Two-pronged attack designed to tax foreign buyers, boost supply

VAUGHN PALMER
The Vancouver Sun

After months of making light of the need to crack down on foreign buyers of residential property, the B.C. Liberals performed a dramatic about face at the opening of the brief summer session of the legislature.

The grab-bag Miscellaneous Statutes (Housing Priority Initiatives) Amendment Act, tabled Monday, included the promised re-regulation of the real estate industry and the asked-for-by-Mayor Gregor Robertson power for Vancouver to tax vacant residential properties.

But the Liberals upstaged both measures with a twoway intervention into the housing market: a 15 per cent tax on foreign buyers to drive down demand and a multimillion-dollar fund to increase supply.

The levy on foreign buyers would be confined to the purchase of residential properties in Metro Vancouver and charged as a premium atop the existing property transfer tax. Once enacted, the bill would give the Liberals the power to increase the rate to 20 per cent and to extend its application beyond the boundaries of Metro Vancouver, all without further recourse to the legislature.

Though the Liberals insisted the tax was not crafted as a revenue measure but rather to “diminish the amount of foreign investment,” their own data suggested the proceeds could be substantial.

Foreign nationals snapped up $350 million worth of residential property in Metro Vancouver in just under three weeks back in June. If that pace were to continue, the tax could bring in several hundred million dollars in the space of a year. But that’s a big if, since this big a levy could also drive a lot of would-be buyers out of a market that’s already cooling in the assessment of some observers.

In any event, any proceeds from the 15 per cent tax are destined for a Housing Priority Initiatives account, which is also established by the legislation. The Liberals seeded the account with a further $75 million, a relatively small share of the recent windfall to the provincial treasury from surging real estate sales. The bill would also give the Liberals the power to top up the account with additional revenue from the property transfer tax.

Asked how the money in the housing initiatives account would be used, Clark referred reporters to the six principles outlined in a recent video: “Increasing housing supply; linking communities together better with smart transit investments; supporting first-time home buyers who are trying to crack into the market; protecting consumers from shady practices; increasing rental supply; and, most of all, to keep that dream of home ownership alive for the middle class, we must put British Columbians first.”

But on a first reading of the bill, it would appear to give the Liberals considerable leeway to spend the money as they see fit. Indeed, I was struck by how the text would exempt the housing initiative account from several key controls of the Financial Administration Act, the main budget legislation governing the expenditure of public funds in the province.

Once the bill is enacted by the government majority in the legislature, Finance Minister Mike de Jong and the Treasury Board committee of cabinet would be allowed to pay money out of the account for purposes such as:

Acquiring, constructing, maintaining or renovating housing or shelter.

Acquiring or improving land used, or intended to be used for housing or shelter.

Supporting the acquisition of same, by other levels of government, non-profits, and the like.

The latter might include private operators judging from the following statement of purpose: “Making loans to persons in relation to the acquisition, construction, maintenance, renovation or retention of housing or shelter or the acquisition or improvement of land intended to be used for housing or shelter.”

There is also this: “The minister of finance may, on behalf of the government, guarantee the repayment of all or part of a loan by a person if the loan is in relation to the acquisition, construction, maintenance, renovation or retention of housing or shelter or the acquisition or improvement of land intended to be used for housing or shelter.”

All those vague and open-ended powers can be exercised without further recourse to the legislature, which casts an ironic light on the premier’s claim that this bill was not a rush job but rather the product of meticulous effort in the drafting stage.

“You can’t do tax legislation on the back of an envelope, so it’s taken a little bit of time to work through how we would make this happen,” she told reporters. “Once we had figured out the legislative piece, we decided it was important enough that we call back the legislature in an unusual session to make sure that we got it done.”

Making the best of the government having seized the initiative on the housing file, Opposition Leader John Horgan noted how the government recalled the legislature to enact measures on housing and recognition of transgender rights that the New Democrats long supported and the Liberals long rejected.

“We know it’s the summer session because it’s flip-flop season here with the B.C. Liberals,” said the New Democrat, to much applause from his side of the house and a laugh or two among the Liberals.

Still, for all their leisurely pace on the housing file over the past year, the Liberals are finally moving in a substantial way and they’ve given themselves the power to do a lot more without further recourse to the legislature.

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark has unveiled her government’s proposed new legislation aimed at reining in housing costs

Rob Shaw
The Province

 Foreign buyers of Metro Vancouver real estate will be taxed an additional 15 per cent, the government announced Monday in new legislation.

The tax would increase the property transfer tax on non-Canadian citizens purchasing homes. It would begin Aug. 2 and apply to all residential property in Metro Vancouver, excluding the Tsawwassen First Nation.

The government said the additional tax on a $2 million home in the Lower Mainland would amount to $300,000 on a foreign citizen.

The rules also apply to foreign-controlled corporations that are not incorporated in Canada or in which at least one beneficiary is a a foreign entity.

The money would go into a special housing account set up in legislation Monday to fund housing affordability projects, rental supply and housing support programs. Government is putting $75 million into the fund initially.

The bill also gives the City of Vancouver power to implement a tax on vacant homes, which the city has argued could help increase the supply of rental housing by encouraging absentee owners to rent out their properties. Vancouver has said it needs a data-sharing agreement with the provincial government to make the tax work.

The bill also removes self-policing in the real estate industry.

The new housing legislation comes as the B.C. Liberal government wrestles with criticism it has been slow to act on the housing affordability crisis. Critics have called for government intervention to cool the market and keep home prices in reach of middle-class British Columbians. The government has resisted, saying it didn’t want to interfere and that the issue was primarily one of rising demand for a limited supply of homes. But as the May 2017 election looms on the horizon, both the Liberals and NDP are fighting for voter approval on their plans.

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

Vancouver needs provincial government to share key data

ROB SHAW
The Vancouver Sun

Vancouver’s mayor is warning that new provincial legislation won’t be enough to get a vacancy tax operational unless his city can hammer out an agreement to tap government-held data on home ownership.

Gregor Robertson said enabling legislation that the Liberal government will introduce Monday has to be followed by a data-sharing deal, or else Vancouver will be left with no efficient way to determine what is vacant property and might have to rely on citizens filing complaints about their neighbours.

“Without the provincial data, it will be very difficult to administer an empty homes tax,” Robertson said in an interview. “So the data sharing is an essential ingredient in putting this together. Enabling it through legislation is a good first step, but it’s not enough to make this viable. It will be really difficult if we don’t have the right data sets from the province to administer this.”

