Flood homes in Alberta sold at auction — but there's a catch
The auction is now closed and the successful bidders have 160 business days to move their homes
Time has run out on a provincial auction of more than two dozen Alberta homes that were flooded in 2013, homes that need to be moved.
Most of the homes — 20 in total — were located in the hard-hit community of High River, one was in Sundre and the remainder in the MD of Foothills.
Once the bidding closed on Friday night, the five homes, listed below, sold for between $135,800 and $181,000.
The rest of the houses sold for between $30,000 to $250,000.
The government bought the 26 damaged houses after the 2013 flood.
The successful bidders will now have to pay to move the houses to a new property so the areas can become floodways.
Earlier this week, the auction attracted potential buyers to an otherwise desolate street in the neighbourhood of Beachwood in High River.
Susan Cramer looked at a couple of larger bungalows that she was considering moving to a property near Calgary, but only if the price was right.
"There's a cost savings involved — we hope. The big thing is how much will the move cost?"
Move could cost up to $200K
Russell Holmes, who works for a home moving company, said that's an important question for potential buyers to answer.
Moving a smaller house a short distance could cost as little as $30,000, but a large brick house could cost as much as $200,000, he added.
"It's a big undertaking," Holmes said. "These houses in this area in High River here — there's going to be some cutting involved. They're just a little bit too big to go down the road in one piece easily."
Holmes said potential buyers should also make sure their municipal government allows property owners to move in houses built elsewhere.
The auction is now closed and the successful bidders have 160 business days to move their homes.
Some of the homes sold on auction:
This house at 1577 Gascony Lane S.W. was assessed at more than $830,000 last year (land and home). The house alone sold at auction for $180,000.
This house at 1587 Gascony Lane S.W. was assessed at more than $800,000 last year (land and home). The house alone sold at auction for $175,050.
This house at 1584 Gascony Lane S.W. was assessed at $650,000 last year (land and home). The house alone sold at auction for $135,800.
This house at 1578 Gascony Lane S.W. was assessed at $680,000 last year (land and home). The house alone sold at auction for $181,000.
This house at 1583 Gascony Lane S.W. was assessed at $515,000 last year (land and home). The house alone sold at auction for $141,000.
Corrections
- A previous version of this story said all 26 houses were located in High River. In fact, only 20 houses were in High River.Feb 22, 2017 2:25 PM MT
With files from Andrew Brown