For those of you who don’t already know what street view in Google Maps is, it’s a function of the map that allows you to do what the name implies and get a view of the surroundings as you would see them were you to stand in the street.
This morning I was checking the location of a property on Google Maps when I zoomed in really close to verify its proximity to a bus stop, and then I was in street view staring quite clearly at the bus stop. I knew this feature was coming to Nanaimo, but I didn’t know it had already arrived.
What this means for you as someone who is looking at buying real estate, is that you can preview the neighbourhoods much more easily than before.
Have a look below. I’ve set it so that you’re looking at my office to start but you can go anywhere in Nanaimo by taking the controls. Just go into the window in the bottom right corner, expand it and you can zoom in and out and move the “you” to where ever you’d like to view.
I’ll say it yet again as this is becoming my main message to the world about real estate: The only bad time to buy real estate is when you can’t afford it. In terms of markets etc. there are only good times and better times. This is simply because real estate values go up in long term and fluctuate in short term. Sure you can complicate things with lots of stats and etc. but it all boils down to this. Of course, if we’re talking about investing as a profession where we build major projects like condo developments, whole neighbourhoods or substantially altering the use of a location, it does get more complicated. But that’s a deeper discussion for the pros and this blog is more for for homeowners and potential investors who would like to supplement their income with real estate. For such people it’s mainly about whether you can afford it, if the credit is available and how you feel about being a landlord.
Ironically, the way most people perceive real estate markets, thanks to our mainstream media, is backwards. The very best times are almost by definition the times when no one is buying because most people are thinking it’s a bad time to buy. (When do you get a better price on skis? In the early winter or the spring?) I bring this up because the article below mentions how a few months ago no one was buying. Well if by “a few months ago” they mean February or March, then that was the absolute best time to buy a property that you intend to hold onto for a bit. Prices were still on their way down, interest rates were at record lows and no one knew for sure if we were at the bottom yet so sellers were often willing to take quite low prices because for a while there only about one in six places were selling. Only a few months later now, and it’s different story.
Not that things are now either. Interest rates are still super low (albeit not quite as low as before) and will be until at least part way through next year, prices are still lower than they were at the peak of the boom (only by a bit now) and although there will always be the alarmists and naysayers out there, most believe that 2010 is going to be one helluva year. I know this fall sure has been and Realtors are usually in stand down mode by now as Christmas approaches, but many of us are still working hard myself included.
You may be asking yourself “If Ryan is telling us that whether or not we can afford to make the payments is the most important thing, then why is he talking so much about what markets are doing?” Well, it’s because although the easiest safest way to invest is to buy a place to hold onto and rent it out while the property’s value increase while the rent does too. That’s the bit that anyone can make use of and understand. This is in fact what I am intending to do over the years myself. However there are ways to make some cash off markets for people who are handy for example. People who have professional experience with renos/building can do really well over a short period of time by flipping properties. But that’s not for most people. Desp[ite my knowledge of things real estate, and my ability to recognize a properly done reno or construction job, I don’t think I should be doingthis because I would probably cost myself money rather than make it. I say this because I’ve seen far too many people who presumably watch a lot of HGTV try it, fail miserably and cost themselves lots of money. That’s always sad to see.
For more info on my thinking on this subject, see my six part series on “When To Buy And Sell”
From the perspective of someone who doesn’t live and breathe real estate, saying the above phrase to your Realtor probably seems like a smart thing to say. I say this because I’ve heard it from some people who I know to be very intelligent and even business savvy.
On its own, it is not however, a good way for a would be client/buyer to get their Realtor to do so.
Why?
Well, quite simply… of course you want a good deal. That goes without saying. I’m sure that every Realtor out there has heard this sort of request a thousand times. As we hear it so often from so many people, and because most people who say this aren’t actually serious or know whats entailed in actually getting those deals, how are we to know which of those many people to go to when we actually find one? After all, we are only paid when we sell something and spending time hunting for deals for people who aren’t serious rather than spending time working with those who are is a great way to go bankrupt.
So, in order for you as a consumer to stand out from the crowd and show up on the Realtor’s radar as a “go to” person for these deals, here are some tips:
Are You Sure This Is The Route For You?
First and foremost, YOU need to understand that “a great deal” that comes your way is probably not going to be a suitable home for you.