Vancouver is looking to narrow down a list of more than 10,000 potentially vacant homes, condos and townhouses by pinpointing secondary residences people declare in the government homeowner grant program, or through rental income on income tax returns. As well, B.C. driver’s licence data could shed light on what people declare as their primary residence.

The province has publicly indicated a willingness to share what it has, within the confines of privacy laws.

The city said it’s not necessarily seeking copies of the data, and it might be possible to have the government run its own database analysis to produce a narrowed list of potentially vacant Vancouver homes that city staff could work from.

“What we get from an array of different data sets is the ability to cross reference and identify empty homes,” said Robertson. “The more data sets, the easier it is to identify the empty homes. It makes the administration far more efficient. Ultimately, if we triangulate using data sets that the province already collects then we avoid the concerns around neighbours reporting or complaining about empty homes nearby. We really don’t want to go there,” the mayor added, about a socalled system of snitching on vacant neighbours.

The government legislation will come during an emergency summer session of the house, as the B.C. Liberals seek to respond to widespread criticism that they’ve been too slow to react to a hot real estate market that has priced many residents out of home ownership in the Lower Mainland.

Vancouver’s vacancy tax will form one part of a housing omnibus bill, which will also include removing the real estate industry’s right to police itself.

Finance Minister Mike de Jong has hinted there will be other announcements, such as potentially using some of the $1.5 billion government takes in annually through the property transfer tax to fund affordable housing.

“We’re going to share information that we have that will be of assistance to enforce or implement the tax,” de Jong said last week about the Vancouver legislation.

Vancouver has yet to decide what tax it will levy upon vacant homes, or how exactly it will go about enforcing its program — other than it intends to target homes left vacant for 12 months a year. But to collect the tax starting next year, it will need a data-sharing deal by this fall, said Robertson.

Community Development Minister Peter Fassbender, who will shepherd the vacancy tax through the legislature because he’s responsible for the Vancouver Charter, said Friday he needs to see a more detailed proposal from Vancouver on exactly what it wants.

“The reason we’re calling the legislature back is to clearly give Vancouver what they’ve asked for,” said Fassbender. “Beyond that, until they really develop that framework and the details, it’s a little hard to commit.”

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

Plan adds 9,500 residents over three decades

Matt Robinson
The Vancouver Sun

Munro said the city will do a cost-benefit analysis on this type of consultation process to see if it should be used elsewhere.

When staff finished the new plan, they took it to the citizens assembly before it went public.

The plan calls for a big boost in population — 9,500 more people, an increase of nearly 30 per cent, in three decades. The added density is achieved by allowing multiunit buildings over a larger area rather than just adding height in a few places. Towers in areas like the Safeway site at Broadway and Commercial, an area of contention in the first draft, were reduced to a maximum of 24 storeys from 36, and neighbouring buildings would be limited to 10.

Nanaimo Street would get less height than was first envisioned, with apartment buildings up to six storeys (down from eight) at major intersections, transitioning to townhouses and row houses then duplexes. Areas with single detached homes would be open to duplexes and infills, and rental buildings could be redeveloped if they are replaced with additional units. Commercial Drive would be limited to four storeys apart from its northern and southern ends and the odd additional block that could go a little higher.

Among those who offered early impressions on the plan was Dorothy Barkley. Barkley was a member of the assembly, but she is also the head of the residents’ group that has come out against the plan.

Her initial reaction — reflected in a Sun article last month — was that the draft plan reflected the assembly’s recommendations. But having spent more time with it, she said recently, she “discovered that it overrode a number of (assembly) suggestions,” including those around height. The residents’ group has also begun to fear that the pace of change in the neighbourhood would be too swift and the redevelopment of rental buildings could push out lower income renters who could not afford to live in new apartments.

For Andrea Reimer, a city councillor with Vision Vancouver, further delay of the area plan is not palatable.

“We’re at a point where we either need to say yes or no to this plan,” Reimer said. “I don’t see how more time on this plan is going to get us to anything more than is on paper right now.”

If councillors say no to the plan, it would not mean status quo for the community, but decline, Reimer said. She pointed to statistics in the plan that support that view.

Grandview-Woodland’s population has dropped 6.5 per cent in the past 15 years. Over the past 40 years it grew just three per cent while the rest of the city jumped 42 per cent. And while the neighbourhood is often considered familyoriented, that has clearly started to change. The number of children in the neighbourhood plunged 35 per cent from 1996 to 2011 and there are now about 25 per cent fewer teens. In the opinion of staff, more ground-oriented housing and larger apartments could help turn that around.

About two-thirds of the residents in the area are renters, and most of the new residents would be as well. It may be that contingent that will hold the most sway as the plan heads to hearings this week. If renters join homeowners in a push back against density, councillors may find it difficult to OK the plan.

If they don’t, it will make it easier for councillors and staff to dismiss concerns as having come from a non-representative demographic that yelled loudest.

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

New property-transfer tax kicks in on Aug. 2 for those not citizens or permanent residents

Glen Korstrom
Vancouver Courier

Foreigners who buy B.C. homes will have to pay a new 15 per cent tax starting Aug. 2 thanks to new legislation that the B.C. government introduced July 25.

The measure comes after speculation that foreign money is to blame for surging Metro Vancouver home prices.

The tax is set to apply to the sale of all homes in Metro Vancouver except those on treaty lands of the Tsawwassen First Nation.

Those who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents will have to pay the tax. That includes corporations that are either not registered in Canada or are controlled by foreigners.

B.C. residents already pay a 1 per cent tax on the first $200,000 of their purchase, 2 per cent on the remaining value up to $2 million and 3 per cent on the portion above that.

The new measure would add $300,000 in new tax on a $2 million home.

“The data we started collecting earlier this summer is showing that foreign nationals invested more than $1 billion into B.C. property between June 10 and July 14, more than 86% of it in the Lower Mainland,” said de Jong to explain the government’s rationale for the new tax.

“While investment from outside Canada is only one factor driving price increases, it represents an additional source of pressure on a market struggling to build enough new homes to keep up. This additional tax on foreign purchases will help manage foreign demand while new homes are built to meet local needs.”

The new legislation, dubbed the Miscellaneous Statutes (Housing Priority Initiatives) Amendment Act, 2016, also establishes a fund for market housing and rental initiatives, strengthens consumer protection, and gives the City of Vancouver the tools it requested to increase rental property supply.

“Owning a home should be accessible to middle-class families, and those who are in a position to rent should be able to find a suitable home,” said Premier Christy Clark.

“These changes are about helping to make sure that British Columbians can continue to live, work and raise their families in our vibrant communities.”

© 2016 Vancouver Courier

REP

Foreign nationals who buy real estate in Metro Vancouver would pay an additional property transfer tax of 15 per cent under legislation being brought in today by the British Columbia government.

