I shall never stop loving you (Unknown).
We enjoyed the afternoon tea and delicious pastries immensely. The guy at the cafe walked to our table and told Lynda that he was familiar with her accent as his grandmother also was Cockney. Lynda never stopped talking about her parents and London where she lived for 25 years before she migrated to Canada in 1968. All of a sudden, she stopped talking and looked into my eyes and said I wanted to live here. I remember saying to her – What’s stopping you from going next door to the real estate office and talking to them. She asked if I meant it? I said indeed I did as you supported me when I wanted us to live in Vegas. She said but you worked so hard. In a short period of five years, you established yourself in Vegas. You provide consulting services and taught at the university as well as the Community Colleges. You know so many people in Vegas.
I said I can do the same thing here. I know Vegas was a unique opportunity for me, but I look forward to living close to the ocean. Just so you know that the ocean was hundreds of miles from where I was born and bred.
She said what about Adam?
My guess is that Adam will be delighted. If we win the contract, it will be multi million dollar contract and I am just guessing here, but a bulk of the work will be related to here in Victoria which also means that I may have to hire and manage local folks to make things happen. She said we should consider chatting with Adam before we explore the possibilities of living in Sidney. I remember saying I don’t see any reason to bother him at this stage as he already had enough on his plate. She said let’s go and see the real estate folks next door.
It didn’t take too long for the secretary to find somebody to see us. The guy who came to see us said his name is Mike and he owns the company. I said we are Canadians and currently we are living in Vegas. We just stopped by here to have lunch, and my wife fell in love with Sidney, and we want to know if we can look at some properties here. He said I am not surprised. What kind of properties would you be interested in? I said to Lynda, why don’t you explain it to Mike. She looked at Mike and said perhaps a two-bedroom condo. Mike said there are not too many condos on sale in Sidney right now; they go very fast. He asked Lynda – Have you gone around to take a look at Sidney? We said no.
He said the total population of Sidney is almost 10, 000 but mostly we have houses here. Only a few years back we started replacing houses with Condos and almost everybody living here is a senior citizen. He continued – We are only allowed to build 4 stories high here; therefore, you will find a few condo buildings around depending upon how far you would like to live from the ocean. Lynda said everything seems to be close enough because Sidney doesn’t look that big. He said – You are absolutely right.
Mike continued saying that perhaps the best thing I can suggest to you is that please drive around in Sidney and check every condo building out and check it out if there are any condos on sale in those buildings. If you like any of those buildings and there are any condos for sale in those buildings, give me a call and I will line up some places to see, perhaps tomorrow.
We thought perhaps that was a very suggestion. Before we jumped in the car, we decided to walk around the ocean for a little while to check it out. We found a little park, a nice restaurant right on the other side of the deck, and another restaurant. The sun was shining on the blue ocean, and we felt if we died and gone to heaven. We decided to sit on one of the benches facing the ocean and watching some Kayaks passing by.
Finally, we decided to go back to our car and started driving around. The very first building we spotted had a unique look and looked very clean. Lynda wanted to get close to see if anything is on sale. After parking the car when we reached the building we were interested in, we saw somebody pushing his walker coming out from behind the building where they had the car parking for the owners of the condos. He looked at us and asked – if we were looking to buy a condo in the building? Lynda said, yes.
He said his name was Jack and said he lived on the fourth floor, next to the condo which is on sale. It’s two bedroom and the lady who lived in that condo died recently and her kids are trying to sell the condo. I asked how it has been on sale. He said it was not too long, but some people came to see the condo last week. Jack turned to Lynda and asked her if she would like to see his condo, which is identical to the condo on sale. Lynda said we don’t want to bother you, but if you don’t mind. Jack said he had been living in the building for five years and it’s relatively a new building and we have a committee to keep track of the cleaning and repairs very well. Jack led us to the building and into the elevator dragging his walker to the 4th floor. His condo was the last condo located on the corner of the building.
We spent 15 minutes walking around in the condo and mentally measuring and assessing to determine where and how our furniture may fit in the condo. It was a reasonable size of condo, but there was no comparison with our current house in Vegas or the house we left behind in Ottawa. We thanked Jack and when we left the building we decided to go to the back of the building to check the parking and garbage dumping facilities. There were not too many cars parked there and perhaps the reason was being everything appeared to be so close to the condo as we had noticed that there were a couple of grocery stores located walking distance.
