of Maclean’s, and each week here online, recent buyers divulge what they had to do to acquire the cottages of their dreams: pool family money, send relatives for viewings, hop on the first flight to Atlantic Canada post-bubble, or buy sight unseen, sometimes from thousands of kilometres away.Thanks to its sunny climate, ferry-free access and plethora of golf courses, British Columbia’s expansive Okanagan Valley is a tourist’s dream.
Ted and I now live in Vernon with our four-year-old daughter, James. We used to visit SilverStar almost every weekend, and in the winter, we’d rent an old A-frame cabin on the grounds. At the start of the pandemic, Ted and I thought about buying a vacation property. I knew that Lisa and her husband, Eric, who live in Toronto, were interested in buying a cottage in Ontario as an investment. I asked if they’d be interested in buying a cabin at SilverStar with us instead. They loved the idea.
We noticed business cards from four other real estate agents on the table, which meant four other showings had happened just that morning. On the offer collection date a week later, we bid $750,000. There were seven other offers, and I was surprised there weren’t more.One buyer included a condition that he would pay $5,000 above the top bid, but the owners turned him down because he wanted to make the cabin a full-time rental. We planned to put it on Airbnb, but we wanted to use it, too.
We took possession in March, and Eric and Lisa flew in to help us with renovations. We posted the cabin on Airbnb soon after, naming it “Heimo Haus,” after our grandfather. Reservations were slow at first, butup for the remainder of the ski season, which ended on April 1. We’re planning to add outdoor storage for bikes and skis, and to install a second upstairs bathroom and a hot tub in the near future. Ted, James and I spent about nine days there this spring, just skiing, skating, sledding, enjoying dinners in town and playing board games by the fireplace. We always leave SilverStar with full hearts.