Finance Minister Mike de Jong introduced the tax as part of legislation aimed at addressing low vacancy rates and high real estate prices in southern B.C.

The government says the additional tax will take effect Aug. 2 and will apply to foreign buyers registering the purchase of residential homes in Metro Vancouver, excluding treaty lands in the Tsawwassen First Nation.

De Jong says the additional tax on a $2-million home would amount to $300,000.

He says recent government housing data indicates foreign nationals spent more than $1 billion on B.C. property between June 10 and July 14, with 86 per cent being made on purchases in the Lower Mainland area.

The legislative package would also enable the City of Vancouver to amend its community charter in order to levy a vacancy tax.

Last May, de Jong said he wasn’t in favour of a tax on foreign investment, saying he worried it would send the wrong message to Asia-Pacific investors.

Copyright © 2016 Key Media Pty Ltd

Michael Smyth
The Province

The only politicians you typically find at the B.C. legislature in the summertime are make-believe ones.

They are the young actors who dress up as 19th-century lawmakers to entertain the tourists. Eccentric former premier Amor De Cosmos is a common sight, strolling the precincts in his top hot and moustache.

But, on Monday, the real MLAs are back in town for a rare summer sitting of the legislature to confront an issue bristling with political intrigue.

It’s the Metro Vancouver housing affordability crisis. Prices have shot through the stratosphere, souring the dream of home ownership for non-millionaires.

Now, after fiddling for a year while the real estate market burned, Premier Christy Clark and her Liberal government are finally taking the issue on.

The Clark government is set to pass legislation to allow the city of Vancouver to impose a tax on empty homes. Speculators who buy up houses and condos and then let them sit empty would be slapped with the punitive tax.

The government is also hinting at new measures to build affordable housing, and they certainly have enough money to do it.

That’s because the red-hot real estate market has generated a lucrative cash windfall for the government from the property transfer tax.

When a B.C. home is sold, the government takes a percentage cut. The higher the price, the more the government collects.

With prices so high, the government is making a transfer-tax killing: A jaw-dropping $1.53 billion last year — that’s a 44-per-cent increase in one year and over $600 million more than the government expected to collect.

Are you starting to see now why the government has been hesitant to derail the real-estate gravy train?

Throw in the fact that the governing Liberals are heavily bankrolled by real estate companies — to the tune of $12 million in campaign contributions — and it’s easier to understand why the government didn’t want to spoil the profit party.

So why are the Liberals taking action now? Probably because they are looking at polling data that shows voters want something done with an election just 10 months away.

An Insights West poll said 76 per cent of voters are dissatisfied with the way Christy Clark has handled the issue, and 80 per cent think a tax on absentee homeowners is a good idea.

“The level of animosity toward the government is pretty high,” said pollster Mario Canseco. “Victoria had to act in some fashion.”

So here comes the action. But is the government doing the right thing and will it work?

The idea of an vacant-homes tax, confined to the city limits of Vancouver, has other municipal mayors in the region concerned.

“I don’t see any way it can be efficiently administered,” said West Vancouver Mayor Michael Smith. “What constitutes ‘vacancy’? Everybody has their own definition and you’d need a bureaucracy to administer it.”

And wouldn’t absentee speculators just snap up homes in the suburbs instead to avoid the tax?

“A lot of the mayors think it’s totally stupid to have a solution for just one city that, even if it works, could simply push the problem to the borders of Vancouver,” said NDP housing critic David Eby. “It’s absurd. We’re going back to the legislature to address a regional housing crisis with a solution for just one city in the region.”

Eby and others say the government is ignoring the real problem: Offshore speculators flooding the region with billions of dollars in foreign money and distorting the market.

The NDP has proposed a tax on non-resident buyers by cross-checking real-estate sales with income-tax data: Homebuyers who don’t pay income taxes here would be hit with an anti-speculation tax, with the money used to build affordable housing.

Will the government slap a tax on foreign real estate capital? I asked de Jong that and he responded with a strange 10 seconds of silence and then dodged the question.

I expect that’s because the government is trying to figure out a way to bring in some kind of restrictions on offshore money that will appease restless voters while not puncturing government revenues or ticking off Liberal donors and homeowners.

In the meantime, the finance minister is going out of his way to remind everyone this empty homes tax is Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson’s idea.

“We’re facilitating the city of Vancouver to do this,” de Jong said.

But Eby thinks that’s just another way of saying: “Don’t blame us if it doesn’t work.”

“It’s a very convenient way to look like you’re doing something while not having to take any responsibility for the outcome,” Eby said.

“All the political risk around the impacts and the implementation of this tax falls in the lap of the city of Vancouver. If it fails, the province can step back and say ‘Well, they asked for it, we gave it to them and they screwed it up.’ They don’t have to take any responsibility.”

De Jong, though, cautioned the government can only do so much.

“Let us not make the mistake of assuming that governments are going to tax our way out of the challenge that exists for people to acquire a home,” he said, adding a better idea is to increase supply.

“Build more product,” de Jong said. “Build more houses. People want to buy them. So let’s give them something to buy.”

He hinted that some of that $1.5-billion transfer-tax windfall could be used to do just that. That would certainly keep relations happy with the real estate companies that have so generously supported the Liberals.

But maybe the biggest political concern for the government is a fear that housing prices could suddenly drop, a lot of people could lose a lot of money and those people would blame the Liberals.

“I’m not saying this is a bubble, but it may be,” said UBC business professor Tom Davidoff. “But even if it’s not a bubble, there could certainly be a correction. And if I was going into an election, I would not be eager to do anything that could lead to a bust.”

But Davidoff thinks the government should do something. He’s the leader of the anti-speculation-tax idea.

Now the heat is on the Christy Clark government to deliver something, anything, to deal with an issue that poses a serious political threat to her re-election next May.

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

Mysterious wheeler-dealer is at centre of a web of B.C. real estate deals

Sam Cooper
The Province

A Chinese property tycoon linked to a massive banking scandal in China’s industrial north is at the centre of more than $500 million in B.C. property deals, a joint investigation by Postmedia and global due diligence firm IPSA International shows.

Chinese real estate magnate Kevin Sun — also known as Hong Sun, Kevin Lin, Hong Wei Sun and Sun Hongwei — founded Sun Commercial Real Estate in 2013. In addition to buying and selling hundreds of millions in B.C. property, the B.C. company, which focuses on immigrant investors, has raised over $200 million from investors.

The banking scandal, at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, started with a $500-million loan fraud audit in Jilin, a corruption-plagued northeastern province.

