10/11/2021
Real Estate Stories 3
I was talking today with a North American manufactured home builder with 20 locations in the US and Canada. He was telling me the demand for homes is a North American phenomenon with all of their plants operating at or over capacity. I know locally here in Nova Scotia we have never experienced such a strong sellers market. I remember my first year selling real estate I sold a nice 2 sty home on Harvard st just off Quinpool Road in Halifax for $29,900 and a new home in Clayton Park for $35,000. I sold serviced lots in Enfield for $6500 and unserviced lots in Nine Mile River for $500. Banks didn’t do mortgages and I bought my first house for $2500.00. The cost to build a new home was $30 a SQ FT now it’s $200 a SQ FT or more. I watched good timber land go from $200 per acre to $2000 an acre and cleared farm land from $500 to as high as $5,000 an acre.
As an appraiser there isn’t much I haven’t appraised. From Sackville Downs for Jack Cruickshank to 400 acres of blueberry ground in PEI. From Pleasant Hill cemetery and Devils Island for Bill Mont to fish plants on the South and Eastern Shores and Dairy Farms and apartment and commercial buildings in Burnside. I’ve done appraisals for the Shaw Group of companies and last week I appraised a $900,000 horse farm in Cumberland County.
As a real estate broker I worked for George Armoyan when he purchased the 1,000 + acres in Lantz his company is now developing. I listed and sold the courthouse building for Cora Etter to Ted Larson and then listed it for Ted and sold it to Smitco properties the current owners.
I tell people I have 45 years of mistakes and overcoming them. As Max Banks once said to me “We are all the total sum of our past experiences.” Max and his wife are buried in Sand Hill cemetery. I go there from time to time to visit my mother and youngest brother who are also buried there. The last time I was there I read the writing on Max and his wife’s headstones. Max’s said “I love you Babs.” On his wife’s simply “I know” What more did she have to say? I loved that couple and these are the people that helped me develop the values I live by today. Buying your first home, your first business, your first investment property or selling your home, business or property. Smart people deal with someone they know and trust. These are unprecedented times choose wisely
Thanks Stay Safe
Larry
https://www.hantsrealty.com
