Mark Lamey, The Montreal Gazette, May 11, 2001
William Blomstrom, a Toronto ad man, is the brains behind www.privateislandsonline.com, a Web site that markets island real-estate all over the world. Are you looking for an Italian idyll or a Greek getaway? Then this is the place to start.
His site features 162 island retreats in places as exotic as Oceania or as homey as Georgian Bay. He even has two Quebec properties listed.
Susan Balcom, The Vancouver Sun, January 20, 2000
Buying recreational land used to be something people did in their retirement. Couples dreamed of quitting their jobs, selling their homes, and escaping to a simpler life in the country. But the dreams waited until the magic age of 65. Now, thanks to more flexible work schedules and telecommuting, 20-year-olds are shopping for property in the country, both as an investment, and to enjoy now on weekend get-aways.
Real Estate Weekly, June 22 – 28, 1999
Rudy Nielsen is the guy people call when they want to sell a town, or to unload a few hundred acres in the Cariboo in a hurry. He’s also the guy wannabe weekend cowboys call when they’re looking for a few acres to pasture their Landrovers.
“The sawmills and the bankruptcy guys know me as someone who will put in a low offer but who can close in seven days.
Business in Vancouver, May 12-18, 1998
On Wawn Lake four years ago, Jim Brown-John finally found the property he wanted. He had scoped out and walked away from at least 20 potential deals before deciding on this one. But now he was sure. This was the right chunk of land- at the right price. All he had to do was convince his wife, Heather Brown-John. Certainly, she had good reason to be cautious.
Real Estate Weekly, August 28, 1998
We have asked Rudy Nielsen, of Niho Land and Cattle Company, the largest owner of recreational land in British Columbia, to report on why and how investors should consider rural acreage. This is Nielsen’s report:
In 1982 our family changed its focus from small town, commercial investments to recreational land, where there is less risk and a better return.
Sales of all unimproved rural properties in BC rose dramatically from 1989 to 1995.
Vancouver Magazine, May / June 1997
Whistler – we all know what happened there. The Gulf Islands, the Sunshine Coast? Lovely, and priced accordingly. The Okanagan and the Shuswap – in just five years, between 1988 and 1993, average selling prices more than doubled. Vancouver’s traditional cottage country is no longer a place to get away from it all, if by “it” you mean high prices, big crowds and all that time spent waiting in ferry lineups or otherwise getting around.
Globe & Mail, May 4, 1996
For years, Sandra and Ken Prentice dreamed of homesteading in Northern Ontario. Last May, their dream came true when they moved on to 80 acres of land near Cochrane, Ont., that cost them just $19,900
“We always wanted a back-to-basics lifestyle where we could do some farming and raise a few animals,” Ms. Prentice says. “Now we have our place in the sun- and it didn’t cost us an arm and a leg.”
James Risdon, Business in Vancouver, December 24-30, 1996
OH GIVE ME A HOME….
After years of buying land in the Interior, selectively logging it and reselling it to recreational land buyers, the NIHO Land & Cattle Company is moving on to what it hopes will be greener pastures.
Rudy Nielsen, president of New Westminster-based NIHO, stopped logging land about two years ago, and started looking for another focus for his company.
Jodie Heap, Business in Vancouver, April 23-29, 1996
If you rifle through as many prospective deals as Rudy Nielsen does in a given day, you’ve no doubt developed a pretty thorough selection system.
As owner and founder of Niho Land & Cattle Co. Ltd., Nielsen typically buys 140 rural and recreational properties in any given year. He admits that the system he uses isn’t particularly sophisticated, but it’s methodical and detailed to a fault,
James Risdon, Real Estate News, March 21, 1995
Here’s a quick summary of how to buy recreational land, boiled down from a talk by Rudy Nielsen, president of NIHO Land & Cattle.
Nielsen, one of the biggest buyers and sellers of vacant land in BC, says only 40 percent of his money is spent on buying land: the rest is sunk into research to make sure he buys the right land.