Lynda decided to walk to the main street – Beacon Avenue. At the corner there was a Chinese Restaurant on our left and there was a clothing store for the kids. We walked a couple of blocks on our left, and we went past the restaurant where we had lunch before we got to the ocean. Lynda appeared to be quite happy with what we had seen so far. She turned around and said – Let’s go around and search for more condos on sale in other buildings. We drove around for more than an hour to make notes about the buildings. There weren’t too many condos on sale in those buildings. We were almost ready to drive to the hotel when we noticed a sign of the library on our left. Lynda asked me to park the car, so we can mooch into the library for a little while. I parked the car and we dropped by the library. It was a fair size of space and with a typical configuration. As soon as we entered, somebody came to us and asked if she could help us. Lynda said we are new here and looking for some information on the Town of Sidney. She led us to a section and pointed out to various magazines and a Persona Computer (PC) to use for searching for what we were looking for.
I asked Lynda to go and look around and in the meanwhile I walked towards the PC.
I found out that the town of Sidney with almost 10,000 population, mostly seniors in a seaside community that felt a bit like a slower and more closed knit version of nearby Victoria:
- Coastal Charm:
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- The waterfront—especially along what’s now called the Sidney Seaside Walkway—was peaceful and lightly developed; and
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- Fishing boats, ferries heading toward Gulf Islands, and views across to San Juan Islands gave it a calm maritime vibe.
- Book town:
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- Sidney was already becoming known as “Canada’s Book town”;
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- Independent bookstores were a big part of the culture, but the branding and tourism push were still growing.
- Small, tight-knit community:
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- Population was smaller and older on average—lots of retirees; and
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- People knew each other;
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- Almost no traffic; and
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- Fewer tourists.
- Ferry and airport proximity:
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- Close to Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal but not overwhelming ferry traffic; and
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- Near Victoria International Airport.
- Slower development:
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- Fewer condos and modern developments along the waterfront; and
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- Local shops, cafés, and family-run businesses dominated—less chain presence.
- Lifestyle:
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- Quiet, relaxed pace of life;
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- Popular for walking, cycling, and enjoying the ocean; and
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- Not much nightlife—more about peaceful evenings than entertainment.
Lynda and I were totally delighted with the information on Sidney and felt as already belonged here.
At that time, we were kind of tired and decided to go back to our hotel in Victoria. When we got to the hotel, Lynda decided to give Mike a call and give him the addresses of the buildings that we had been to this afternoon. At the same time, she told him about Jack in the building on 5th Street. When Lynda was done on the phone, she told me that Mike suggested us to be there around 8:00 in the morning as he has keys to most of those condos as they all were listed with his company and most of them are empty. Lynda also asked me if we were doing the right thing. She continued – Why don’t you talk to Adam. I remember saying to her that there is no need at this stage to talk to Adam as we don’t yet know what we are up to.
We got washed and changed our clothes to go downstairs for supper. When we came back from our supper, we watched TV for a little while then went to bed. Unfortunately, neither of us had a good night’s sleep as there were so many things on our minds.
The next day we showed up at Mike’s office as suggested. He offered us coffee, but we already had breakfast with coffee, and we wanted to just get on with the job on hand. Lynda asked Mike about the details of the property and other details which he provided to us immediately. When we got to the building on 5th Street, Mike parked his car on the street, and we walked together towards the building. There was nobody in the lobby and when we got to the fourth floor, we thought everybody still must be in bed. As soon as we entered the condo, Lynda opened the front closet and looked at me and said a pretty big closet. We found the kitchen which was a fair size, and we also liked the sizes of both bedrooms. The living room was also a fair size. All and all, we liked the condo. Lynda turned around and said we are assuming that we will get two parking places. Mike said, of course. This building has more parking spots than needed as most of the people who bought the properties in this building would like to walk to the shops and the ocean. Lynda told Mike that we had seen enough and we liked it.
It didn’t take too long for us to go through three more condos in three different buildings, and it became obvious that we were not interested in any of those condos. When we got back to Mike’s office, I said to him that we will take off now and will be back after lunch to further discuss the property we are interested in simply because we must rehash a lot of things. Mike said, I understand it and please come back when you can as I will be in the office.
It was only 11:30 and we decided to walk around before coming back to have lunch in the same restaurant where we had lunch yesterday. Lynda had made up her mind when Jack took us in the building to show his condo. She just wanted to make sure that there is nothing else available to come close to that building or the condo. She asked me again if I agreed with her decision. I said absolutely. She asked me if I had an idea about how much I was going to offer for the condo. I said I am working on it, and don’t worry about it. I will make sure that we get that condo.
She said she got the feeling that we will be happy here. Living this close to the ocean, she said, I never ever dreamed about it.
