Sam McCoubrey - Building Your Dream Home in Fernie: Sam's Journey

In Episode 24 of The Property Mindset Podcast, host Phil Gadd welcomes past client Sam, who shares his inspiring journey from relocating to Fernie from Montreal to building his dream home. Discover the challenges and rewards of this life-changing move and gain valuable insights into the home-building process in Fernie, BC. Sam provides practical advice on buying land, working with builders, and integrating into a new community. This episode is perfect for anyone considering a big move or looking to build a custom home in a beautiful ski town.

Tune in to learn:

• Why Sam chose Fernie for his retirement
• The process of buying land and building a home remotely
• The benefits and challenges of living in Fernie
• Tips for integrating into a new community

Don’t miss this insightful episode filled with practical advice and heartwarming stories from the world of real estate.

Show Sponsor: First Tracks Real Estate Group - eXp Luxury

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the property mindset podcast. Where we dive deep into the journeys of successful individuals in the real estate industry. Our guests share personal experiences and valuable insights. Providing practical tips and tools for your own real estate journey. Whether you're an inspiring investor. A seasoned professional, or simply someone who loves real estate. This podcast is for you. So join us on an engaging and informative conversation with some of the brightest minds in the real estate industry.

pmp---may-market-report_2_06-05-2024_100235: 0:32

Welcome back to the property mindset podcast with me, Phil Gadd. Today I have a past client with me, Sam, who relocated to Fernie And built a home here from Montreal. So good morning, Sam.

squadcaster-6ica_1_06-05-2024_100236: 0:49

Good morning, Phil.

pmp---may-market-report_2_06-05-2024_100235: 0:50

So yeah, just set the scene a little bit, like I said, you came from Montreal. We helped you purchase some land here in Fernie And then you went on to build your home with the plan to retire here and live in Fernie full time.

squadcaster-6ica_1_06-05-2024_100236: 1:03

Yeah, it certainly makes it sound all pretty easy and straightforward. It was obviously took a little bit more time than that.

pmp---may-market-report_2_06-05-2024_100235: 1:55

Yeah, sure. So what was it initially that attracted you to Fernie?

squadcaster-6ica_1_06-05-2024_100236: 1:58

It was really a COVID inspired decision. Montreal went on full lockdown. It was a little bit harder than life in Fernie was at that time, I think. But it, did allow time for my wife and I to talk about what the future looked like. And at that time, we thought we would be working Longer more years and that retirement would involve a lot of travel and part of that would be a month skiing somewhere one winter skiing was certainly gonna be part of our retirement plan. Covert inspired a quicker decision to get after the next phase of life and to move to a ski town and experience. That lifestyle full time and Fernie was on a short lift. Whistler seemed too big, too crowded. We were looking at Fernie, Revelstoke Nelson, Rosslyn, those types of places, and Fernie just checked the boxes on being easier to get to for our kids or friends that would come out and visit. Easier for us to get to an airport, Calgary, a three hour drive and an easy pass, ski hills very close to town. So we didn't have a long list but it checked off all the boxes on the short list

pmp---may-market-report_2_06-05-2024_100235: 3:10

I remember when we first started chatting, you started looking at single family homes, and then you changed direction a little bit and, you ended up purchasing some land and then building a new home.

squadcaster-6ica_1_06-05-2024_100236: 3:22

We weren't the only people inspired in COVID to move to a smaller town, obviously. I found you on an online search. You took us through the three homes that were for sale at the Diamond Ferny or it was a very small number. I don't remember exactly what it was, but less than a handful and really none of those fit the bill of what we're looking for. And there were, three main developments and an occasional lots that were available for sale. We'd never built a house before. We'd never even done a major renovation on a house before. Were wary when we got into that, but it seemed to be the only option to move forward. Talked with a builder to get an idea of what the costs would be. And to ensure that fit into our budget. And it did it certainly changed through COVID, but it all fit. Building a home took over on buying a home as the only real logical choice.

pmp---may-market-report_2_06-05-2024_100235: 4:19

So we ended up buying some land, which I remember, the area that week that we made the offer, I think there was a run on all those lots. And by the end of the week, there was none left. So I think you like you said, you weren't the only person who had that idea. And like you said, you've never done anything like this before. Was it what you expected? Was there any kind of big surprises? Any moments of doubt thinking, Oh my God, what have we done?

