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Started the course towards a second home back in Canada

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  1. #1

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    Started the course towards a second home back in Canada

    Recently made some cash from investments in HK car parks and finally decided, there must be other stuff out there where I'm buying something that appreciates but doesn't limit me to owning a piece of paper stating ownership of a tiny concrete patch on top of more concrete in Hong Kong.

    So looked back home in Canada and thought ok, Vancouver is totally out of the question and I don't know why but I only ever wanted to live on the west coast. So went online to realtor.ca, set criteria to under 250k CAD, 5+ acres, within 8 hours drive of Vancouver Airport, within 30 minutes drive to a supermarket/schools. Lots of stuff came up and spent about 2 weeks researching back and fourth between cities like Williams Lake, Kamloops, Creston, etc. It was a bit frustrating at first dealing with realtors over emails; seems a lot of them weren't motivated to provide more information like latest photos. Made a trip back last week for 7 days and visited those properties and my parents; the realtors were much nicer in person as they didn't want to deal with time wasters over the internet.

    It was definitely a good thing that I went to see the properties instead of making a purchase site unseen based on photos and Google Map. One that was on my top short list and was about to make an offer on, actually had the entire driveway overgrown as the Google Street View photos were out of date. And walking the land one is able to tell better if the 30 acres lot only has a buildable gound of 5 acres where as a 10acre lot is 100% buildable.

    Interestingly, I am now putting down an offer on a 70 acres lot that is not even listed; the realtor knows logging companies that just finished their business on the lot and is ready to sell the land and move onto the next project. 6 minutes drive to a Buy Low Foods, Tim Hortons, RBC and grades 1-12 schools. Cell phone signal etc, just need to install my own power, well and septic system. Was able to drive faster once I got familiar with the car's handling (by the way in summer time, you seriously do not need 4x4; regretted insisting on a Jeep Wrangler rental over a Corolla whenever I had to fill up at the pump). Took me 6 hours from Vancouver airport to the town at first but coming back I left at 6am and got off Highway 1 to PNE in Vancouver by 10:30am on a Saturday.

    The lot is large enough that I offered 2 friends to come join me by subdividing the 70 acres. One took me up on the offer so we'll be having 35 acres each over looking the valley. It's almost like you can start your own enclaves with friends out there LOL

    Joined the local community group on Facebook and interesting to see lots of people needing jobs to be done at their small businesses. Even their contentious topics dealing with environment and First Nations land rights; almost reminded me of the heated discussions between people on the whole Occupy thing in Hong Kong. Everyone was super friendly, had a few drinks with the realtor talking about everything from Jim Pattison to making a skating rink in the backyard every winter for the kids.

    One interesting thing that we talked about was how the leadership to grow communities wasn't dependent on the government. For those who's not from BC, Jim Pattison is sort of like the Li Ka Shing of the province. He insisted to keep the lumber mill open in communities and invests money into developing new commercial complexes to lease out to supermarkets to keep rural communities growing. Most of all, he believes in keeping blue collar jobs alive because he believes a balanced economy is in the interest of Canadian society. In turn, the local highschool has some of the most advanced equipment in their workshops; kids want to become welders or heavy equipment operators, companies sponsor them to become certified with a decent job waiting for them. Sadly, this is the kind of thing lacking by the elites in Hong Kong, IMO.

    I mention started the course because I won't be moving back immediately. Want my kids to learn Cantonese until they are 10 years old. And being a greedy guy, I wanted to keep my foot in both boats as they say in Chinese and I'm not posh enough to keep both my HK home and assets and build a new house on the land immediately. The homes situation is reverse of Hong Kong where the land is the most expensive part of the equation; building labour is much more expensive there and typically the land is only 1/4 or less of the whole cost of building a decent house/garage/barn/etc. Plan to get a concrete pad set up and the drive way paved with gravel first so I can park a rental RV on it every summer or winter with wife and kids for next few years. Then build out the home once I've made enough savings and adjusted my financial means. I think interior BC is growing pretty rapidly as people get fed up with the lower mainland and they don't want to head out east.

