Sunshine Coast Price Drop: How low will they go?

[Skook]

There are currently 19 Sunshine Coast properties listed on Vancouver-based HomeForeclosuresBC.com. I assume these properties are either in foreclosure or under a court-ordered sale (e.g. in the case of divorce and assets must be split).

One of these properties caught my eye because I had just recently posted about the Farrington Cove development and this waterfront home is close by. So, I plugged in the home’s address into Google and the search engine delved deep into its archives and sent me back some really, really interesting results.

I want to mention one thing before proceed with those Google results. In 2007, prices for homes and lots on the SC jumped by $100,000 or more in response to the frenzied sales of 2006. Waterfront properties led the way, of course, thanks in no small measure to the pumpers like Ozzie Jurock and his “Buy Waterfront Anywhere, Anyhow” mantra. So, up there in Pender Harbour, Farrington Cove and Whittakers hiked their prices and individuals selling waterfront homes happily followed suit.

The property I checked out via Google was 4830 Sinclair Bay Rd in Garden Bay. The search results included blog postings of North Vancouver Realtor Jacquie Swaisland who works out of Angell Hasman & Associates on Marine Dr. When Swaisland lists or sells a property she posts a little blurp in her blog and those posts go back to 2005 - thank you, Jacquie!

In September, 2005, she uploaded this property to her website. In May, 2007 she uploaded the property once again to her site and in November, 2007 she said she had sold the property. My belief is that when she relisted it again in May, 2007 it was to up the price. You can see the property, those blog entries and the May, 2007 listing data in the collage below.

On May 17, 2007, 4830 Sinclair Bay Rd was listed for $1,495,000 and sold in November, 2007.

The question is, “Did it sell for list?” Well, given the frenzy for waterfront properties, I think it did or at least was very close to it; but, it also could have sold for more.

I don’t know if this property ever changed hands after that 2007 sale, but here is what it is going for now - after a price drop. The listing actually went up on January 14, 2014 at $929,900 and dropped to $899,900 on February 25.

So, if the property sold for list in 2007, then that February price drop represents a decrease of -39.8%.

The property is currently listed with the Realtor team Joni Selmes and Gail Brachat (www.joniandgail.com) out of Sussex West Coast Realty in Gibsons. If you would like to see the property’s listing pics but like me hate sites with image viewers you can’t control, I recommend viewing the Re/Max Oveanview Realty reciprocity listing here. The Joni & Gail website listing is here.

I was curious to know the assessment on this property; however, I can’t report those figures. So, in the table below I have given the 2011 Assessment figures a value of “X” and the percent change for each subsequent year. In total, the assessment has dropped 15% over 4 years. Yes sirree, investing in Pender Harbour waterfront property has proved a windfall!

In the 2007 listing, the property taxes were estimated at $3702 and in the 2014 listing the estimate is $3204. I don’t know if that includes the floating boathouse which is assessed separately from the home and land. Yes, the lucky owner of this prime waterfront property gets two separate property assessment docs.

So, what do think? Is this turkey going to fly?

March 24, 2014 Update:

Hot off the internet. The list price for 4830 Sinclair Bay Rd featured in Post #2 above dropped today by -$27,000. This is the second price drop since its January listing at $929,900. The total reduction to date is -$57,000 or -6.1%.

The total drop since its May, 2007 list price of $1,495,000 is -41.6%.

June 15, 2014 Update:

Since my last update, 4830 Sinclair Bay Rd has been relisted and gone through at least two more price drops. I decided it’s time for a little spreadsheet to keep track of all the changes.



Looking at the big picture, the property has dropped -$680,100 or -45.5% in value since its May 2007 list of $1,495,000.

December 12, 2014 Update:

Since the June 15th update, this Pender Harbour beauty has undergone an additional two relists and six more price drops. It’s turning into one very steep ride down to the bottom; if there is a bottom. So, in 11 months this Garden Bay waterfront property has dropped -$250,000 or -26.9% since its January 14th list.

In seven years, the property has lost three quarters of a million dollars in value or -54.5%. Unbelievable.

(April 17, 2015 - old price spreadsheet removed - see last update below)

Poor owner. Poor neighbours. Poor, poor Pender Harbour.

January 25, 2015:

There is a new update but you will have to go here to read it. I've run out of room in this original post.

April 17, 2015:

New and final update can be read by clicking here.