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
After looking at waterfront property around the province for much of the day, I consider a single family lake or oceanfront property under $650, 000 to be a good price on southern Vancouver Island and in the current market. While investigating the market in our 5th area for single family waterfront sales this week (Duncan Rural), I got excited about some of the seemingly good opportunities around the Duncan area. According to our stats from MyLandcor, Duncan Rural includes areas such as Shawnigan Lake , Mill Bay, Cowichan Lake, Youbou, Cherry Point, etc...
Having lived in Victoria most of my life, I remember Shawnigan Lake as a popular destination for summer getaways. In those days, it seemed a long way out of the city but with the recent growth of the Western Communities , it seems you are barely out of the city when you reach the infamous "Malahat." Now it seems these areas are just a hop, skip and a jump from Victoria and with the population of Victoria spilling over the Malahat into areas like Mill Bay, Duncan and Shawnigan Lake I am suprised that the waterfront prices aren't higher. While Cowichan Lake is a little farther away, it is still within a two hours drive of downtown Victoria-not bad as a vacation destination considering Ozzie Jurock considers anything 4 hours from Vancouver a shoe-in for vacation property.
Our member Realtor, Norm deWit, owner of Osborne Realty and www.waterfrontvancouverisland.com, specializes in waterfront on the Island and particularly the area around Duncan including Lake Cowichan, Shawnigan Lake, Youbou, etc...While Norm's office says this year was a bit slower (which our stats reflect-click here for reference), the average sale price for single family waterfront in this region only increased (so far) by just over $65, 000-a far cry from other areas such as the Sunshine Coast, where prices in some areas went up over $300, 000 since last year. A quick search of the MLS "Duncan" region shows lakefront for under $500, 000 and even oceanfront property close to $400, 000 (!)
Who is buying in this area? Norm says they are seeing buyers mainly from Alberta and other parts of B.C. but also some from Europe, the U.S. and even Mexico.
Norm's value pick's for the area are listed below:
I know that I usually only write my blogs once a week but after looking through the local paper this morning I felt the need to write a short entry today to keep you all up to date with the latest waterfront news.
For a few weeks now, there has been a rumour going around the Comox Valley that Oprah has purchased the famed Filberg house in Comox, currently on the market for $10, 000 000.I first heard about it from my husband's barber who, as the story goes, had a client who lived next door to the famed house and had been told that it had sold to Oprah. Sounds like a really trusted source, right? LOL
Anyhow, I decided to dig deeper into the story to see what I could find out. The listing Realtor's office said that the property was still for sale, but that the property next door had sold mid-summer. This was around the same time that Oprah sailed up the island on Jimmy Pattison's yacht, apparently stopping to dine just off of Denman Island and visiting the village of Alert Bay further north on the island. The office claims that this is the only way they could have seen the rumour getting started (although I'm sure if a high profile buyer like Oprah had purchased in the Valley the office wuld be mum about it anyhow).
I didn't realize how fast the story got around until I opened up the local paper today to find an article, which basically reiterates what I had already discovered-that it was all a rumour, but alludes to the possibility that it could have been Jimmy Pattison who might have been interested in real estate here.
This brings me to another rumour that has been circulating here, which is that Donald Trump apparently mentioned the Comox Valley as being one of the best places to buy on an Oprah show last year. I have never written about this either, as I have never had proof of it. I even wrote to the show to ask about it but never heard back. If anyone has any proof of this, please drop us an email at blogtips@waterfrontwest.com and we'll look into it.
Finally, a record breaking waterfront sale in West Vancouver. A home on Radcliffe Ave. sold for $30, 000 000-(more than any house in Canada) to a Canadian(!) Annual taxes on the property are close to a mere $100, 000. Click here to see video (watch Thursday news).
