Whistler Real Estate Company will be handling the sales of resident restricted homes at Cheakamus Crossing the site of the athletes’ village for the 2010 Winter Games.
“I think we are very excited to be involved in this,” said Pat Kelly president of Whistler Real Estate, which celebrates its 30 th anniversary this year.
“For us we see it as a community contribution. We are being paid, but not significantly, just enough to cover our costs.”
The agreement reached between the Whistler 2020 Development Corporation and Whistler Real Estate will see the company get on average less than one per cent commission per unit. The revised business plan for the development, released in March, shows that overall $1.5 million has been set aside for the sales and marketing of the project including the future sale of market housing.
Buying your first home can be a daunting experience said Kelly and helping residents through the process is something realtors are trained to do.
“…We are able to make the process simple and understandable and at the end of the day a happy one,” he said.
“And it is nice to be able to do something where we are part of a greater good and given our long history in the community this is a natural thing for us to be doing.”
Only Whistler residents who are pre-approved for a mortgage and have registered on the Whistler Housing Authority waitlist will have the opportunity to purchase one of the 220 resident restricted homes in the $143 million project.
There are currently 759 people on the waitlist. The significant difference between supply and demand and the unique amenities of Cheakamus Crossing leads Kelly to believe there will be no trouble in finding buyers for the homes.
“It has a lot of unique neighbourhood features that I think a lot of people who will live down there will really enjoy,” he said.
“In the units themselves there is a lot of choice and I think that is also unusual for resident housing. There is everything from a 525 square foot studio… up to a 2,000 square foot duplex.
“I don’t see any reason right now why we shouldn’t sell every unit and that it shouldn’t be a great success.”
All the units, which are based on a cost of $231 a square foot, are going to be available for sale at the same time.
Whistler Real Estate is already contacting people on the waitlist, in priority order. They will be asked to provide updated information about the type, size and price of the home they are interested in and which of the six projects they prefer.
At the end of June the Cheakamus Crossing waitlist will be finalized and closed off.
In July and August Whistler Real Estate will contact all those on the waitlist in priority and confirm which specific project the purchasers prefer. Based on that information six project priority waitlists will be developed.
In mid-September Whistler Real Estate will begin contacting, in priority order, those in the waitlist to enter into a contract of purchase and sale. It is anticipated the contracts will be complete by December.
Buyers will move in after the 2010 Games.
Anyone with questions can contact Greg Ambrose or Frances Davis at Whistler Real Estate.
