DECORATING I New digs often wind up looking like boring old digs, but it doesn’t have to be that way

Susan Semenak
Sun

Whether you’re changing apartments or buying a house, moving day presents the perfect opportunity for a fresh start.

The trouble is, the new digs often end up looking like the old digs, boring old re-creations of things we’ve been doing for years.

Whether you’re moving or staying put, it’s worth looking at your living space with a fresh eye.

Gone are the days when Granny’s sideboard stood guard over the dining room until it got foisted on the kids, who eventually foisted it on their kids.

Six years into the 21st century, it’s time to modernize the nest.

Ditch the fringe, the delicate little florals and overstuffed cushions.

Ditto for beads, feathers, forest green and gold leaf.

Dried flowers have to go.

So do tchotchkes in all their guises.

Decor magazines and television reno shows feature crisp, contemporary interiors with clean, fluid lines and monochrome colour schemes energized by bold bursts of colour.

Designers are encouraging people to have fun, take risks, treat their stuff with a little irreverence.

Don’t like the finish on that family heirloom? Paint it white. Bored with the antique pine harvest table? Pair it with a set of modern plastic chairs. Change is good: The old axiom isn’t so hard to apply when it comes to what we wear or how we eat. Platforms replace stilettos, brown overtakes black. Sushi’s in, then it’s tapas. But when it comes to where we live, even hipsters get stuck in a time warp, surrounded by sentimental collectibles or shelves brimming with stuff they used to love. It’s the interior design equivalent of a pageboy haircut.

“Everyone gets stuck, even the fashion-conscious, because we find a look we like and immerse ourselves in it. Then we don’t know when it’s time to get out,” says Eros Greatti, the Venezuelan-born interior designer who owns the funky boutique Maison Eros Greatti. Even pack rats and traditionalists crave a little space, a little novelty.

But Montreal interior designer and stylist Beth Gold says people often expect too much from their stuff, and they end up living in outdated, boring interiors.

“If you paid $300 for a piece of Canadiana pine 15 or 20 years ago, you’ve probably gotten your return by now,” said Gold. “It may be time to move on.” Greatti says we tend to cling to our so-called antiques though often they are merely vintage items, rather than important period pieces. Most people welcome a makeover, a freshening-up of their surroundings, Gold says. Too often, though, they allow themselves to be intimidated by the cold, chrome edge that defines modern design in its purest, strictest interpretation. Gold says there’s a new “metro” look in interiors that’s an eclectic and energetic blend of several styles. Like fashion, contemporary interior design is a melting pot of influences. The recent Montreal International Interior Design Show, for instance, was full of furniture, accessories and fixtures from Quebec, Africa, the Netherlands and Italy, in assortment of colour, materials and sensibilities. There were wild bathrooms in lime green and turquoise; 2-D metal and glass illuminated cutouts in the shape of chandeliers, painted orange, black and red; sleek Italian kitchens in austere grey molded plastic; environmentally friendly chairs built from recycled hockey sticks. Seventies-style teak chairs and avocado green shag rugs stood their ground next to white leather and chrome Barcelona recliners. “Nobody says contemporary has to be harsh or perfect,” she said. “In fact, the most exciting new interiors draw from several styles. And they are never devoid of personality.” In Greatti’s shop, for instance, he’s juxtaposed a pair of ornate Venetian crystal wall sconces with bold, sharp modern art. He’ll take a 1950s-era kitchen chair with chrome legs and upholster it in the most sensuous brown and white velvet damask fabric. Ready for a rescue? Designers say the most important step is editing. Most of us have too much stuff — and clutter is the bane of contemporary design. “We live in a society of consumption and we buy too many things. We start collecting and then we don’t stop,” Greatti said. He makes his clients empty the room they want to re-do, right down to the floorboards. Then they need to ask themselves what they really need; what are the sentimental must-haves? If it’s family photos, they can come back — but only with a contemporary update: Reframed in uniform white or black frames, hung together in a grouping. He’ll often suggest that clients get friends or relatives to put the furniture back. “On our own, we tend to go back to the same thing, the same old comfort zones.” Gold’s approach is less cold-turkey: The timid are permitted to begin by culling a few items at a time.

