Suites are a necessary housing option

As part of their review of the issue of secondary suites in single-family homes (also known as basement suites, in-law suites, rental suites, etc.), The District of Sooke is forming a Secondary Suites Advisory Committee and needs volunteers from various neighbourhoods in Sooke to come forward to share their views and make recommendations to town council to help them craft any future legislation regarding suites.

Secondary suites are a necessary housing option, especially in a town like Sooke where there are very few purpose built apartments. They also make the dream of home ownership more attainable for the average family. However, regulations need to be in place for health and safety, nuisance, and taxation purposes.

Council is seeking to form a “community-based committee to evaluate and make recommendations to Council by November 30th, 2010 on the issue of secondary and small suites, including the legalization of illegal suites.”

If you’re interested, you’ll need to volunteer by Friday to be a part of the committee. Representatives from all areas of Sooke are needed, so go ahead and have your voice heard! Click here to visit the relevant page on the Council website.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

Your comments are welcomed and encouraged!
Just use the form or link below this post.

You can bookmark this post using the button below,
or subscribe to this blog for free updates using the big buttons on the sidebar!

• Secondary Suites in Sooke – Input Needed!
• New Waterfront Hotel, Convention Centre, Public Marina Coming Soon To Sooke
• Exciting New Ocean View Condo Development for Sooke!
• Another Large Condo Development for Langford?
• Radius Victoria isn’t Dead Yet

See all the usual suspects here.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

Your comments are welcomed and encouraged!
Just use the form or link below this post.

You can bookmark this post using the button below,
or subscribe to this blog for free updates using the big buttons on the sidebar!

None Found

Wild Coast Cottages, Port Renfrew

Today, instead of our usual Sooke REALTOR® tour where we go around to the new listings in Sooke, we had a bus take us out to Port Renfrew for a tour of Three Point Properties‘ new Wild Coast Cottages development. The roughly one hour drive along Highway 14 is entirely different when you’re not driving – lots more time to look around at the absolutely stunning scenery around you: creeks, waterfalls, tall trees, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Olympic Mountains in the background. We even saw three black bears along the roadside.

Arriving on site we found a hub of activity – excavators, builders, trucks, and other workers getting the site ready. Title registration for the first purchasers should be coming in the middle of August. There are already two cottages at the site, one of each floor plan that they’re offering at the moment.

Wild Coast Cottages is more that your average cottage country development. With the usually high cost of recreational property, Three Point is trying to do something different – to keep these architecturally designed west-coast style cottages within reach of the average buyer. To do this has taken innovation for sure. Port Renfrew is pretty remote, and only has a population of about 200 residents. There are no hardware stores, building supply outfits, or large construction companies. So, instead of building the cottages on site, they are framed, built and completely finished, right down to the designer paint colours, 70 kilometres away in Sooke, and trucked up to Renfrew on a flatbed. This enables the builder to save on travel costs, and allows some economies of scale to be realized by “mass-producing” these cottages all in one place.

A breezeway connects the bedroom (pictured) with the living space

The current phase has 24 lots out of the 40 planned, and Three Point has more property in the area that they plan to develop similarly. The property is waterfront, and the cottage owners will have access to a boardwalk and a marina.

The cottages are small – around 400 sq ft, one bedroom and one bathroom. Furnished properly, they will easily sleep a family or group of 4. The two designs they had on site were lovely. One features a breezeway type covered deck joining the living space and the sleeping space and bathroom, and the other was a more traditional layout with everything together and a large deck out front. Finishing is impressive with natural-stained cedar, hardi-board type siding, pitched 50-year metal roofs, and high-end long-lasting composite decking material. These solid units are built to last, and built to withstand the bumpy ride from Sooke to Port Renfrew! The builder boasted that not even a crack in the finished drywall was evident after the transport of the finished cottage to the site.

Small, but ample living spaces define the Wild Coast Cottages

Pull out couch, full kitchen and living/dining space

Wild Coast Cottages sits on gorgeous high-bank waterfront

Overall, I was impressed. I was curious about this project since I first heard about it. Starting at $130,000 and ranging to $160,000 I think the price point is right on. There’s no way you could have a cottage built on a lot for that price, and certainly not a fully serviced (underground wiring, city water, common sewage disposal) lot on a waterfront development.

