Day 4- Looking For a Dream Home (Part One)

  Portage and me have been out to B.C. many times, so we have an idea of the area we want to live when we retire.That area is called Nanoose Bay, and it's located between Nanaimo (where her brother lives) and Parksville(where her parents live) on Vancouver Island. It's a unique area, many of the homes were built in the 1970's and are in need of a facelift, while other houses are brand new with all the bells and whistles.We are fortunate that real estate prices in Toronto have stayed strong, while those in Nanoose have come down quite a bit from their highs of 2 years ago.
  So we now have the opportunity to own a house we couldn't have afforded when we first started looking.An agent from the area who we have been contacting online for the last year or so, Karen Kenyon, was nice enough to show us 8 houses, even though she knows we won't be buying for a year or two,unless we saw something that knocked our socks off and we had to have it.

We have raccoons, they have these little Mule Deer. They eat pretty much anything you plant except cacti and Monkey Puzzle trees.This one is a doe.

This is a buck.

A little cottage we looked at with a killer ocean view.

A nice deck as well

The front yard of another place.

Outdoor living

All the oceanfront cottages had great views and big front deck areas.

My favourite house. Built by a guy who loved English pubs. The front doors are actually from a pub in England.

It has a turret

Oceanfront property.....more later

A new house. Very hilly area, which makes for great views.

New house porch....

View can't compare though.

Portages favourite.......

It even has a view

Still lots of building going on.

Same house. It has concrete decks, supported by 10"X10" beams. Very impressive.

Trails nearby

Brickyard Bay, the local public beach.

So we got a better idea of the area, and we both love it. The only problem for Karen (our agent) is that typically the discussion went like;
Portage:"I love it"
Digger:"Hate it"
or
Digger:-"I LOVE this place!"
Portage"Hate it!"
or
Portage:"Look at that gorgeous kitchen!"
Digger" But where's the view?"
Karen has her work cut out for her.