When Christine Whitbread’s family put their house up for sale last spring, they were hoping it would move quickly.
Instead the attractive downtown property drew relatively little interest in a crowded field of homes.
“There’s so many [houses] out on the market right now that people can pick and choose,” says Whitbread.
They certainly can. As of mid-week, realty firms and the classifieds website Kijiji listed 74 homes and cottages for sale throughout the Flin Flon area.
The available properties run the gamut. Buyers can find everything from a one-bedroom fixer-upper worth $26,000 to a luxurious lakeview abode priced at half a million dollars.
Over half of the homes would be considered high-end by local standards. More than two-thirds are in Flin Flon with the others spread across Creighton, Denare Beach and the nearby cottage subdivisions.
While prospective buyers have a long list of questions about the properties, most residents have just one: Are all of those “For Sale” signs indicative of a community in decline or the normal up-and-down cycle of real estate?
Lily Schwartz, a broker and realtor at Flin Flon’s Triad Realty, says the number of homes up for grabs isn’t out of the ordinary.
“If you’re counting the whole area, that’s not a lot of houses on the market,” says Schwartz.
“I’ve seen this many homes for sale before.”
Schwartz says a number of houses are on the market because their owners have retired and are looking to downsize, while others are trying to sell now rather than wait five years as they might have otherwise.
“I don’t think anybody’s fleeing the market,” Schwartz says. “They’re not running from Flin Flon. But sometimes…you get a big turnaround, and over the years it isn’t unusual for that to happen.”
In Whitbread’s case, her family was hoping to move to a place at the lake so they could have more space and enjoy the outdoors.
“The majority of the [sellers] that I’ve talked to, it’s the same idea,” says Whitbread. “Everybody kind of wants to go to the lake. And then some people are just looking for bigger homes [because] they’ve outgrown their homes.”
But in and around Denare Beach, where an unusually high 11 homes are listed, Mayor Carl Lentowicz says other factors are at play.
He says the 2012 closure of the Trout Lake mine near Flin Flon has had an impact on the market, as have homeowners passing away.
Lentowicz says the Denare Beach homes that go up for sale are typically on the market for a long time.
“There’s been a couple that have sold very quickly…but generally they’re sitting for quite a while,” he says.
On the plus side, Lentowicz says three new homes were built in Denare Beach this past year, following two the previous year.
“For little Denare Beach, that part is pretty bright, but when it comes to selling, they haven’t been moving,” he says.
Lentowicz says he doesn’t know the true number of homes for sale in the village and has heard figures higher than the 11 listed with realtors or on Kijiji.
It is possible there are more houses for sale than meets the eye. Not every seller chooses to hire a realtor or list their property on Kijiji. Some opt for a simple “For Sale” sign in the window or try their luck with a listing on Facebook.
One well-circulated rumour claims the Flin Flon area has 200-plus houses for sale. This is most certainly fictitious and could only be true if more than 127 residents are trying to sell their homes without going through any of the most popular channels. That seems highly unlikely.
Back at Triad Realty, Schwartz says many homes are still changing hands – provided the price is right.
“Properties that are listed with the correct price are still selling and there’s still a market for them,” she says.
Schwartz says she has been working with clients who are employed outside of Flin Flon, even Canada, who are still eager to call this area home.
“I think Flin Flon’s here and it’s alive and well,” she says. “There’s lots of people that just love it here.”
Whitbread also loves it. Even when she was trying to sell her house, she did not intend to leave the area.
But for now at least, her dream of moving to the lake is over. Whitbread and her family have taken their home off the market and plan to invest in upgrades.
“We’ll make it work,” she says.
