Tag Archives: Real Estate

The Turqoise Door (and hibachi) | Salt Spring Island

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This used to be a very typical “Island retreat”…a cabin in the forest, a short stroll to a beach, a kind of “woodbutcher’s art” thrown together dwelling…people would camp out on weekends, and in summer holidays. In fact, such structures are really a kind of “hard tent”.

turquoise door

turquoise door

It’s rare now, though, to discover this kind of older retreat dwelling, especially on the more discovered islands. On water access only opportunities, it’s still possible to find thrown together structures, with recovered lumber, “found” windows, left-over elements from a larger construction project perhaps….

I always enjoy discovering a “time tunnel”, a feature from the past. This little sweetheart actually sits on a very private half acre lot, about 3 minutes to the ocean, and if one limbed out some deciduous trees, it would be possible to reclaim the ocean glimpses that once were enjoyed from this deck.

Of course, code requirements and paper trails have caught up this this sweetie “hard tent”, and one would buy this lot with a view to developing, and it would be treated as simply “raw land” now.

Pug with hibachi

pug with hibachi

I can envision the hibachi on the deck, a hammock strung between trees, some stacked underbrush firewood for the nonconfoming woodstove inside, some camp beds in the one room, and the outhouse just up the trail. This is an “off the grid” enviornment, and there is something very appealing about that turquoise door.

Ah…for the good old hippie dippie days…..

Maple Bay

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Oceanfront Enchantment

Spectacular ocean vistas; true panoramic views. Beach for walking/beachcombing, plus a beautiful dock—keep your boat at home.

oceanfront real estate

oceanfront

Home is “as new” (built in 2005), with great room concept for living, den, dining, and custom kitchen (all with sensational views). Master/ensuite “wing”, with exercise room, spacious walk-in closet. Elegant office, with access to private deck and garden vistas. Guest wing offers two ensuite bed sitting rooms, with access to oceanfront and to English Country garden charms

Paddys Point Oceanfront

Wikipedia (on Maple Bay)

Maple Bay is a picturesque seaside community located in the Cowichan Valley of southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. A narrow inlet and surrounded by smooth, pebbled beaches, Maple Bay is home to marine activity all year round.
The sheltered haven of Maple Bay is situated halfway up Sansum Narrows, which separates Vancouver Island from Saltspring Island, the largest and nearest of the southern Gulf Islands.

Maple Bay is serviced by floatplane, Salt Spring Air and Harbour Air that fly regular scheduled flights several times a day from Maple Bay Marina yaq, to Vancouver hrb, Vancouver yvr, Ganges Salt Spring Island and the Gulf Islands.
There are three commercial marinas, a public dock, as well as the Maple Bay Yacht Club and the Maple Bay Rowing Club.Maple Bay Marina is replacing many older boat sheds with new style, fire resistant Yacht Enclosures, creating one the safest and most environmentally responsible marinas in British Columbia.

Wonderful lowbank oceanfront point of land, known to sailors as “Paddy’s Point“, in beautiful Maple Bay (on Vancouver Island). There is 2000+ ft of oceanfront here, with coves and beaches, & with year round moorage potential at the dock.

Maple Bay

Maple Bay


Exposures are east, south, & west, and provide sunrises & sunsets year round.

There is an appealing old style summer cottage circa 1912 era, on the property, plus an older boathouse structure, with a suite above.

The property is almost 10 acres and is a mix of meadow, & pristine old growth coastal forest consisting of magical Cedar groves, Fir, Hemlock, Maple, Alder, & majestic stands of mature Arbutus & Garry Oak. Walk the mossy trails created in the 1920?s & 1930?s. This is totally unspoiled land!

This property has been in the same family since 1900, used only as their summer place, so is effectively “untouched”, and awaits your development ideas.

Marketing Real Estate in “Interesting Times”

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November 2010 | Gulf Islands Real Estate Market Analysis

Interesting times we live in!

Wasn’t that the Chinese Curse?

I think, though, that change offers opportunity…

Check out my radio show podcast and listen to my interview with “Carolina George.”

