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Sechelt Development - The Wharf Place
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01-30-2014, 05:19 PM,
(This post was last modified: 01-30-2014, 06:02 PM by Skook.)
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RE: Sechelt Development - The Wharf Place
It’s humble pie time, again. It took less than a week for those two units mentioned in my post above to disappear from the Holywell Property Management site, so I have to assume they’ve been rented. Actually, when I stop and think about it the speed at which they disappeared shouldn’t surprise me because I know from my own experience what you face when looking for rentals in the Sechelt area.
There are next to no apartment rental buildings in the town. The vast majority of rentals are lower suites in homes and they have a lot of drawbacks. With many you have to share laundry, with many natural lighting is at a premium, with many they’ve been squeezed into small spaces at minimum expense and with most there is no separate hydro meter so you are stuck paying what the home owner thinks is your "fair" share. So, for these spanking new Wharf Place condos to come onto the rental market - well, it’s like manna from heaven for renters. Now, there’s another condo building with units going on the rental market and that’s the Watermark. Of course, it’s not the developer making them available but unit owners who obviously have no intention of living in them and want some help with the mortgage until the time is judged right to flip. I thought it might be interesting to do a brief comparison and see which offers more bang for the buck - The Wharf Place, on the left, or Watermark, on the right. Let’s look at one of those last week Wharf Place rental listings - Unit 203. It’s a 944sf 2bed/2bath unit and the asking rent was $1125/mth. The image below shows the Holywell listing and the unit’s floorplan. The listing gave no mention of hydro and gas, so I will assume you have to pay for both and obviously the phone if you want a land line and then there's cable/internet, too. If you have a room-mate lined up, then splitting the asking rent works out to $562.50/mth which is really cheap for the Sunshine Coast. This unit is on the backside of the building (facing east) so there is no streetview and only morning sun. At the Watermark, Holywell is listing Unit 312. Now, it’s in Phase 2 which isn’t completed yet so the rental ad says available in March or April. Guess the owner wants to get a jump on any competition from fellow investors. Now this unit is the smallest available at Watermark at 645sf with 1 bed/1bath. The “X” on the Watermark picture above shows the unit’s location in Phase 1 and since Phase 2 is a mirror image of Phase 1 the location is the same in both buildings. As you can see, it faces Teredo St. The owner is asking $1100/mth for this wee unit. Last August, one owner in Phase 1 was seeking $1250/mth for their similar unit and eventually settled for $1050/mth. Now, I think you'ld have to admit you're not likely to want to share a unit this size even with a spouse so that’s a hefty rent for going solo especially after you add in hydro, gas, cable, internet, etc. Lastly, this unit faces north so you may briefly catch a bit of morning sun coming in but that’s it. It just so happens after Units 203 and 205 moved at Wharf Place another unit was immediately put up for rent - Unit 207. I have marked its location with an “X” on the Wharf Place image up above. This unit is one of the few that has actually sold and was bought back in 2012. As you can see, the owner wants $975/mth for this 680sf 1 bed/1bath unit. Now, it’s similar in size to the Watermark unit but this one has a much larger balcony and it faces west so there will be lots of afternoon sun which is a real bonus especially in winter. Again, you're not likely to want to share so the lower rent is a definite plus. Now, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder but I mentioned earlier in these Wharf Place posts I like this project and if I were in a market for a condo I would be picking Wharf Place over the Watermark; well, the same holds true went it comes to renting. So, I am glad to see Wharf Place having some luck with rentals; however, it means the developer won’t be signing off on this project anytime soon. It’s also not the best situation for those who have bought in and are actually living in their units - so if I were them, I would want to see renters sign a lease so there isn’t a continuous in and out of strangers. It should be interesting to watch how the developer proceeds in the months ahead. Take a look at the Wharf Place Gallery - I like all those windows in that corner unit - darn, I just figured out that is Unit 308 and it just sold last week for $323,099 (1289sf, 2bd/2bth + flex room) - jeez, what am I saying I can't afford a condo even at Wharf Place prices...LOL. I've obviously been spending too much time with Watermark and it has distorted by sense of reality. Well, if I win a lottery maybe I will go after Unit 304 in WP - I need windows lots and lots of windows - not walls of glass but big, big windows. |
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