Kimberley Real Estate

Kimberley sits high on the side of the Purcells, above the St. Mary River valley, and the height is the first thing to know about the place. Winters are real, the ski hill is minutes from the middle of town, and the light in the evening comes across the Rockies on the far side of the valley. People who live here chose it, and most of them will tell you why without being asked.

The town grew up around the Sullivan Mine, and when the mine wound down the town made a decision to become somewhere people visit and stay. The middle of downtown is the Platzl, a pedestrian street with the shops, the clock, the patios and the summer market, and the neighbourhoods run up the hill behind it and along the valley floor toward Marysville.

What the town is like to live in

Kimberley is small enough that the school run, the rink and the grocery store put you in front of the same families all week. Kids walk to school here. The Kimberley Nordic Club sets track for cross-country skiing on the way up to the hill, the Nature Park has an enormous web of trails that start at the edge of the townsite, and the mountain bike trails above town go all summer. In July and August the town heads to Wasa Lake, half an hour north on the highway, where the water is warm enough to swim in and the provincial park campground fills up early.

For a drink after any of that, the town has three of its own: Grist & Mash Brewery for a pint made in Kimberley, The Shed for something to eat with it, and Overtime Beer Works when the game is on.

How the homes are laid out

The original townsite climbs the hill from the Platzl. This is where the older houses are, and older here means the mining years: many of the single-family homes on the market in Kimberley were built before 1990, and a good share of them before 1960. That is the town's charm and also the thing to inspect. A well-kept 1950s house on a steep lot with a view can be a wonderful place to live, and the roof, the wiring and the foundation are the questions to ask before the view does the talking.

Marysville, along the valley floor, is flatter and a little newer, with the elementary school and the falls at its edge. The newer builds cluster near the ski hill and around the golf courses at Trickle Creek and Bootleg Gap, where the lots are bigger and the houses were built for the view. Out toward Ta Ta Creek and Wasa the market turns rural: acreages, lake cabins and bare land. Those listings have their own page, the surrounding area, so the Kimberley numbers below are the town itself.

Kimberley market right now

53Active listings

$564,900Median list price

$65,000 – $5,980,000Price range

110Avg. days on market

• Single Family40
• Vacant Land9
• Other2
• Retail1

What buyers should know

This is a small market, and it moves at its own pace. Homes in Kimberley tend to sit longer than homes in Cranbrook, which is good news for a buyer who wants time to think and less good for one waiting for the perfect house to appear. In any given month the number of homes that fit a particular family can be very small, so the useful thing Cathy does is know what is coming before it is listed.

Snow is part of ownership. Ask who plows the road, how steep the driveway is in January, what the heating costs were last winter and whether the roof has been done. Ask about the well and the septic on anything outside town. None of this is a reason not to buy here; it is the difference between loving the house in February and resenting it.

What sellers should know

Buyers come to Kimberley from Calgary, from the coast and from the rest of the Kootenays with a picture of the town already in their heads, and the homes that sell well are the ones that match it: light, a view, a place to put the skis and the bikes, and a yard the dog can use. Presentation matters more here than in a bigger market because the buyer is often deciding on a single weekend visit.

Pricing is a judgement, and on a market this size a comparable from the wrong part of town is worse than none. Cathy prices from the homes that actually sold on your street and the ones that did not, and she will tell you which is which.

Working with Cathy

Cathy has lived in Kimberley for most of her life and has sold homes here for over 20 years. She knows which streets get the sun in winter and which ones the plow reaches first. Most of her listings are in Kimberley, and most of her clients come from people she has already worked with.