Relegate personal effects to one room, maybe a bedroom, and keep the rest of the house spare, suggests Gold. She’s not afraid to update antiques with a coat of paint or stain to bring them into the new century. She’ll take a three-drawer pine dresser from the bedroom that’s simple and rustic and paint it white. “Once you start adding light to a room, you transform it,” she says. “And white is timeless.” She might add white porcelain knobs or brushed stainless steel handles or pulls. To keep it mod, she leaves the dresser-top clear, graced with nothing more than one dramatic coloured glass vase, a lamp with an interesting gourd-shaped base, or a large round bowl “to soften the edges.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

Bob Ransford
Sun

The sun warmed the morning air. The stench made it heavy. It was a stench that couldn’t be worse in a third-world slum.

I was walking from downtown Vancouver’s Granville and Cordova to Alexander and Princess.

Those weren’t dog droppings I stepped around twice. Clearly, this sidewalk was also a latrine.

Finally, I reverted to walking down the centre of the street to avoid stepping on the discarded needles or avoid disrupting the lifeless figures littering both sidewalks. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought they were dead bodies in a war zone.

A few were in various fetus positions, lying on scraps of cardboard. One or two be propped against the chain-link fences, topped with razor-wire coils — a last attempt at enforcing a standoff between the out-of-control street activity and the few remaining gritty industries struggling to survive in the neighbourhood.

This was once a true mixed-use neighbourhood where people lived, worked and played in a compact few blocks within an easy stroll of the central business district.

Today, the faces of the men and women who lined up in the early morning outside the soup kitchen are like the faces of the buildings along these few blocks — hollow, lifeless, desperate and neglected.

It was just short of nine in the morning. It must have been a rough night for most of these late risers. The street along which I walked was a bedroom, bathroom and rec room.

I passed at least eight different locations I could easily identify as official homes to society’s marginalized. There were surely others I didn’t recognize. Some are located in the few heritage buildings remaining in what was once the heart of the city.

These non-market housing projects, some of them temporary shelters for the homeless and others permanent homes for the lesser-advantaged, or what social planners classify as “the hard to house”, those with “special needs” or people with “limited incomes”.

These social housing projects aren’t limited to the few blocks along the street I walked. This pattern of public housing is repeated along at least two parallel streets and a few cross-streets.

In the same area, I would have trouble counting more than a half dozen multi-family market housing projects. These housing developments are on the vanguard of local gentrification — the real city pushing east, pushing property prices higher and slowly bring change to the area.

There are those who welcome this gentrification as the final saving grace for this neglected district.

Of course, there are also those who loath such change. They cherish this unique neighbourhood that has a reputation — a neighbourhood meeting needs that other parts of the city turn their back on.

They see gentrification as a threat to the lesser-advantaged. They see society as having failed these people. At least this neighbourhood provides them with their most basic needs.

Where does society’s caring start? What is the general equalizing force that allows people to co-exist in urban areas? Isn’t it community?

Of course, community is much more than buildings, streets, parks, schools, offices, shops and churches. Built form is only one determinant of community. But it is an essential component.

The way we design our streets and buildings and the fabric of land uses that knit together to make a neighbourhood largely dictate how people interact with each other, what they value and how they activate what are society’s essentials — individual rights and responsibilities.

The design of these few square blocks I travelled the other morning has failed by not achieving community.

Real community — one that embraces all kinds of all means — doesn’t exist because the mix of uses in this district is distorted. Gentrification will help repair that distortion and normalize the mix, bringing to the area more market housing.

Those who are currently warehoused in non-market housing projects — created and maintained by people with good intentions and a sincere commitment to helping society’s most vulnerable — should have no fear.

The homes for the needy are secure, if only by the very nature of their tenure.

