A Greater Victoria realtor recently took a leap of faith with his wife by buying a plot of land on a Gulf Island, and planning a future far removed from city life.
Nick Bardon has been a realtor in Greater Victoria since 2007 after spending several years as a crewmember of a super yacht and working in adventure tourism.
He says he chose stability over adventure, but has still found plenty of opportunity for embracing new experiences through his latest endeavour of moving to Sidney Island, a short boat ride from Sidney.
Because he and his wife work together, with her taking on a lot of his administrative duties, they wanted to build a place from scratch that was quiet, relaxing and removed from the city.
“I’m not one of those people who’s always said, ‘oh I just want to live off-grid,’ it was more the boat access thing that I really liked,” Bardon told Victoria Buzz.
“I like that there was no ferry access and I grew up on Salt Spring Island so I was used to the population kind of doubling in the summer.”
What it’s like living on a Gulf Island
Currently, Bardon and his wife have a 350 square-foot “tiny house” on their property that they are living in while building their future home together.
What this requires is installing plumbing, electrical, septic, solar and more to make sure their home will work for them.
“You’re not going to live in a place like that unless you’re willing to learn to install, maintain or fix your systems, but it’s not that hard,” he explained.
“I built our electrical and rainwater collection systems and I’m going to do the majority of our septic system as well.”
Though it may be easier to pay for these systems and for a home to be built, the cost of contracting construction companies on somewhere like Sidney Island is astronomical.
“Even the solar system that I installed would have cost me something like $20,000, but because I did it, it cost only around $6,000.”
Bardon says that people may think this type of lifestyle would be too expensive for them, but if they are willing to do a lot of work for it, it may surprise them at how accessible remote island living can be.
With the clearing, the utilities and the temporary tiny house, Bardon says that he is in around $100,000 so far. The waterfront property cost $300,000 for just shy of two acres, and is right on the water.
“Now I’d say the value of that lot, just the bare lot, is probably more around $450,000,” he said.
“Bottom line is you’re getting something similar to a studio condo, except with two acres of property on an island for about the same cost.”
Bardon and his wife are only outsourcing the actual permanent home that will replace the tiny home, and are sourcing it from Nexus, who are a Vancouver Island company that builds modular, pre-fabricated homes.
He noted that they have owned the property for three years and have been chipping away at the cost of building their home throughout that time. Bardon expects to continue this method until this time next year when their home is complete.
The good, the bad and the unexpected
Bardon saw Sidney Island as unique and noted that one highlight of the island is the community.
“Everyone that is there is sort of exceptional at what they’ve done or what they do,” he continued.
By this, Bardon noted that he does not mean that all of them are exceptionally wealthy, but rather that they have a drive in them that he respects and wants to nurture in himself.
There is a camaraderie that exists on Sidney Island that he has not found elsewhere.
“We are more social on Sidney Island than we’ve been anywhere else, and I’m obviously not an introvert,” he said.
“We’re out to dinner with neighbours three or four times a week, and in fact a lot of the time we have to say no, and relax instead.”
A challenge of the experience of living on Sidney Island has been the limited space in their temporary home.
“We opted to move into the tiny house, and I mean, we’re still together and we’re always happy when we’re there, but I don’t want to lie, there are definitely challenges,” Bardon explained.
“Just in that small of a space—as soon as you do anything you have to clean it up and put that away, there’s no leaving anything out.”
Another challenge he noted was that people who live on Gulf Islands end up paying contractors for their travel time to site, which city-dwellers generally do not have to worry about when building a home or seeking service.
He says that ultimately, this experience is teaching him a higher sense of purpose.
“Those things aside, it’s pretty amazing and there is a pretty great sense of independence when you control, or take full responsibility for your life,” said Bardon.
“You know, it’s like if the power goes out, it’s not BC Hydro’s fault, it’s my fault. Same thing with the water and all of it—there’s always something to do.”
Another seldom talked about aspect of island-living is the matter of having and maintaining a boat.
Bardon’s property has dock access, but some do not and have to pull up onto a beach or use a buoy to moor their boat.
Furthermore, if your boat breaks down, that’s your only method of travel between town and the island, so maintenance is key.
Some may not expect this, but Sidney Island operates as a strata, the same as a typical condo in Victoria.
“It’s a bare land strata, which means we share the road, our firehall, the air strip and we have a private marina there.”
This means Bardon and the rest of the residents of Sidney Island all chip in to maintain the shared infrastructure on the island.
Are other people interested in this lifestyle
Bardon says that one positive he sees in a post-pandemic world is that a lot more people are seeking out open spaces, nature and time away from the city.
“I think that yes there are definitely people seeking that out still, but maybe not in the same wild abandon that they did during COVID, but that’s still going on,” he said.
“Some of our best friends on the island–he’s a commercial contractor and she’s a dentist in Victoria—and they commute in and out four days a week and love it.”
For individuals or couples who cannot afford a home on their own, some have been taking a chance on group purchasing—either buying a home in the city together or seeking something more communal and remote.
This approach to purchasing can be a challenge in many ways, according to Bardon.
He noted that in comparison, many people living in major European cities cannot afford to purchase on their own, and haven’t for some time.
“This may sound dark and terrible, but being able to own your own home has been this interesting North American privilege,” he explained.
“That being said, we have a lot of land that isn’t used. Could we all own homes affordably? Probably, but we all know there are some very annoying nuances to our economy that make that unrealistic.”
Bardon believes that things are going to shift in the coming years—and have to—for people to be able to have access to homes.
That change could come in the form of an increase in inter-generational homes in Canada, an easing of bylaws that prevent communal living or more people purchasing homes as a group and creating contracts that dictate the terms of ownership.
Ultimately, Bardon says that as a realtor, he will always try to help others find the same purpose, quiet and calm that he has found by moving to a remote island.
“If you’re looking for some kind of unique living situation, and you’re feeling like what you’re finding in the city is not interesting to you or doesn’t suit your lifestyle, look at some of these islands,” said Bardon.
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