Mark:  Hi, Mark Bossert from Top Local Lead Generation.  We’re here talking about the beautiful, amazing Squamish BC with Squamish Realtor Darren McCartney.  How’re you doing today Darren?

Darren:  Doing great Mark, how about yourself?

Mark:  Good, good.  So Squamish, I know is like an undiscovered little gem, unique in the world with amazing outdoor activities, world class in just about everything that you want to name from mountain biking to wind surfing to climbing to skiing to backpacking and high alpine.  So what’s going on in the residential market in Squamish right now?  November 2014

Darren:  It’s been a very interesting nine months here, you’re right Squamish is a town that’s one of the local sayings is ‘it’s filled with hidden gems’ and not all the locals want to share it but us realtors do and we’re really seeing some positive interest in the area, very quiet after the Olympics for a few years and had the normal market issues as everyone else did.  I think we had it worse here but it’s interesting, I think that people who have moved up here are starting to tell their friends about it and just from an affordability perspective without even knowing what Squamish has to offer people are finding their way here and because of that where we had an inordinate amount of homeless things and landless things for a few years there, it’s really tightened up.   In the last nine months I’d say we’ve gone from being oversupplied, nine months to a year, and finished products like homes and condos, townhomes and whatnot to actually being balanced and going into more of a sellers’ market here and it’s been five years since we’ve had that phenomena so we’re still adjusting.  It’s exciting and I think what is more interesting, we’ve seen single family home construction start again and we’ve seen individuals buying lots but  I think what’s more interesting, more telling is the fact that we’ve started seeing developers buying land again.  This was not the case for quite some time and we’re seeing that interest return so I think it’s definitely a good sign of long term growth as opposed to just a little blip in the market.

Mark:  So, is there new investment in the area?

Darren:  There is new investment in the area; people are coming in buying up development sites.  I’ve seen a lot of that particularly in the downtown core and for zone residential sites so I myself have probably sold half a dozen multifamily land sites in the last nine months, I’d say and all new money coming to town.  I think people have always believed in the Squamish story, people who’ve been following it but it’s been a matter of when and I think just the fact that we’ve seen all that end product tightening up on the resale side, there’s an obvious supply issue now where new product is selling particularly townhomes right now and we’re probably ready for condos as well and vacancy has tightened up so it’s kind of a zero to a few percent right on the rentals here so we were in a situation where we had too much of everything, now we need new homes, we need condos, we need townhomes and so developers are reacting to that and putting their money where their money is so it’s great.  That new energy also market Squamish, people come in, they buy and they have to market their projects so I think that the gap that we had for a few years there, that really affected economic growth in a number of areas so I think we’re going into a healthier multier time period where aside from being affordable, offering a great lifestyle, people are really starting to see the value offering that we have up here and excited to see that unfold.

Mark:  That’s great Darren.  Squamish is one of my favourite places on the planet and how can you miss with Whistler just up the road, world class skiing, cross country skiing up at the Olympic training centre, amazing mountain climbing and back packing and hiking and the Sea to Sky gondola, it just goes on and on and on.  Fishing, hunting, wildlife, you name it, there’s eagles, eagles all over the place.

Darren:  I think I wrote a list once of outdoor activities, I did some ad in the Western Investor years ago and I think I came up with 40 items or something like that, everywhere from bird watching to ATVing  and hunting, those are the more peripheral ones at this stage then all the outdoor stuff you were talking about.  It’s unique, to need to make sure to leave a big of money to buy toys when you move up here, for sure.

Mark:  So, we’re going to keep exploring what’s going on in Squamish.  Maybe look at some property up there, so thanks a lot Darren.  If you want to reach this guy, he knows what’s going on in Squamish; this is the guy for real estate in Squamish, so give him a call.  Mr. Darren McCartney, SquamishCommercialProperty.com or you can call him 1-604-892-4875.  Thanks Darren.

Darren:  Thank you Mark.