Local buyers snatching up summer homes south of the border
Posted August 5, 2012 9:31 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Washington realtors say many in Vancouver are looking south of the border to purchase their summer homes.
Local Laurie Oseen and her husband bought one of the Wildwood Cottages on Whatcom Lake in Bellingham.
“The value for how close we are to the water–it doesn’t even compare to anything we could find in BC,” she says.
Laurie and her husband Lane shopped around Southern BC, and found any property that compared with what they found in Bellingham was at least four hours away from Vancouver.
“If we bought what we have here–as close to the lake as we are here–but in BC–I think we’d be paying double. At least.”
EXP Realty’s Dale Kreiser says she’s part of a larger surge of people from the Lower Mainland buying down south.
“It’s certainly been going up–with the Canadian Dollar strengthening, the US market has been on a nice, steady decline for Canadians,” he says.
“What we’re seeing is they’re leveraging their house, doing a home equity line of credit, and buying homes at discounted prices for cash down here.”
He says the if US economy continues to suffer, he expects the trend to continue.
