A New Day Has Arrived

November arrived in Courtenay, British Columbia. The grass had slowed down its growth rate and things were slowing down in general.  

Donna and I were kicking our heels wondering what to do next (which is sometimes the case as the retiree readers in this blog group will know) but it can also swing the other way where there are not enough hours in the day to accomplish everything one wants to do. 

We were reviewing the latest listings and sales in Crown Isle where we lived when it dawned on us that virtually everything was SOLD. A very unusual occurrence.  There was only one home listed below the $800,000 mark.  That was a brand new home and we knew it had just had a price increase to $834,900 with no landscaping, fencing, window coverings etcetera.

We talked for a while and discussed real estate (yet again) It's hard to break a habit when you have been in the business for over 26 years. Was this the time to capitalize on a sale, place our home for sale and make some gains? 

It was pretty clear to us that this was an opportunity to test the market.  Donna had said she missed the kids and grandkids in Calgary and seeing as the market was way up in Courtenay  (around $300,000 mark from when we had purchased five years earlier) and somewhat depressed in Calgary, we quickly decided yes it was probably the right time to make a move and some money.  We would have to work quickly to accomplish our goals if this was indeed going to be the plan. 

We knew exactly what was required.  I had rudimentary self-taught knowledge as to how to build a web page. We were well aware of how to frame a legally binding contract after the hundreds or thousands we had written for buyers and sellers over the years. We could sit our open house (which very few Realtors out in Courtenay do mainly because the demographic is older and does not want open houses), so we formulated a plan, had a sign made up and, posted the home for sale.

I had been building a website for our home mainly by trial and error for over two years as practice for building a web page just in case this should happen. The site showed reasonably well, so we activated the page on the internet and added the listing to another website which gave us access to the MLS. 

No sooner had our home hit the internet (literally within minutes), we got a call from a buyer in Parksville, an hour south of Courtenay. They asked to come up and look at our home. They had just sold and moved out of their condo. They had been looking in our district for over five years and this really tweaked their interest.

The potential buyers arrived right on time. They spent a long time inside then left but called back a couple of days later asking to come for a second look. They arrived, looked around for a fair amount of time then, sat down at the kitchen table and, said "Let's do it. Let's write up an offer"  

We had all the documents prepared in advance. It took less than an hour and we had settled upon a price, terms and, conditions that were satisfactory to both parties. 

Possession was going to be a slight issue as they wanted a quick occupancy. No kidding, we had three weeks to pack up the house, interview movers, get them in and arrange everything else but, we could do nothing until the conditions were removed so we had a waiting period to contend with.   

The time drifted on but eventually, all conditions were removed leaving us just five days to pack up and give vacant possession. That's not an easy task when you have a 2075 sq.ft. rancher or bungalow as they call it in Alberta to deal with.

The moving company we chose was from Parksville. When I asked if they supplied free moving boxes their reply was "we could have as many as we needed". They also supplied packing paper and rolls of tape to seal the boxes, so we drove to Parksville and filled our KIA to the brim with flattened boxes of all types and sizes.

It was a hectic time packing up the house. We packed all the boxes ourselves and with fifty or so packed boxes in the garage (which the movers said saved us a minimum of a thousand dollars packing them ourselves), plus two completely empty freezers and a host of other stuff, the movers arrived and set to work loading. It took them a whole day to load.

We were extremely impressed with Atlas Van Lines and Suzanne from Parksville. She came and gave us the quote. The movers turned up on time on Friday, moved everything from the house and garage into the moving truck and then into storage. 

The vehicle was weighed before and after loading so the moving company knew exactly how much to charge as they go by weight. They subsequently rounded down the rate as we were slightly lighter than anticipated. 

We will miss the very private back yard we had and of course the neighbours who were wonderful.

We had cleaned up ahead of time, so once the movers were gone, it was an hour's work and we were out of the house. We stayed overnight in a hotel in Courtenay. The following morning we jumped into a very tightly packed vehicle and headed to Nanaimo for the ferry to the mainland.

For the journey back to Calgary, we had the forethought to purchase four new snow tires which in retrospect was wise, especially for the drive over the Coquihalla and Roger's passes as they were well over 6,000 ft and snow was in the forecast. The "Coq" as they call it is not the type of place to get stuck in the snow. Those of you who have driven to Vancouver from Calgary or the BC Southern interior will know that.

We had a huge white cooler almost the width of the KIA, which we packed two freezers full of frozen meat and fish into. Wayne our very good friend drove up to Campbell River and fetched us a ten-pound bag of dry Ice to place into the cooler. The guys at the Ice place said it would keep everything frozen for three days no problem..... They weren't wrong.

After an overnight hotel in Salmon Arm, on Sunday we proceeded to Calgary without incident although the two passes were deep in snow. 

As we drove over the Great Divide at Lake Louise and along the Trans-Canada Highway heading East, the skies cleared and we had our first glimpses of "Big Blue Sky Country" once more. The sun beat in through the windows onto our faces and it was feeling good to be back in Alberta although to be fair, we will miss the Comox Valley, rain and all. 

We have left some very special friends there in Wayne and Donna and Terry and Beth, but they all know they are always welcome at our home here in Calgary. Goodness me we have enough space to house all of them at once, and we know the feeling is reciprocal. 