squadcaster-6ica_1_06-05-2024_100236: 4:47

Yeah the there's lots of builders in Fernie and certainly, there's a lot of beautiful homes being built in Fernie. We had a a number that needed to be respected when we were building and we were introduced to a fixed cost builder in town. With the advantage being once you go through an exhaustive process at the beginning then you lock in on the build excluding excavation, a few other wild cards then the cost becomes known and the cost was the cost when we were done. So there were no surprises on the bill but on the design side, time went through we made a couple of changes that was all during COVID when prices were spiraling. So certainly, the price to build was a little bit higher than what the estimate was when we started. And that was due to, oh, there was a fire in Texas that impacted paint and there was ships stuck in canals. There was, all sorts of stuff that was going on. And certainly lumber and labor were. Big aspects of that but, it was a 8 month build compared to a 6 month build pre covid but they were on time on the 8 month. Built there was no real surprises. They were great. They provided a. A designer, we were still living in Montreal at the time. We could speak with the designer as required. We did a virtual tour when it was time to go through all of the electrical walkthrough and in many ways, not being here was probably an advantage on building because we didn't have to sweat over baseboards and light switch covers and the things that you can spend a lot of time on that really don't matter from our perspective.

pmp---may-market-report_2_06-05-2024_100235: 6:25

end result was completely satisfying for you.

squadcaster-6ica_1_06-05-2024_100236: 6:30

Oh, yeah it's beautiful when we first started building or started designing, we said, Oh, yeah, we'd like a a downstairs walk out that we had certain things that were in our mind from, previous 60 years of life and we were told pretty quickly that, that's not really what you want. In Fernie, it's all about the views. You're going to live on the second floor, which we do. We have spectacular views all around as does everybody in Fernie but we feel ours are the best.

pmp---may-market-report_2_06-05-2024_100235: 6:56

Not as good as mine.

squadcaster-6ica_1_06-05-2024_100236: 6:57

that's what everybody will say. We built a an oversized garage so that we have room for all the toys because life in Fernie is about toys.

pmp---may-market-report_2_06-05-2024_100235: 7:05

So what do you find some of the benefits are now you're pretty entrenched in the local Fernie community.

squadcaster-6ica_1_06-05-2024_100236: 7:11

It's combination of really active, which is great. And that, I'd say that there was a, I don't live with a lot of concerns, but retirement is a little bit scary, not knowing what you're going to do how you're going to spend your time. And my feeling was better to get at it young when I'm still active and can get involved in things. And that's certainly been very easy to do in Fernie. We got involved at the ski hill spend a day there as a mountain host involved in the summer with a program called Cycling Without Ages. It takes seniors out for a bike ride, which is fantastic doing a lot more golf than I imagined. I'm skiing almost every day. There's a lot more lakes in the Fernie area than I thought. So I'm, working my tentacles into new friends that have places on the lakes to get invited out between the sports and the volunteering and just getting to know people, it's a very small community, a very welcoming community. We've made hundreds of friends and I, I'm, it sounds like an odd number, but it's incredible how many great people we've met since we moved here.

pmp---may-market-report_2_06-05-2024_100235: 8:23

It is a fantastic place. I spent the last 15 years here. My kids are growing, grown up here. And yeah, it's it is, the community is a big part of Fernie. And I think that's why people will always still keep being attracted and relocating, migrating here for sure. If you, if there was three things that really made this process super easy, and like you said, without very many challenges by the sounds of it what would you say they would be?

squadcaster-6ica_1_06-05-2024_100236: 8:53

Us, because we were across the country finding people that you could trust. And that followed through was an important part, whether we were lucky in finding you and the builder and the foreman on the build, the designer on the build and the neighbor across the street that helped out as required to become good friends, were we lucky with all of those? Or is that. Everybody's experience hard to know, but certainly, we were very lucky in not having any snags on the people we were trusting to get us here. And the other thing is to, I think to go in full bore, no point dipping a toe in that if you're, life is short, you may as well get on with it. And when you do, as much as I say, we've met hundreds of new friends, which is great, but we've been here for 3 years. We should have met people. but still feels like we've met a ton of great people. I think to get involved, small towns run on volunteerism to a much larger extent than the anonymity you can have in a big city. And the other part is, get used to being on your bike, not in your car, because nobody wants to meet for a car ride.

pmp---may-market-report_2_06-05-2024_100235: 10:05

That's very true. Sam, really appreciate your time. Thanks very much. And yeah enjoy the phony life.

squadcaster-6ica_1_06-05-2024_100236: 10:12

Thanks, Phil. See you around.