George, originally from Ontario, now lives in North Carolina, and is a major player in the digital post-internet world we now all inhabit.

As a hybrid being, with a foot in the 20th Century and another in the beginnings of the “real” 21st Century, I feel like my role might be as an interpreter between two beings: BG (Before Google) and AG (After Google).

A divide that is so profound that there is really no true meeting ground.

The historian Barbara Tuchman wrote a book, in the 1970s, bringing to life the world of the 14th Century. It might be prudent to revisit her book. Messages from the 14th to the 21st Century? Perhaps….

After all, Gutenberg‘s discovery at that time, and subsequent implementation of the printing press, erased centuries of agrarian top down culture and gave birth to the ascendance of “the common man” and the creation of that middle class power base that resulted in the Industrial Revolution.

Click here to download a PDF of analysis and here to read in its entirety.

Real Estate | The market today…

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At a recent international real estate conference that I attended, realtors from other secondary home/discretionary areas, including hard hit Spain, were noting that tiny baby steps of uptick in sales volume were being detected…just since end of August, so it’s very recent, indeed.

Some saavy and major developers, in Canadian cities, are also newly targeting early Spring as going to be very different, on an upward momentum, for sales volume if not prices, in spite of continuing media reports of impending double dip concerns for the U.S. economy, over supply of inventory in many sunbelt states, and jobless numbers increasing.

It’s almost a given that what used to work won’t anymore, and what is emerging as the new paradigm will work. This is true of the real estate industry, too. Franchise models are in disarray, the entire mls system in Canada is dramatically changing, for the benefit of consumers, (a.k.a., the “enduser“) and the sacrosanct referral system of old is vanishing as a key element in a real estate agent’s business model

A recent Time Magazine (U.S. Edition) article drew attention to parallel universes in economic conditions: digital worlds (iphone 4, ipad, etc) being one kind of Jobs report, and manufacturing aspects being an opposite jobs report. One more example of the schism between the known of the 20th and the unknown of the 21st centuries.

It’s almost a given that what used to work won’t anymore, and what is emerging as the new paradigm will work.

Click here to read and download the entire October 2010 market report.

North Trail Island | Mr. Webber’s Salish Sea

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North Trail Island is another rarte opportunity to secure one of Salt Spring Island real estate‘s private islands – truly one of the finest offerings to date.

A unique and beautiful private island opportunity in the amazing Pacific Northwest Coast. Nestled in the Salish Sea (now known as Georgia Strait). North Trial Island is part off the Thormanby Group of islands, off Sechelt, BC.

North Trail Island, a 33 acre private island, offers a rural farm, with all the amenities of Sechelt (including a hospital) at your doorstep.

Incredible viewscapes, ocean, islands, mountain vistas. A stellar opportunity to enjoy of this beautiful coast. Secure an irreplaceable gem for your future — a family holding, a hard asset investment to protect your capital, an immediate pleasure quotient of the best of the best.

Origin of the term “Salish” (as Wikipedia says)

Bert Webber a.k.a The Father of the Salish Sea

The first known use of the term Salish Sea was in 1988, when marine biologist Bert Webber from Bellingham, Washington created the name for the combined waters in the region with the intent to supplement the Georgia Strait, Puget Sound, and Strait of Juan de Fuca waterway names. The adoption of the term, he said, would raise consciousness about taking care of the region’s waters and ecosystems. Webber’s efforts are credited with the official recognition of the term in the US and Canada, although Webber’s original proposal also recommended the removal of the terms Georgia Strait, Puget Sound, and Strait of Juan de Fuca from official recognition.

Coast Salish people

according to the Wiki

The Coast Salish are a grouping of indigenous peoples who live in southwest British Columbia, and northwest Washington state and share a common linguistic and cultural origin. For most of their collective histories (which date back to 8,000 B.C.E.) there was no overarching term to describe these people as a whole. Today the Coast Salish are seen as one of the main cultural and linguistic branches of a larger group known as Salishan or Salish. There are five recognized divisions of the Salish language family, with Coast Salish and Interior Salish being the primary two. The Salish family consists of 23 separate languages.