What real change in the neighbourhood will hopefully bring is people who care and have hope. Those who today call the neighbourhood home most surely care, but the hope seems to be missing.

Bob Ransford is a public affairs consultant with COUNTERPOINT Communications Inc. He is a former real estate developer who specializes in urban land use issues. Contact him at: [email protected]

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

Sun

First-time homebuyers should give themselves a plush financial cushion to avoid being sideswiped by hidden costs like taxes, title searches and legal bills that can often add tens of thousands in charges before the final deal is done, experts say.

Myron Knodel, a chartered accountant and manager of tax and estate planning with Investors Group, says real-estate rookies are most often caught off guard by the land transfer tax which is assessed when a title is re-registered from one owner to another.

“There’s five provinces in Canada that assess that — B.C., Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec,” he said.

“And it’s [calculated] on a graduated basis, meaning that the rate will start sometimes as low as a half a per cent, graduate up to 1.5 per cent to the extent that the cost of the home is $200,000 or less. But then in most provinces, other than Ontario, as soon as you hit $200,000, it goes up to two per cent.”

In Ontario, the two per cent does not apply until the home’s value exceeds $400,000. But even under those more lenient rules, land transfer taxes can be quite hefty.

For example, Ontario’s levy for a $300,000 home still amounts to $2,975. There’s also an adjustment for property taxes depending on the time of the year the property is acquired, leaving buyers to assume their portion for the year.

“It’s just something that oftentimes isn’t factored in, and then arrangements have to be made to pay that at closing,” Knodel said.

Other unforeseen costs can arise after the home is purchased. Maintenance costs and insurance can creep up on homebuyers who have only budgeted for their monthly mortgage payments.

“If you’re buying an older home, even though you get the engineer’s certificates and such, that can be quite significant,” he said. “You look at your mortgage costs … I’d say 10 to 20 per cent should almost be kind of a contingency reserve. It’s not going to happen every month but then all of a sudden you’re going to run into a situation where your roof needs replacing.” In order to manage that emergency stash, buyers should be realistic about what they can afford — particularly at a time when housing prices are skyrocketing across the country. Despite the fact that new home construction is slipping, Statistics Canada says prices remain astronomical, especially in Alberta’s booming oilpatch economy. Earlier this month, the federal agency reported the new housing price index rose 1.2 per cent in April to 138.2, the biggest month-to-month jump in 17 years. Calgary and Edmonton ranked first and second in terms of price increases that month, but Regina, Montreal and Vancouver also saw significant mark-ups as rising demand, higher material and labour costs and escalating land values combined to push up prices. Financial planners generally recommend that no more than 40 per cent of a household’s income should go toward total debt service, including interest, property taxes, heat, payments and other bills. Kathleen Waters, a trained real estate lawyer and vice-president of TitlePLUS insurance, said consumers also need to ensure they get their money’s worth out of legal fees.

It is important to understand that legal costs can be quoted in different ways. In some cases, lawyers give an estimate of legal fees before disbursements, which are essentially the firm’s out-of-pockets costs. Others give a more an “all-inclusive” assessment. She said another key item to review with the lawyer is title insurance, which is a one-time premium paid at the time of purchase.

While prices vary, in Ontario it costs about $200 for a $500,000 home. Title insurance is an inexpensive way to guard against complications including disputes over a vendor’s right to sell, building code violations, outstanding liens and outright fraud, Waters noted.

Additionally, if the homebuyer obtains title insurance, a real estate lawyer can often reduce the number of searches and investigations, thus saving the buyer out-of-pocket costs on their overall legal bill.

“That’s where your real estate lawyer becomes an invaluable resource: he or she navigates you through the major legal implications of home purchase, and can help prevent a dream home from turning into a nightmare,” she said.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

B.C. gained 10,583 people in the first quarter

Sun

People moving to British Columbia from other countries and other provinces are adding to demand for housing, says a B.C. regional economist with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

There is a strong relationship between net interprovincial migration and housing starts, Carol Frketich said.

