Perseverance Furthers

Well, we took the for sale sign down as we found people were walking around our property and / or coming right up to the house.  It did say "by appointment only" but its almost like the sign gives them permission.  If they are up against a time crunch for buying, I can sympathize! Its a sellers market and so very few homes to view right now.   We are also hearing that multiple offers are common. 

This is all as a result of the overheated housing market in Vancouver and it forced people to move to other areas.   The wave started in Victoria on the southern end of the island and has been working its way up island.  Victoria is about forty five minutes drive south of us, with ferries to Vancouver.  So to sell in the southern portion of the island and get more for your money when re-purchasing, you have to look northwards.   

The city of Nanaimo is also forty five minutes drive north of us and roughly mid island, and also with ferries to Vancouver.  We centred our search just north of Nanaimo and divided the search into areas: so Parksville / Qualicum Beach, then Courtenay / Comox and then Campbell River.    There are also lovely places in between all those towns too.  Our realtor Karen was fabulous!  We would drive every day up to Courtenay and then go and view homes in one of those chosen areas.   This went on for many days. We put a lot of miles on and many hours. (thank heavens for my new knee!) Our dog Calli was in the kennel one day only and injured her paw playing, so after that she came with us and enjoyed a fluffy bed, toys, food and cool water and AC in the car. We took turns staying with her so she was never alone.

We wrote the first offer on a lovely home in Courtenay, with a verbally accepted offer. The next morning when the final signatures were due by 10 am, they failed to arrive.  They squelched on the deal and let the time expire and went with another offer.  We were crushed.    But in hind sight it was a good thing as it threw us into the deep end of the housing pool and we toughened up after that. 

We took a couple of days to readjust our attitude and then built a new viewing lists and went back on the trail.  We found that the list was getting shorter and more expensive as homes sold. A listing viewed on line in the evening, could be gone come morning.  To be truthful, we started to doubt the "needs and wants" list we had built for our new home. It seemed to be a bad time to get picky.  Then we heard all the military families at the Comox Airforce Base were in the middle of looking for relocation homes too.  Oh, crap. 

We viewed many homes, some of which were nice but just not the right fit.  One we viewed was stunningly lovely, also fit the list but seemed 'too much'.  We have been living in a small house in the woods for 8 years.   But was it ever nice!

Our second offer written was on a home in Deep Bay. It was a big compromise for both hubby and me. It also had stairs to the main floor (again) and the yard needed work too.  It had been completely gutted and rebuilt and was a lovely modern reno, with an ocean view and short walk to the beach.   We gave them  their asking price but the listing realtor told our agent that we would have to compete with other offers (that weren't there yet).   What the....???     It didn't take us long to decide what to do with that. We walked away.... and as of this mornings search, its still for sale; (good).  Some very greedy people out there...

No time off after that loss; we rolled up our sleeves and were checking the daily hot sheet for new listings and being there the same day to view.  Our agent Karen received a message from the  listing agent for the fancy smancy house we viewed and we were invited to bring them an offer.  They had repurchased and moving at month's end. Karen checked and it had been on the market sixty nine days.... which is amazing given the market conditions!   Perhaps they had all been intimidated by it too?   We went to see it once more and..... oh, my!  It was as lovely as I remembered.    Its actually a bit smaller than our present house, but you would never know it.  Where would my looms go?    I'd make them fit somewhere, even downsize some more if I had to!  It fit our "needs and wants" list almost perfectly.

So we sat down and made a starting offer and gave them a full twenty four hours to respond. Karen presented our offer in person to the home owners the next morning.

They said yes.... and signed. No counter offer.  

Our new home!

So we will be moving to lovely Campbell River BC for October 1st.    There are just a couple of subjects to be removed shortly but we don't anticipate any problems.  We have visited Campbell River several times and have been quite impressed by the town and they are clearly progressive.  They have a beautiful waterfront, new developments and housing and a thriving tourist industry. They are known for salmon fishing charters, and miles of beaches with mountain back drops.    Any view from a spot on Vancouver Island is lovely, but at Campbell River, its simply jaw dropping beautiful!  These are the Coastal Mountain ranges on the mainland across the Salish Sea

There are literally miles of beaches to walk on and explore....

Its known for a variety of wild life but in particular, resident pods of Orcas:

So where is Campbell River?

We drove daily to Courtenay for the house hunting and used the main Island highway and  it took us 1 hour forty minutes.  This screen captured map below says its two hours and nine minutes from one house to the other.   The Island highway has speed limits of 120 kms (or 75 miles per hour).  As you can see from these two maps, its a very large island! 

I would like to direct your attention to my sale page and mention that I have many books, magazines and such for sale there, many already reduced.... and I'm open to offers. They have to go now!
I will be adding more items as we go through stuff and downsize some more.    I can get postage quotes in advance and payment is via Paypal.  

I'll be back again shortly with a weaving related post.... some new show and tell.  I'm  just stepping outside to take some pictures today.