Big Fat Deal: $4 million for a piece of vintage Vancouver

Address: 4685 West 6th Avenue, Vancouver

Price: $4,288,000

Listing:  R2260126

The skinny: Six-bedroom, three-bathroom, 3,875-square-foot house on a 7,430-square-foot lot in Point Grey.

The bling: It’s criminal, really. All these poor folks minding their own business, living a simple life in a house they bought for peanuts—and suddenly they’re property millionaires. The streets of Vancouver may not literally be paved with gold, but they sure make a good fist of playing a gold mine. What’s that? This was just a regular middle class abode back in the day. It just happened to be a stone’s throw from the beach, with a view of the mountains and walking distance to the best schools. (Don’t get us started on schools! It’s not like we would ever use the public system anyway.) That’s how everyone grew up back in the good old Old Stock days, right? Single-family home, huge garden, safe neighbourhood… . It didn’t mean you were wealthy, just comfortable. Just look at those bathrooms if you don’t believe me. I could have predicted the pink, but purple! It’s as if H. Bronnley & Co. fine English soaps from the ’70s threw a pastel party and the lavender box refused to leave at the end of the night. Seriously, though, there’s even a two-bedroom mortgage helper, so where’s the privilege? Amirite? Come on, give these good people a tax break, and buy their modest mansion for a song so they can go live it up large on their capital gains. It’s about time someone built a properly posh pad on that lot anyway.

The hidden extras: Um…vintage chic?