this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2024
104 points (79.2% liked)

CanadaPolitics

1875 readers
54 users here now

Placeholder for any r/CanadaPolitics refugees

Rules:

All of Lemmy.ca's rules apply

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

From CTV News (Bell Media):

"It might seem pretty rare to find a house with an elevator, but chances are higher you might find one in Calgary these days."

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] cupboard@kbin.earth 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Pretty much, the first thing the interviewed couple mentions is that they're building an elevator in order to keep living in their home as they grow older (and assumedly become impaired due to age).

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It must be nice to have so much money that they can indulge their sentimentality like that.

Imagine having to move into a new house without stairs, they'd lose the will to live and die after a month

[–] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It might be a purely financial decision of "we want to keep living independently but we can't afford to buy a different house than the one we locked in 40 years ago, so lets spend a few thousand putting in an elevator instead of spending hundreds of thousands changing houses" since some major cities have housing markets that are simply that extreme

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 2 points 1 day ago (3 children)

My googling tells me:

The typical cost to install a home elevator in a two-story house ranges from $30,000 to $60,000 on average

Minimum cost: Around $20,000

Maximum cost: Up to $100,000 or more

National average: Approximately $48,000

[–] brygphilomena@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

My parents put in a stair lift. I'd expect more are doing something like that where they are a few thousand bucks. But you still need to be able to transfer to/from the seat. It doesn't accommodate a wheelchair.

It's not such an extravagant purchase when it's the only way my father could make it up and down from his bedroom.

[–] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 1 points 1 day ago

Honestly I was thinking of how things are for my family in LA, where house prices are so bonkers that its legitimately cheaper to renovate (although part of that probably also stems from the local tax law limiting property tax increases for existing homeowners) but that's really my only secondhand experience with a truly unaffordable housing market so I don't know how transferrable that is

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

A reno to make the house sellable would cost that as well

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Much doubt in that statement. Define 'sellable', is taking the price from 900,000 to 1.1 million making a house sellable? I guess you don't want to leave 270,000 dollars on the table but if they're at the point where they can't walk up stairs ik going to hazard a guess that those amounts will result in the same quality of life for them

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Sellable as in the cost/price increase negate each other but you’re actually going to find a buyer within a reasonable timeframe

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Some things to consider

Asbestos/mold will get you passed on unless you’re selling to a flipper

You as a buyer are going to want a home that doesn’t have the above so you’re going to want the money that a home without it provides

Boomers are so financially illiterate that their retirement plans were that their house would pay for the last 20 years of their lives