Happy Mother's Day!

Last week I flew up to Vernon to interview my 89 year old grandmother, Deinie Epp. She has such an unique story to tell about all of the places she's lived in her almost 90 years. When I first asked her if she wanted to be on the podcast (after telling her what a podcast was), she scoffed and said, "No one cares what I have to say."

But boy is she wrong.

Her perspective on Vancouver real estate is really fascinating and heart warming. She's still sharp as a tack and this interview went for over an hour. So we've split it into two parts. With the first half of her life story on this episode and the 2nd half in another episode out next week.

Hope you enjoy.

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If you have any questions or any guests you would like to see, email as at [email protected].

Keith Roy – Personal Real Estate Corporation, RE/MAX Select Realty.

Remax Select (Main St.)

4806 Main St.

Vancouver, BC

V5V 3R8

604-210-2933

Developer is a bad word in Vancouver. It’s right up there with Realtor for the most hated profession in the city, and I would know. I’m a Realtor.

But if we want more affordable housing in the city, somebody has to build it.

Here on the show this week to talk about developers and how they’re addressing housing affordability and is the Anne McMullin - president and CEO of the Urban Development Institute, a non-profit association of the development industry in British Columbia. The UDI promotes wise and efficient urban grown, good planning and development practices, affordable housing and high quality commercial and industrial developments.

In this episode Anne and I discuss the three main policies of the organization:

* Transit oriented development

* Rental housing stock

* Addressing the “missing middle”

* Supply side measures

I’ll leave you with this quote from Anne, which I love: “For some reason when it comes to housing, people refuse to accept the principals for supply and demand. It’s like trying to fight gravity.” So much truth to that.

Hope you enjoy the episode.

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If you have any questions or any guests you would like to see, email as at [email protected].

Keith Roy – Personal Real Estate Corporation, RE/MAX Select Realty.

 

Thanks for tuning in to part two of my two part interview with Mukhtar Latif. Mukhtar is the former chief housing officer for The City of Vancouver as well as the former CEO of the Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency.

In this 2nd part we're going to finish talking about some of the housing initiatives he was involved with when he worked for the city, including the introduction of modular housing.

If you haven't already listened to part one, I suggest you go back and check that out before listening to this 2nd part.

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If you have any questions or any guests you would like to see, email as at [email protected].

Keith Roy – Personal Real Estate Corporation, RE/MAX Select Realty.

How can we make housing more affordable for everyone? Not just the really poor or the really rich, but for everyone?

Here to propose some solutions and talk about what the city of Vancouver has already done in an attempt to make housing more affordable is Mukhtar Latif. Mukhtar is the former chief housing officer for The City of Vancouver as well as the former CEO of the Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency.

Mukhtar has over 30 years of experience working for on the housing file and this conversation was so interesting, that it did go a little longer than some of our others. So we decided to make it a two-part episode, to be a bit more conscious of your time. But, don’t worry the 2nd part is available, RIGHT NOW, so make sure you listen to both parts to hear the full conversation.

 

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If you have any questions or any guests you would like to see, email as at [email protected].

Keith Roy – Personal Real Estate Corporation, RE/MAX Select Realty.

It’s election season in BC and this week we’re looking at what each party is promising in their platform, specifically about housing and real estate in BC.

My guest on the show this week is my good friend Chris Thompson, huge nerd and former tax lawyer – on location from our vacation in Southern California.

All jazzed up from our day visiting the Ronald Regan memorial library, we’re excited to go head to head discussing the various political policies.

Hope you enjoy.

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* BC NDP platform

* BC Liberal platform

* BC Green platform

* Chris Thompson's speeding video

* We mentioned pre-sale properties briefly in this episode but didn’t go into too much detail. After recording this I was interviewed by the Globe and Mail regarding pre-sales and the article has since been released, if you’re looking to find out more.

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If you have any questions or any guests you would like to see, email as at [email protected].

Keith Roy – Personal Real Estate Corporation, RE/MAX Select Realty.

Increase supply and adapt expectations.

Although there have been many proposed solutions to the “housing crisis” in Vancouver, these are the two we hear most often on our show.

Our guest this week is a strong believer in both of those things and he doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk.

Adrian Crook is a foundering member of the YIMBY group, Abundant Housing Vancouver.

YIMBY’s ('Yes In My Back Yard') are part of a pro-development/affordable housing movement in contrast and opposition to the NIMBY (‘Not In My Back Yard’) faction. The YIMBY movement supports the development of new housing (with an emphasis on affordable rental units) in cities like Vancouver where rental costs have escalated to unaffordable levels, even when a project’s scale might not be a perfect fit with the neighbourhood for which it is proposed.

As far as adapting expectations goes, you may be more familiar with Adrian though his blog 5 Kids, 1 Condo, which documents how he and his five young children live a minimalist lifestyle in a 1,000-square-foot apartment.

Both of his endeavours have received a lot of media attention lately including (prepare for shameless plug…) a radio interview I did last week on Roundhouse radio.

