Media Coverage
The Western Investor, October 2009
Doing the math
Image Credit: Western Investor
Doing the math
Frank O'Brien
A combination of blowout prices and near record-low mortgage rates are creating some sweet deals in B.C.’s cottage country this fall.
On average mortgage rates have dropped to approximately 4.25 per cent, down 1 per cent since this time last year. When harnessed to cut-rate prices in most resort locations, the savings can be tempting.
This was seen last month when the Bowra Group, appointed receivers in the Port Side Court development in Sicamous, sold out the development by cutting prices – that originally averaged around $800,000 - by as much as 50 per cent.
Another example is Hummingbird Beach Resort, a Mara Lake Estates Ltd. development, which borders both Shuswap Lake and Mara Lake in the eastern Okanagan, where prices for the cabins have been cut by an average of $90,000 – and includes a boat slip - and luxury lakefront townhome prices have been slashed to $799,000, down from $1 million in 2008.
This year a Hummingbird cabin purchase price of $399,000 with a 25-per-cent down payment results in a mortgage of $299,250. With an interest rate of 4.25 per cent, buyers would have monthly payments of $1,783.29. The same calculation at last year’s prices and interest rates results in a monthly payment of $2171.68. That is a difference of $388.39 per month, figures Matt Stewart, a spokesman for the project.
Apparently, word has spread of the discounted prices in the Shuswap region.
Sable Resorts held a “blow out” sale that started over the Labour Day weekend in a bid to sell the last of the luxury units at the $60 million Legacy On Mara Lake development.
Fourteen fully furnished luxury suites were offered “on a first come first served basis at a fraction of the original price.”
Said John Sparrow of Rain Advisory, who handled the sales: “It was pandemonium. We had 150 people a day coming through. We had to limit the number of people in the sales office to 10 at a time.” Many of the potential buyers, he said, were coming from Richmond and Vancouver.
And they were buying at the discounted prices.
Twelve of the 14 show suites sold, and the sale has been extended to move the last 20 suites, which are complete but not furnished. “We will keep selling at the discount price,” Sparrow said.
How big is the discount? Sparrow provided the following example: A two bedroom suite of 891 square feet and a 130 square foot lakeview deck, with a boat dock, was appraised at in 2008 at $550,000 (this includes $50,000 for the moorage). It is now being offered at $399,900.
Originally targeted to sell at an average of $800 a square foot prior to completion, Calgary-based Sable Resorts president Sam Boguslavsky said some suites now selling as low as $400 dollars a square foot.
All the remaining suites have undergone price drops between $70,000 to $150,000 and more, Boguslavsky said.
“ This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he said, “ You’re not likely to see prices for waterfront property with features like this ever again.”
The Legacy is constructed of steel and concrete, includes 400 feet of private beach and uses an advanced hydro thermal system that draws in lake water to provide renewable energy for heating and cooling, he explained.
Suite features include gourmet kitchens with granite countertops, cork flooring, jetted soaker tubs, high ceilings and high end European tilt and slide floor-to-ceiling windows.
Other Okanagan and Kootenay developments have found success by cutting prices.
Cottage prices were slashed by US$80,000 to US$90,000 at Veranda Beach, on the Washington State side of Osoyoos Lake for cottages near the lake, and by up to $200,000 for lakefront cottages. Prices had ranged from US$500,000 to US$1 million.
“We sold out 12 cottages, and we only needed to sell 10,” said a Veranda Beach spokesman. The blowout sale ended September 9 and now prices are back to original values, he said. The Veranda Beach cottage community has seen 100 cottages, comprising 90 per cent of the first three phases, sold in the last two years. This year the resort opened a $3 million retail Village Centre, complete with 50's-style diner, general store, and a fitness centre with heated pools.
The Rise golf course development in Vernon, which slashed prices on building lots by 39 per cent to 40 per cent during a recent blow-out sale, has seen success with the promotion. A Rise spokesman said 11 lots had sold, including three waterview estate properties at $1 million each, one-third below the original prices.
At Fairmont Hot Springs Resort in the Kootenays, the price of one-third acre estate lots have been cut from $170,000 to $114,000 and the deal includes 60 games of golf, and the same number of ski passes. While no numbers were provided, a spokesman said “we are pleased with the results.”
