Tag: B.C.

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Cottage Life

New policy allows B.C. buyers three days to back out of a sale

Photo by Shutterstock/EB Adventure Photography

As of January 3, British Columbia is requiring a three-day “cooling off” period for real estate transactions after the buyer has signed a contract.

The B.C. government introduced the new policy in response to the staggering real estate demand seen throughout 2020 and 2021. To stay competitive, buyers were omitting home inspections and other requirements from their offers. The three-day period should provide buyers with extra time to complete home inspections and arrange financing, the government said in a statement.

“Lack of time for buyers to complete due diligence can exacerbate risk or be used to hide property defects that otherwise may have been discovered,” said housing analyst Leo Spalteholz, in the statement. “Though the market has cooled dramatically in recent months, it’s good to proactively put buyer protections in place.”

The buyer can back out of the sale at any time during the three-day period, which doesn’t include weekends or holidays. If the buyer does back out, they’re required to pay the seller 0.25 per cent of the purchase price. This cancellation fee is meant to prevent buyers from placing offers on multiple properties and then backing out last minute. Prior to the new policy, if a buyer backed out after signing a purchase agreement, they could be sued by the seller for money lost on the sale of the home.

The three-day period applies to almost all real estate transactions, including detached homes, townhouses, condos, and cottages. The only exemptions are real estate on leased land, real estate bought at auction, or real estate bought under a court order. Otherwise, the cooling off period is mandatory and can’t be waived.

But with changes to the market, experts are questioning whether the new policy will have any impact.

After hitting a peak in 2021, the province’s real estate market has seen significant drops in recent months. The B.C. Real Estate Association reported 4,512 sales this past November, a 50 per cent decrease from last year. And prices are trending downwards. In November 2021, the average B.C. home price was $992,245. In November 2022, it was $906,785.

This drop in competition is what’s allowing buyers to include home inspections once again in their offers, not the addition of three extra days, said B.C. Real Estate Association CEO Trevor Koot.

“Anybody that’s bought a house in the last 10 years can tell you, you can’t get an appraisal or an inspection done within three days of an accepted offer. The resources are just not there,” he said. “It’s our concern that it then provides a false sense of security to buyers in a heated market, that they go in thinking, ‘Oh, I’ve got time to do my due diligence,’ when really, what realtors will suggest, is that due diligence is done in advance.”

There’s also concern that the three-day policy puts sellers at a disadvantage. “Very often sellers are buyers themselves,” Koot said. “They’ve got a purchase going on that they’re going to be moving into, and all of a sudden, for three days, they have uncertainty. They don’t necessarily know whether the buyer will follow through.”

When the government introduced the three-day policy in 2021, the B.C. Real Estate Association responded by creating a list of 34 recommendations they felt could help improve the province’s real estate market. Koot said the association worked closely with the B.C. Financial Services Authority (BCFSA), the industry’s governing body, to develop the list. But when the list was passed on to the Minister of Finance, it was ignored.

This is where the government dropped the ball, Koot said. Rather than a three-day cooling off period, the B.C. Real Estate Association had proposed a five-day pre-offer period. This would require all listings to advertise for five days before accepting an offer. The five mandatory days would prevent bully offers where buyers swoop in with aggressive bids, telling sellers they only have a few hours to respond.

“That disrupts everything,” Koot said. “It changes the dynamic, it creates pressure, and it pushes the market into an unhealthy environment.”

A five-day pre-offer period would prevent bully offers and provide buyers with time to assemble their bids without leaving sellers in the dark for three days.

“We shouldn’t have to implement policy and adhere to new rules that don’t have any relevance and impact,” Koot said. “We need policy that’s based on good information, good data, and good research.”

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Mobile Syrup

Telus network outage impacting mobile, home services in B.C.

Vancouver-based national telecom Telus has been dealing with outages in B.C. and Alberta overnight.

Per a tweet from the company shortly after 10pm on October 18th, a network outage impacted home and wireless services in Terrace, Kitimat, and Prince Rupert, B.C. However, the company’s network status page highlights more areas in B.C., including Hazelton, Kitseguecla, Kitwanga, and Kitwancool. The outage was caused by a motor vehicle accident, which damaged a cable.

Telus’ last status update came at 9am on the 19th, noting that “Service restoration efforts continue” and the company estimates it will have things back online by “late morning.”

In total, impacted services include mobile (text, voice, and data), OptikTV, PIK TV, home phone, and internet.

Beyond B.C., several areas around Edmonton, Alberta, are experiencing home phone disruptions unrelated to the above outage. Vegreville, Jarvie, Mundare, St. Albert, and Clive, Alberta, are all listed as having home phone disruptions, with some areas having issues for multiple days.

