Two heritage homes going for a dollar each in Boston Bar area

Are you fed up with the high price of real estate in B.C.? In the Boston Bar area of the Fraser Canyon you can now buy two heritage houses for a dollar each. The only thing you’ll need to do before moving in, is some serious renovations.

The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) opened up the west and brought people to smaller towns in B.C.’s Fraser Valley. CPR built homes in communities like Boston Bar and in this case, North Bend, for their employees. The town lost their last sawmill years ago and until now, hasn’t been in the limelight.

The pair of 100-year-old heritage homes are two of the cheapest homes on the market in Canada, they come with sewer water and land, and with housing being overly expensive in B.C., the interest in these two homes has been phenomenal.

“The taxes are low and there are a lot of good features,” Llyod Forman, Boston Bar’s Fraser Valley Regional Director told Global News. “And the best thing is they are a dollar. The dollar is the big deal, the dollar is the big hook. It’s something that’s worked really well… something like free beer.”

The homes are located across the street from the town’s public swimming pool. But before anyone considers purchasing the homes, the buyer will  have to restore the exterior to heritage condition; which could end up costing roughly $100,000.

The inside of the home, where there are no conditions set upon purchase, will be another cost.

Regardless of the conditions for buying, it hasn’t deterred interest. After less than 12 hours on the market, there were more than 50 potential buyers that had called the community’s regional director expressing interest.

“We want to save it,” Forman said.

“I had people who phoned me this morning and say my grandparents lived on that street and I was in tears when I read about it. I want that house.”

Justin Williams is one potential buyer who knows about the history of resource and railway towns like Boston Bar. Like the town, Williams has B.C. roots that go back generations, and getting the opportunity to own a heritage home intrigues him.

“If you follow a certain lineage in my family it goes back seven generations as a west coast Canadian,” Williams said. “So I think there’s some connection to this province and their heritage homes.”

Any offers of interest on the two heritage homes are being accepted by the town’s regional district office.

~ with files from Brian Coxford