Housing prices aren't the only thing attracting people away from Kamloops, Okanagan
Kelowna has the most expensive real estate in the Interior of BC with the rest of the Okanagan and Kamloops not far behind.
Part of that is due to the fact that the Thompson-Okanagan region has many of the five largest cities in the Southern Interior, which means jobs and other amenities.
But talk to realtors in smaller communities and the message is often more about quality of life than price.
“People are nicer and more engaging and you say hi to people and they know you,” Thea Hanson, Personal Real Estate Corporation/Re/Max All Pro Realty realtor in Trail, told iNFOnews.ca. “Even if you come into town every so often they know you and they remember you.”
Kathy Campbell, with Re/Max Integrity Realty in Barriere, relocated there 30 years ago from Aldergrove.
“I hated it,” she told iNFOnews.ca. “You couldn’t get your neighbour to wave at you or say hi. My kids had to be walked to the park. Here, my kids grew up with riding a horse to A&W and getting a hamburger out of the window.”
She generally gets her husband to go to the post office to check the mail because she doesn’t always have 45 minutes to chat with her neighbours.
“You get to know everybody where, in the big city, you can live in the same spot and not know who your neighbour is and, god forbid, you should wave at them and they wave back,” Campbell said. “Here, you go to the grocery store, they don’t even know who you are, you’re a newby in town, and you can’t get out of the grocery store because everybody has got something to say to you.”
“Every community has its issues but we don’t have any visible homelessness,” Gerry Task, a realtor with Royal LePage – Rockies West Realty in Invermere, told iNFOnews.ca. “A lot of people still leave their doors unlocked. People wave at each other. It’s a friendly area.
“In comparison to other areas, there’s hardly any traffic. So, I think, especially for young retirees or people who are looking for a lifestyle change compared to the busier cities in the Okanagan, Invermere and the Columbia Valley are a much different pace of life and a lot more access to the outdoors and recreation and, you can get a really nice house for $800,000 to $850,000."
The average price for a house in Kelowna is more than $1 million so prices in smaller, outlying communities can be half of that or, as Task noted, for just a bit more, you can buy a “super nice house.”
READ MORE: Okanagan residents flee high prices to relocate to Alberta
A glance through BC Assessment valuations for the Southern Interior shows average prices for single-family houses ranging from the $1 million plus in Kelowna down to a low of $235,000 in Greenwood.
But, for people used to the bigger city attractions, moving to a town with a population of 705 people may be too big a step.
Barriere, with about 1,800 people, is an option that keeps big city shopping and facilities within reach.
“You’re close to Kamloops so, if you need to do a Costco run, you do it once a month,” Campbell said. “We’ve got doctors up here. Dentists up here. Grocery stores. Veterinarians. The only thing we don’t have is those big Walmarts, Costcos.”
The Gilbert Smith lumber mill provides jobs and the community has been growing since the 2003 Barriere Wildfire burned down the Tolko Mill in Louis Creek, causing many of those workers to move away and a school to close.
Now there’s a need to expand schools again.
Newer, three- or four-bedroom homes sell in the $600,000 to $700,000 price range, Campbell said.
“Barriere is considered a bedroom community to Kamloops so the prices are higher,” she said. “Clearwater is lower by about 20% or so but you’re not travelling from Clearwater to Kamloops for your work.”
Clearwater is larger, with about 2,500 people, and has a hospital but is a 90 minute drive from Kamloops versus 45 minutes for those living in Barriere.
Invermere, of course, is far from the big cities. It’s six hours from Kelowna, three from Calgary and 90 minutes from Cranbrook.
But, with 3,800 people, it’s the commercial centre for its Columbia Valley region.
There’s a good range of housing from $400,000 to $1.4 million and the 20 km long Lake Windermere. Unfortunately, unlike Okanagan Lake, there’s not a lot of waterfront property for sale there.
“Most of the shore of Lake Windermere is private,” Task said. “What we’re sort of seeing now is that the really rare properties are getting passed down and kept in the families so it’s uncommon to have some of the most sought after, most prime properties, actually hit the market.”
While there are jobs in Invermere, most are in the service/tourist sector.
“We have lots of jobs,” Task said. “We don’t necessarily have a lot of careers. We don’t have the same sort of manufacturing, the industry or the high tech careers that some areas have.
“The exciting thing is, we’re seeing more entrepreneurs and people starting their own businesses and creating their own employment. Some people move for work and some people live where they want to live and figure out work after.”
It holds a Guinness world record for the longest maintained ice surface with its 54-km Whiteway loop on Lake Windermere.
READ MORE: Creekside Kelowna land, motel for sale for $12 million an acre
Outdoor recreation is also a big attraction in Trail.
“We have tons of lakes, tons of hiking, tons of mountain biking,’ Hanson said. “If you’re very active this is one of those year-round playgrounds that you can do so much in every day. People finish their day early and they’re off biking by two o’clock in the afternoon or they’re hitting the golf course and we’ve got a number of (three) golf courses within 15 minutes of Trail.”
Red Mountain is just a short drive up the road with excellent downhill skiing.
With its 8,200 residents, Trail is definitely the commercial hub and its Teck Resources mill is a major employer in the region.
“Trail is not just the small town of Trail,” Hanson said. “It’s the bedroom communities that are five minutes away from Trail, like Warfield and Montrose and Fruitvale and Rossland.”
The average assessed value for a single-family house in Trail is $350,000, just over half the $689,000 average in Kamloops.
“It’s more affordable – but people are still coming because this is a slower pace,” Hanson said. “They want to raise their families in a place where they don’t have to drive so much to go to sports or to go to events.”
Brand new townhouses on the Columbia River are selling for less than $700,000 and she has one listing for a 5,400 sq. ft., four-bedroom, three-bathroom luxury home for a mere $949,000.
“A local fellow out of Kelowna, when he wants to get away from the rat race in Kelowna – and he’s an astute businessman who owns a number of properties in Kelowna – he comes to Trail as his reprieve, for his calm,” Hanson said.
The same could be said for most small communities in the Southern Interior.
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