We walked back to the restaurant and had a nice lunch. Lynda kept asking me what we will do with the properties in Vegas and Canada. I remember saying to her that the property that we have in Ottawa belongs to Adam. We already told him, and I am not going back on that. She asked about the house in Vegas.
I said it’s premature to talk about that now. Perhaps the best thing we can do is to deal with the current situation and then we will have enough time to address the house in Vegas.
Once we had lunch, we decided to walk towards the real state office where Mike was waiting for us. We sat down in Mike’s office and I asked without wasting any time – How long had the condo been on sale? Mike said for two months. I said here is what I would like to propose, and the money I proposed was $25,000 less than the asking price and we need 90 days for the closing. At the same time, I am prepared to put $10,000 as a deposit when we make an offer. Mike said I don’t want you to be offended if I said they are not going to accept your offer; I am sure about it. I spoke directly, looking at Mike and said I appreciate giving me the benefit of your wisdom, but I am not interested in what you think. He didn’t appear to be very happy with my comment and he continued. You are low balling by lowering the amount of the offer and asking for an unusually longer time for the closing of the deal. I remember saying to Mike that I understand why you appeared to be upset, Mike, but I am prepared to take the risk of telling you that you have no right to decide what is right for the owner of the property. Furthermore, I would be interested in knowing if there were any other offers during the last two months when the property was on sale. Mike said, yes, there were two offers. I asked what the shortcomings of those offers were. Mike said one offer didn’t go through simply because the mortgage was not approved by the bank, and the other offer had only a couple of thousands for deposit with the offer which wasn’t acceptable to the owners. I said Mike finally you’re making sense to me. Let me tell you I am not only prepared to put $10, 000 as deposit but also, I am prepared to write you a cheque for the remaining amount at the closing. I don’t need a mortgage.
Mike said while you appeared to have a better financial position than other offers that we had, but I don’t like your total attitude. We are a small-town community and typically we try to be nice to each other. Moreover, it appeared to me that you had dealt with real estate in big cities and perhaps you got used to dealing with the city’s real estate folks. As soon as Mike finished his sentence, I got up and asked Lynda to get up and turned around and said to Mike – you shouldn’t be in the business of analyzing your potential clients. I remember when we met you for the first time that you told us that you own this business and I was very impressed but now I am not sure if you can sustain the level of success with your mindset. Therefore, we are leaving now. Have a nice life. Lynda and I started walking towards the door. Mike got up and rushed to the door, blocking us and almost touching me and saying that he was very sorry for the way things went and he apologized. He asked us if it is possible to go back for a minute and listen to him. I looked at Lynda. She nodded her head and we went back to our seats.
Mike said if you don’t mind please wait here for a few minutes as I am going to get my secretary to type your offer and I would need you both to sign it. I said that’s fine, Mike. As soon as Mike went out, a girl came in and asked us if we would like to have coffee while waiting for Mike. Lynda said that it would be nice. She continued that we both drink black coffee. She said I will be right back. It didn’t take too long for her to pop back with the mugs of coffee. She asked if we would like to have anything else. I said no thank you. It didn’t take more than 10 minutes for Mike to pop in and asked us to sign the offer. I read the offer and signed it and then asked Lynda to sign the offer which she did. Mike said I feel obligated to present this offer tonight to the owners but if they asked me my opinion, I would not advise them to accept it. I said there’s nothing wrong with that approach. As long as you don’t try to convince those folks in what you think should be done. He said I promise you Mir, I will stay away from that. He continued but I would feel obligated to say to them that if they don’t like this offer, they can always wait. I said you should also add to the sentence that that offer may not come in a hurry. Mike said that’s true, and I will add that. I told Mike to give us a call to let us know as we are in the process of leaving here for Vegas. Furthermore, I continued, I have no intentions to counteroffer, Mike. If the offer is accepted as it is, I will go to the bank and get a draft on the name of your company as soon as possible. He said it sounds good, Mir. We left his office thanking him for his cooperation.
We didn’t chat too much on our way to our hotel and when we got there, we were ready to go downstairs to the restaurant in the lobby to have our supper. We both were trying to avoid commenting on our offer and watched the tv for a while before we retired. We both pretended to be sleeping when the phone rang. I jumped and picked up the phone from the side table and said hello. It was Mike. He said congratulations, Mir, you got your offer accepted by the owners despite my warning to them. I said I will be in his office around 11:00 AM to bring the draft in. The I disconnected the phone. Lynda was listening to my conversation with Mike on the phone and as soon as I disconnected, she garbed me and said – You did it again. I said we did it again, my love.
