Rent or own? In the superheated Metro Vancouver housing market, the choice isn’t obvious
BY CHERYL CHAN
THE PROVINCE
Fed up with battling traffic to get to work, Krystal Yee decided to trade the New Westminster townhouse she’s owned for five years for a Vancouver condo.
Armed with a maximum of $350,000 and a humble wish list, Yee scoped out studios and one-bedroom units within a 20-minute drive of her South Granville office.
“Nothing stood out,” said Yee, 33. “The locations were poor. The units were small and noisy. It seemed insane to pay more than what I was paying in New West for something I wasn’t in love with.”
After a few months of fruitless searching, Yee decided to put home ownership on the back burner and revert to renting.
“After I ran the numbers multiple, multiple times, I realized I could save significantly more money renting. It was shocking to me,” she said.
Not only did renting give her more options for places, put an extra $700 a month in her pocket and get her off the hook for repairs, maintenance, property taxes and the day-to-day responsibilities of ownership, it also gave her more options to live her life.
“If I had purchased in Vancouver, my future for the next many years is set (in stone),” said Yee, who is now happily living in a 685-square-foot, two-bedroom laneway house with her partner in her dream neighbourhood of Mount Pleasant for $1,650 a month.
“With renting, I can do whatever I want. It’s so freeing and valuable to me.”
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