“As far as my client knows, there are no ‘Chinese police warrants’ in China for Kevin Sun (under that or any other name) nor are there any RCMP files in relation to same,” Sun Commercial lawyer James Carpick stated in an email to Postmedia.

But law enforcement officers interviewed by Postmedia say investigations in China concerning Kevin Sun and Sun Commercial’s CEO Davidson Guo are known to a number of agencies, including the RCMP, the Canada Border Services Agency and the B.C. Securities Commission.

So exactly who is Kevin Sun and what are his plans for Canadian and Chinese real estate markets?

Despite repeated efforts by Postmedia, Sun would not agree to answer questions about his business interests.

But a B.C. Supreme Court civil case connected to a South Vancouver property flip provides insight.
Detailed testimony from Bo Jiang, Sun’s friend and first employee in B.C., points to Sun’s fortune in China, his arrival on B.C.’s real estate scene, and complex land investment strategies that preceded Sun Commercial’s incredible growth.

Just over 10 years ago, Sun and Jiang were in the kitchen of Sun’s home talking about how rich they would get by flipping Vancouver property. Sun nodded at his employee and patted him on the shoulder. 

Bo Jiang — or Bobo, as Sun affectionately called him — was Sun’s translator and jack-of-all trades in property speculation, Jiang would recall in the 2008 B.C. Supreme Court civil case. Bobo was the worker who asked Richmond bureaucrats for land subdivisions, opened a Marine Drive Royal Bank account to manage Sun’s cash, and took care of all the little things, such as maintaining Kevin Sun’s growing roster of empty homes.

Sun hired Jiang in 2004 to work for Qiji, a real estate investment company based in Richmond. It’s not clear how much Jiang knew about his boss’s history in China. But according to Jiang’s testimony, he did know that Sun claimed to be enormously wealthy.

“At that time he said something like, ‘Eventually I would give you more than what you want or what you ask,’” Jiang told the Supreme Court. “He said that, ‘Given that I’m so wealthy, I don’t give a damn about this little money.’”

Also in 2004, Chinese media including Sina, an online financial news service, were reporting that a Jilin entrepreneur named Sun Hongwei had left behind “a $2.8 billion (yuan) credit maze, infamy and misappropriation of state assets.”

Sun Hongwei had rapidly amassed a conglomerate of state-owned companies in the 1990s, multiple Chinese media outlets reported. In 2003, he was named China’s 388th richest citizen according to a profile in New Fortune magazine. But by that time, according to reporters in China, Sun had already disappeared.

‘He says Montreal was too cold’

Kevin Sun is a mysterious figure. In an era when many B.C. real estate titans seek the media spotlight in person to market their projects, Sun prefers the shadows.

Ads for his namesake company, Sun Commercial (also known as SunCom), are plastered across Vancouver transit buses. But Kevin Sun has avoided interviews with Postmedia.

And Carpick, SunCom’s lawyer, distanced Kevin Sun from Sun Commercial, the company Sun founded in 2013. Sun ceased to be a corporate director in June 2015, documents show. “Mr. Sun is not a director, officer, employee or shareholder of my client,” Carpick said.

Postmedia could find only one public picture of Kevin Sun since his arrival in B.C. The September 2015 photo of him posing in front of a large SunCom ice sculpture, standing beside the company’s star employee and vice-president Julia Lau, was removed from Lau’s Facebook page after securities regulators launched a review of the company in connection to a January 2016 report by The Province.

The bottom line is, apart from a few well-informed Mandarin speakers in Richmond’s real estate and political fundraising circles, very few people know that Kevin Sun is the magnate behind the rapid expansion of Sun Commercial and many associated companies in B.C.

“Kevin Sun has been here for a while,” said one leader in the Chinese community. “He is pretty good at staying out of the spotlight.”

Associates, who would be interviewed only on condition of anonymity, say that Sun has claimed he landed in Montreal after leaving China. Sun has permanent resident status in Canada. A photo I.D. copy of Sun’s permanent resident card says his nationality is Chinese, and the card is marked “04 05 2001 Vancouver.”

“He says Montreal was too cold,” one associate said. “I think he came to Vancouver around 2001 or 2002.”

Once in Vancouver, Sun and his wife Ling Lin reportedly lived in a small apartment near Langara College where they socialized with Chinese immigrants. Soon they had single-family homes in Vancouver and Richmond. Kevin Sun and Ling Lin were sued by HSBC Bank Canada, which alleges they defaulted on a $3.2-million mortgage on one of Sun’s homes — a $9.5-million gated mansion in Richmond complete with stables and sprawling grounds that served as corporate mailing address for Sun’s companies. SunCom lawyer Carpick said his client would not comment on a case “still pending before the courts.”

There are no known records indicating whether Kevin Sun transferred wealth from China to Canada. China has strict capital controls barring citizens from transferring more than $50,000 abroad per year.

Allegations of ‘conspiracy to defraud banks’

Sun was born in Changchun City, Jilin Province, on June 17, 1968. His name at birth was Sun Hongwei. News reports now published online in China for over 10 years allege details about Sun’s mysterious rise and abrupt disappearance from Jilin.

One of the reports is a document-based investigation by Caijing, which is called China’s “respected business magazine” by the New York Times. Confidential U.S. diplomatic cables sent in 2008 to the U.S. National Security Counsel and the Central Intelligence Agency, and revealed by WikiLeaks, cited Caijing’s “hard-hitting” reporting on “endemic” corruption in Jilin province.

“The somewhat dated media reports you attach make various statements, but my client has no confidence any of them are true,” lawyer Carpick said. “Anyone who places any faith in the accuracy of media reports from the PRC (China) would be wise to remember that freedom of the press does not exist there.”

Chinese media reports focus on Sun’s humble background as a hairdresser whose fortunes abruptly changed around 1990. Sina Finance reported that after meeting a person reportedly connected with a manager of Jilin’s branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which is China’s largest bank, Sun founded Jilin Heng Enterprise Group in 1995. He was 27. In a few short years, Sun’s conglomerate acquired a number of former state-owned enterprises, including semiconductor plants and factories that produced tractors, light bulbs and wire, according to Sina Finance and business documents cited by the media outlet. Soon Sun moved into pharmaceuticals and retail chains.

In 1999, he founded Jilin’s largest supermarket chain. Sun’s supermarket chain faltered when Walmart arrived in Jilin, according to Sina Finance, and Sun faced a cash crunch.

A number of reports allege that some Jilin Heng companies were financed through loans obtained fraudulently. In one case, Caijing cited business documents and reported that Sun was connected to “dubious” venture agreements for a business that “does not exist.”