 

More info about Adrian below.

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5 Kids 1 Condo | Urban life, minimalism and sustainability with 5 kids

Abundant Housing Vancouver | More Housing for More People

Adrian Crook & Associates | Freemium Mobile Game Design & Development

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If you have any questions or any guests you would like to see, email as at [email protected].

Keith Roy – Personal Real Estate Corporation, RE/MAX Select Realty.

For our 10th episode we’re doing something special. The editor and producer of this show (who also happens to be my soul mate) will be interviewing me for a change.

Stephanie is going to ask me some of the questions our listeners have been asking including…

Who are you going to vote for in the upcoming provincial election?

Is money from China the reason housing is so unaffordable in this city?

AND…

When are you ever going to settle down and marry that girlfriend of yours? (Totally NOT a made up question by Stephanie…)

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Some of the things we reference in this episode:

* Keith’s Building in Vancouver blog, which chronicles the challenges he faced while building a home in Vancouver.

* The super cool Sam Sullivan videos we mention in the beginning of the episode:

* Overview of Three Waves

* First Wave

* Second Wave

* Third Wave

* A defence of Urban Density

* One idea to fix the supply problem

* History and recommendation to prioritize density to the old city

* Sam’s thoughts on the name Vancouver

* Gregor Robertson thinks he's above the law when it comes to tree removal.

* Georgia Straight article about racist emails

* Colour Code Podcast – Race and Real Estate.

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If you have any questions or any guests you would like to see, email as at [email protected].

Keith Roy – Personal Real Estate Corporation, RE/MAX Select Realty.

While many young families seem to be leaving Vancouver, Ben Wood and his family of four are doing the opposite – they’re moving in.

Ben is my guest on the show this week after making the long commute from the laneway house in my backyard to my home studio. (Listeners might recall that I recently built a house in Vancouver, and thankfully I was able to jump through all the required hoops to be able to build a laneway house that I now rent out.)

A professor of Buddhist studies at Langara Collage, Ben and his family moved here in January from New York City. Him and his wife have lived in various cities all over the world, always happy to sacrifice space for a great location. Embracing a minimalist lifestyle is liberating and allows him and his family to live in urban centers without breaking the bank.

More stuff and more space doesn’t always make you happy and Ben and his family are a true testament to that. Sure they live in less than 700 sqft, but they get to live in a world class city, and they’ve never been happier.

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If you have any questions or any guests you would like to see, email as at [email protected].

Keith Roy – Personal Real Estate Corporation, RE/MAX Select Realty.

Why is housing in Vancouver so expensive?

Is it because of foreign investments? Is it the fault of greedy landlords and developers?

We’re quick to point fingers, but what if we’re looking at this all wrong. Why are foreign owners willing to pay so much for housing here? Why do landlords feel they can charge so much for rent? Why are brand new homes so expensive to purchase?

It might have something to do with taxes. Sexy, sexy taxes.

This week I have a conversation with the BC Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation – Jordan Bateman to discuss just that.

Jordan has worked as a journalist, small business owner, and Township of Langley councillor. Having won two elections, Jordan resigned from Council in 2011 to take on his role with the CTF. Since then he is often featured in the media speaking out against high taxes that greatly affect affordability in the province (he is best known for leading the successful No Transit Tax campaign in 2015).

The federation is now involved in the housing file in Vancouver, after identifying a whopping 107 different taxes levies and fees associated with housing in the province!

Obviously taxes are important and help pay for things like roads and schools, but at what point is enough, enough?

A great quote from the CTF website sums the situation up perfectly:

“Rather than encourage new housing – thus increasing supply and helping drive down prices – city hall acts like it’s a nuisance to be eradicated. They seem to be trying to tax new housing out of existence.”

While it’s easy to say that those taxes are “paid for by builders”, the cost always trickles down to the consumer.

I could go on and on here about government intervention in the housing market, but you should probably just listen to the episode.

Enjoy.

If you have any questions or any guests you would like to see, email as at [email protected].

Keith Roy – Personal Real Estate Corporation, RE/MAX Select Realty.

 

I’m back at UBC this week interviewing professor of urban economics at The Sauder School of Business, Tom Davidoff. Tom is often featured in the media with his take on the economics of Vancouver real estate.

Tom is one of the more controversial real estate thought leaders in this city, but his policies are scientific and well thought out. His most recent project was The BC Housing Affordability Fund, a proposal to increase property taxes to address housing affordability in Vancouver. We discuss this in more detail in the episode.

Tom is wicked smart and this was a fascinating interview.

If taxation really jazzes you up, be sure to stay tuned next week for my interview with Jordan Bateman, BC director of the Canadian Tax Payers Federation. You’ll hear Jordan answer Tom’s question from this episode and we break down further how changes in taxation could be the answer to housing affordability in Vancouver.

Enjoy!

If you have any questions or any quests you would like to see, email as at [email protected].

Keith Roy – Personal Real Estate Corporation, RE/MAX Select Realty.