Telus technicians are investigating, and the status website notes the company suspects the disruption was caused by a hardware issue.

You can view the ongoing outages here, or follow Telus’ status account on Twitter for updates.

Source: Telus (Twitter)

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Cottage Life

New bylaws in BC town bring strict rules against feeding wildlife—even unintentionally

Photo Contest entry by Andrea Lam

Three updated bylaws in the town of Vernon, B.C. aim to further deter residents from feeding wildlife, even unintentionally. Made official this Wednesday, the rules mandate that residents protect animal attractants on their property, such as fruit and nut trees, bird feeders, and compost piles. 

In a release, the City of Vernon stated that regulations “are expected to reduce unintended negative consequences to wildlife, reduce damage to private property by animals, and reduce the potential for human-wildlife conflict.” The province’s Wildlife Act already considers feeding wildlife an offence, but the Vernon bylaws go a step further to include unintentional or neglectful behaviour, like leaving attractants exposed. Violations can come with a fine, but the statement noted that education is “the preferred method to gain compliance.”

This is what to do when you see a bear

Located about an hour’s drive from Kelowna, Vernon is surrounded by extensive wildland areas, and is home to wildlife common to the Okanagan region, such as deer, cougars, and black bears. Given the location of some residential areas, “it’s common to see wildlife travelling through neighbourhoods,” Christy Poirier, a communications manager for the city said via email. 

Poirier said over the years, residents have been raising concerns about people intentionally feeding animals such as deer, drawing them closer into the city. Feeding wildlife can cause a number of problems, such as having animals become dependent on human food, and making them habituated—which can increase the risk of a dangerous encounter.

Black bears are of particular concern in Vernon; last year, the city was among the five ‘deadliest’ BC communities for the animal, based on provincial data showing how many bears were put down by conservation officers. 

Any area where humans and wildlife coexist can be vulnerable to these issues—be sure to stay informed on how to protect attractants from bears and other animals on your property, and what to do if you do encounter larger animals like bears or cougars close by. 

Read more: Lessons from a bear attack

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Cottage Life

Cottage real estate region: Okanagan

Photo by Stan Jones/Shutterstock

The sunny Okanagan region, about a four-hour drive east from the Lower Mainland, is centred on 135-km-long Lake Okanagan and is home to the waterfront cities of Penticton, Kelowna, and Vernon—and the legendary Ogopogo lake serpent. Drier and warmer than the coast, this is a popular summer boating and cottage area. The water is clean and deep; the hills are rolling, arid, and dotted with productive orchards and vineyards. Penticton, Kelowna, and Vernon have excellent amenities, including many marinas and marine services. Watersports and the nightlife here attract a young crowd. There are also nearby ski resorts with condos and chalets.

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Cottage Life

Cottage Q&A: How many wildfires do cigarettes cause?

By Thichaa/Shutterstock

This summer, near our cottage, there were a few fires where cigarette butts were deemed to be the cause. I’m concerned that some people on our lake don’t understand the dangers of improper cigarette butt disposal. How should people be disposing of used cigarettes at the lake, where the vegetation can get tinder-dry in the summer?—Jolene Macfarlane, via email 

You have a valid concern. Cigarettes don’t account for the majority of fires, but they certainly account for some of them. In the summer of 2019, for example, seven Vancouver Island fires over the course of seven days were attributed to discarded cigarette butts. 

Part of the problem is that a butt can appear as if it’s extinguished, but if it lands on burnable material, it can still ignite. A stubbed-out cigarette that someone tosses from a car window, assuming it’ll land harmlessly on the pavement, could bounce, roll, and end up in vegetation growing on the side of the road. For obvious reasons, “the risk for a discarded cigarette to start a forest fire or a grass fire goes up when we haven’t had much precipitation, and the ground layer is more dry than normal,” says Michael Peake, the fire prevention officer for the town of Bracebridge, Ont. Certain plant material—such as dry peat moss—is particularly good at “insulating” the cigarette. “We’ve been to numerous fires caused by smokers’ materials extinguished in a planter containing dry peat moss,” says Peake. “We’ve seen peat moss insulate for seven hours before the cigarette started a fire.”

13 quick safety tips to prevent fires at the cottage

If you’re worried about forest fires in particular, the good (er, sort of) news is that stats show that cigarettes are not anywhere near the most common source of wildfires. In Canada, about 50 per cent of wildfires are caused by lightning strikes, says Mike Flannigan, the director of the Western Partnership for Wildland Fire Science at the University of Alberta. The other 50 per cent are “human-caused”—for instance, campfires, ATV activity, burning debris, and in some cases, arson. 

Smokers have no control over lightning, or hot ATV tailpipes, or arsonists. They do have control over their butts. If you have cottage guests who smoke, discard their ashes and used cigarettes into a jar or a metal bucket with a lid, and keep it outside, says Peake. “The lid takes away the oxygen to the cigarette, putting it out almost instantly.” When it’s time to empty the bucket, wet the contents to make certain that everything is extinguished. “Then it should be safe for disposal in the garbage,” says Peake.

How to dispose of your fireplace ash

Time for a public service announcement! If a smoker is outside somewhere in the woods, with no ashtray, bucket, or jar, “I would suggest finding a puddle or a hard surface, like a rock, to extinguish the cigarette,” says Peake. “Ideally, detaching the filter and taking it back to a place where you can properly dispose of it is the best idea. Filters aren’t compostable and have plastics that will not degrade.” Never butt a cigarette on the forest floor, he says. “Dry needles, grass, and leaves may combust after you’ve left the area.” 

Got a question for Cottage Q&A? Send it to answers@cottagelife.com.

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Mobile Syrup

CityWest to bring high-speed internet access to 663 B.C. households

The federal government and the Province of British Columbia are investing $1.9 million for high-speed internet projects in Keats Island and New Brighton.

Telecom company CityWest is responsible for the two projects that will bring high-speed internet access to a combined 663 households.

The projects are providing more details on a joint announcement the two governments made back in May, committing $108 million towards internet projects for the province. 

The $108 million commitment falls into another, larger, agreement the two government bodies made, committing $830 million in March to connect all underserved communities in the province by 2027. 

“Connectivity has become an essential tool for accessing services, pursuing higher education and doing business in today’s world. Making sure every community has access to high-speed internet is an investment in our province’s success,” Lisa Beare, B.C’s Minister of Citizens’ Services, said.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada 

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Mobile Syrup

Telus investing millions in Surrey, Richmond, and Vancouver B.C. this year

Telus is investing $33 million in Surrey, British Columbia, this year.

The move is part of the Vancouver-based telecom giant’s plan to invest $17.5 billion across the province through 2026.

The investment includes $13 million in New Westminster, $4 million in Richmond, $105 million in Vancouver and $40 million in Burnaby.

The $17.5 billion will deliver 5G access to remote communities across the province, connect homes to Telus’ Pure Fibre network, and create 5,500 jobs.

“These investments are critical to providing Canadians with access to superior technology that connects customers to the people, resources and information that make their lives better,” the company said in a press release.

The company previously announced funding for Prince George, Whistler and Squamish.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Telus

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Cottage Life

Over 300 properties, mountain resort, ordered to evacuate Wildfire zone in B.C.

Photo by BC Wildfire Service/Twitter

Authorities in B.C. ordered residents of over 300 properties southwest of Penticton to evacuate due to ongoing wildfires.

BC Wildfire Service says the Keremeos Creek wildfire grew overnight between Friday and Saturday, and again between Sunday and Monday. 

In a press conference, Bryan Zandberg, information officer for BC Wildfire Service, says the nearly 2,800 hectare fire’s growth and trajectory is difficult to predict.  “Overall though, it is not a very organized fire, so we can’t just point and say ‘oh yeah it’s traveling this way or that way,’’’ he said. 

Zandberg says 229 firefighters were working on Tuesday morning to help fight and protect against the fire. Over the course of the weekend, over 83 loads of retardant were dropped. 

The Regional District of Okanagan–Similkameen says residents of 324 properties have been ordered to evacuate so far. The district also says over 438 properties are currently on alert, meaning those residents should be ready to evacuate on very short notice.

Among the properties told to evacuate was Apex Mountain Resort. The resort is using snowmakers to keep the fire at bay, as seen from their live webcam feed.

A cabin is the only building that has been damaged by the fire, so far. Officials say no one was injured at the cabin.

As of Tuesday morning, B.C. Hwy. 3A was closed. Zandberg says emergency efforts have ramped up and part of the reason the highway closed was to assist ongoing firefighting efforts.

Officials are urging the public to follow evacuation orders. Zandberg says those who do not leave put themselves and emergency crews at greater risk. He also says by not leaving, people could be interfering with emergency operations.

People in the area can monitor the situation via the Wildfire Service and Regional District of Okanagan–Similkameen websites. Officials also urge members of the Similkameen Indian Band and the Penticton Indian Band to check their community websites to stay up-to-date with wildfire information and emergency measures.

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Cottage Life

Buy the Way: A family of three shares a tiny home they can bike to

Photo courtesy Justine Penner

The search: For Justine and Olivier Penner*, the search for a weekend getaway started with a desire for a little more elbow room. The couple had been renting a two-bedroom apartment in Vancouver since 2011, and in 2018, when their daughter was four years old, they started looking for land that they could enjoy and that would be an investment they could pass along to their daughter.

Most importantly, they didn’t want to spend more than $100,000. “That’s a modest amount, unless you wanted to take on a mortgage,” says Justine. “And both of us are very debt-averse.” Olivier was keen to travel without a car, and so they narrowed their search to the Gulf Islands, which is accessible by ferry after a short bike or bus ride from the city (though they have a car and a cargo e-bike for transport when necessary).

They found a spot that looked ideal: a 1/2-acre plot of land in the woods where they could tent camp, that was a 20-minute walk to local beaches and close to the ferry. And it was potentially within their budget—if they could just get the list price down from $140,000.

The compromise: They researched the history of the land and discovered it had sold for $68,000 the year previous, so they had some hope of bringing the cost down—but unfortunately, their initial offer of $100,000 was quickly declined. But a few months later, Olivier noticed that the land still hadn’t sold. They asked their realtor to re-engage with the seller, and—after rallying a little more money—negotiated a price both sides could live with: $113,000. “I joked with Olivier that we just bought a really expensive camping spot,” says Justine.

The silver lining: Tent camping was the plan for the near future—until they learned their friend, Angela, had built a tiny house on another, more challenging-to-access island. She was hoping to find a place to move it to that was less remote. Local bylaws stated that so long as they kept the wheels on the 16-by-9-foot cabin, the tiny home could legally be “parked” and inhabited for up to 90 days a year as a recreational vehicle—meaning no camping for Justine and Olivier and a closer getaway for Angela and her partner, Daniel. The four of them hammered out a five-year time-share agreement in writing—and they divvied up the $5,000 expense to move the tiny home onto the property (thanks to highway permits and making the cabin road-worthy), along with ongoing maintenance costs. The getaway has been just what the family of three was looking for. “There’s enough room for us to sleep in the loft. We put up little lights, and it’s just naturally cozy,” says Justine.

*All names have been changed

Owner advice: Lessons learned from sharing a tiny home

Cover all the details
The couples spent hours creating what they describe as their “MOU”—Memorandum of Understanding—that lasts for five years. It covers how expenses and time at the place are shared and, perhaps more importantly, what happens if someone pulls out of the agreement early and how they would handle it. At the end of five years, they’ll discuss the arrangement for the tiny home again.

Put it in writing
The group uses Google Docs to track everything. There’s nothing formal that says who gets which weekend—“and I wouldn’t expect anyone to block out the whole summer,” says Justine—but so long as either party doesn’t exceed their allotted 45 days, it’s flexible.

Be prepared for some conflict
“You can never anticipate all possible misunderstandings,” says Justine. Lucky for the group, she’s a skilled mediator, so they’ve quickly dealt with anything that comes up. A group WhatsApp channel keeps communication lines open—and they make sure they get together for dinner at least once a quarter to discuss any issues that arise. “We have a pretty high commitment to each other and the friendship,” she says.

Have you recently purchased a cottage in a unique way? Tell us about it: edit@cottagelife.com

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Cottage Life

Ferry sailings to be cancelled if staffing shortages persist: B.C. Ferries

Photo by B.C. Ferries

For the second weekend in a row, B.C. Ferries cancelled sailings from Vancouver and Victoria due to staffing shortages. Cancellations to sailings may continue throughout the summer if these staffing shortages persist, according to B.C. Ferries.

The corporation cancelled two sailings on Friday, June 17th and another four on Sunday, June 19th. The cancelled trips were exiting from Tsawwassen in Vancouver and Swartz Bay in Victoria. Sailings were also cancelled from the same two stops on Friday and Sunday of the previous weekend.

“We have had a few occasions recently where we have had to cancel some of our service because we knew didn’t have the required crew to operate the vessel,” says Deborah Marshall, a spokesperson for B.C. Ferries. 

She says there’s a chance disruptions to service will continue. “There may be times, sporadically, where we do have to cancel service because we’re not able to fill all the required positions on board,” she says.

Marshall says the company, which performs close to 475 sailings along the coast of British Columbia per day, is actively recruiting new staff to resolve the issue. B.C. Ferries has hired 860 new staff members in recent months, but the company is still having difficulties filling some positions. “Coming out of a pandemic, we found that it is quite a challenging job market. It’s difficult to attract new people,” she explained.

Marshall says some crucial ship-work positions, like chief engineers and captains, are harder to recruit as they require technical training and experience.

B.C. Ferries will work to notify customers in the case of future trip cancellations. All updates on service interruptions can also be found on the B.C. Ferries’ website and on Twitter page.