Ask Kyle Detached homes
On a detached home you’re spending millions, and the house can be beautiful while the land or the paperwork works against you. This is the list I run before a client writes an offer.
9 answers from 6 of my videos
When I talked about it in February 2026, I still thought detached was the best segment if you can afford it, for long-term growth and asset management. Homes are being pulled down for multiplexes all the time, dirt in Vancouver is a rare commodity, and a detached lot gives you the option of selling to a builder one day.
In this market it matters a lot. Lenders count a large portion of a legal suite’s rent toward your qualifying income, and that’s often what turns a no into a yes on a seven-figure mortgage. A house with no suite has a smaller future buyer pool, because the next buyer has the same financing problem, and in a softer market the one with the mortgage helper sells first.
Make sure the lot can take one. Check the basement ceiling height, whether there’s room for a separate entrance, and whether the lot is wide enough with lane access for a laneway house, then build the cost of adding that income into your offer. A detached home that can never produce a dollar of income is a lifestyle purchase priced like an investment, and you want to know that going in.
Pull the permit history from the City of Vancouver or your municipality and compare it to what the listing is selling you. If the listing says five bedrooms and a suite and the permits show a three-bedroom house, that’s a real conversation, and unpermitted work is always a reason to renegotiate. You can inherit the problem too: if a past owner built a deck without a permit, the city can make you fix it before it issues your permit for something like a heat pump.
The house may be beautiful, but the land is what people really care about. I want something as close to a typical lot as possible, at least a 33 foot frontage, and as square as possible, because irregular lots and small frontages waste space and kill future development potential. In this market, try not to buy a property with a question mark.
1:14Hear me say it at 1:14Do NOT Buy THESE HOMES In Vancouver Right Now (HERE'S WHY)May 2025 · 15:00 long
17:41Hear me say it at 17:41Do Not Buy These DETACHED HOMES In Vancouver Right Now | (HERE'S WHY)August 2025 · 25:32 long
8:18Hear me say it at 8:18Detached Market Is DEAD | Vancouver Real Estate Market Update September 2025September 2025 · 15:22 long
FreeThe Red Flag ReportEverything I look for before a client buys, for a condo, townhouse, duplex or detached home.Get the Red Flag Report →They cost you at resale. A corner lot on a busy road brings noise and traffic that only grows, big power infrastructure in the view quietly drains value, and a steep driveway puts off families and seniors. If you can genuinely live with one of those, it can be your deal: find the flaw you can live with that most people can’t, and plan to own it longer.
2:38Hear me say it at 2:38Do NOT Buy THESE HOMES In Vancouver Right Now (HERE'S WHY)May 2025 · 15:00 long
4:45Hear me say it at 4:45You Will REGRET Buying These Homes In Vancouver (HERE'S WHY)November 2025 · 16:24 long14:48Hear me say it at 14:48You Will REGRET Buying These Homes In Vancouver (HERE'S WHY)November 2025 · 16:24 longIt’s ground made of decaying plant material, and several parts of East and South Vancouver sit on former bogs. It settles unevenly, which shows up as sagging homes, cracked masonry and sidewalks that heave, and building on it can mean deep piles down to stable ground. Check the City of Vancouver’s peat map, and on a showing watch for sticking doors and sloping floors. I sometimes carry a marble to roll on the floor.
It can. Very old electrical like knob and tube wiring can stop some insurers from writing a policy until it’s replaced, and so can an oil tank. Confirm the home is insurable before you remove your subjects, because a home you can’t insure is a home you can’t finance.
One that works for a young family now and a downsizing couple in 10 years. Downsizers want a primary bedroom on the main floor, and multi-generational living is becoming normal here, so a home with every bedroom upstairs and a chopped-up main floor gets walked past. Even a main floor flex room that could become a bedroom keeps you in front of the biggest buyer pool.
Keep going
Didn’t see yours?
If your question is about your own home or your own contract, the honest answer depends on the paperwork. Bring it to me and I’ll tell you what I see.