Say for example you are a youngish family of four and you have an average income. For you, that $450,000 house that would normally be $500,000 if it wasn’t for the dramatic divorce that is making the owners sell it just to get rid of it, is not going to be an option for you because you probably can’t afford it. Even if you can, it may not be your tastes, or in the wrong part of town, it may be too old, or too small etc. Or maybe the property is a an old trailer that should be priced at about $90,000 but is price at $70,000 in a 55+ plus park. (For retirees.) Or an empty lot. I could go on because there are so many types of properties out there, and the majority are not suitable homes for any one person or family, therefore neither will the majority of “great deals”.
If it’s a home you want, figure out what you need, want and can afford first. Then go out with your Realtor looking at homes and choose the best one for the best price based on what’s available. That’s the conventional way and I think it’s a good, tried and true system for finding a good home for you. If you get a home that you like, at a price you’re comfortable with, THAT’S a good deal. It’s no good getting a great deal in a home you can’t enjoy living in. A happy home is a pretty good deal if you ask me.
Financing
Make sure you’ve already been pre-approved by a mortgage broker and make sure your Realtor knows it. This gives the Realtor a price range to work with so that nobody’s time is wasted by excited phone calls where the Realtor says they have this great deal for you and you have to contact the RIGHT AWAY for places you can’t afford.
The broader the price range the better.
Have A Purpose In Mind
If you have a specific plan for the property, let the Realtor know. Try to be general, otherwise it won’t work. You see, it’s only once every few months a Realtor finds out about a smoking deal before its been jumped on by the others. And that’s including all real estate, without things like price ranges or property types!
An example of what you want to say might be “I’d like a house to rent out.” or “I’d like an older home that I could rent out until the markets rise sufficiently and then renovate and sell.”
Be Ready to Move Fast
Let your Realtor know that you’re ready to make that offer the same day you hear from your Realtor, and have money on hand to pay for deposit etc. A really good deal causes a feeding frenzy until its snatched up, which usually only takes a day or two. You’ll need to move quickly before anyone else finds out about it.
Decide Quickly How Badly You Want It
Be prepared to make offers above asking price if you really want the place. The feeding frenzy often generates multiple offers, which means you’ll be competing with other buyers who are just as eager as you to buy this smoking deal. You just might not get it either, so don’t be too disappointed if someone else outbids you and they get the property.
If the above info hasn’t shaken you off the path of wanting to get a “great deal”, then you sound like someone who is serious about getting into real estate investment and therefore someone I, as a Realtor, look forward to having the chance to do business with. If you have read the above and no longer wish to wait for that “great deal” but still want to buy a home or investment the more conventional way, then you too are just as much someone I look forward to doing business with. And yes, I’m always looking for people who want to sell their homes too!
Wow. That was the most fun I’VE ever had writing a title to a post. I just get a kick out of chickens I guess…
Anyway, I haven’t suddenly lost my mind and started posting nonsense. yes, I’m departing slightly from my usal menu of topics, but there is something about real etsate here.
You see, through my endeavours with the Nanaimo Green Group (a coalition of local eco-oriented businesses I founded) I came into contact with some people who are working to convince the city to pass a bylaw that will allow people to have chicken coups in their backyard. That is, in areas that are within city limits. A concept new to Nanaimo but not the world at all, I have to say I am totally behind it for all the reasons Robyn lists below and in particular how it gives children the opportunity to better learn respect for their food producing animals. Having grown up on a small hobby farm myself where we had chickens and cows for example, I always felt that those who don’t have this opportunity never seem to think about where their food is coming from and how it is treated. Not because they have cold hearts, but simply because it’s not on their radar. If more people had some concept of how livestock is, can and should be treated/raised, I feel that the animals will be happier and healthier and so will the people eating them.
Have you heard the news! Urban gardens are producing delicious fruits, vegetables, nuts and yummy eggs from backyard chickens. That’s right chickens; they are not just for farms anymore.There isa genuinemovement across the country, as people join the urban backyard chicken movement.This is not a unique concept. There are many cities in the Canada and the United States including Victoria BC, Vancouver BC, New York, Portland, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, that allow chickens.
Why chickens in your backyard?
Well here are some reasons:
1.Fresh, healthy, delicious eggs, free of pesticides and antibiotics.
2.Chickens eat table scraps, reducing municipal organic waste.
3.Chickens produce a rich fertilizer by-product, high in nitrogen, which in one of the best fertilizers you can find for your vegetable garden.
4.Educational - teaches children where our food comes from and demonstrates responsible pet ownership (chores). Getting back in touch with nature.
5.Great pets - Chickens are people-friendly.
6.Chickens eat bugs, reducing our backyard pest population.
7.Allows families to take control of their food and “eating locally”.
8.It’s ahumane way to raise chickens.
Presently in the City of Nanaimo the current bylaw restricts poultry to parcels of land over an acre in size, which excludes most lots within the city. The Nanaimo Poultry Collective is a local community group formedby individuals who love all things poultry and who desire to be able to legally raise and keep chickens within the city limits, in Nanaimo backyards.
The City of Nanaimo has an intention to promote sustainability. This means making proactive decisions to help people improve their own lives, the lives of their children, and those of future generations.The Nanaimo Poultry Collective (NPC) is slated to go before City Council on November 23rd, 2009 at 7pm in the Shaw Auditorium at the Conference Centre.We will demonstrate the importance of food security and how raising poultry in the City of Nanaimo will fit well with their sustainability goals, as stated in the Official Community Plan.
The NPC meets regularly and are willing to aid in education, providing resources and backyard chicken coop tours.
If you are interested in supporting the change in the bylaw you could do the following:
-Become a member of the NPC by emailing the NPC Secretary, Robyn Quigg, at Quigglet@shaw.ca. Membership is free.
-Join us Monday November 23, 2009 at 7pm.
-Sign petitions found at the Green Store (Port Place) and Island Naturals (Near Home Depot).
Regular readers will remember this post where I outlined my concerns about HST and the effect it will have on the housing market, and in particular those people who make a living from building homes.
Today I received an announcement from the local real estate board that updated us on the issue’s development and it seems there has been some improvements made but I am still concerned about the effect it will have on builders in higher priced areas like Vancouver and Victoria as $525,000 isn’t very much for a new home there. Here in Nanaimo though, that’s a pretty nice home, even for a new one.
I am still concerned though that as Realtors, this will mean a 7% increase in what it costs to hire us. This will affect our industry. There are also the high end builders who will now be trying harder than ever to build home that come in under the wire of $525,000.
In the announcement, Finance Minister Colin Hansen acknowledged consumer and industry input on the issue. The province is proposing to increase the threshold for the B.C. HST new housing rebate from $400,000 to $525,000. The province aims to ensure that, on average, purchasers of new homes up to $525,000 pay no more tax due to harmonization.Purchasers of new homes would be eligible for a rebate of 71.43 per cent of the provincial portion of the HST paid on a new home, up to a maximum of $26,250. Homes above $525,000 would receive a flat rebate of $26,250. This is a 30 per cent increase in the threshold and maximum rebate available.
Please take the time to read through the whole document if you can. Some highlights from the Tax Information Notice:
Generally, builders’ sales of newly constructed or substantially renovated homes would be subject to the provincial component of the HST where both ownership and possession of the home are transferred after June 2010. Grandparenting would be provided for certain contracts.
The proposed transitional rules for new housing, including builder reporting and disclosure requirements, would be administered by the CRA.
Generally, sales of new homes under written agreements of purchase and sale entered into on or before Nov. 18, 2009, would be grandparented, such that these sales would not be subject to the provincial component of the HST and would not be eligible for B.C.’s housing rebates.
Grandparenting would be provided for newly constructed or substantially renovated single unit homes, including detached homes, semi-detached homes, and attached homes.
Grandparenting would not apply to traditional apartment buildings, mobile homes (including modular homes) and floating homes, as the general transitional rules would apply differently to those homes. However, these homes may qualify for B.C. housing rebates.
Here’s something from the Times Colonist, a newspaper from the neighbouring town of Victoria. Those of you who have been watching this blog for some time will have noticed that I’ve really not been posting much these past few months. I used to do two a week, but lately it has been once every week or two for reasons that the article below will clarify.
By mid November, most people in my business are pretty much entering a semi vacation mode. Business slows right down as most people start planning for Christmas and there is little to do except the odd deal and maybe plan for next year. This year has been totally different, very slow in the start but gradually heating up. Then, by the end of the summer a spark went off an ignited things. It’s just been a flurry of activity ever since, but for some reason it’s still going. It’s like a spring market, but in the fall.
All I can say is ‘thank god.’ Up until the end of the summer it was really tough for those of us who make a living selling or building homes. Since so many consumers started getting unreasonably frightened thanks to a media system that tends to exaggerate, distort, and fail to clearly inform I’ve seen a lot of people drop out of the business. It was about this time last year I heard of large numbers of Realtors who were handing in their licenses and of fairly well known contractors who were declaring bankruptcy.
But once again my refrain: For home owners and home owners to be, what the real estate market is doing doesn’t affect most of you nearly as much as you think. The main thing is whether you can make the payments. This isn’t the stock market where values jump up and down in potentially dramatic percentages in a short time. For more look at my posts in the “When to Buy and Sell” section. You’ll notice that I wrote those when the media was reporting something very different than they are now. My story hasn’t changed though, because it’s all cyclical. Markets change like the seasons it’s just that we don’t know exactly when or by how much. We’re at a different stage in the cycle. Looks like early spring to me.
In October, B.C. residential sales totalled 8,624 sales, a 115-per-cent increase over 4,018 sales in October 2008, according to the report. The average price in B.C. also rose from $420,259 in October 2008 to $493,328 in October 2009.
B.C. led Canada in new monthly records for residential sales in October, according to a report released Monday by the Canadian Real Estate Association.
“Of all the provincial monthly gains, B.C.’s was the highest,” CREA chief economist Gregory Klump said in an interview. “B.C. had the most dramatic decline in sales activity last year [and] it’s also had the most dramatic rebound in recent months. They fell the furthest so they have the biggest ground to make up. And that’s what’s happening. It’s rebounded to a new all-time monthly record for sales activity.”
Klump said a lot of buyers who had moved to the sidelines are returning to the market due to price discounts and lower mortgage rates.
“The pent-up demand in B.C. has been bigger,” he added.
The CREA report was released as a separate survey by the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP) and indicated that British Columbians are the most optimistic in Canada that home prices will increase in the coming year.
“People in B.C. are thinking that the overall economy is improving,” Jim Murphy, president and CEO of CAAMP, said in an interview about their Annual State of the Residential Mortgage Market report. “Perhaps they’re also feeling more positive because of the Olympics.
“And B.C. has always had the highest housing prices and the highest average mortgages. B.C. is the most optimistic that housing prices are most likely to increase.”
According to the CREA report, B.C. residential sales in October totalled 8,624, a 115-per-cent increase over 4,018 sales in October 2008. The average price in B.C. also rose from $420,259 in October 2008 to $493,328 in October 2009.
The national report noted that home sales hit a record high in October, leading CREA to boost its outlook for 2009 and 2010.
Nationally, resale home activity was up 41.5 per cent in the month, reaching a total of 42,288 units.
“Low interest rates and upbeat consumer confidence continue to release the pent-up demand that built late last year and earlier this year,” said CREA president Dale Ripplinger.
“The release of that pent-up demand has boosted national sales activity to new heights and is drawing down inventories.”
Further, said Millan Mulraine, economics strategist at TD Securities, “we expect the recent strong gains in the housing market to remain largely intact, though we suspect that the back-to-back double-digit advance in sales seen earlier this year may not be repeated.”
As a result of the sector’s strong performance, CREA increased its forecast for sales in 2009 by 6.6 per cent to 460,200 units.
For 2010, the national industry group said sales would rise seven per cent to 492,300 units.
The average home price nationally also reached new highs in October, climbing to $341,079, up 20.7 per cent from a year ago.
A separate measure, which limits its focus to Canada’s major markets, showed the average price rising 22.1 per cent to $373,095.
At the same time, the sharp rise in housing demand has eaten into inventories. With 194,994 homes listed for sale in Canada at the end of October, the number of listings is 20.8 per cent below the peak reached in October of last year.
It is the sixth month in a row in which inventories have fallen from year-ago levels, bringing supply to 4.1 months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the lowest level in more than two years.
Klump said new listings are expected to rise in coming months.
According to the CAAMP report, Canadians are increasingly confident that the value of their homes is rising and optimistic about their local housing markets. It also said that the Canadian mortgage market is rebounding and will surpass the $1 trillion mark in 2010.
In B.C., 47 per cent of people surveyed feel their house prices will increase in the next year, compared to 43 per cent in Alberta and 42 per cent in Ontario, the other top provinces. The national average was 40 per cent, more than double the 18 per cent who felt that way when surveyed in the spring of 2009.
The CAAMP survey also found that B.C. residents are the second most optimistic that now is a good time to buy a home, as well as the second most likely to buy a home in the next 12 months.
Nationally, the CAAMP survey found that Canadians are very satisfied with their current mortgage, with 77 per cent either completely satisfied or satisfied.
The top reason cited is the mortgage rate, which averaged 4.55 per cent over the past year, a decline from 5.41 per cent the previous year.
Unfortunately, I have no statistics to quote for this topic. Nor do I have a variety of anecdotes about the last time something like this happened. The reason why should be obvious, this is new ground in these parts and I haven’t been able to find any studies where someone has done a serious study of the effect that hosting the Olympics has on local real estate in years subsequent to the event. Would be a great thesis for someone to write in grad school though.
Instead, I offer my insights based upon my living a life saturated with real estate information and having lived in this area just across the water from Vancouver for most of my life. For a change, I won’t delve deeply into the inner working of real estate any deeper than talking about the creation of demand. One way demand is created is via advertising and you’d be hard pressed to convince me that holding the world’s largest media event isn’t going to have the effect of some major advertising for our corner of the world.
When it was announced that the 2010 Olympics would be held in Vancouver, I had just moved to Japan and heard this announcement that was certain to cause some excitement in the far off land I call home. I knew then that this would be the beginning of a major change of some kind to the west coast. On one hand I was concerned about how much natural space they were going to tear up to build everything for the Olympics, but I was also excited about how it would change the face of the west coast in the years to come.
For much of my student years I had worked in the tourism industry and I had already seen how a big international event could and did change the face of the economy in my corner of the world. I’m of course referring to Expo ‘86, the great source of hats, t shirts and random trinkets laying in cupboards and the bottom of closets in B.C., and presumably the world, for many years after the fact.
During Expo ‘86, B.C. had some time in the spotlight, as far as I know this was a first for us and this was therefore the first time many people in the world had even heard that we existed. I mean, let’s not fool ourselves, we’re far from being a bustling urban centre. (Unless you happen to be a Canuck, a Kiwi or an Aussie.) We’re a young part of a young nation that has long subsisted on harvesting natural resources like forestry and fishing. Our province, at 944,735 square kilometers is larger than the average country (767,731 square kilometers) yet we only have about 4.5 million people who mostly live in the southern part of the province. I don’t think it would be going too far for me to say that Expo 86 literally put Vancouver (and those of us nearby) on the map.
Expo ‘86 caused a big change in our economy. After a few years, people started coming back to explore B.C. further, and they brought or sent their friends too. Why? Because it’s beautiful, safe, the government is sane most of the time, the air is clean due to an abundance ofnature and the people are nice. Over the years we have seen more and more people coming to the west coast to vacation and speaking as a Realtor I can tell you that it’s not uncommon for people to travel somewhere on vacation and then fall in love with it enough to want to make it their home. Those of you from Vancouver Island will no doubt have noticed how much Tofino has grown since the early 80’s. It was then this isolated, remote beach town in the middle of tons of nature and now it’s a full blown resort town that has millions of visitors every year.
I think you get my point about what a difference Expo ‘86 made, but here’s the thing that makes me think investing in real estate here is a great idea:
Without looking anything up, that is, just off the top of your head ask yourself where the last world expo was.
Where was it? Do they have it every year? I don’t know. I know they had one in Japan in 2005 because I was there. I also heard about one in Australia once… was it 1988? I’m really not sure, I’d have to look it up.
Now ask yourself the same question for the Olympics: Where were the last Winter Olympics? And the one before that? And the one before that? How often do they have them? I bet you can name the places going back quite a few years as well as accurately say what year it was held there. I still want to go skiing in Nagano, but for some reason I never did.
This corner of the world is already a very popular place to come and do things athletic in a natural setting, or just to come a visit and enjoy the natural beauty. And yes, we’re becoming more and more popular of a place to come for a skiing trip too. But think of the effect that the olympics will have on taking that to a new level. Who wouldn’t want to ski on the same hills as the top pros or hold some major event on the ice they played on? Can you imagine how many people will want to train in those places for years to come? But never mind that, think of all the minds who will be looking at images of our homeland thinking “Wow… it’s nice there…”
And for those of you who don’t already know. Nanaimo is literally a 20 minute float plane ride from downtown Vancouver, and it costs about one third of the price to buy real estate here. It’s also much safer in my not so humble opinion. (Had to plug Nanaimo in there somewhere!)
Below is an article I found in the Toronto Star. I put it up here because I believe the writer, Reb Stevenson, is speaking from the heart. I say this because her observations hold similarities to my own as we have both obviously grown up in towns that neighbour Nanaimo before going off to see what else Canada (and in my case the world) has to offer.
I do have to admit that I think she’s being a bit over dramatic about how Nanaimo used to be, but in an age where you need to make everything epically dramatic just to grab anyone’s attention for two seconds, it’s forgivable.
NANAIMO, B.C.–When I was growing up in a small town on Vancouver Island, every weekend I longed to hear my dad say these magical four words: “We’re going to Nanaimo.”
My brothers and I would leap for joy. We’d even take the monumental step of voluntarily abandoning the Nintendo for a few hours.
But the thing is, in our minds Nanaimo wasn’t a city – it was a mall.
I didn’t even discover that Nanaimo, which lies 115 kilometres north of Victoria, had a downtown until I was in my late teens.
The buildings were neglected and dilapidated. A scent of danger (in the form of cigarettes and booze) was in the air. Characters who looked like their mailing address was simply “JAIL” stumbled around.
Let’s not mince words here. It was a dive. A hole. A forsaken piece of real estate that looked like it had already been annexed by hell. Or at least the Hell’s Angels.
Yet beneath the grime, Nanaimo had the makings of a charming city. Its waterfront location was superb. The main drag – Commercial St. – was lined with Edwardian buildings.
Too bad they were full of seedy pawn shops and used bookstores.
Joel Johnston, owner of Bygone Books on Commercial St., gives me the evils when I mention this.
“You don’t equate bookstores and pawn shops,” he chides me.
But perhaps Johnston simply wants to put the past behind – and I don’t blame him.
Nanaimo is in the midst of a renaissance.
The facades have been cleaned up. The sidewalks have been widened and spruced up with hanging baskets. There are new condos, refurbished hotels, ethnic restaurants and – best of all – there is life on the streets again. “People who haven’t been downtown for 10 years are saying, `It’s awesome here!’” says Corry Hostetter, Tourism Nanaimo spokesperson.
Visitors who walk will especially appreciate Nanaimo’s layout: accommodations, attractions, shops and food are located within a few blocks. The third-oldest city in British Columbia after Victoria and Fort Langley, Nanaimo was settled by the Snuneymuxw First Nations thousands of years ago. They feasted on local delicacies like salmon, clams, herring, halibut and seals.
Today, Nanaimo’s signature cuisine is a little sweeter.
That would be the Nanaimo bar, a layered custard, coconut and chocolate confection that originated in 1952 and put the little town on the map (the big news ’round these parts is the bars recently became available in New York).
In its hometown, the Nanaimo bar comes in several creative variations: you can get a super fluffy version at Mon Petit Choux French bakery, a Nanaimo bar martini (vanilla vodka, Crème de Cacao, coconut syrup, espresso and chocolate) at the Modern Café and Nanaimo bar ice cream at numerous vendors along the waterfront.
Tempting all sorts of gastric discomfort, the folks at Pirate Fish and Chips go one step further: They deep fry the delicacy.
Purists will be relieved to hear that the original recipe is on display at the newly renovated Nanaimo District Museum.
Another historic icon is the Hudson’s Bay Company Bastion, which has maintained watch over the harbour since 1853. In fact, it’s the only free-standing structure of its kind left in North America.
No longer on the lookout for naval threats, the Bastion witnesses Nanaimo’s myriad aquatic festivals, like the Silly Boat Regatta and the even sillier World Championship Bathtub Races.
One of the most exciting aspects of visiting downtown Nanaimo is leaving it in your wake.
“It’s really quite cool to have an island park, with tons to explore, only five minutes from downtown. And it’s even cooler to have a floating pub,” says resident Matt Carter.
He’s talking about Newcastle Island and Protection Island – two chunks of land that are connected to Nanaimo by way of cute little ferries.
Newcastle Island was a Canadian Pacific Railway-owned recreation destination in the 1930s, complete with a dance pavilion, restaurant and sports grounds. Today, it maintains that old-fashioned, idyllic vibe. The vehicle-free provincial park is perfect for camping, hiking and picnicking.
Nearby Protection Island lures tourists with the Dinghy Dock floating pub, where the line between gently undulating on the waves and losing motor skills, because you’ve had too much Vancouver Island Brewing Company beer, is rather blurry.
For $8 round trip, pedestrians hop a boat at the marina that takes them to the watery watering hole.
Back on the mainland, a stroll along the four-kilometre waterfront walkway is a chance to commune with craftspeople and consider again Nanaimo’s turnaround.
The changes to the city have impressed me so much I’ve almost forgotten that blasted mall. Only it’s hard to ignore because it’s now the largest shopping centre on Vancouver Island. But the next time someone says, “We’re going to Nanaimo,” I’ll leap for joy. I’ll leave my Nintendo. And go straight downtown.
Last summer I after a camping trip to Newcastle Island, I put up a post expressing my awe at this jewel we have right in the middle of Nanaimo. It’s an impression that is still with me now.
Yesterday, the friend who took me to Newcastle Island on that camping trip send me the video below. (Thank you.) I thought it was worth putting up as images are always easier to grasp than a description alone.
If you’re not quite sure where Newcastle Island is, you can have a look at it on the map below. I did notice however that the lower smaller island is labelled “Newcastle” but is in fact Protection Island, best known for its floating pub.
Below is a recent article from the local paper “The Nanaimo Daily News” that pertains to Nanaimo real estate.
And of course, being on the inside of the industry and raher detail oriented (aka ‘anal’), I can’t just put this up without my two cents.
First of all, the stats for the rest of the island are mostly showing rises in prices since one year ago, and those two that fell are a 1 percent and two percent drop. Those are for Parksville/Qualicum and Port Alberni respectively. But such stats are only loose guidelines as to what is happening with home values, because they measure what people are spending not what the values of actual properties are doing. A strong correlation, yes, but not the same thing. The only way I know of to really know what is actually going on with property values with a of accuracy is by being a Realtor or a Property Appraiser.
Also, comparing things on a year to year basis doesn’t seem accurate to me. Last year at this time was a fairly slow market, which we were comparing to the year before that which was the busiest year on record. So any conclusions based mostly on year to year comparisons seem out of any meaningful context to me. There’s no perfect way to do it that I can think up, but using an average from the past five years as a better benchmark would make more sense to me.
But none of this is to contradict the main message of the article. It’s quite busy out there lately and so far it looks like the slow times are over. That is, until the next time everyone gets scared about something in the economy.
Nanaimo homes sales are doing well despite falling Island real estate market
Darrell Bellaart
Daily News
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Nanaimo’s real estate market remains on solid ground, even if sales are falling in other Island markets.
Nanaimo realtors report 119 houses sold in September, a 21% increase from a year ago.
At the same time, the median price is holding steady at exactly where it was in September 2008 at $330,000.
Realtors say all the right elements are coming together to keep Nanaimo’s real estate market strong. Interest rates remain low, prices are reasonable and housing inventories are about right for both buyers and sellers. Realtors are watching closely to see what happens this fall, in advance of harmonization of the provincial sales tax with the GST.
That will drive prices up considerably for new home buyers.
But there is also a sense in the market that the worst is over in the global recession that drove real estate markets into the doldrums everywhere.
One odd anomaly in September’s sales figures, 31 fewer units sold that month than in August.
That is typically one of the slowest sales months of the season, outside Christmas. But realtors aren’t complaining.
“Compared to last year sales are up because inventory is down,” said Sue Ghose, Nanaimo representative of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Association.
When inventory gets too high and prices are low, customers tend to kick tires more before buying, making sellers anxious and driving prices down.
That was the situation earlier this year, causing some sellers to pull properties off the market.
“If you drive around now, you’ll see lots of sold signs,” Ghose said. “People like to buy now because interest rates are holding.”
Two other Island communities saw real estate prices actually rise last month - Campbell River, where median prices rose 1% to $297,076 and the Cowichan Valley, where the mid-point sales price hit $327,763, an 8% rise in that market. All other markets reported higher sales volume increases than Nanaimo last month, with Comox Valley reporting the biggest jump at 66%.
Ghose said one factor driving sales volumes could be concern among buyers about the introduction of the HST next July. “That could be another cyclical effect,” she said. “If it comes, people buying new houses will think ‘I might as well buy it now.’”
With prices either flattening out or trending upward again and sales volumes up, Ghose said it’s a good sign for the economy.
“Consumer confidence is back. I’m very cautiously optimistic, but the market is very active right and prices are very affordable in Nanaimo.”