Katherine met us at her door. She had kindly plugged in her spare freezer so we unloaded the cooler right into the freezer.  The meat and fish were as frozen as when we had placed it into the cooler in Courtenay the previous Friday.

We were at Kath and Roddy's for three weeks, but not wanting grass to grow under our feet, we were out looking at homes the day after with Rob and Diana McIntyre from Century 21. 

Rob and Diana were neighbours of ours when we lived in Cranleigh Close, Cranston six years before.  They had also looked after several of our clients and family since we retired and were living on the Island. 

The river just a 200 metre walk from our home

We had decided that gardening and snow shoveling was a thing of the past so opted for a Villa style of home. It was not long before we found one in Cranston's Riverstone down by the Bow River. It was ideal. Just a two-minute drive from Kath and Roddy and the kids and another eight or ten to Jason and Lucia and their kids. Once we had confirmed that the river had not reached the area we were considering, we placed an offer into the builder through Rob. It was accepted after a bit of bartering.

Our home and contact information
15 Cranbrook Landing SE, Calgary, T3M 2L8
Tel: Donna 403 630-7414
Ken 587 891-7414

We moved into our brand new home on December 5th. With 1450 sq.ft on the main floor and a totally developed basement. The home has three bedrooms (one on the main and two down) and a marvelous basement and recreation room giving us 2500 sq.ft. in all (so much for downsizing). We then called back to Suzanne in Parksville who arranged for the move of our furniture to Calgary. 

We are very happy with what we got. It offers us everything we could wish for. It has a gorgeous kitchen with a huge amount of counter space and lots of storage in different parts of the home.  We believe it will be our home for a long time. 

There are lots of pathways to investigate right at the river's edge and the river is so close, I can fly fish off the bank a mere 200 meters from home.  There are lots of walking and bike paths right on the river's edge which is nice. 

Once I get this monkey off my back (i.e. the hip replacement issue which is still bugging me even after two years) we should be able to go out and do some walking and discover some new areas.

One thing we found out is that we brought way too much with us that we could have sold off in Courtenay.  We have some gardening stuff, a wheelbarrow, tree trimmers, shears a mattock, and some other stuff we won't be needing anymore so we will just list in on Calgary buy/sell and get rid of it in time.

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On a slightly more subdued note, I lost my mom in 2020. She passed away in her sleep at the retirement home in the UK close by my sister's home bless her. She had been ill with respiratory issues and had recently fallen and fractured her hip and had other issues as well. Her knees were both in bad shape. Unfortunately, the doctors explained she was not well enough to undergo surgery to rectify the issues. Because of the worldwide situation regarding COVID, no-one could attend the cremation service.  Rest in Peace mom. Your pain is over.

COVID-19 has been on all our minds since last January. When it first appeared, we were headed to Mexico for two months right after celebrating Kath's 40th birthday in Cranston. We did however cut the trip short by a month in order to get back to Canada as they were talking of closing borders with this fast-spreading virus, something we were unaware of when we flew down. 

Luckily for us, we have remained untouched by this virus so far Now, with the rollout of the vaccines, we may be able to benefit from vaccination by the spring as we are both in our 70's but first, the Health Care Workers and doctors and nurses should rightfully receive it first. 

Christmas was a pretty somber time at our household as we are sure it was at everyone else's who is towing the party line, observing the social distancing rules. New-year was much the same in fact, we were fast asleep by 9:30 pm.

While working on things to do, I decided to purchase a sliding miter saw to build my workbenches for the garage. It pays to keep occupied over this time so it was a timely thing to do.  My workbench is now done, in fact, I have built two. One for each side of the garage. Onto the next project. 

We are looking forward to seeing this virus lose its grip and being allowed to visit and entertain again, but we believe it's going to take some time before that happens. Who knows.

We are looking forward to a trip... somewhere.... anywhere would do right now as cabin fever sets in, but we are prepared to bide our time to be on the safe side. Certainly, Las Vegas is calling but we aren't prepared to take any chances in light of what's happening south of the border right now.

So, onwards and upwards.  We must concentrate on staying positive and not be complacent about having to keep our distance. 

We like many of you, are waiting for the vaccinations to be doled out to those deemed necessary who should have it. It seems Canada is slower than most other countries, but hopefully, the pace will pick up as we head to a rumored Federal Spring election.

It's a great pity, some of our illustrious government leaders have been talking through the sides of their mouths, asking the public to stay at home, then taking off on trips themselves. It's really sickening to hear this. Apart from it being extremely irresponsible, it is somewhat comforting to know that some have resigned because of the public backlash or fired for these actions from public pressure on the Premier who was slow off the mark to object to this type of behavior from people in trusted positions. Maybe that will hurt him in the next Provincial Election judging by what I have seen on the jungle telegraph (Facebook).

Well, that's our update for now. We are so looking forward to life getting back to normal although to be fair, we don't see it happening in the immediate future, in fact, we may still be wearing these masks until the latter part of 2021. Who knows? We really hope not. We would love to be able to entertain our friends and family for a good sit down supper and look forward to that happening, but until then, we wish you all a safe and prosperous new year.