I just wanted to congratulate the residents and management of the Country Pines Retirement Park for their change in pet policy! Pets are now allowed there on approval. Hats off to the owners for recognizing that times are changing and they are thinking positively and outside their box. Our housing market is still slow and sales are down. Homes are taking longer to sell and any advantage helps. We can expect a slower market for the next few years as well. Not that I like it but I recognize the facts. Most seniors have pets and sales were being lost there. I myself rushed off to the email to let a buyer who has been waiting for this news. Hopefully I will hear from him very soon because he has a 4 pound dog and wants to live there!

 

Let’s think outside of the box everyone! We also have too many 55+ complexes. Everyone calls for affordable housing and that we have none. Not true! We have a lot. If stratas would consider that they are all getting older each year, who will buy them in 5+ years with not enough people coming up behind. This generation is the biggest generation with the biggest amount of 55+ apartments and townhouses. We want our young qualified and educated people to return home. But to what? They have no affordable place to live. Not enough rentals but a glut of condo and townhouses that vote them out because of their age. When the 55+ restrictions came in everyone was happy  but in 20+ years things have changed. We have well educated, young people at approx 25 years of age who have credit ratings, good educations and decent paying jobs. They are the future of Oliver! Don’t send the to Penticton and Osoyoos to live! They want to buy!

We all have the right to live where we want but let’s open up a bit and let our  young people in! Oliver is changing and changing beautifully. We have gone from a closed town that doesn’t want anything new to an open minded community.

We still need and want 55+ stratas but do we need so many? At your next AGM why not discuss changing – your values will go up, your saleability will go up and so will the number of sales! All I’m suggesting is that you think about it for tomorrow, I know that change is hard. Just think about it.

 

Karen Amos

Amos Realty