North Vancouver man giving away laneway house for free – with a catch

Owners of a laneway house in North Vancouver are wanting it gone – and they’re giving it away for free.

The 843-square-foot craftsman style coach house is five years old has two bedrooms, a full bathroom, living room, kitchen, and garage.

The homeowners just need the prospective owner to pay for moving costs, which could reach as high as $100,000.

And moving a home isn’t easy business; for travelling between their home on East 3rd Street and the eventual destination, the building needs to fit within the constraints of the road network.

Barriers are things like power lines, traffic lights, bridges and tunnels.

Even with the cost of moving, it would turn out to be about half the price of building a brand new coach house, according to the owner, Greg Cormier.

So far the offer is getting a lot of interest. Cormier said he’s had over 55 calls since posting the ad on Craigslist two days ago.

He’s hoping the relatively new building can be saved from wreckage since the area around it will be redeveloped into townhomes. The 1912 heritage home on the same property will be saved and incorporated into the development.

“There are buildings in the Lower Mainland that get torn down when they’re only seven years old or nine years old, to make way for new. This is a great way to salvage a whole lot of energy and materials in a building, instead of building a new one,” Cormier said.

The laneway home must be moved by April.