. def read the minutes as carefully as you would w a condo in a tower- deferring maintenance gets so costly when things like leaks happen. and we dealt w resulting issues, but we were only one vote, so decided to sell and never buy a strata again :(

One correction though, a potentially a very costly mistake to make, there is *no such thing* as a non conforming strata. some stratas are so small they don't need certain things, like stratas w less than 5 lots don't need to get the new electrical planning report. but all strata have to get strata complex insurance and follow SPA, even duplexes that are strata titled. it sucks and it's more cost/work with so few units but they are all actually supposed to function as a strata. I would run from any trying to create their own rules contravening SPA, and find a "fee simple" townhouse if you're lucky enough to afford one, and they even exist where you are, otherwise you are in a strata, unfortunately
Greater Vancouver Realtors .ca have a post- "What's a non-conforming strata? What you need to know to avoid headaches" from April 28, 2021 about this

[mrslcom]

Townhouses attached to a condo tower or towers are unfairly penalized in the allocation of strata fees since they don’t use the elevators or the main entrance.

[hammertimee]

I have no idea why anybody would want to live in town houses. Duplexes seem like a much better choice. It is much cheaper and much easier to get things done. The only reason I think townhouses are ideal for some people is that some of them have a dual car garage whereas many duplexes have a small garage. Town houses are often sandwiched between two other units, creating a scenario where noise may be an issue. With a duplex, you only have noises from one side to deal with.

[RMD-fn]

Why don’t you talk about the fact a lot of townhouses are leaseholds ? A lot of realtors and listing agents deceptively to hide this information from buyers .

[Oldwiseguy-]

Mistake 1 should be that one is buying anything in “Vancouver” period!