I won’t be surprised when Three Point sells this phase out.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

Your comments are welcomed and encouraged!
Just use the form or link below this post.

You can bookmark this post using the button below,
or subscribe to this blog for free updates using the big buttons on the sidebar!

• Mariner’s Village In Sooke To Include New Medical Centre
• Upcoming Music Festivals In Sooke and Port Renfrew
• Sooke’s Sun River Estates Goes Green
• Sunriver Estates Releases Townhouse Development
• A Day Trip To Port Renfrew

See all the usual suspects here.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

Your comments are welcomed and encouraged!
Just use the form or link below this post.

You can bookmark this post using the button below,
or subscribe to this blog for free updates using the big buttons on the sidebar!

None Found

See all the usual suspects here.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

Your comments are welcomed and encouraged!
Just use the form or link below this post.

You can bookmark this post using the button below,
or subscribe to this blog for free updates using the big buttons on the sidebar!

None Found

See all the usual suspects here.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

Your comments are welcomed and encouraged!
Just use the form or link below this post.

You can bookmark this post using the button below,
or subscribe to this blog for free updates using the big buttons on the sidebar!

None Found

Whoa. Dude.

See all the usual suspects here.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

Your comments are welcomed and encouraged!
Just use the form or link below this post.

You can bookmark this post using the button below,
or subscribe to this blog for free updates using the big buttons on the sidebar!

• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #62
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #414
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day Labour Day Spectacular! #179, #180, and #181

Mariner's Village, Sooke, Master Concept

Sooke is quickly becoming one of the province’s fastest growing communities. New neighbourhoods are under construction, new parks and trails being established, and new commercial developments are being undertaken. Perhaps the most exciting of these developments is the Mariner’s Village project. Mariner’s Village is a mixed-use, multi-phase waterfront development which will include condominiums and townhouses, a new marina, restaurants, shops, offices and more.

Much more than just a subdivision, Mariner’s Village is the first step in the re-imagining of downtown Sooke. The town’s official community plan calls for enhanced development south of Sooke Road (Hwy 14) to improve public access and sight lines of our spectacular waterfront of the Sooke Harbour and Basin.

For a few years, there has been talk about a new medical centre being built in Sooke – more comprehensive and modern than the town’s existing small clinics, scattered about the community. In the plan for Mariner’s Village is the “Sooke Professional Wellnes Centre,” a large (perhaps up to 10,000 sqft) facility complete with doctors’ offices, Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) space, lab space, x-ray clinic, and other medical and wellness facilities.

A more comprehensive medical facility is essential for our town’s growth, especially considering that the nearest hospital is 25-35 minutes’ drive away in View Royal. And for the communities further west of Sooke like Shirley, Port Renfrew and Jordan River, it will be even more critical.

The project is just getting started, with its sales office for the first residential phase having just opened a couple of weeks ago. While it will take some time for this facility to be built, it will be worth the wait. If you want more information about Mariner’s Village or any other developments or neighbourhoods in Sooke, please call me at 250-885-0512, email Tim@TimAyres.ca or fill in my contact form.

Want to know why Sooke is the place to be? Contact me!

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

Your comments are welcomed and encouraged!
Just use the form or link below this post.

You can bookmark this post using the button below,
or subscribe to this blog for free updates using the big buttons on the sidebar!

• Radius Victoria – A True Urban Village
• Exciting New Ocean View Condo Development for Sooke!
• How Many Homes Are There At Sooke’s Sunriver Estates?
• What’s Building In Sooke? Projects Update [Photos]
• Sunriver Estates Releases Townhouse Development

See all the usual suspects here.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

Your comments are welcomed and encouraged!
Just use the form or link below this post.

You can bookmark this post using the button below,
or subscribe to this blog for free updates using the big buttons on the sidebar!

None Found

Line Art?

Another victim of too much light coming towards the camera. Although this photo doesn’t really capture much but the window anyway, it would have been better had the REALTOR® taken the picture from the opposite corner, with the light towards his or her back.

-Tim Ayres – Sooke Real Estate Professional

Your comments are welcomed and encouraged!
Just use the form or link below this post.

You can bookmark this post using the button below,
or subscribe to this blog for free updates using the big buttons on the sidebar!

• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #33
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #124
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #378
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #443
• Horrible MLS Photo Of The Day #322