Housing & Accommodation

The most challenging part of moving to the Fort is finding accomodation.

 As in most northern communities housing comes in a number of forms

• rental accomodation (apartments, townhouses and private rentals)
• mobiles and trailers
• privately owned detached housing

Rental Accomodation

Finding a place to rent in Fort St. James requires creativity, an understanding of the local market, and a willingness to talk to perfect strangers. Finding a place to rent can be tough: this is a small community, and there isn’t a lot of rental housing. Be prepared to live in a motel room, an apartment or a trailer until you find the perfect place.

Here are some tried and true tips from Forest Service staff on finding accomodation.

• the best way to find a place to live? word of mouth. Everyone in town, everyone you work with, is a potential lead to a place. Make a nuisance of yourself. Ask everyone you meet, whether they be stranger or recent acquaintance: someone is bound to know of a place for rent somewhere.
• be realistic. this is a small northern town. Most of the rental accomodation is mobile homes or trailers, small cabins or apartments. The house of your dreams may come along, but chances are it will take a while.
• the first thing to do when you get to town: immediately put the word out at the Forest Service. Put the word out even before you arrive - when you accept your job talk to the person making the offer. Call your soon-to-be-supervisor. Your co-workers are your best bet for finding a place to live.

Rental Accommodation: Listings

The following offer rental accommodation: this list is not a guarantee of availability.

Apartment Buildings

Some private home-owners have apartments in their houses for rent: these are often word-of-mouth or advertised on notice boards.

Trailer Parks

Motels and Lodges

Buying A House

In 2000 the average house price in Fort St. James is between $80,000.00 and $120,000.00, depending on location and size of the property.

Forest Service staff live all over town. Many of them live in town on Elm and Birch streets, a busy urban area close to the Forest Service building with a mix of detached houses and trailers.

Several others live along Sowchea Road. Lots along this road are usually 5 acres in size, or one-half to 1 acre lakeshore lots, offering rural living close to town.

Some houses along Sowchea Road are not within the town’s fire protection zone. Once you live past Paaren’s Beach you are outside of the municipal fire protection area.

Still others of us live out at Dog Creek, a rural area between the Fort and Vanderhoof.

If you are looking at a house in the Luck Bay (a.k.a. Big Bay) area be advised that this is in the flood plain

If you are contemplating buying a house on Airport Road be careful. Ask alot of questions about the water supply. Water is hard to come by along that stretch: some people have drilled down deep and come up empty. Many of the houses on Airport Road are on shared water systems, so ask questions about the water before you buy.

If you have access to the Internet you can check regularly on the availability of properties in this area from where you are right now. The address for the online multiple listing service is: http://www.mls.ca To find listings in this area check the Cariboo general area, Vanderhoof sub-area.

a copy of the most recent property listings is included in this package

Real Estate Agents

ReMax Lakeshore Realty 996-8618

Hank Klassen Realty Ltd. 996-7121

ReMax 567-9222 (Vanderhoof)

Real estate information on the Internet: http://www.mls.ca

( for up-to-date listings in this and any other area in Canada!)