“Between 1998 and 2002, B.C. recorded a net loss of just over 57,000 people to other parts of Canada, and housing construction slowed significantly,” noted Frketich.

Since 2003, the province benefited from interprovincial migration together with increased new home construction.

“Low mortgage interest rates, increased employment and high levels of consumer confidence were also factors supporting higher levels of housing starts during this period,” Frketich added.

Looking ahead, CMHC forecasts new home construction to reach 37,000 units in 2006, up from 34,667 starts in 2005, the highest level achieved in over a decade.

Migration-driven population growth also generates demand for rental accommodation. International migration is a key source of population growth, particularly for Vancouver, one of the top three most popular Canadian destinations of new immigrants.

Typically, new immigrants choose to rent before they buy a home.

CMHC’s rental market survey shows the vacancy rate in Vancouver was 1.4 per cent in October 2005.

International migration added more than 38,000 people to the province’s population in 2005.

CMHC forecasts a similar level of international migration in 2006.

Statistics Canada says B.C. gained 10,853 persons during the first quarter of 2006 with 654 people coming from other provinces and 10,199 people coming from other countries.

This is down slightly from the first quarter of 2005 when the province recorded a net inflow of 11,089 persons.

CMHC has been the national housing agency for more than 60 years, improving the living conditions and the well-being of Canadians through four areas of housing activities — housing finance, assisted housing, research and information transfer, and export promotion. CMHC is committed to helping Canadians access a wide choice of quality, affordable homes, and making vibrant and sustainable communities and cities a reality across the country.

For more information, visit www.cmhc.ca or call 1-800-668-2642.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

Michael Sasges
Sun

The 1927 photograph of the east side of Beatty, between Dunsmuir and Pender, that claims pride of place in Jeff Gruber’s home shows how little has changed on this block in almost 80 years — and how much is changing.

The 550 Beatty building in which Jeff, Tony Wade-Cooper and Shirley and Stan Langtry make their homes is the fourth warehouse “down” the block, from the intersection of Beatty and Dunsmuir where the photographer would have stood in ’27.

Beyond 550 Beatty, going north towards Pender, is the Crane plumbing-supply warehouse, at 540 Beatty. The Townline/Metroliving group of companies is selling lofts there. Next to theTownline/Metroliving project is a warehouse awaiting its inaugural residents after conversion by the Salient Group.

Between the Salient conversion and the “Bekins” — and, earlier, World, and, later, Sun — tower is the second loft conversion in the history of the block, the Storey & Campbell building. (Such a young town we live in! Frederick McLean Storey, son of one of the builders of that building, only died five years ago, aged 96, his son, Douglas, reports.)

Between 1927, the year of the streetscape’s creation, and 1947, the year the saw-shop employees were photographed outside 554 Beatty, 550 Beatty Street had changed, unlike the block.

550 Beatty, in the 1927 city directory, had only four tenants, including Vancouver Warehouses Ltd. In the 1947 city directory, however, 550 Beatty had at least 30 tenants, mostly manufacturers’ agents or wholesalers.

Once almost exclusively a warehouse, 550 Beatty over 20 years had become as much an office building.

One constant in those two years was the Simonds saw shop — or retail on the ground. A tunnel under Beatty connected the storefront and either the actual saw shop or a second saw shop, now occupied by a parking garage owned by the residents of 550 Beatty. The tunnel entrance is still visible.

The conversion of 550 Beatty into homes occurred in the early 1980s and, in the opinion of one involved (after the fact), made new law in Canada.

”As counsel for the developer in 550 Beatty Street Limited Partnership v. Markwood Construction and Guarantee Company of Canada, he successfully upheld the obligation of the guarantor under a performance bond to provide funding for project completion, creating new law in this field,” lawyer Dale Pope’s Internet bio reads.

The developer was an architect, and experienced real-estate practitioner by the name of Bob MacIntyre. A receiver eventually finished construction and marketing.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

A little ingenuity with lighting and the creation of living ‘areas’ can introduce artful focal points to one-room expansiveness

Michael Sasges
Sun

The first warehouse converted into homes in Vancouver history is not located in Yaletown or Gastown, but at 550 Beatty in the Victory Square, or Crosstown, neighbourhood.

