What kind of house can you get for $500K in Canada?
Remember, it’s cold in Regina, wet on the Island and Winnipeg has 9-1-1 for bugs. By Dave Trifunov / KelownaNow.com

Let’s pretend you have $500,000 and the burning desire to buy a home. You live in a great city, you have a good job and you’re ready to settle down. You spot a house, you call your agent and, and, and … it’s already sold. Yes, buying in Kelowna can be frustrating. “June was one of our strongest months ever,” real-estate agent Keith Watts said. “I’m extremely busy right now for buyers and sellers.” OK, so maybe Kelowna has gotten you down. Maybe you’ve got your eye on moving back home (if you’re not from here) and you want to know how far that half-a-million will go in: (Alberta- Saskatchewan-Newfoundland). We’ve thought the same thing. To satisfy our curiosity, we’ve searched realtor.ca and found $500,000 homes in some unique or popular markets. Below, you can read about what we’ve found — with our own unique, KelownaNow approach.

KELOWNA
285 Kriese Rd.
5 bed, 4 bath
$505,000
2,486-square-foot single-family home

Let’s start at home and we found a prize. It has a great setting near a park, trees out front and a pool with grassy areas. It’s just as comfortable inside, with an updated kitchen and bathroom. We especially loved the sunroom that opens poolside. It’s just a few blocks to Rutland Secondary and Middle schools, plus the Kelowna Family Y. It was built about 40 years ago, but has been updated nicely.
BEFORE YOU BOLT: Watts sold this house in eight days (sorry!). Well, at least when we spoke with Watts, it had an accepted offer (subject to conditions). You can likely see why when you glance through the photos.

Vancouver
208-238 W. Broadway
1 bed, 1 bath
$500,000
602-square-foot apartment

Well, we can’t actually confirm that this apartment will still be for sale by the time you read this. It appears there are some re-sales floating around on the internet, but that’s no guarantee in the city’s red-hot market. However, assuming Unit 208 at 238 West Broadway hasn’t been snatched up, it could be a steal. The selling agent has a good question for you: why buy downtown “for a unit less than 500 square feet while you can own this large one-bedroom plus den unit, 602 square feet, for the same price?” We can only imagine what you’ll do with the extra 102 square feet. Let your imaginations run wild, people! The location is ideal, near City Hall and the Canada Line station. The building — called a luxury concrete boutique — only has 57 units and you can walk everywhere, which is good, because you only get one parking place.
BEFORE YOU BOLT: Oh, you didn’t want kids, did you?

 
Vancouver Island
697 Green Rd., Quadra Island
2 bed, 2 bath
$525,000
2,072-square-foot single-family home

Yes, this is the highest priced home on our list, but we wanted to find something that might “typify” life on the Island. The views, the timber and the flowers would seem to satisfy that desire. The bonus here is you get a legal one-bedroom suite below the garage.
BEFORE YOU BOLT: You have to take a 12-minute car-ferry ride to Campbell River, and then a four-hour car/ferry trip to Vancouver.

 
Calgary
198 Riverside Circle
3 bed, 3 bath
$500,000
1,764-square-foot single-family home

Choices in Cowtown were slim: only nine listings at $500K exactly divided among condos and single-family homes. We chose this three-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom stucco home in southeast Calgary because it seems most similar to what you can get in Kelowna. It was built in 1991 and is about 1,760 square feet with an attached double garage. Comfortable. It needs some updating, but the bones are there. The backyard is nice, but smaller.
BEFORE YOU BOLT: Given the downturn in Alberta’s oil industry, home sales are down about 10 per cent over last year. The Calgary Real Estate Board estimates 9,829 sales so far this year, or 1,000 less than last year. Think that’s a drop? Total sales dropped 26 per cent from 2014 to 2015 (25,544 to 18,837). Maybe Calgary is coming down to earth?

 
Regina
2222 Retallack St.
3 bed, 3 bath
$500,000
1,966-square-foot single-family home

The Queen City is going to be difficult to ignore. The photos of this three-bedroom, three-bathroom family home on Retallack Street are picturesque. Upstairs is the stunning, walk-in closet and down is the man cave. Outside is a paradise with ample greenspace next to an outdoor cooking area. It might be enough to have you running for Regina. In all, you get 1,966 square feet split among 2 ½ storeys, a detached garage and room for the RV.
BEFORE YOU BOLT: There is one thing you should keep in mind: -20 C. That’s the average low temperature in Regina in January. Plus, you live in a city routinely the punchline for late-night comedians.

