245 Swick Road, Kelowna, B.C.
Asking price: $9,288,800 (Sept. 22 2021)
Selling price: $8,823,100 (Sept. 13, 2022)
Days on market: 357
Taxes: $38,026.85 (2021)
Listing agent: Richard Deacon, Engel & Völkers Okanagan
The action
Listing agent Richard Deacon expected the house to take a couple of years to sell, considering the niche market for exclusive properties. He says he was pleased to sell it almost a year to the date it was listed, amid interest rate hikes and inflation.
He showed the house to about 10 parties who were vetted to ensure that they were serious buyers. Mr. Deacon said they turned down more enquiries than they said yes to. The winning bid came from a Calgary buyer. The seller, who is in his nineties, is looking to downsize and is renting the house back from the new owner for a few months.
“The buyer took about a month for due diligence, because of the complexities of such a big transaction, with a vineyard and a lakefront and a dock, and the fact it had never gone on the market before,” Mr. Deacon says.
What they got
The 5.54-acre lakefront property on Lake Okanagan had been in the family for almost 50 years. The site includes a three-level, 8,000-square-foot house that was completed in 1990, a two-bedroom cabin completed in 2003, a multicar garage, a pool, a boathouse with guest suite and an established vineyard. The vineyard annually produces up to 120 cases of merlot and chardonnay.
In the main house, there is a large French country kitchen with butcher block island, a living room and dining room with vaulted ceiling and lake views, and terracotta tiles throughout. The four-bedroom home has five bathrooms, a games room, library, sunroom and central sound system. The new owner plans to do updates.
The agent’s take
“In the city limits of Kelowna, this was the largest lakefront property sold in quite some time,” Mr. Deacon says.
The Okanagan is known for its collector car clubs, so in the marketing video for the home he used a vintage car that once drove a young Princess Elizabeth around on her first trip to Vancouver in the 1950s.
“That got a lot of attention online,” he says. “The home showcased extremely well, and we did a lot of international marketing and ran significant advertising in publications around the world.”
The sale completed on Sept. 29.