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!
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:
