Real Estate Talks

I been looking around the interior of BC and Van Island, it seems to me like the ongoing correction is beginning to bear some fruit.
Who's out there shopping? Multi family dwellings seems to be approaching reasonable cap rates in few parts of bc (5%+).

Any one following other BC markets? Any recent purchases?

Any reasonably bullish people left here?

I keep an eye on prices. I think with the exception of Vancouver and Victoria the rest of BC has been falling since 2008 or so.
I noticed the activity on the Island has picked up in certain areas, mid-Island Parksville and Qualicum, Comox, but I think prices are still soft. Port Alberni is sucking major wind.
Along Highway 1 to Cache Creek is bad. Along Hwy 97 to Williams Lake is bad, Clinton the whole town is for sale. All the little truck stops are abandoned. Lac Lahache all the little motels look like they having a problem except a few. Along Hwy 20 from Williams Lake to Bella Coola is bad.

Besides there being no work in the small towns, I think part of the problem is that a lot of money here is going to the U.S. to buy a second home as opposed to buying the second home here in BC. Prices are so cheap in the U.S. that a guy can afford to pick up a cheap place for $200K in the sunshine and still afford the cheap air fares down.

Spences Bridge used to be a real going concern but now it is real bad. They used to have motels that serviced the fishermen that fished the Thompson for steelhead. All gone now.
I guess people don't fish anymore like they used to.

I think it's pretty tough without jobs around anywhere. I don't know whats happening in Kitimat or Prince Rupert. Multi Family without jobs would be trouble. I think there's no rush for now. Maybe multi family in retirement areas would be good. For instance, Chilliwack or Hope. Or on the Island, mid-Island might be not too bad.

I think the key is jobs. Low interest rates are currently good. Prices are substancially off from there (their) highs.
But without incomes the properties are unaffordable.

Johnny
Kitimat and Rupert are like puffer fish. If the LPG projects gain traction they will be Gold Rush towns. If not,
then Ghost Towns. You have seen it before eg: McKenzie (up and down, then up again with the Pulp mills fortunes) Grande Cache AB (coal) Tumbler Ridge (Coal again) and what about that Island in the Northwest with the Moly mine (cant remember name right now) Vancouver (Expo 86 )

As for the Gold Rush Towns...I think SFH would be good as well. Its what would entice the young wife to move up there with you...Otherwise you would get a Fort Mac triler park colony and that doesnt benefit anyone in the mid to long term

Hi Semven, yup, just like Gold River, Ocean Falls...hey? maybe those are buys?
The have all the infrastructure but since they have no jobs the populations are dwindling.
Those prices are pretty cheap, but not affordable to locals in the area due to lack of jobs.
You gave me a great idea, I gonna check those places out for fun.

Spences Bridge used to be a real going concern but now it is real bad. They used to have motels that serviced the fishermen that fished the Thompson for steelhead. All gone now.
I guess people don't fish anymore like they used to.

Bit of a tangent but what the hell. I'm a die-hard Thompson steelheader and if you're alluding to the fact that people don't fish because there is no interest, it couldn't be farther from the truth. In fact the river, when it's open, is busier year after year.

Returns are barely 10% of what they were in the 1980s and as such, the fishery is a closed until open affair. I'm talking fewer than a thousand fish here. Oct 1 the river from Lytton to Kamloops Lake shuts down and remains closed until the Spring or MOE, through data collected in the DFO Albion test fishery in the lower Fraser, deems there are enough fish to allow a catch and release sport fishery. In the last 5 seasons, that has happened 3 times and it occurs at the end of October or like last year, the first week of November. The season is half over by then and many don't bother to come because numbers are so low and the weather is shit. Since visiting anglers from far off places need to book their time well in advance, these guys, who brought in the best kind of money (foreign money), have been effectively removed from the economy.

Unless the mixed stock gill-net fisheries in the lower Fraser and habitat loss in the form of excessive water use through the summer months in important spawning tributaries such as the Nicola, Deadman and Bonaparte are dealt with, this unique stock of steelhead that anglers from all over the world come to fish for will likely be extirpated in your lifetime. The sad thing is, this is playing out, or has played out (like on the east coast of Vancouver Island) on steelhead streams throughout BC. The Coquihalla is another perfect example as is the Coquitlam, the Capilano, the Seymour, the Squamish system - well you get the idea.

- well you get the idea.

....yup. Good post.
With the season opening at the whim of the DFO it's hard to plan a trip. And when the opening comes at the end of the season when the weather sucks it's not gonna help tourism much at all. Other than steelheading what does Spences Bridge have... sheep watching? Used to be a busier place that was oriented towards vehicle travellers.

It has good chukar hunting early in the Fall and the rafting businesses help in the summer with outside dollars. CN and CP switches bring in some rail fans but hardly enough to support an economy. With there not being a gas station in town anymore, there is no reason for motorists to stop. For a preview of what will happen to the place, just look down the road at Shaw Springs.

yup, and I think the bar is closed too. not a good sign.
The whole route along there is not good.

Yup add Boston Bar to your list Whip...Used to be good in there when BCFP had the Mill..(Then Fletcher Challenge..blah blah blah)I remember Gold River (and Tahsis too) we were involved in some of the Pulp Mill dismantling there

Yup, Boston Bar, used to be happening place.
But I saw Elvis up the street at the Elvis Diner.

Used to be all kinds of gas stations, restaurants, etc.
What happened?
Cars now have better gas mileage and people are eating healthier now and packing their own raw vegetables for lunch?

Lots of closed places.

Returns are barely 10% of what they were in the 1980s and as such, the fishery is a closed until open affair.

Yep, the party ain't over yet but the planet has started flashing the lights.

ELVIS ROCKS THE CANYON