The conversion started more than 25 years ago.

The warehouse was built 100 years ago when the CPR decided to build a line north from its Yaletown yards at False Creek.

The building’s centenary was the reason a representative of the strata council there called me this spring to ask if Sun readers might be interested in the ”occasion.”

In the collective memory and experience of the occupants of Vancouver’s first loft-conversion, I suggested, is a window on “loft” residency that might answer the “big question” every loft-occupant has answered and every loft prospector, and lookie-lou, looks forward to answering: What can you do and not do in an open-plan, post-and-beam, high-ceiling home?

Certainly you can entertain, with equal ease, hordes and intimates.

”I can have 50 people over and be able to see them all from any one point in the room,” says Jeff Gruber, owner of a one-storey loft at 550 Beatty.

“You can’t do that in an apartment divided into dens and enclosed solariums and mini-bedrooms.”

Tony Wade-Cooper, owner of a 1 1/2-storey loft, says: ”Living in a loft is unusual in the fact that we have no formal sleeping space. When guests come to stay on the sofa bed in the living room, they have to be good friends, because we can chat as if it were a dorm.”

Shirley and Stan Langtry installed a curtain to provide their overnight guests with some privacy.

Rooms need hospitable focal points. Without them, occupants are left to gaze at each other, uncomfortable after a while even for young lovers.

Lofts are no exception to the focal-point requirement, but impose on their occupants an obligation to not introduce focal-point content that detracts from the loft’s first quality, its expansiveness.

As one Internet discussion reported on a designer’s refurbishment of a Manhattan loft: ”While the rooms had to provide inviting focal points, the loft also had to maintain its sense of openness.”

The Langtrys consider the ”open space” of their 550 Beatty home a favourite feature.

To protect it, or at least to avoid diminishing it, they ”quickly personalized” their home

”The greatest thing about a loft is the openness,” says Jeff Gruber, who has a bedroom in his loft.

”You don’t want to close things off by creating partitions. The trick is not to create partitions, but to create areas, or activity centres.

”For example, my living room is the space encompassing my couches, television and coffee table and is defined by the large rug underneath them all.

”A living room is supposed to be comfortable, someplace you can take your shoes off and relax. The rug outlines that area and provides the comfort you want from a living room.

”Lighting is another way to help define spaces and areas without putting up partitions. All you need to do is turn on the lights in the “dining area” and leave the rest in the dark — dimmers are everywhere!”

Open spaces under high ceilings and enclosed by exposed building materials and big windows are the essential features of a loft-home.

Location in a building whose original industrial or commercial look and feel were retained during conversion or in a building evocative of industrial or commercial purpose is desirable.

The preservation of the old freight elevator in a conversion is also desirable, although not with everybody. ”Fortunately we don’t have the loft-style lift which, while charming, is really impractical in this day and age,” Tony Wade-Cooper comments.

The homes in 550 Beatty are “hard” lofts, not because the living is hard, but because the building materials of the original construction, brick and cast iron and timber post and beams, possess a “harder” quality and are the basis of the design.

A ”soft” loft, conversely, is a residence in a new-construction building, although it may be finished with “hard” materials.

Is the only home worthy of the appellation “loft home” a home in a converted industrial building or a “hard” loft?

Replies Jeff Gruber: ”Although there is no official definition of a loft that I know of, I do know that a loft must have at least one of: location in a building converted from industrial use to residential, very high ceilings, exposed building materials and large open spaces, with very few doors or interior walls.

”Imitation is flattery and having a loft that encompasses all of a loft’s characteristics makes it all the more unique.

“But you can’t imitate a ‘hard’ loft; it either is or it isn’t. You can, however, create a space with ‘loft-type’ characteristics.”