In November 2000, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange announced that Sun Hongwei and the Jilin Pharmaceutical Group were judged by Jilin City People’s Court to have violated civil law in a company merger involving the “possession, use and disposal” of a Jilin chemical plant. Sun’s company was ordered to “bear the primary responsibility” for losses in the case.

Yet, by 2001, Sun’s conglomerate was counted among China’s top 100 private enterprises. That year, Sun was a representative for the National People’s Congress for Jilin City, public documents in China say.

Around that time, Industrial and Commercial Bank launched a nationwide audit and irregular loans were discovered in the Jilin branch. According to a statement quoted by Sina Finance, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China audit commission alleged: “Since 1994, Jilin Heng Enterprise Group Co. Ltd. and 13 affiliates, used a variety of techniques in conspiracy to defraud banks. By the end of 2002, the Group’s total Industrial and Commercial Bank of China provincial branch loans stood at 2.8 billion yuan” — about $500 million Canadian.

Reports say that police arrested a number of Sun’s business associates in Jilin. Sun was not arrested and apparently had left China by 2003, Sina Finance reported.

The first known corporate record tied to Kevin Sun in B.C. is his August 2004 registration of the Qiji real estate investment firm. Court testimony by Qiji employee Jiang provides the most-detailed account of Sun’s ventures in or before 2004.

“I was already doing things together with Kevin Sun,” Jiang testified in 2008. “In the beginning, we tried to start an investment company. That investment fund company is for the China real estate market. We also conducted market research in supermarkets. Kevin Sun back then also had an idea he would want to run a soccer gambling club.”

Jiang’s testimony does not make clear if Sun’s earliest plans were for an investment fund for Chinese investors to buy B.C. property, or for investors in B.C. to buy Chinese real estate. However, a Bloomberg News profile of SunOil Ltd. president and chairman Kevin Sun says that in 2015 he had been in the resource industry for 10 years and “during this time Mr. Sun has been active in the international real estate markets as an adviser.”

‘Multiple regulated entities’

In Sun’s Richmond home around 2005, according to Jiang’s testimony in 2008, he and Sun discussed a land deal for the 2400-block of Southwest Marine Drive in Vancouver. Qiji would own the property. But Sun wanted Jiang to sign a mortgage for the home to get “favourable” terms, according to Sun’s legal claim. Also, Sun wanted Jiang to use his name on the home’s title. The reason, according to Jiang’s testimony, was so Sun and Qiji could use Jiang’s first-time homebuyer tax benefits.

Jiang sought assurance that he would get about a 10-per-cent share of the Marine Drive flip profits and similar terms for all the other deals he would complete for Qiji and Kevin Sun. Although no contract was signed, Jiang claims that through Chinese cultural understanding, Sun verbally agreed.

Jiang testified that Sun told him: “‘Bobo, you have peace of mind when all this is done and over with, what you are going to make is not going to be less than $200,000.’”

The Marine Drive home was bought in December 2005 by Bo Jiang for $1.09 million, title documents show. It was listed for sale in April 2006 and sold in September 2006 for $1,368,800.

But legal filings in the case say Jiang paid net sale proceeds of $492,257 to Kevin Sun’s wife Ling Lin and $10,000 to Qiji.

In a contract dispute that arose in 2007, Qiji Investment Ltd. and Sun sued Jiang, alleging he unjustly withheld $137,000 of sale proceeds.

In his statement of defence, Jiang said: “Sun did not wish to proceed with the Marine Drive Project, with the property registered in the name of the company, because Sun believed that the taxes that would be incurred by the company … would render the project less profitable.”

The parties agreed in 2008 to a dismissal of the lawsuit.

Sun Commercial lawyer Carpick said “I rather doubt that the public is interested,” in the Kevin Sun vs. Jiang case, when asked if Sun would answer questions.

In a brief emailed response to a list of questions forwarded by Postmedia, Carolyn Rogers, B.C.’s top real estate regulator and CEO of B.C.’s Financial Institutions Commission, said the case “involves multiple regulated entities.”

“Trustees and beneficial owners, as well as anyone assisting them, must comply with all applicable laws and must not commit tax fraud or mortgage fraud,” Rogers stated.

Rogers said that she would forward the Marine Drive case to B.C.’s Real Estate Council. She said the RCMP, Fintrac (Canada’s anti-money laundering agency), the Canadian Revenue Agency, and B.C. Securities Commission could all answer questions on various aspects of the case. All the agencies were contacted by Postmedia, but none would say whether it would investigate the Marine Drive deal.

“The CRA cannot provide an opinion on the aspects of the transaction described,” Canadian Revenue Agency spokeswoman Colette Turgeon said.

Turgeon stated that generally: “An employer of an employee who is a first-time homebuyer cannot claim the homebuyer’s tax credit.”

In the court case, Kevin Sun’s lawyer quizzed Jiang on a number of cash withdrawals connected with the Marine Drive Royal Bank account, and pointed to a number of large deposits from Kevin Sun, ranging from $10,000 to $30,000.

Jiang said some transactions were for Qiji’s Marine Drive project. He told the court that Sun gave him only large amounts to deposit on Sun’s behalf, and other cash withdrawals were taken out for Sun for unidentified purposes.

“It was not about other projects. It was payment for other purposes,” Jiang said. “I don’t know how to explain to you because Kevin likes to do things this way. Whenever he want cash, he would want me to do something like this.”

Jiang also testified that “we have already conducted a lot of projects,” before the Marine Drive deal and “during some of our very early projects it was this realtor who introduce us to meet the branch manager of Royal Bank.”

The real estate agent, who was only identified in the transcript by his surname Cheung, was believed to be from the Sutton Group Richmond office, Jiang testified.

Jiang’s testimony seems to raise questions about whether real estate agents and bankers regulated by Fintrac and subject to Canada’s anti-money-laundering laws would have completed proper due diligence or would have needed to report suspicious or large cash transactions linked to Kevin Sun.

According to guidelines on Fintrac’s website, a number of aspects of the Marine Drive deal and Jiang’s testimony about Sun’s property investments apparently could have raised red flags for a reasonable professional. For example, Fintrac advises that any real estate transaction in which the buyer is foreign and their purpose is to invest rather than live in a home could be reported. Also, if a non-Canadian home purchaser buys multiple properties in a short time-period, uses a shell company, or attempts to remain anonymous, red flags could be raised.

Management at Sutton Group in Richmond was asked whether it could identify a realtor named Cheung allegedly involved in deals with Kevin Sun and Bo Jiang. Brokerage owner Scott Russell, who is a board director and past president of the B.C. Real Estate Association, said that the office does employ a realtor named Cheung, and Russell did not recognize the names of Kevin Sun and Bo Jiang.

