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“Smalltown B.C.” running hot

Ashley Ford, Vancouver Province,  August, 20, 2006

The Lower Mainland remains basking in the glow of the hottest residential market in living memory — but the rest of the province is hardly in the shade.

“Smalltown B.C.” is running just as hot and as hard. Double-digit price increases in small towns that once were struggling are now the norm, not the exception.

The robust economy, smart buyers,

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Expanding a beach front frontier

Darryl Greer, Globe & Mail,  August,18, 2006

Big city life can be taxing at times, to say the least. But summertime affords people opportunities to cast off their urban shackles to search for leisure, recreation, or in more direct terms, places to go fishing and drink beer. In British Columbia, however, pristine recreational property comes at a price that many can’t afford, unless one happens to be a Hollywood movie star or perhaps an oil company executive.

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Quiet Stampede

Andrew Findlay, BC Business  August, 2006

It’s Friday afternoon and a convoy of sparkling sport-utes with Alberta plates, many of them towing trailers and powerboats, is squeezing through the ochre-coloured walls of Sinclair Canyon at the western portal of Kootenay National Park near Radium Hot Springs. The fuel pumps are on constant rotation in Radium on this sweltering summer weekend, the last pit stop for Calgarians making the weekly pilgrimage to their summer cottage on B.C.’s Lake Windermere.

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The Island Life

Alex Frazer-Harrison, Calgary Herald  July 16, 2006

You don’t have to be a reclusive billionaire hiding away in a tropical paradise to own an island anymore.

It’s possible to find actual islands for sale in Ontario and off the coast of British Columbia, just waiting for the right owner to come along.

“There’s something magical about owning an islands by yourself,” says Victoria-based Peter Nash, realtor and founder of Newport Realty,

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Calgarians flock to B.C. getaways

Alex Frazer-Harrison, Calgary Herald  July 16, 2006

Albertans are always on the lookout for good recreation property, and many head west to British Columbia for its varied climate and geography including lakes, mountains and sea-coast.

When it comes to determining the location of rec property “hot spots” for Calgarians, one person suggests all you need to do is grab a map and a ruler.

“My theory on hot spots,

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Best of Both Worlds

Alex Frazer-Harrison, Calgary Herald  July 16, 2006

From Canmore condos to idyllic islands, the recreation property industry in Western Canada continues to boom.

And Albertans are chomping at the bit to get their hands on that second home.

Depending on your budget, there really is no limit to the options available. You can choose to fully purchase a property or, if the option is available, you can take fractional ownership,

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Rudy Can’t Fail

up! Magazine (West Jet)  July 2006

Going one-on-one with Rudy Nielsen, the godfather of Western Canadian recreational real estate

There are real estate agents, and then there’s Rudy Nielsen. Fit, trim and appearing far younger than his 65 years of age (probably something to do with having more recreational properties than you have pens), he’s a 40-year real estate veteran who says he’s never seen a hotter recreational property market.

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Golden Circles

Rudy Nielsen, Cottage Magazine, July/August, 2006

For many years I’ve said that one of the key things to consider when purchasing recreational land is the driving distance from your house. Prior to the boom in the Albertan oil fields, this was based on the drive from Vancouver and the Lower Mainland to the recreational properties.

I found that several circles were formed due to this driving time.

When calculating these circles,

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Booming B.C.

National Post  June 16, 2006

British Columbia has become a field of dreams for homebuilders and homeowners alike. Remember the catch line from the movie? It was, “If you build it, they will come.”

That memorable phrase applies to almost anything with four walls and a rood on Canada’s West Coast. A booming economy, a surge in immigration and a shortage of land in the Lower Mainland means the demand is at gold rush levels and prices are soaring.

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Albertans buying into Island’s booming real estate market

Drew Harris, Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, Business Examiner- North,  June 9, 2006

NANAIMO – Ten per cent of Vancouver Island real estate buyers come from Alberta, says the president of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board.

Darrell Paysen says more than 1,600 buyers were surveyed for VIREB’s annual Buyer’s Profile publication.

“From this we determined the growing percentage of Alberta buyers,” he said, quoting the VIREB Buyer’s Profile published last fall.

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