Comments Tony Wade-Cooper: ”Some of the ‘loft homes’ I have seen springing up in Yaletown are so small. They would be better called ‘open-plan’ homes. To me a loft has high ceilings, old walls, some brick.”

Internet reporting on, and discussions of, loft homes attribute to their creation and occupancy a good-for-the-commonwealth quality. The “good citizen” champions of loft conversion and residency make two points:

[1] Residency in converted industrial spaces is better for the environment than new construction or less of an imposition on the environment than new construction and, further, conversion facilitates – gawd bless us, one and all – densification.

[2] Residency in converted industrial spaces helps to maintain historical streetscapes.

Shirley and Stan Langtry and Jeff Gruber are doubtful their occupancy of their 550 Beatty homes has made the natural world a better place. Comments Jeff:

”Converting an industrial space to residential is usually a nightmare for developers because of all the seismic upgrades and retrofitting.

”It’s like any major renovation; it’s easier just starting from scratch than trying to work around some existing constraints.

”In the end the amount of material used is probably not that much less. It’s the heritage conservation that really makes a difference.”

The solidity of the homes, however, may mean less power consumed to heat and cool residents, Tony Wade-Cooper says. ”The thick walls absorb the heat during the day and keep it warm at night, and relatively cool in the summer.”

Shirley and Stan Langtry think it possible their residency in a 550 Beatty home might have a historical purpose. Tony Wade-Cooper and Jeff Gruber are certain they’re doing good work by being there.

”Lofts in Vancouver are centred around a few select neighborhoods like Yaletown, Gastown and Crosstown,” Jeff comments.

” . . . . It’s the fact that you’re not just helping maintain a single building, but often an entire block or neighborhood.

”I have a black and white picture above my fireplace of the 500 block Beatty from 1927 with my loft in the background – parking was a problem even back then!

”It’s great walking down the street and seeing the block just as it was 100 years ago,wondering about all the lives lived inside the same walls in which you’re now living.”

Says Tony: ”Why not maintain some history? We have precious little of it here! Even the new buildings are trying to fit into the style of the [old] buildings.”

Tony says he will have some “fitting in” of his own to do, next fall or next year when the inaugural residents of a new apartment across the street move in.

”It will be interesting to see what we can’t do now that there is a building going up over the road.

”I am not used to drawing my blinds at night. Now, I guess, I will have to.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

1010 Howe has a fabulous location at a price that lets first-time buyers into the market

Rebecca Osler
Sun

1010 Howe

Location: 1010 Howe (at Nelson)

Hours: 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily, except Fridays

Telephone: 604-228-1010

Web: 1010howe.com

Project size: 130 condominiums

Residence size: 478 to 600 square feet (one bedroom units), 1651 to 1829 square feet (penthouses)

Prices: $221,900 to $959,900

Developer: 1010 Howe Street Developments Ltd, a corporation owned by Wall Financial

Interior design: Ada Bonini

Tentative occupancy: Oct. 1, to Jan. 31, 2007

The information package for 1010 Howe looks like it’s been plucked from the brochure rack at Tourism Vancouver’s infocentre.

Envision a hyper montage of scenes set against a lively cityscape.

Dusk is descending. Headlights of fast-moving vehicles streak through the streets, presumably en route to some swish soiree.

Candid snapshots depict hip urbanites eating, shopping and laughing. Starbucks, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Pacific Centre, Earls restaurant and Robson street are all clearly identifiable.

What does that say about the 12-storey building, which boasts some of the smallest and most affordable condos on the market?

Well, it says three things, actually: location, location, location.

The newly converted strata development, which originated as a commercial building in the early ’80s and was rezoned for rental units a decade ago, went on sale June 24, advertising “112 condominiums under $299,00.”

“We only had a very short window to market . . . we came into the project thinking that we’d have a pretty good initial launch on that weekend and we might do reasonably well,” says Tracie McTavish, president of Rennie Marketing Systems. “But we were overwhelmed.”

By the end of the day 97 of 130 units had sold.

“It’s a real vote of confidence in this marketplace, in this product and this location,” says McTavish.

