'Free' house in Kelowna getting plenty of interest
People from as far away as Kamloops are looking into the chance of getting a free house in Kelowna.
It’s just that it comes with the cost of moving it.
“I’ve been showing it every day since I posted it,” Brar Jatinder told iNFOnews.ca. “We’re just giving it away. If nobody takes it, we will just demolish it.”
It was posted on the private People Helping People, Okanagan Facebook page.
The house is at 634 McClure Rd. in the South Mission area of the city.
Jatinder and his partners own the house and have plans to build “a couple of buildings” on the single-family lot.
B.C. Assessments show the house was built in 1971 and has 1,078 square feet. Jatinder said it has three bedrooms and one bathroom.
READ MORE: Price of houses jumped in Kamloops and the Okanagan in March
“The house needs a new roof but it is a solid house,” he said. “It is not like other houses that are too old. This is in better condition so, I thought, let’s try it. Maybe somebody can use it instead of dumping it.”
The structure will be 26 feet by 40 feet once the carport is removed so it should be relatively easy to move, he said.
“I have somebody who is serious about this and is going to find out if the movers are available,” Jatinder said. “They live in Armstrong and are looking to take this to Kamloops. For the time being, they can put it on some wooden structure then, they said, after we pour a foundation, we can move it there, no problem.”
He estimates that it could cost as much as $100,000 to move, re-roof and re-establish the house.
“You should be able to easily rent it for $2,000 so that’s a $2,000 a month return on a $100,000 investment,” he said.
It could cost him $10,000 to demolish it.
Jatinder is hoping to have the house gone in the next five or six weeks.
“The sooner the better,” he said.
The only contact information he provided was asking people to message him through the People Helping People, Okanagan Facebook group.
— This story was updated at 10:45 a.m. April 11, 2023, to correct the dimensions of the house.
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