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Imminent retirees provide foundation for multimillion-dollar plans
around B.C. 

by Glen Korstrom

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Range of golf real estate plays pitched to

baby boomers seeking fairway views

Billions of dollars worth of prime B.C. real estate close to golf courses are being pitched to baby boomers preparing for a retirement on the links.

The trend is clear. Just take a peek at the plans for Kamloops’ Tobiano, Vernon’s the Rise and Vancouver Island’s Wyndansea, Bear Mountain and Crown Isle Resort developments. Spend the big bucks to design a quality golf course and soon-to-be retirees will buy enough surrounding real estate to make the project a success.

Vancouver’s Graham Thody is a prime example of the developments’ target buyer. The 56-year-old Nemeth, Thody, Anderson Chartered Accountants partner bought a $250,000 view lot at the Rise in November 2005 and he plans to invest a further $750,000 to build a home.

Living near to the fairways was a priority for Thody, who has bought a golf club membership (currently priced at $25,000) and plans to play golf four times a week during his retirement.

“My criteria were a water view and a golf course,” Thody said. “I also wanted a place where my four Lower Mainland-based children could visit.”

Thody considered Tobiano but thought that the project would evolve slower than it has. Tobiano’s golf course is slated to open this summer.

He viewed a lottery prize home that abutted Bear Mountain golf course. This time, Thody believed that the home would be too close to one of the golf course’s bunkers.

“I would be very careful where I bought if it was on a golf course,” Thody said.

These aren’t idle musings.

Last August, Paul Skobleniuk, who owns a home abutting Qualicum Beach’s temporarily closed Eaglecrest Golf Club, won $4,000 worth of damages in a small claims court after a golfer’s errant shot broke one of his skylights. Skobleniuk grumbled in court that 250 balls fell on his yard in the previous year.

Golf course-abutting lots will be the final properties that Rise developer Okanagan Hills Development Corp. sells. Even then, extra attention will be paid to ensure that homes are up ridges from the golf course, said the Rise’s general manager Rod Cochrane.

“What the world has learned after 30 years of building housing complexes and golf courses is that the home owners don’t want to be too close to the golfers and the golfers don’t want to be too close to the homes,” he said.

Thody and other buyers say they were swayed to buy property at the Rise primarily by its phenomenal lake views. But, the fact that popular PGA golfer and former U.S. Masters champion Fred Couples is co-designing the Rise’s golf course is another selling point.

One of the requirements of all Couples signature courses is that there be a minimum of 45 metres between the course’s fairways and any future home, Cochrane said.

Bear Mountain developer Len Barrie sold stakes in his golf course venture, then contracted golf legend Jack Nicklaus to design two golf courses, one of which is in play. Nine holes of the second course are slated to open in 2008.

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Reprinted from Business in Vancouver
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