“I don’t know anything about it,” Russell said. “I don’t know what I could add.”

Fintrac would not say whether it received any suspicious transaction reports in connection to the Marine Drive flip case or whether it will investigate.

“This is not for Fintrac to answer as it is not an investigative agency,” a spokeswoman said. “The police would be better placed to address questions relating to possible criminal offences.”

However, regarding Fintrac’s due diligence rules, spokeswoman Renee Bercier said “financial entities must also use reasonable measures at the opening of an account to determine whether a third party, other than the account holder … is directing what happens with the account.”

The Marine Drive case also seems to highlight the vague, failed regulatory structure of B.C.’s real estate industry. After a damning independent report into shady industry practices, Premier Christy Clark recently announced a complete overhaul of real estate regulation.

Rogers, the head of B.C.’s Financial Institutions Commission, was not able to tell Postmedia whether she, as superintendent of real estate, is the regulator of Kevin Sun’s company Qiji, the related real estate company Sun Commercial and those involved in the negotiation and marketing of deals associated to Kevin Sun’s various investment companies in B.C.

Aside from regulatory questions surrounding the Sun vs. Jiang case, about 80 pages of Jiang’s testimony under oath provides unique insights into Kevin Sun’s early deals and investment methods. After Jiang was examined, Jiang’s lawyer asked to examine Sun. Sun did not testify.

Chinese media reports in 2004 referred to a “maze” of financing connected to Sun’s many companies. Similarly, in 2008, Jiang claimed in court that to explain his employment terms and provide accounting for Sun’s projects on “many pieces of land” would be an extremely complex task.

“It is quite a complex issue because some were related to Qiji, but others were related to companies owned by him. Because when he conducted real estate projects, for each project he would register an individual company,” Jiang testified. “Everything was merged together. His individual ventures, ventures by his own company, or ventures where he would co-operate with other people.”

Jiang, who now is a licensed realtor but was not in 2005, was contacted by Postmedia. He said he did not want to comment on the Marine Drive deal or answer questions about Sun.

One of the properties that Jiang referred to in court, a 94-acre farm in Richmond, was raided by the RCMP in 2008 in connection to an alleged meth lab and marijuana grow op. The Richmond Review unsuccessfully attempted to contact the landlord, Qiji Land Syndicate, and its sole director Hong Wei Sun, a 2008 news story said. Cpl. Dennis Hwang of the Richmond RCMP told Postmedia he could not answer any questions about the outcome of the case.

One associate said that in B.C., Sun seems to be repeating the style of business he started in Jilin.

“He is an opportunist. You know, in Jilin he bought factories very cheap and he sells it for the real estate value and then leaves,” the associate said in an interview. “Now he moves very fast from buying farmland to flipping houses to flipping commercial property. If a developer from China wants to develop in Vancouver, Sun buys the land first and sells it to them. He is very secretive and smart.”

An associate of Sun told Postmedia: “In Vancouver, it is not just Kevin, though. There is hundreds of people similar to him.”

The belief that there are hundreds of real estate investors in Vancouver who are under suspicion in China is shared by Canadian law enforcement sources.

“Sometimes we ask ourselves if we’ve already lost the battle,” one such source said. “I think this guy is just part of a large network.”

A maze of B.C. land deals

After examining many hundreds of pages of corporate, legal and land documents connected to Kevin Sun, a visual metaphor helps to focus the picture. Revolving around Sun are a handful of key people, luxurious homes and Metro Vancouver properties with highrise potential. The people, homes and land are connected to about 14 investment companies which are related to Sun Commercial. If Kevin Sun is the centre of this financial solar system, the planets orbiting him are connected in highly fluid relationships where personal names, corporate locations and company names and directorships constantly change. In one simple example, Sun’s land company Qiji has had five different name variations.

Kim Marsh, executive vice-president of IPSA International and a former commander of a RCMP international Organized Crime Investigation Unit, said at the conclusion of a year-long joint investigation by Postmedia News and IPSA: “This case has many alarming red flags.”

“The modus operandi outlined in this case is similar to some of the operations that are using the Canadian real estate market to launder money,” Marsh said. “This situation begs many questions including, what happened to the visa vetting process, banking compliance, public company scrutiny and regulators of all sorts.”

Property documents indicate investors linked to Kevin Sun own or have owned well over $100 million in Metro Vancouver residential property, and some of these luxury residences are linked to Sun investment companies. Land records indicate that over $500 million in B.C. property has been bought and sold through companies related to Sun.

Additionally, Kevin Sun’s company SunOil has allegedly claimed in meetings with immigrant investors in the B.C. provincial nominee program, to possess over $1-billion in North American oil and gas reserves, according to an action in B.C. Supreme Court. 

Kevin Sun incorporated Sun Commercial in September 2013, and made De Xue Guo a co-director. Around the time he joined Sun Commercial, according to corporate records, De Xue Guo changed his name to Davidson Guo. Davidson Guo is listed as owner of 6050 Chancellor Blvd., a $2.5-million UBC area duplex purchased in 2010. As SunCom president and CEO, Guo does not answer media questions, SunCom staff said.

Oakridge Centre realtor Denise She and the many properties and companies registered to various spellings of her name are central to Kevin Sun’s real estate investments. Denise Den She, who is called a “long-standing” friend and business associate of Qiji principal Kevin Sun in legal filings, is owner of 3899 Cartier St., a $12.9-million property in Vancouver’s Shaughnessy. Among her many Metro Vancouver property holdings, Denise She’s investment company She2006 Investment owns seven condos on the 7000-block River Road in Richmond. Additional Sun associates include SunOil Ltd. director Hai Feng Zhu, who is the listed owner of #5104 — 1128 West Georgia St., a $3-million Shangri-La Estates penthouse in downtown Vancouver. The penthouse is linked in corporate filings to a controversial SunCom property flip on Vancouver’s Nelson Street, and is also listed as the corporate address for Sun Commercial director Hui Zhen Fei.

SunCom’s former vice-president Julia Lau — a former top B.C. realtor who claimed in SunCom ads to have sold $560 million worth of luxury residences from 2009 to 2014 — was one of the investors in a 2014 SunCom land assembly in Burnaby along with her business associate Mailin Chen. Mailin Chen, formerly a duck farmer in Nanjing, and his investment company Chungwa have owned or flipped 13 properties in B.C. since 2009, and Chen owns a $51.8-million Point Grey mansion. SunCom associates and investors bought 6695 Dunblane Ave., a three-storey Metrotown apartment building, for $9.36 million. The Dunblane property was flipped for $12.3 million in February 2016 — $4 million over assessed value — to Transca Development Ltd., a company incorporated in November 2015. Transca, which is authorized to issue preferred shares worth $100-million according to documents, has now made a rezoning application for a 35- to 40-storey tower on the property. 

