As I sat down to decide what my blog would be about this week, I took a look at the stats from 2007 and filtered out some of the more affordable places in the province to buy waterfront. The list includes places such as Ashcroft, Prince George, Port Clements, Smithers, Trail, Kamloops, Merritt, Zeballos and Nakusp. Although many of these places may be worth more investigation, the one that I noticed immediately was Naksup. I had been there for a wedding a few years back and found the picturesque countryside and quiet serenity of the lakefront a welcome change from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Last year, we featured an investment project on Arrow Lakes (Galena Shores) on our site. The developer, from Alberta, received many inquiries about the project and over-subscribed his project quickly, so I knew there was demand out there for property in the area. Within reasonable driving distance from Calgary/Edmonton and with waterfront prices sometimes half (or even 1/3) of what they are at Lake Invermere, who wouldn't take a closer look at this area? (Click Here for Nakusp 2007 Waterfront Sales Stats.) 

Located in the West Kootenays, in south central BC, Nakusp offers numerous recreational opportunities including hot springs, boating, hunting, swimming, hiking, camping, ice fishing, golfing, skiing, etc...With a population of approximately 1, 600, the community has an arena, a small hospital, a waterfront boardwalk and even high speed internet!

Ironically, as I sat down to write this blog last night, I opened my latest weekly email from Jurock.com and one of the main stories was specifically about Nakusp and the affordability of waterfront there compared to other areas of BC. One thing Ozzie pointed to in his article was the millions of dollars going into upgrades in nearby Revelstoke and Fairmont Hot Springs, which should benefit the Nakusp area. Ozzie states that it could be the "sleeper market in the Kootenays." I was glad to know I was on track with one of BC's biggest real estate gurus, but hope he doesn't think I'm stealing his story ideas (!) Although we currently don't have any properties on the site in the area (lakefront listings are scarce), the Kootenay Lake Village on nearby Kootenay Lake has been generating quite a lot of interest. More about Kootenay Lake in a future blog!

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Most of the inquiries that go through our site go to our sellers; however, we also receive direct emails from buyers asking for advice about where to buy or asking us to keep an eye out for specific types of property for them. When we first launched the site, I had an email that read something like this:

"We are looking for a place to build an off-the-grid, sustainable living home. We would like to purchase a few acres of land with riverfront or a stream to create micro hydro power."

Although I knew of a movement towards sustainable living, I was surprised to see an inquiry like this so soon after the site launched; however, the percent of inquiries like this that come through to us have made me wonder if we could set up some kind of a search for these properties (although I imagine this might be quite complicated!).

All of this interest got me wondering what I didn't know that these people knew, so I delved a little deeper into the reasons for their desire to live off the grid.

The reasons all seem to come down to the same thing-attempting to make less of a footprint on the earth while having your own means of creating energy in a possible future of global warming and a certain future of higher energy costs. Here is a citation from a recent email from a buyer from "down-south," who references the film www.whatawaytogomovie.com to qualify his statement:

"I (only) passed through there (Vancouver Island) on the way to Glacier Bay, Alaska in '05 while investigating the effects of climate change, the results of which are one of the reasons I am relocating. The other reason being that the entire informed and concerned population of North America seems to be headed your way for the same reason, so I should be in good company regardless."

After doing a bit of research on global warming, it seems that many areas of B.C., while they will be effected to a degree by global warming, may be a safer bet than areas such as the southern States (particularly parts of California, Florida, Georgia & Alabama) and large cities in Asia and India. I even managed to find this web site www.droughtscore.com, which informs people looking to relocate in the US on where to live to avoid drought (!) and another article about lack of water supply and the problems it is causing in Georgia, Florida & Alabama. The owner of www.droughtscore.com, Bert Sperling even lists the areas most at risk for being affected by global warming in the US on his web site www.bestplaces.net. Click here for article. Click here for US Drought monitor.

Although riverfront land may be at risk of increased flooding from warming, it seems the trade off (energy and water availability) is more than worth the risk of living somewhere with no access to either. The key with this type of property would be to build at a safe distance from the riverbank to protect your buildings and ensure you are also protecting the ecosystem by creating a good environment for salmon spawning.

While there is some concern about large scale micro-hydro intiatives in B.C. (click here for article), it seems most of the buyers who email us are looking to create small versions for themselves of what the energy giants are tapping into with the government's recent focus on "greener" energy initiatives.

It is not just in our area of the real estate industry that people are becoming more aware of eco-friendly ways of living. A recent survey by Royal LePage showed that almost 75% of Canadian homebuyers are looking for a "green-improved" property in their next home and that 63% would pay more for an environmentally friendly home. Certain players in the building industry are already responding with more eco-friendly development practices. Home Depot now produces the "Eco-Options" magazine to highlight its "green" products and the latest edition of "This Old House" to arrive at our door was titled "Save Money, Save Energy, Build Smart: 53 pages of products and projects for a safer, healthier home."

Some real estate brokerages are even going green including one in Vancouver, MacDonald Realty, which has recently launched a program called MacGreen . The program is a carbon-offsetting plan (free to buyers and sellers) whereby the real estate agents can donate carbon credits as part of the real estate transaction. In an industry where driving is a necessary part of the job, this is one way the agents and brokerages can contribute to the health of the environment.

(If you are interested in buying or selling a waterfront/view property in the Lower Mainland and partcipating in this program, please contact our member Realtor and environmental lawyer, Patricia Houlihan at 604-376-7653 or visit her website at www.waterfrontvancouver.ca.)

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An article in yesterday's Vancouver Sun caught my eye as it mentioned the impending closure of two of Imperial Oil's Esso marine fuel stations used by recreational boaters and commuters in Vancouver. The stations in question are at West Vancouver's Fisherman's Cove and in False Creek; two critical locations to boat owners in the area as there are currently no other marine fuel suppliers at these locations. According to the article, the closure is causing a panic amongst boat owners, who are loading up on fuel by hand and creating a potentially dangerous situation in the process. 

Initially, Imperial had planned to sell the West Vancouver station to Bruce Falkins, the current operator of the station; however, after doing his due diligence and agreeing to upgrade the oil tanks to the required "Enviro" tanks, Bruce was told that Imperial will no longer sell the station but plans to destroy it because of liability fears concerning the structure of the building. According to Bruce, in addition to the inconvenience caused by a closure, the lack of gas in these areas could be a concern to boater safety as the West Vancouver station is used by various emergency service providers. Currently, Bruce is trying to have Imperial reconsider the sale and is asking for any concerned citizens to write to Imperial asking them to overturn the decision. 

Prior to this year, Imperial has sold its marine fuel stations in other crucial areas such as Victoria's Inner Harbour, Gibsons and Deep Cove, so the decision to destroy some of its remaining stations rather than selling them comes as a surprise. It would be interesting to find out what their lawyers have found to cause all of the concern and have them pay to destroy these stations.

I have put a call in to Imperial and will post the other 5 locations in this blog when/if I find out where they are. They may be sold rather than closed depending on the locations and sturctures in question.

Note:

All of this talk about closing gas stations and the panic that has ensued, got me thinking about a documentary I recently viewed regarding the future of oil production and how the lack thereof will effect us. If you're interested, you can click here to link to the movie's web site: A Crude Awakening, The Oil Crash

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