Kimberley Real Estate

Kimberley sits on the flank of the Purcell Mountains at roughly 1,100 metres, which makes it one of the highest cities in Canada and gives it a longer winter and a cooler summer than Cranbrook, thirty kilometres down the hill. For most of a century the town was the Sullivan Mine, one of the largest lead and zinc mines in the world, and when the mine closed in 2001 the town had already begun turning itself into a place people move to on purpose.

What that turn produced is the town as it is now: a pedestrian downtown called the Platzl, a ski hill that starts at the edge of the residential streets, and a network of cross-country and mountain-bike trails that begins where the pavement ends. The population is a little over eight thousand.

How the town is laid out

Three areas matter to a buyer. The original townsite runs up the hill from the Platzl, with older homes on small lots, some of them the miners' houses of the 1920s and 1930s, many of them renovated and some of them not. Marysville, on the flat ground toward Cranbrook, was a separate village until it amalgamated with Kimberley and still has its own main street and its own waterfall walk. Above the townsite, the resort area around Kimberley Alpine Resort holds the newer construction: chalets, townhouses and condominiums built for the ski trade, many of them held as second homes.

Those three areas do not price alike, and a comparable from one is a poor guide to the other two. A renovated 1930s house on the hill, a 1970s bungalow in Marysville and a resort townhouse can share a listing price and have nothing else in common.

Getting in and out

Highway 95A runs through town and reaches Cranbrook in about half an hour. The Canadian Rockies International Airport sits between the two, closer to Kimberley than most people expect, with daily flights to Calgary and Vancouver. Beyond that the region is a long way from anywhere, which is part of the point.

What buyers should know

Kimberley is a small market, and in any given month the number of homes that fit a particular buyer can be counted on one hand. Waiting for choice does not work well here. Knowing what you want, and being ready when it appears, does.

Snow is a fact of ownership. Ask about the roof, the driveway grade and who clears it, and how the heating bills look in January. A house that was a pleasure in August can be a different proposition in February.

What sellers should know

Buyers here often arrive from Calgary or the coast with a picture of the town already in mind. The homes that sell quickly are the ones that match the picture: light, warm, with the outdoors visible from inside. Preparation before listing matters more here than in a larger market, because there is no volume of traffic to absorb a weak first impression.

Working with Jack

Jack works from the Royal LePage office on Wallinger Avenue, in the middle of town. He knows which streets get the afternoon sun, which lots hold the snow, and which resort buildings have the strata records worth reading twice. If you are thinking about buying or selling in Kimberley, the conversation starts with an honest number.