The Real Estate Division has its office on the 2nd floor, directly below mine, at the Sauder School of Business. I often see students attending classes in the evening, although I think much of the curriculum is now taught via Zoom.
 
We also offer realtor accreditation and licencing  courses for Alberta and Saskatchewan.
 
Sauder received some good news this month when it was ranked the top university business program in Canada by Macleans’ Magazine. We share top spot for program reputation and research with the University of Toronto. Of the 10 years Macleans has been publishing its rankings, UBC Sauder has held top position for the last eight years straight. https://macleans.ca/education/best-programs-by-reputation/

I am also a social impact entrepreneur. I enter communities that need development, meet with city officials to learn what their town wants, and, if the right fit can be found, build rental housing.

For instance, my Summerland-Magic Apartment Homes project (in BC’s South Okanagan region) began in 2023 as a land assembly on which 100+ purpose-built rental apartments would be built. I began sourcing the land 10 months ago and the project already met my social impact standard just be creating new rental homes. 

Tombstone Towns – Where the Elderly Stay Forever
Summerland is one of many Canadian municipalities in danger of becoming a Tombstone Town, a place where lack of population renewal sees young people move away and not come back. This demographic time bomb is a man-made disaster in slow motion.
 
The town has little rental accommodation - the rental vacancy rate is just 1.5%. Consequently, downsizers and empty nesters have nowhere to move to, so they stay in their large homes. This prevents new families from moving in because there are few rentable houses large enough for them. As this cycle continues over decades, Tombstone towns get hollowed out, lose their dynamism, and eventually begin to implode. 

Heavy backing will be placed in walls, which will allow the installation of bed and bath lifts, if tenants need them.

Four six storey buildings will fit onto the one-acre site, which is on the edge of downtown Summerland. All services are within walking distance, which is great for seniors and families.
 
The much larger city of Kelowna (30 minutes away) attracts most of the Okanagan’s regional development dollars. Which is why I’m motivated to build in Summerland, because who else will? Profits made in a small town are the same as those in a large one. Money is green, no matter where you earned it.

A New Idea is Born
For months, I thought building new rental homes was the end of the social impact mandate for this project.
 
But then I learned in a recent pre-application conversation with Summerland’s planning department  that the city is trying to open a hospital, but is $3M short of government funding. The old hospital was built in 1967, expanded in 1981, but then closed its doors in 2002. Summerland residents often have to leave town for basic medical care. 
 
The town’s GP’s are ageing too and would to close their practices. But there are no new doctors to hand over their patients to.
 
Problem Meets Solution: Building a Medical Care Facility
Entrepreneurs solve problems. This medical problem sparked my entrepreneurial curiosity and, as the conversation continued, a whole new aspect of the Summerland-Magic development was born. 
 
Plans are now being made to add a primary care facility on the ground floor of one of the four buildings. My developer partners and I will recruit general practitioners and other medical professionals to set up practices in this new centre. These professionals, who will come from across Western Canada, will also have the option of renting accommodation in one of the project’s other three buildings, creating a home-work separation, which also allows them to walk to work. That is a quality of life few urban areas can offer.
 
Designing Unique Housing for Dementia Sufferers
Additionally, the project will include rental apartments that are specially designed for dementia-sufferers. 
 
Dementia usually affects one partner in a relationship, while the other takes on a carer role. The Summerland-Magic project will allow the dementia-affected partner to live semi-autonomously in their own living space. The spouse will have the option to spend as much time as they wish with their partner, knowing they can always rent a separate unit in the building – or in one of the Project’s other buildings – for rest and self-care, because caring for an ill loved one can burn people out.
 
Summerland Magic Apartment Homes is scheduled to begin construction in the spring of 2025. The land is under contract and the purchase will close in December. If you would like to make an impact with your real estate investing while also making a difference, please reach out.
 
Investors are accepted on a first come, first served basis. The projected return for this deal is 18% for a three-year duration. Both registered funds and cash can be accommodated. This project has been structured so that both Canadian and U.S. investors can take part.
 
Cameron
 
The Educated Investor®
Redgum Real Estate 
Founder | Owner 
 
Lead Instructor
Law & Business Communications Group
Sauder School of Business
University of British Columbia
 
Helping busy people achieve market-beating returns by investing in large, lucrative real estate projects they would otherwise not have access to

The rental vacancy rate in Summerland is pretty much zero because there is little rental housing stock available. When empty nesters want to downsize, they are forced to stay put or leave their community. When seniors stay forever in their full-sized homes, young families have nowhere to move to, and the town’s population becomes top-heavy with older citizens. If this trend continues, you are left with hollowed-out Tombstone Towns.

As we age, we need more medical care. Medical facilities in Summerland are stretched The doctors and nurses who serve Summerland’s residents are ageing too. They want to retire, but there are no new doctors to hand their patients on to.
 
The city has tried to get financing from the BC government to build a healthcare facility for years. Approvals and partial funding are in place, but a $3M shortfall has stopped this project in its tracks. $3M is a massive amount of infrastructure money for a small town to raise.
 
I’m a socially conscious entrepreneur. When I hear about issues like this, I see a challenge worth accepting. It is a chance to do well by doing good.
 
I have four lots under contract beside Summerland’s downtown core. Every service a person could need is within a short walking distance. The initial plan when putting the land assembly together was to build up to 120 rental apartments in four six storey buildings. 
 
Most units would be designed with the special needs of the elderly in mind. Think wider doorways for wheelchairs, no carpet so that wheelchairs don’t get stuck, larger turning radiuses in hallways, especially when entering and exiting the elevator, and solid backing in walls and ceilings for when bed lifts and grab bars need to be installed.

Successful negotiation is all about finding common ground with your counter-party and making trade-offs. You get something you want, I get something I want. 
 
I want fewer parking spaces so I can build more homes. The town wants a medical facility. It needs young, entrepreneurial medical professionals to set up shop in town. But most new doctors today don’t want the drudgery of managing their practices. They want to practice medicine, not run a small business.
 
These are problems I can solve. I’m a real estate entrepreneur. I'm also a professor who teaches business management to executives, MBA students, and undergraduates at UBC in Vancouver. I know how to create and build companies. I know how to invest venture capital. I also know how to recruit medical professionals and run the business side of their practices.
 
This is doable.
 
By helping solve the problem of missing healthcare in Summerland, my development team and I can request compromise from the city on parking and setback requirements. Building fewer parking places will translate into more homes. 
 
A further option is to expand the medical facility to one entire building. Several floors could be designated as a full multi-use residential/medical centre. Level 1 and 2 ambulatory care could be offered on the first three floors floors, and rental apartments on the three floors above. 
 
We are even investigating whether one of the floors could be specially designed as a residence for dementia patients.

Dementia rarely affects both people in a marriage simultaneously.  One partner usually remains able-bodied and the other afflicted. 
 
Summerland-Magic Apartment Homes could offer the dementia-affected person a chance to live in their own private rental apartment on a specially-designed home-care floor of our medical building.
 
The unaffected wife or husband could live upstairs in their own, separate rental unit, close enough to spend quality time with their loved one, while having a separate living space they can call their own for physical and emotional down time.

As if this weren’t enough, there is one more big win to report on this medical.residential mixed-use concept.
 
Employees at the dementia care residence and the building’s medical staff can live in one of the other three Summerland Magic buildings.
 
With four buildings side by side, linked by connecting garden space, outside sitting areas, and walkways, doctors and their support staff will be far enough away from work that they can mentally separate, but close enough that they can stroll from home to the office in just a few minutes.