 
Winnipeg
15 Wycombe Place
4 bed, 4 bath
$499,900
2,430-square-foot single-family home

There’s some serious choice in the Manitoba capital: realtor.ca returned 98 homes for sale in the $475,000-$500,000 range. We chose this River Park South house because it has a pool. Who knew! Can you skate on it during Winnipeg’s epic winters? This home will need upgrades some day, especially to the kitchen (those cabinets!) and bath, but the enclosed hot-tub might make up for that. There’s not a lot of grass or a garden, but the greenspace out your backyard is nice. You’re also located on a quiet cul-de-sac.
BEFORE YOU BOLT: Manitoba’s economy continues to set an enviable pace, third best in Canada (behind Ontario and B.C.). Thanks to manufacturing, agriculture, construction and infrastructure planning, the Conference Board of Canada says Manitoba could be the hottest province next year. However… Winnipeg has a dedicated bugline: dial 3-1-1. Yeesh.

 
Toronto
318-75 Queens Wharf Rd.
2 bed, 2 bath
$499,999
1,000-square-foot tower apartment

If you love glass and steel towers, you will love the Waterfront Communities. And, if you’re just looking for four walls to shelter you from the smog and the humidity, you might enjoy Waterfront Communities. Granted, Toronto is just too gosh-darn exciting to stay home (just ask them), so maybe that’s why this two-bed, two-bath “Quartz” condo feels so — hmmm — ordinary? The floor-to-ceiling windows, polished countertops and numerous cabinets give these 1,000-square-foot condos a definite coolness factor. Then there are three floors of amenities, complete with tai-chi deck, poolside lounge and gym. In case you have to spread your wings.
BEFORE YOU BOLT: Brace for the upselling to the tune of $557 monthly in maintenance fees. For that much, you’d better be maintaining our kitchen with some sweet, sweet brunch buffets. Plus, you know, the Leafs.

 
Montreal
10841 Rue Laverdure
3 bed 1 bath
$500,000
1,360-square-foot semi-detached townhome

Montreal is why these comparisons can be difficult. Exposed brick in a vintage home that’s been completely renovated one one hand. On the other hand, your home office is a closet — literally (and not a walk-in closet, either). World-class culture steps from your door, but back home to noisy radiator heating powered by Casper the Friendly Ghost. Crown moulding vs. no yard. If you’re a positive person, you win no matter what in this stylish 1923-built character home.
BEFORE YOU BOLT: Montreal, ahh Montreal. Quebec, la belle province. Of course, you are living in a city of four million people, so you don’t HAVE to speak French. You also don’t HAVE to smoke or drink red wine at breakfast, but when in Rome… No, but seriously, living in Quebec comes with its own unique considerations. Bonne chance.

 
Halifax
15 Castlepark Grove
5 bed, 3.5 bath
$509,000
3,078-square-foot single-family home

Seriously, the address is on Castlepark Grove and you live in Halifax. It’s brick and built atop a hill. It has a music room. If this were anymore colonial you’d expect to find Alexander Keith or the Crawley family living inside. The photos aren’t great (staging!), but it’s almost immediately apparent that you’re living in the Maritimes just from a quick glance.
BEFORE YOU BOLT: Your friends will constantly talk with a pirate voice when they learn you’ve moved to Halifax. Then you tell them the city has the most bars, per capita, in Canada. Arrr!

 
Newfoundland
597 St. Thomas Line
5 bed, 3.5 bath
$487,500
3,240-square-foot single-family home

Yes, we dropped our price point on this one, but welcome to the Rock. And, yes, this isn’t anywhere near a major metropolitan centre, but too bad. We like this house. There are quite a few homes in the price range — especially in St. John’s — but few with the views you can see from this lavish spread. When we start Newfoundlandnow.com, this could be headquarters. It has a massive veranda, sprawling “grounds” and an in-law suite.
BEFORE YOU BOLT: It had a “walking score” of zero.

Conclusion
What does all this mean? Well, sometimes we got caught by the idea of, “Oh, you could buy a mansion in …” Maybe that’s not so true anymore in Canada. From what we could discover, outside of Vancouver and Toronto, is appears Canadian homes are finding some form of middle ground. And, for those of you frustrated by Kelowna’s heated market, know that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the Rockies. Plus, the average low temperature in January here? Oh, it’s -7C.