Whose watching who in Kelowna?

Google street view has arrived in Kelowna! Will it be a boon for Kelowna real estate or will people feel their privacy has been invaded?
Using your mouse you can cruise down most of Kelowna's streets. Check out this sample video and go for a walk through Whistler, site of the 2010 Olympic games! It's incredible how technology has advanced.
For buyers unfamiliar or brand new to Kelowna, this can be an amazing tool. Check out neighborhoods, schools, shopping areas and more! This can also be a benefit for sellers now that buyers can remotely check out the surrounding area of their home that's for sale.
I had an interesting chat with Don Plant from The Kelowna Daily Courier yesterday and he published an article with a few peoples point of view (including mine!) on this new technology from google.
All in all, I believe these tools, for good or for bad, are here to stay. I'll also say that I'm a teeny bit glad that my neighborhood is not yet on this system! Wait, is that my car being towed?
Talk to you soon...
Paige


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Kelowna lakeshore real estate sales

So as we wind down 2009... the real estate market in Kelowna has settled down for what we hope to be a healthy balanced market with some slight increases in price for 2010. I had mentioned in a previous entry that I had experienced a flurry of interest from people interested in lakeshore property.
Real estate on any lake is a dream for a lot of people. This year the least expensive lakeshore property sold was a 3500 square foot, gradelevel home that was built in 1987 and needed complete updating. Located on Green Bay Road in the West Kelowna neighborhood of Lakeview Heights, it sold in June for $815,000. At the other end of the spectrum, the most expensive lakeshore property sold in 2009 was a newer 7200 square foot custom built 2 story home with an in-ground pool, deep water moorage, and an oversized boat lift. This sold in July for $4,810,000.
I'm dreaming of winning the lottery tonight!
Talk to you soon...
Paige

The Doughnut Effect in Kelowna Real Estate

I was at a function called Green Drinks at Doc Willoughby's Thursday and met Dion. We got chatting about being environmentally friendly and eventually ended up on the topic of real estate. He came up with the perfect name for what we experience in Kelowna from time to time with real estate prices and number of sales. The Doughnut Effect! It perfectly describes how as you go farther out from the center of Kelowna (the doughnut hole) the number of sales are fewer and prices are slower to respond to a upward swing. Those hubs, made up of the actual doughnut, tend also to be the first to suffer the effects of downward price movement as we recently experienced. Areas like Lake Country and Glenrosa would be good examples of this. We've got a lack of inventory in the $300-$400,000 range so prices in that range are being squeezed up. Glenrosa and Lake Country are still seeing stagnant sales for the most part. There's some great value out there in those doughnuts!
Talk to you soon...
Paige

What about the neighborhood?

There is a neighborhood in Kelowna called Wilden in North Glenmore. The main idea is to integrate beautiful housing into nature with as small a footprint as possible. Great in theory but what about reality?
I live in Wilden and love the trails, natural ponds and untouched wilderness behind my house. As someone very interested in being good to the environment I appreciate that the roads are very narrow, thereby reducing the amount of clearing required, concrete and blacktop used, etc. As we've lived here, this has however proven problematic.
Today is Friday, and in a few more hours my road will be almost impassable as everyone loads up their boats, trailers, and campers that will be parked on the road. We recently had a large flood in our house and the restoration company needs to get a container to move out all our stuff for the repair. It was funny watching the guy delivering the container try to negotiate the narrow road and short driveways in his attempt to get the job done. It didn't happen! All the boxes will have to be hoofed down the road into the container.
Is it possible to get used to things like this or are we too spoiled to be inconvenienced by some things that are good for the planet? I'm going to try harder to get used to it!