For sale: 5 acres of land and over 340 vintage cars
Shuswap area property listed at $1.45 million
A real estate listing in Tappen, B.C., for a five-acre property near Shuswap Lake comes with an unusual feature — it includes more than 340 vintage cars.
"If you can sell a condo in Vancouver for a couple million bucks, you can come up here and get five acres and a lifetime worth of work if you really enjoy working on cars," said seller Michael Hall.
The five-acre listing comes complete with a renovated home, property zoned for auto salvage, a 900-square-foot restoration shop, a 1,200-square-foot steel building and hundreds of vintage cars ready to be restored.
"Since we advertised the property a few days ago, I've had more than 15 inquiries a day," said Hudson Purba, Hall's real estate agent.
Hall and Purba both stressed that the property as a whole is for sale, and inquiries about individual vehicles will not be taken.
In his 11 years as a real estate agent, Purba has never had a listing quite like this.
Collecting for 40 years
Hall, a rock scaler and business-owner, started collecting vintage cars 40 years ago.
He was living in Kamloops when his collection grew to a point where he says the city "bugged him" so he and his wife moved to a farm where he could keep his collection.
He bought an auto-wrecker from a friend and continued to add to his collection.
"I've added another 150 or 200 [cars] in the last three of four years and it just sort of exploded exponentially from there so to speak."
Take a look at what the property looks like:
Some of the cars he's been especially proud of over the years include a 1968 Chevelle SS 396 four-speed (which he won't be selling), a 1941 three window Dodge business coupe and even a DeLorean.
Hall has been working to build a list of what vehicles are part of the listing, but his phone has been ringing off the hook since the listing went up and he hasn't had time.
'It's going to leave a pretty big void in my life'
Hall says his wife isn't as crazy for cars as he is.
"We have an arrangement. She lives on the 26-acre farm and I live with the 300-400 cars," he said. "She finally said, 'enough.'"
Hall is reluctant to make the sale, but he sees the value in listing the property and all the cars.
"It's not like I can just walk away from $1.5 million worth of cars and property," he said.
"I never really thought about it, but if they're all gone it's going to leave a pretty big void in my life," he said.
"It's kinda like getting kicked square in the you-know-whats," he added.
Hall says his car-buying habits are somewhat of an addiction, but he is willing sacrifice his "insane hobby" to make money for him and his family.
"Some days I wake up screaming going 'what have I done' and the next day I go out and buy three cars. I have a problem."
With files from Tara Copeland