    Anyway, just sharing for people who wonder if they should move back to Vancouver from Hong Kong; my suggestion is don't. Vancouver is pretty much like another Hong Kong now with unaffordable housing. And my parents and others are getting taxed out of their home that we lived in for 30 years. They've got their own social upheavel going on that the media doesn't like to report on; everyone thinks it's uptopia compared to HK but have you seen their tent cities and young homeless people and beggers at every corners in downtown? A friend who taught music in Vancouver had to change teaching subjects as the VSB said there's no budget for band anymore in lower mainland highschools. Really? All that property and income taxes and you don't have money to spend on a music program for public schools? As a Canadian I felt it's downright shameful. But everyone keeps quiet about it and enjoy their vegan no fat gluten free sustainably sourced latte before their yoga sessions. Everyone out on the streets walking about on weekdays like they don't need to work; well yea I'd be smiling like that too when my home appreciated 5x in the last 3 years. Just like Hong Kong. But again, no one's rioting about it.

    LOL sorry for the side-rant.


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  2. #2

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    Original Post Deleted
    Yes, actually most rural communities realtors will sell heavily on access to hospital if they have one. There is a small hospital in the town I'm looking at and a bigger regional one in Kamloops about 45mins drive away (or closer by medivac helicopter for big emergency).

    LOL you can turn the flip side to a flip flip side in that there you go, business opportunity right there to start a Cha chaan tang, I mean the town doesn't even have a Chinese food restaurant yet! And being on highway 5 towards Alberta I bet truckers wouldn't mind going to a Cha chaan tang greasy spoon.

    Come to think of it, I think the magic with a 2 to 5 thousand people town is that it's big enough to sustain most businesses but not too big that you run into more than a hundred people trying to compete in the same business (like HK)
    Last edited by Titus; 19-07-2018 at 07:24 PM.
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  3. #3

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    Good for you Titus! I'm a city-boy, so don't think I could do the same. I recall a former co-worker saying that bought a large plot of land as his retirement property and he would spend all of his vacation time building on it. This was even before I moved to HK in the early 2000s. Your plot of land is even bigger than his! 70 acres is more than 50 football fields! Won't it be a little strange moving from one of the most densely populated places in the world to having only 2 families on 50 football fields ofworth of land?

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  4. #4

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    Wow, fantastic location! Congratulations, years of hard work ahead, but when you're sat on your porch looking at the view it will all be worth it!

    We used similar criteria to find our place in France, went to the least populated department that wasn't popular with Brits, found a place with decent land, privacy, trees and views, but a supermarket 15 minutes drive away. It's bliss to walk around your own land and breathe fresh forest air. Enjoy the moans from the kids when you visit yet another DIY store on your holidays!

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  5. #5

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    Stunning! Congrats Titus!

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  6. #6

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    Congrats @Titus - Looks like you'll be a repeat Tesla SolarThingy customer.

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  7. #7

    Gutsy move. I wish you well.

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  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by ChuckFan:
    Good for you Titus! I'm a city-boy, so don't think I could do the same. I recall a former co-worker saying that bought a large plot of land as his retirement property and he would spend all of his vacation time building on it. This was even before I moved to HK in the early 2000s. Your plot of land is even bigger than his! 70 acres is more than 50 football fields! Won't it be a little strange moving from one of the most densely populated places in the world to having only 2 families on 50 football fields ofworth of land?
    Haha yes... a lot of friends told me that. To be honest I'm disappointed that those friends didn't know me well enough that I'm that kinda person to love the open space. I've known a few HK bankers who left their high paying jobs thinking they wanted to get away from HK.... 4 months in Richmond (a.... predominantly Chinese suburb of Vancouver), and they're having cabin fever wanting to sell everything again and come back to HK LOL To each their own; I grew up in Vancouver from 9 years old till just after university and even before that I was a "country boy" in Saikung LOL so I know what I'm getting into.

