Tiffany Crawford
Vancouver Sun
Frenzied buyers in Metro Vancouver’s overheated real estate market camped out in Richmond weeks before a sales office opened, hoping to snap up $1.2 million townhouses.
More than 80 potential buyers set up camp on May 19 as crews were erecting the display homes and sales office for Kingsley Estates ahead of the scheduled opening June 11.
That led Polygon Pacific Homes to make the impromptu decision to hand out deli-style numbered tickets to those in the queue and sell the units ahead of the opening.
Although the practice of numbered tickets for buyers who line up is not new, it has upset those who were registered with Polygon and never received notice the homes were going on sale.
Long time Steveston residents Gordon and Judy Bird live in a four-bedroom house, but they are thinking about downsizing now that they are retired and their kids have left home. They want to stay in their community, having lived there since the 1970s.
So three years ago, shortly after Polygon bought the site of Richmond’s Steveston secondary for $41 million, Gordon Bird signed up to receive information about pre-sales of the townhouse units.
He says since then he has received many emails marketing other Polygon properties, as well as updates on the townhouse units, but Polygon never announced the pre-sales. He said at one point he called the developer and left a message about the units but did not receive a call back.
Instead he received an email from Polygon stating that because of the “unprecedented amount of interest in Kingsley Estates” people began camping out as crews were setting up the sales office. In the letter, Polygon said it decided to sell the units to this group of more than 80 buyers in advance of the scheduled opening on June 11. Units start at $1.2 million for 1,700 square-foot four-bedroom townhouses.
“I find it kind of annoying. Those on the email list didn’t have a chance to get in line,” said Bird. “Who are these insiders who are getting a first kick at the can?”
Another Richmond resident, Penny Charlebois, who had signed up with Polygon for sales at Kingsley Estates, said it is unethical not to notify the potential buyers who had registered.
Charlebois, who has lived in a detached house nearby since 1986, has two adult children who want to stay in the community, and a niece who was interested in purchasing one of the units.
She registered about two months ago, but it wasn’t until she noticed a flurry of activity getting the site ready — and then dozens of parked cars — that she suspected Polygon would sell early.
“There’s no way they just all showed up without notice. How did all those people know to go there en masse? I just don’t buy it. (Polygon) asks us to come to meetings and get involved and then they shut us out,” she said.
However, Polygon president Neil Chrystal said there is an “unprecedented” housing supply problem in Metro Vancouver, and he doesn’t find it surprising that prospective buyers are on the lookout for developers setting up shop and then camping out.
He said the same thing happened a few weeks ago at one of Polygon’s projects in Langley.
“These are crazy days,” he said. “When we saw that people had camped out weeks early we decided to issue them numbers. It was a very difficult decision but we decided it was the fairest thing to do.”
Chrystal said they had only 30 units to sell and, with more than 80 people in the lineup, there was no point alerting those who had registered.
“I don’t know if there is a better way to do it. We have always operated on a first come first served basis … and I don’t think a lottery system is the best system,” he said. “When the market is slower it is all much more civilized.”
Meantime, some residents told the Richmond News that a few camped out buyers in line were unruly. However Chrystal said there were no problems with any of the people in line. The police were called out, but they are not aware of any harassment on site.
Cpl. Dennis Hwang said he did not know how long the buyers had been camped out, but confirmed that RCMP was called to the site around No. 2 Road and Wallace Road shortly after 7 p.m. on May 19 for a liquor-related complaint. No open liquor was observed or seized.
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