Can we look into a crystal ball and see the future of Revelstoke as a place to live or visit? What’s the real value of real estate in terms of likely future appreciation, liquidity, liveability and the lifestyle realized from utilization? In many ways, it seems as though the current transition and future of Revelstoke is and will be inevitable as a case study of the type of place it is, compared to many other similar towns who are further ahead in its growth curve. Luckily, as a late bloomer, Revelstoke has the advantage to learn from the patterns of other towns and attempt to guide its future towards a more sustainable and livable model.
A senior staff member at Revelstoke Mountain Resort once explained to me that what made Revelstoke special, besides its fabulous snow and geography, was that it was bit harder to get to than other places. No permanent major airport might be a blessing. Most of the seasonal population have to make an extra effort of additional commitment to make Revelstoke vs another ski town their place come to. After studying and skiing all of Western Canada’s centres with ski hills over a 15 year period with specific emphasis of having a home there and relocating from a city, Revelstoke was and is definitely harder to get to and from than the other options, but the town and surrounding geography absolutely blow every other option out of the water. Recent upgrades to highway 1 have added temporarily to the inconvenience of transit from the East but are another factor that will add to the ease of drive from those markets in the future and Revelstoke’s popularity.
So Revelstoke developed later, but it has the largest vertical and some of the best most consistent snow quality in North America. World class mountain biking, paragliding, fly fishing, golfing, lakes, alpine meadows, hiking, foraging, dining….you name it are here. What do you think the eventual trajectory of real estate would be!. Of course it will follow in the path of Whisler, Aspen, Canmore, Banff, etc but the people here are wary so they are guiding hopefully a better path. Net result is that development overall is just painfully slow as it needs to be to pass all the hurdles of approval, in a short staffed world to boot. Thus, real estate has grown in price aggressively and consistently. Revelstoke is somewhat insulated from most real estate dips simply due to lack of demand and that there are no other mountain resort destinations of its magnitude out there that haven’t already skyrocketed.
It takes an intimate understanding of the town, the areas, the history of the real estate in question and what is happening around that property to assess real value. it takes some understanding as to current ownership and their motivations. Many list to sell simply to see if a highly inflated price is achievable where others are looking to find a fair price based on averaged comparables. The real estate data in Revelstoke can be a forest to wade through that is greatly helped by a professional with enough experience in real estate transactions, contract knowledge, development experience and the local environment to act on a buyers behalf as part of their winning team to secure them a good buy. The same applies to executing successful sales strategies.
To buy or sell in Revelstoke, contact John Sparrow, of Century 21 Executive Revelstoke. John has 30 years of experience in residential single, multi and commercial real estate. He has provided strategic guidance and execution on sales an purchases of thousands of homes throughout Western Canada. Down to earth, with a true desire to be of service to his clients and the community, he works and play in Revelstoke full time. He can be reached at john.sparrow@century21.ca or by phone or text at 403.605.2200.