Did you get your lottery application in? That’s a pretty strange thing, right? Applying for a lottery?
Only winning this lottery comes with a mortgage.
The Tofino Housing Corporation is building and selling “price restricted” housing. They’re pretty average three-bedroom half-duplexes. But they’re new and they’re not over a million!!
Ian Scott is the THC’s interim executive director. “The homes are $699,000 plus GST. So they’re not super cheap, but they’re a lot less pricey than you’d pay on the market,” he told the Westerly News.
Although it’s still a hefty figure, in today’s market it’s pretty much the deal of a lifetime (sighs). If you put 10 percent down, your mortgage payments will only be about $4,000 a month (ouch).
But you’ll have to win a purchase lottery to buy it.
There’s some specifications for all applicants. Folks who entered the draw had to:
- Be Canadian or a Permanent Resident,
- Have lived in the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District for at least 2 of the last 3 years,
- Work full time or be self employed in Tofino, and
- Own no other real estate (your spouse couldn’t, either).
This gives all eligible residents an equal chance to purchase the units. The deadline to enter the lottery was October 3rd.
The houses aren’t built yet. Construction starts in October and they should be ready for move in in May or June 2023.
You can find out more about the houses specifications and details of purchase on the THC website.
If you missed out on these units, don’t be dismayed. There’s more being pumped off the conveyor belt.
“Come next year, there will be more rental homes of a variety of different sizes available,” Scott told Westerly News.
“We still are in a limited inventory phase of development so, if this isn’t quite the right fit for somebody, we’re looking to create future opportunities for them.”
Will the THC’s “price restricted” houses solve the housing crisis? No. But they’re a super important part of the solution.
That’s because it’ll take a bunch of different strategies to fix this mess.