1010 Howe is a one-bedroom oasis: floors one through 10 each contain 14 units ranging from 478 to 600 square feet.

The eight penthouse suites on the 11th floor are multi-level (two to three bedrooms) and run from 1651 to 1829 square feet.

At the time of this interview, there were units available on every floor.

Apart from the desirable location at Howe and Nelson, 1010 Howe’s edge is options when it comes to cost. Buyers can take a suite “as is” and slash $7,000 off the price.

On-site sales representative Krista Freeborn says this is an unusual offer that is ideal for do-it-yourself types.

“If you were handy and wanted to do the work yourself maybe it would be a cost savings. Or you could do something a little bit different, like a different colour of carpet or paint,” she says.

All apartments feature overheight ceilings (9 1/2 feet), tall windows, smooth ceilings and outdoor balconies. Two units on each floor have extra-long balconies.

“It gives you lots of room to have a barbecue, table and chairs, and you could put in a lounge chair for reading,” says Freeborn.

“In this city, everybody loves to get outside.”

The core of each floor has a shared laundry facility and easy-access vertical storage lockers for residents.

Other amenities include a workout room, bike room, two meeting rooms, and a south-facing common roof deck/garden area.

The standard upgrade package (or “silver”) includes new carpet, paint, wood baseboard trim, blinds and a kitchen light. At the silver level, kitchen cabinets are maple-inspired and countertops are grey laminate.

An extra $30,000 buys a complete renovation. The “gold” package adds cherry wood cabinetry, stone composite countertops, porcelain tiles and stainless steel appliances.

“And they’ll open up the kitchen wall if they can,” says Freeborn.

Penthouses, which include private elevator access, two outdoor spaces and wood-burning fireplaces, are completely renovated to the “gold” standard plus new hardwood flooring and open kitchens.

Because it’s a conversion project, one advantage is that buyers can eyeball existing spaces before committing. The entire third floor is open for viewing, so you can walk through all seven layouts (penthouses excepted).

And only a small fraction of buyers thus far have been investors — a big surprise to McTavish.

“The consumers end up being a lot of first-time buyers, moms and dads buying for the daughter or son, and the buyer that’s been frustrated in this marketplace for the last year or two that was finally able to get in at a price they could afford,” he says.

“It just has a real warm and fuzzy feel to it, this project turned out really well.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

It can be the difference between selling a house in a few weeksor a few months

Pedro Arrais
Sun

When it comes to choosing a home, first impressions count.

The decision whether to look inside a house is usually based on a quick drive-by assessment.

If a house has curb appeal, say realtors, buyers are more likely to want a look inside the house.

Curb appeal, like personal taste, is not easily defined. In general, it is a blend of architecture, design elements, colour, landscaping and other features that make a house attractive at first glance. Curb appeal can mean the difference between a house selling in a few weeks or sitting for months.

Heather Wilde, a realtor with 30 years experience, sums up what curb appeal means to her: “When I see an attractive house I think, ‘Ah, there is somebody I would like to know!’ I want to get inside to get to know them better,” says Wilde.

Her advice on creating curb appeal? “Put on a little lipstick and shine your shoes,” says Wilde.

Christina Stevens, 31, and her partner Sylvain Perron, 36, had been looking for a house seriously for a month before they drove by a house on Pelican Drive in the Royal Bay development in Colwood.

According to Stevens, the house was still under construction and the landscaping had yet to be installed. Still she remembers thinking, “That’s the house I want to see.” Without even a For Sale sign outside, she was confident it was the house for them.

“I just knew,” says Stevens, “that if the inside was as nice as the outside, that was the house for us.”

So, what do the experts say will add to a property’s curb appeal?

ARCHITECTURE

A house’s initial design serves as the base to all the other elements, says Steve Akers, an architect with Stuart Howard Architects Inc. in Vancouver. Akers says the heritage or Arts and Crafts style popular these days has a timeless appeal because it has been around for the last 100 years. He suggests homeowners choose the best materials — such as siding and trim boards — that they can afford.

