Nicholas Read and Fiona Anderson
Sun
According to Vancouver realtor Spice Lucks, who specializes in “helping people realize their dreams,” when people move from a million-dollar property, they move to change something.
Sometimes they move to change their lifestyles, and sometimes they move to change their wallets.
But people who live on Point Grey Road with an unimpeded view of Burrard Inlet never move.
The rest, however, can be slotted into a number of categories according to what it is they’re searching for.
THE OFFSHORE INVESTOR
Often, these people never live in the properties they buy in Vancouver, Lucks says. When they buy here, they see an opportunity to make money. When they sell here, they see an opportunity to make more money elsewhere.
THE CITY HOPPER
These are people whose children have left the nest and are fed up with cutting the grass, cleaning the gutters and calling the plumber when the pipes burst, Lucks says. So they sell that rambling four-bedroom home in Point Grey for the convenience of a condo in Coal Harbour, Yaletown or Kitsilano, and the comfort of having a few extra dollars in the bank.
THE GOLFER
These are people, usually retirees, who long for the good life in, say, the Okanagan, with its vineyards, lakes and golf courses. “These are people who have outlived the city, and what motivates them is peace and tranquility,” Lucks says. But it can’t be so tranquil that it isn’t within, at most, 45 minutes of an airport.
THE SEAFARER
If the Okanagan isn’t someone’s idea of living well, chances are life by the coast is, says Lucks. The Sunshine Coast, Qualicum Beach and the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, and the areas around Victoria all figure in dreams of waves, sailing and long walks on the beach.
THE UP-SIZER
Yes, people will move from a small property on the west side of Vancouver to a larger one in the Fraser Valley so they can have space and money in the bank, too, Lucks says. But they rarely, if ever, are so eager to trade up that they’re willing to leave the province. Moving to Saskatchewan, for example, land of dirt-cheap dirt, is unthinkable.
NOSTALGIA RURAL
David Baxter, executive director of The Urban Futures Institute, says these people in their 40s or 50s equate success to rural property outside the city — a place on one of the islands or acreage in the Interior. Many have made money on their homes in the Vancouver area and can afford a recreational property or home outside the city.
© The Vancouver Sun 2005