Reprinted from the Western Investor
Back to Hummingbird Beach Resort's online media centre
The Western Investor, October 2009
Doing the math
Image Credit: Western Investor
Doing the math
Frank O'Brien
A combination of blowout prices and near record-low mortgage rates are creating some sweet deals in B.C.’s cottage country this fall.
On average mortgage rates have dropped to approximately 4.25 per cent, down 1 per cent since this time last year. When harnessed to cut-rate prices in most resort locations, the savings can be tempting.
This was seen last month when the Bowra Group, appointed receivers in the Port Side Court development in Sicamous, sold out the development by cutting prices – that originally averaged around $800,000 - by as much as 50 per cent.
Another example is Hummingbird Beach Resort, a Mara Lake Estates Ltd. development, which borders both Shuswap Lake and Mara Lake in the eastern Okanagan, where prices for the cabins have been cut by an average of $90,000 – and includes a boat slip - and luxury lakefront townhome prices have been slashed to $799,000, down from $1 million in 2008.
This year a Hummingbird cabin purchase price of $399,000 with a 25-per-cent down payment results in a mortgage of $299,250. With an interest rate of 4.25 per cent, buyers would have monthly payments of $1,783.29. The same calculation at last year’s prices and interest rates results in a monthly payment of $2171.68. That is a difference of $388.39 per month, figures Matt Stewart, a spokesman for the project.
Apparently, word has spread of the discounted prices in the Shuswap region.
Sable Resorts held a “blow out” sale that started over the Labour Day weekend in a bid to sell the last of the luxury units at the $60 million Legacy On Mara Lake development.
Fourteen fully furnished luxury suites were offered “on a first come first served basis at a fraction of the original price.”
Said John Sparrow of Rain Advisory, who handled the sales: “It was pandemonium. We had 150 people a day coming through. We had to limit the number of people in the sales office to 10 at a time.” Many of the potential buyers, he said, were coming from Richmond and Vancouver.
And they were buying at the discounted prices.
Twelve of the 14 show suites sold, and the sale has been extended to move the last 20 suites, which are complete but not furnished. “We will keep selling at the discount price,” Sparrow said.
How big is the discount? Sparrow provided the following example: A two bedroom suite of 891 square feet and a 130 square foot lakeview deck, with a boat dock, was appraised at in 2008 at $550,000 (this includes $50,000 for the moorage). It is now being offered at $399,900.
Originally targeted to sell at an average of $800 a square foot prior to completion, Calgary-based Sable Resorts president Sam Boguslavsky said some suites now selling as low as $400 dollars a square foot.
All the remaining suites have undergone price drops between $70,000 to $150,000 and more, Boguslavsky said.
“ This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he said, “ You’re not likely to see prices for waterfront property with features like this ever again.”
The Legacy is constructed of steel and concrete, includes 400 feet of private beach and uses an advanced hydro thermal system that draws in lake water to provide renewable energy for heating and cooling, he explained.
Suite features include gourmet kitchens with granite countertops, cork flooring, jetted soaker tubs, high ceilings and high end European tilt and slide floor-to-ceiling windows.
Other Okanagan and Kootenay developments have found success by cutting prices.
Cottage prices were slashed by US$80,000 to US$90,000 at Veranda Beach, on the Washington State side of Osoyoos Lake for cottages near the lake, and by up to $200,000 for lakefront cottages. Prices had ranged from US$500,000 to US$1 million.
“We sold out 12 cottages, and we only needed to sell 10,” said a Veranda Beach spokesman. The blowout sale ended September 9 and now prices are back to original values, he said. The Veranda Beach cottage community has seen 100 cottages, comprising 90 per cent of the first three phases, sold in the last two years. This year the resort opened a $3 million retail Village Centre, complete with 50's-style diner, general store, and a fitness centre with heated pools.
The Rise golf course development in Vernon, which slashed prices on building lots by 39 per cent to 40 per cent during a recent blow-out sale, has seen success with the promotion. A Rise spokesman said 11 lots had sold, including three waterview estate properties at $1 million each, one-third below the original prices.
At Fairmont Hot Springs Resort in the Kootenays, the price of one-third acre estate lots have been cut from $170,000 to $114,000 and the deal includes 60 games of golf, and the same number of ski passes. While no numbers were provided, a spokesman said “we are pleased with the results.”
Reprinted from the Western Investor
Back to Hummingbird Beach Resort's online media centre
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