“Finishes done poorly affect the visual appeal of a house,” says Akers.

He also suggests that, if you have the height above the front door, adding a transom — a window over a door — adds visual appeal.

A transom window over the front door will also improve the quality of light inside the house.

STYLE

“The style needs to flow,” says Victoria design consultant Mary Kehler. “It needs to flow in with the surroundings instead of standing out,” she says.

Kehler suggests that a house needs a sense of balance, both in the architectural style and with the landscape. Kehler is fond of blending rock faces into the house if she can because it creates a natural ambience. “The house can be too sterile without it,” she says.

LIGHTING

“Don’t make your home look like a landing strip,” warns Elaine Richardson of Illuminations Lighting Solutions. She is referring to houses with too many dim lights trying unsuccessfully to illuminate a pathway.

“A few well-placed lights are much more effective,” she says. According to Richardson, a simple way to give any house a “quiet wow” is the installation of a four-to-five inch pot light to highlight the front door.

“The idea is to highlight beauty without being garish,” says Richardson.

LANDSCAPING

Duane Ensing of Landscape Solutions in Victoria advises owners to incorporate “exterior architecture” elements into their new home.

“In the transition from landscape to home, it helps to create visual appeal by varying heights and introducing screening for the plants to be displayed against,” says Ensing.

If there is money in the budget, he advises that homeowners consider water features and rock in the garden. It is also important to take into account how big the plants you choose will become when they are mature.

PAINT

“Colour causes an emotional response,” says Victoria designer Robyn Bryson. She suggests that the colour of a house does not need to “shout” to be noticed.

“You can make a statement about grace and elegance with restraint and simplicity,” she says.

Kehler advises using contrasting colours to highlight exterior doors.

GARAGE DOOR/ENTRYWAY

Unless their house is situated in Oak Bay with a rear lane, most homeowners have to contend with a garage door facing the roadway.

Builder Gordon English of Jenco Construction says the best way to soften the appearance of the garage door is by painting it the same colour as the walls. Another strategy is to build a front verandah past the garage.

“The eye is drawn to the closest thing from the curb,” says English, “so the house becomes the focal point, not the garage door.”

He also advocates a curved walkway with steps to create some drama and interest.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

Ozzie Jurock
Sun

There are still scores of opportunities for savvy investors to get high on the Lower Mainland housing scene, real estate consultant Ozzie Jurock says in the June issue of his newsletter, Jurock Real Estate Insider.

“For astute real estate investors there has simply been nowhere else in the country, in fact of all of North America, to be putting their money since 2001,” he declares.

“In the past year alone, despite many warnings that the market was slowing, average prices have forged ahead 20 to 30 per cent.”

For example, a $70,000 Abbotsford condo bought five years ago would have yielded a profit of $100,000 plus, he says.

Jurock has been recommending “the Lower Mainland and anything within a two-hour radius” for 13 years.

His pick of neighbourhoods that he believes will offer the best returns during the next five to 10 years include the following:

– Vancouver: “If anything on the west side is still affordable and uptrending, Dunbar is it,” writes Jurock. Specifically, between 10th Avenue and West 34th Avenue; also Main and Broadway.

– North Vancouver: Lower Lonsdale is “Yaletown North, without the prices.”

– Richmond: Steveston has “given Richmond the one thing it lacked: a soul.”

– Port Moody: Newport Village, with its “size, space, views” and quaint shops.

– Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows: Albion development area, which Jurock claims will boom when the big bridge opens in 2009 and ferry traffic subsides.

– Langley: Yorkson Village, the first master-planned community in Canada built to the environmentally advanced Built Green gold standard.

– Surrey: Surrey Centre, “where the potential for rental investment and quick profits is possible.”

– Mission: Mission Central “for bargain hunters and flippers,” and Cedar Valley “for long-term investment.”

– Chilliwack: Garrison Crossing; Chilliwack Centre; rural acreage packages on the north side of the freeway.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006