Another Jilin Case With Vancouver Connections

Aside from its investigation of Sun Hongwei’s businesses, Chinese business magazine Caijing has published a number of stories on deep-rooted corruption in Jilin that were cited in a confidential 2008 report sent to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Describing “endemic” rot reported by the “hard-hitting Caijing magazine,” the report says: “Northeastern Chinese of all stripes bemoan official corruption as a fact of life here. Hardest hit has been Jilin province.”

One such corruption case involved a $130-million bank fraud in northeastern Jilin and neighbouring Harbin, committed by Bank of China branch manager Gao Shan and his co-conspirators, businessman Li Dongze and Dongze’s brother, Li Donghu.

Companies including Northeast Expressway, a state-owned highway company, had looted money from a bank branch in Changchun City. When bank auditors discovered missing funds, the three men fled to Vancouver in 2004 to join family members. China requested the RCMP’s assistance in their return. Gao and Li Dongze were eventually persuaded to turn themselves in to Chinese police on fraud and forgery charges.

Other suspects in the case were charged with blackmail, bribery and drug dealing. Chinese newspapers reported that Li Dongze attempted to bribe and blackmail Chinese officials while hiding in Vancouver, before returning to China in 2012. Li Dongze, Li Donghu, and Gao Shan have all been convicted and jailed in China.

Overall, the confidential U.S. government report paints a depressing picture of life in Jilin. Ten of the province’s top judges were prosecuted for corruption in the mid-2000s, the report says, along with many top politicians, police, and the heads of state-owned companies. Several people connected with the Northeast Expressway fraud committed suicide, and the company’s chief was sentenced to death. The report also said collusion between police and Chinese mafia in the Jilin region is common.

Ipsa International

Ipsa is a company that works with foreign governments and banks to investigate financial fraud and recover offshore funds. The company employs an international staff of investigators, and has also worked with governments and banks to improve fraud detection networks and compliance.

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

? MICHAEL BERNARD
The Vancouver Sun

Predator Ridge: Portfolio/Trademark/Havencrest

Project location: Vernon

Project size: A total of 12 new semi-detached homes (Portfolio) and five single-family homes (Trademark), both in the Whitetail neighbourhood. In the new Havencrest neighbourhood, 17 single-home lots between one third and two thirds of an acre.

Prices: Portfolio homes sell for $535,000 for a 1,476-square-foot one-level two-bedroom, two-bathroom and den, to $580,000 for a two-storey two-bedroom-and-den home with three bathrooms. Larger single-family Trademark homes range between $789,000 and $849,000. Havencrest lots start at $330,000.

Developer: Wesbild

Architect: Homes designed by Wesbild

Interior designer: Sticks and Stones, Kelowna

Sales centre: Predator Ridge Sales Centre

Hours: 9 a.m. — 5 p.m.

Telephone: 1-866-578-2233

Website: predatorridge.com

After years of building luxury homes perched on ridges with breathtaking views of mountains and lakes, the company developing the golf community of Predator Ridge has launched a new type of home — one aimed at people with more modest tastes and budgets to match.

And judging from the increase in traffic — including more buyers from the Lower Mainland looking for principal residences — it’s a marketing strategy that appears to be working, says Claire Radford, a real estate specialist for the 1,200-acre development near Vernon.

The newly introduced Portfolio homes mark the first time Predator developer Wesbild has built duplexes, each with two bedrooms and den and up to three bathrooms. At 1,400 to about 1,800 square feet, they are half the size of the single-family homes that have been built over the last 25 years at Predator Ridge, which boasts two championship golf courses. The new duplex homes have both single-level and two-storey models and include garages.

“We needed to have something different, and it has been good to have a variety in the size of homes we offer,” said  Radford.

“These are for people downsizing, which sometimes means downsizing in square footage, but also downsizing (in cost). It is about people taking their money and doing something different with it.”

The newest Portfolio homes are modern in design with an open-concept living area under vaulted ceilings with stained wood beams and posts, and oversized windows. The homes come with engineered hardwood floors in the living room, kitchen and dining room, and heated underfloor tile in the ensuite bathrooms. Tiling is also a mainstay material in the showers and tub surrounds.

The kitchens feature solid surface counters, cabinetry with soft close drawers and doors and stainless steel Whirlpool appliances. Each home has a 36-inch gas fireplace as well as a hookup for a gas barbecue on the patio. The garages, in keeping with the modern design, feature a metal and glass laminate door.

With homes at Predator Ridge starting in the $500,000s, Lower Mainlanders have been understandably excited, considering what some can get for their own homes and how quickly they could sell them, said Radford. To build on that fact, Predator Ridge ran teaser ads in The Vancouver Sun earlier this month that demonstrated what $700,000 could buy on the coast — an unassuming small bungalow — compared to a new, modern three-bedroom home at Predator Ridge.

Carla Phillips and Mark Rivette, from Calgary, had lots of exposure to the Okanagan before moving into their new Fairway home in the Whitetail neighbourhood in April. Rivette first came to Predator Ridge with his Alberta golfing buddies when the golf courses opened in 1991. Carla, a Nelson native, raised four sons with Mark and spent many a winter travelling with the boys when they ski raced at Okanagan ski mountains. The couple first purchased a fractional interest in a condo home in Predator Ridge called The Tips.

“Our thought was to purchase The Tips unit which would give us four weeks every year to come and really get to know the climate, the people and the golf course. We have just fallen in love with the area. We found it very different from Alberta.”

While their home and property in Calgary was much larger, they found themselves outdoors more often at Predator Ridge, thanks to the Okanagan’s longer spring and summer season and more stable climate, said Rivette.

“We looked at a number of properties with various views,” he said, adding they settled on a home overlooking the third hole of one of the courses with a view that makes them feel like they are “living in a tree house embedded in the forest.”

Avid golfers, the couple also found themselves delighted by the abundant wildlife in the area, porcupines and deer, owls and the call of the wild from coyotes at night, and ponds that serve as refuges for large turtles.

“We were also surprised by how dog friendly a community this is,” said Rivette, adding the family owns a white West Highland terrier. “People are out on the golf course with their dogs in the evening. There are dog parks, dog walking, people riding with their dogs in their golf carts around the community, and there are dog stops at the variety store outlets.”