    I just went back again for 10 days to meet with a contractor to put in a 6" deep gravel driveway and clear a decent building site and gravel it up in October. Yes you're right it will take years to turn it into something nice, right now it's just a patch of dirt I suppose and give it one spring it nature will take it over again. LOL will share some photos in next post, I was planting some random beans and stuff that MIGHT survive winter (Clearwater for whatever reason gets 1 month shorter winters than the nearby areas, and my lot is facing south getting sun the whole day, the realtor was saying snow would probably have a hard time building up on my property), as I got up after a few hours of tilling and planting feeling like I've planted a farm, I looked around and I just did work on this tiny tiny little patch compared to all the land around me. Had to put down marker poles so I don't forget where the tiny patch of crops is when I come back next spring to check on it LOL probably all eaten by deers.

    My friend paid a local guy to go there regularly to keep the vegetation away from his cleared build site. Already got my flight and RV booked for my family next April. And also bought my first toy that I'll keep stored at my friend's place.... it should be fun to rip around the 50 football fields LOL

    And again, keeping my place in HK in case decades down the road my kids bemoan me for cutting off their choices to give HK/Asia a try. So the transition will be pretty gradual with summer and winter vacations there for the kids and hopefully make some friends. Neighbour already came by and they got two young kids too, very friendly people and place.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by kimwy66:
    Wow, fantastic location! Congratulations, years of hard work ahead, but when you're sat on your porch looking at the view it will all be worth it!

    We used similar criteria to find our place in France, went to the least populated department that wasn't popular with Brits, found a place with decent land, privacy, trees and views, but a supermarket 15 minutes drive away. It's bliss to walk around your own land and breathe fresh forest air. Enjoy the moans from the kids when you visit yet another DIY store on your holidays!
    Hahaha indeed! Well, they're 5 and 2 right now so hopefully by the time they're old enough to moan, they're just fighting for the keys to the pick up or the side by side quad haha

    Yea I have a HK friend too who bought a place in France, how do you find the locals though? A few other friends decided in the end to buy places in Italy because..... ok don't shoot the messenger, they said Italians seems to welcome foreigners whereas French..... but then can't generalize I have a few great French friends I made in Hong Kong and they are the warmest people I know inviting my family over for dinners and baking and cooking with us. BUT, that is what I heard... seems your area is friendly, is it the northern parts of France?

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by shri:
    Congrats @Titus - Looks like you'll be a repeat Tesla SolarThingy customer.
    LOL!!!! Yea..... just got quoted by the local contractor that where I want to build (my half is at the top of the hill) is way too far away from the main street where the power is to bury cables underground and BC Hydro would require me to put in overhead power poles. Each pole would support 200 ft of wires, so I need more than 4 poles.... and got told those poles MUST be purchased from BC Hydro... and they charge.... twenty fffffing thousand Canadian dollars for each pole, JUST the pole, before labour or the copper electrical cables..... and since I'm only spending at most a month or so on the land each year for the next five or six years I'm not blowing away that kind of money.... looked into solar but the thing that we take for granted in Hong Kong is safety from property theft.... when I talked to another company about a small diesel generator, he suggested I don't because it'll be gone the next year I come back.... I get conflicting info, some people say everything not bolted down will be stolen, BUT that's mostly in the town center. Even though I'm 6 minutes drive away it's up a hill and they say the theives target easier targets. My neighbour said they typically leave rural properties alone because "they know we all got guns out here" LOL well I hope I never have to shoot anyone over them trying to steal my solar panels and batteries!

    I'm renting a class C RV (one attached to a truck chassis) when I visit anyway and it has a power generator that's only needed to power the microwave; everything else like the water pump runs off batteries charged by solar and the fridge and stove and furnace are powered from the propane tank. But yea make sure to check how much work needs to be done in order to bring the power over the build site when you look for rural property. Most will advertise saying power is over the lot or well has been drilled or septic system approved since they'll ask for more money.

    On a Tesla note, I was pleasantly surprised by the pace of charging station build out in rural British Columbia. The whole highway from Clearwater into Vancouver had a charger installed almost every other rest stop; so you get a medium speed charger every 150kms or so:

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