While the Portfolio homes are a new twist, Predator Ridge has hardly abandoned the luxury field. It continues to offer large lots, ranging from a third to two thirds of an acre, suitable for large homes. Its newest neighbourhood is called Havencrest and it is en route to the spectacular Sparkling Hill resort, a European-style spa built by the Swarovski family of jewelry and crystal fame.

Buyers have three years to build on their newly acquired lots, and can build a Frank Lloyd Wright-style home or choose from other Whitetail designs, said Radford.

In addition to the golf courses, there is a fitness centre with lap pool, clubhouse with a top-notch restaurant, a village style grocery store, yoga studio, and more than 25 kilometres of well-maintained trails for hiking, walking and biking. The city of Vernon, where most residents do their shopping, is just a 12-minute drive away.

Last year, Vernon, which provides sewer, water and other municipal services, proudly opened its newest fire hall in the community, a comfort to residents who are always conscious of the history of forest fires in the Okanagan. Radford said those residents got another bonus as well, with their fire insurance premiums dropping by up to 30 per cent after the fire hall opened.

Radford says Predator Ridge, which has a planned build-out of about 1,700 homes, is showing signs of maturing as a community, with residents in the various neighbourhoods jointly planning ways to celebrate Predator Ridge’s 25^th birthday.

“I feel every year there is more knitting together of the community,” she said. “I think it is really appealing to a lot of people that you are moving into a community where people are coming from all over. And you don’t have to be a golfer to fit in.”

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.

Couple ends their months-long home hunt at Abbotsford?s Residences at Gateway

CLAUDIA KWAN
The Vancouver Sun

Project name: Residences at Gateway 

Project location: 33553 Marshall Road, Abbotsford

Project size: 48 homes in a six-storey wood frame building in Phase I

Residence size: 1 – 3 bed, 703 – 1,238 sq. ft.

Prices: starting from mid $200,000s

Developer: Boulevard Group

Architect: Focus Architecture

Sales centre: #101 – 2031 McCallum Road, Abbotsford

Hours: noon — 5 p.m. daily, closed Tuesdays

Telephone: 604-855-8116

Website: www.boulevardgroup.ca

Sales began: late May 2016

Occupancy: Phase I Fall 2017 

When Alana and Bud Hansen began planning for retirement, they knew they wanted come back to Canada from the U.S., and to stay in the Pacific Northwest. The Canadians – originally from Montreal – had been living and working south of the border since the early 1980s, but felt it was time to return north from their residence in Bellingham, Wash. In planning the move, they were working toward the timeline of Alana’s retirement in mid 2017.

 “We started looking months ago, and did the drive up (to Greater Vancouver) almost every other week,” she explains. “We looked at North Van, PoCo, Coquitlam, Langley… the trip was starting to get a bit old!”

 They were initially drawn to some newer developments in Langley, but were put off by the thought of having to line up for a unit during such a hot real estate market, or of potentially only having a short time frame in which to decide whether to purchase. By chance, as they were driving around Abbotsford, they spotted street-side signage advertising the Residences at Gateway project. After a detailed phone call, they made an appointment at the sales centre.

 “I was totally impressed by the way they presented the project – the quality of the homes, and all of the amenities in this new midtown area, like shopping at the Cabela’s, the walking area, Mill Lake Park, and being able to ride on the bicycle trails,” she says. “The streets are nice and quiet, too – I like the model of living a little bit more ‘in the country’ with access to the city, the way I have in the past. And most importantly, the building allows two pets, where a lot of others restrict owners to just one. Our dogs are our kids.”

When Phase I is complete and the Hansens move in, they will find themselves between downtown Abbotsford and the University of the Fraser Valley’s Abbotsford campus. The Abbotsford Veterinary Hospital will be less than 10 minutes away if anything comes up with their dogs Sparky and Annie. The McCallum Junction shopping centre – which includes the 70,000-square-foot Cabela’s location – should be able to address most day-to-day needs. The 700-plus-seat Abbotsford Arts Centre will be nearby, offering a range of performances and community events. And when it comes to visiting friends back in Bellingham, they will have the option of zipping through the Sumas/Huntingdon border crossing, or driving 15 minutes to the Abbotsford airport.

 Location aside, there are the homes themselves.

 “This is the finest apartment building in Abbotsford,” Brandon Trent of project marketer Fifth Avenue Real Estate Marketing asserts. “The homes are fully air conditioned, with high-end appliances, like a Bertazzoni range and oven, Fisher & Paykel refrigerator, and Bosch dishwasher. There are hotel-inspired bathrooms with heated floors, frameless glass showers, and 36-inch-deep soaker tubs. These homes have everything – you can also add a gas fireplace to the living room.”

 Since sales began at the end of May, 30 of the 48 homes available in Phase I have been snapped up. Trent says many are seeing the benefit of being in a more boutique-style development. (Phase II will contain 50 homes.)

 “You get to know your neighbours, as opposed to the 150 or 200 unit buildings where people are coming and going and you don’t know anything about them,” he points out. “We’re seeing in a lot of downsizers trading in their single-family homes, and interest from all over Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Langley, Surrey, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge – even one person making the move from Vancouver.”

 Homes include storage space adjacent to parking spots, which can serve as workshop areas or garage storage. Trent says downsizers still want much of the convenience associated with single-family homes, such as properly sized kitchen pantries, rooms where grandchildren can sleep over, powder rooms for guests, designated laundry areas, and enough space to store cleaning supplies and coats and other sundry goods; they just don’t want to be saddled with unnecessary space. He styles it as ‘single-level living’, where all of the necessary functions of a downsizer’s life are streamlined conveniently on one floor.

 In the design process, the team decided to only have eight units per floor; strategically placed recesses in the overall design of the building means each home almost functions as a corner suite. That means a lot more light coming in through the windows, and generally more privacy for outdoor areas. There are natural gas outlets on the decks for ease of barbecuing, and individual gas meters for each home. Nine-foot ceiling height is standard on each floor, rising to 10 feet on the penthouse level.

 Developer Boulevard Group is also offering purchasers the option of adding additional storage to laundry areas, and millwork in for a TV cabinet or adjacent to kitchen wine racks.

 The high level of demand means work could get underway on Phase II of the development soon.

 The Hansens are also planning ahead on what life will look like on this side of the border. Bud is self-employed, and can continue with his business if he wishes after Alana retires. After having lived in Montreal, Toronto, Honolulu, Atlanta, Boise, Seattle and Bellingham, they have no fear of moving to a new community and establishing a new community of friends. The motor home will be coming up north as well, for jaunts all over B.C. and into Alberta.

 “This is going to be a fun adventure,” Alana says firmly. “We’re really looking forward to it.”

© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.